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
Kim Jong Un
Top photo credit: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits the construction site of the Ragwon County Offshore Farm, North Korea July 13, 2025. KCNA via REUTERS

Kim Jong Un is nuking up and playing hard to get

Asia-Pacific

President Donald Trump’s second term has so far been a series of “shock and awe” campaigns both at home and abroad. But so far has left North Korea untouched even as it arms for the future.

The president dramatically broke with precedent during his first term, holding two summits as well as a brief meeting at the Demilitarized Zone with the North’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un. Unfortunately, engagement crashed and burned in Hanoi. The DPRK then pulled back, essentially severing contact with both the U.S. and South Korea.

keep readingShow less
Why new CENTCOM chief Brad Cooper is as wrong as the old one
Top photo credit: U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Brad Cooper speaks to guests at the IISS Manama Dialogue in Manama, Bahrain, November 17, 2023. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed

Why new CENTCOM chief Brad Cooper is as wrong as the old one

Middle East

If accounts of President Donald Trump’s decision to strike Iranian nuclear facilities this past month are to be believed, the president’s initial impulse to stay out of the Israel-Iran conflict failed to survive the prodding of hawkish advisers, chiefly U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) chief Michael Kurilla.

With Kurilla, an Iran hawk and staunch ally of both the Israeli government and erstwhile national security adviser Mike Waltz, set to leave office this summer, advocates of a more restrained foreign policy may understandably feel like they are out of the woods.

keep readingShow less
Putin Trump
Top photo credit: Vladimir Putin (Office of the President of the Russian Federation) and Donald Trump (US Southern Command photo)

How Trump's 50-day deadline threat against Putin will backfire

Europe

In the first six months of his second term, President Donald Trump has demonstrated his love for three things: deals, tariffs, and ultimatums.

He got to combine these passions during his Oval Office meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Monday. Only moments after the two leaders announced a new plan to get military aid to Ukraine, Trump issued an ominous 50-day deadline for Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to a ceasefire. “We're going to be doing secondary tariffs if we don't have a deal within 50 days,” Trump told the assembled reporters.

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.