Follow us on social

Shutterstock_1684106488-scaled

Groups call on Congress to rein in military budget

They say adding $25 billion more than what Biden requested for the Pentagon ‘sends exactly the wrong message.’

Reporting | Military Industrial Complex

Nearly 50 national, state and local organizations across the country — including Public Citizen, Sunrise Movement, and MoveOn — banded together today to urge Congress against giving the Pentagon any more money beyond the president’s request and to go a step further by reducing the authorized amount by 10 percent. 

These two proposals were codified in separate amendments to the FY2022 National Defense Authorization Act. The first, led by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), would overturn the $25 billion increase over what President Biden had requested for the Pentagon that the House Armed Services Committee added in during the NDAA’s markup process. 

The second, led by Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), would cut the Pentagon’s approved topline by 10 percent, whether Lee’s amendment is ultimately approved or not. 

“Pouring billions more into the military, far beyond even the level requested by President Biden, sends exactly the wrong message at this moment in history,” states the letter, of which the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft is also a signatory. “We are struggling to end a deadly pandemic, deal with the looming climate crisis, confront racial injustice, and secure badly-needed relief for working people all over the country. These are problems that no amount of military spending could ever solve.” 

The push comes as President Biden on Tuesday in his speech to the United Nations downplayed the military’s role in ongoing and future security threats. “U.S. military power must be our tool of last resort. Not our first,” he said, adding, “Many of our greatest concerns cannot be solved or even addressed through the force of arms. Bombs and bullets cannot defend against COVID-19 or its future variants.” 

Indeed, polling shows that Americans support reducing military spending. A poll conducted last year by Data for Progress found that 59 percent of those surveyed said they at least somewhat supported Pocan’s proposal, with the caveat that the eliminated portion of the defense budget would not impact military personnel and would instead be directed toward fighting COVID-19, education, health care, and housing. Meanwhile, a poll from the Chicago Council on Global Affairs in December found that just 23 percent of Americans want to increase the Pentagon budget. 

Rep. Lee’s and Rep. Pocan’s amendments will receive a vote later this week. 


Photo: mrsashko via shutterstock.com
Reporting | Military Industrial Complex
Sanae Takaichi, Xi Jinping
Top photo credit: Japan’s LDP leader Sanae Takaichi (Govt. of Japan) Chinese President Xi Jinping Alan Santos/PR/Roman Kubanskiy (Wikimedia Commons)

First female Japan PM takes hawkish position on China, Taiwan

Asia-Pacific

On October 4, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in Japan chose Sanae Takaichi — who is expected to reflect a more determined stand in defense of Taiwan — as its president, and the Diet is expected to elect her as prime minister next Wednesday.

During her successful campaign for the leadership, Takaichi repeated her long-held positions regarding security policy: the need for Japan to assume greater responsibility for its own security by building up its defense capabilities; continued strengthening of the U.S.-Japan alliance; deepening U.S.-Japan-South Korea and U.S.-Japan-Philippines trilateral relations as well as the Quad (U.S.-Japan-Australia-India cooperation) to counter China; and realization of the late Prime Minister Shinzō Abe’s vision of a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific.”

keep readingShow less
SM-2 missiles US military
Top photo credit: The USS Carney fires an SM-2 missile during a live-fire exercise as part of Formidable Shield 19 in the Atlantic Ocean, May 17, 2019. The ship recently thwarted missiles coming allegedly from Houthi sources in Yemen headed for Israel, according to the DOD. (Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Fred Gray IV)

US depleted its missiles in Ukraine, Israel. Now it wants more fast.

Military Industrial Complex

Citing low munitions stockpiles, the Pentagon is urging weapons contractors to accelerate missile production, doubling or even quadrupling production rates, to prepare for possible war with China.

Namely, it hopes to boost production rates for 12 types of missiles it wants on-hand, including Patriot interceptor missiles, Standard Missile-6, THAAD interceptors, and joint air-surface standoff missiles.

keep readingShow less
Macron Merz
Top image credit: French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz meet, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine May 10, 2025. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich

Europe's center is crumbling as nationalism surges

Europe

Support for mainstream political parties in Europe is crumbling against a rising tide of nationalism as voters increasingly want their governments to prioritize domestic issues.

This might not be enough to end the war in Ukraine, which will cost Europe $50 billion it can ill afford in 2026. But we may be witnessing the beginning of the end of the uniparty in Europe.

keep readingShow less

LATEST

QIOSK

Newsletter

Subscribe now to our weekly round-up and don't miss a beat with your favorite RS contributors and reporters, as well as staff analysis, opinion, and news promoting a positive, non-partisan vision of U.S. foreign policy.