USA e spese militari

Mar 17, 2015

To: Members of the House Budget Committee

Dear Representative: When faith groups come together in Washington we find that we share many deeply held values that influence our common life as a nation. Some of these values relate to how our country spends and invests our common treasure and how we seek security.

These values, such as a commitment to the common good of all people, right sharing of resources, priority for the poor and marginalized, and compassion in resolving conflict will be relevant to the decisions you will be making very soon in the House Budget Committee. We hope that these values resonate with your own beliefs and your own concerns for the well-being of our country as well as for the broader human community.

We believe that the federal budget should meet the actual needs of the nation.

Each dollar that we hold in common should be well used to meet identified needs. Our common treasure should not be squandered on excessive private profits, cost overruns, or unacceptable levels of waste. The Pentagon budget does not meet this commonly shared standard.

• Overproduced equipment and munitions costing billions are stockpiled, waiting to be dissembled or destroyed, according to the Inspector General of the Department of Defense.
• The cost of the 80 major weapons systems currently being produced for the Department of Defense has grown by 42 percent beyond initial estimates, according to the General Accountability Office.
• The Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan estimated that between $31 billion and $60 billion was lost to waste and fraud between 2002 and 2011.
• The Pentagon budget also provides for excess profits to large military contractors and the stockholders of those companies. The Pentagon spent roughly a trillion dollars on procurement from major military contractors between 2001 and 2010. Stock prices of these contractors more than doubled during this period, even as many other stock values plummeted.

Our congregations are quite familiar with domestic programs that respond to hunger, support education, extend the reach of health care, and help families find decent and affordable housing, and many of us help implement these programs on a local level. We are aware that these federal programs are chronically underfunded and, nevertheless, are constantly required to account for every dollar and to demonstrate their consistent effectiveness.

We see a stark and frustrating contrast with the loose and unaccountable overspending practices characteristic of Pentagon spending. We will look for opportunities in other legislation to support reform in procurement and contract policies and practices, better accounting methods, and competitive bidding to save billions of taxpayer dollars.

We believe that war-related funding in the OCO account should be decreased in 2016, to be phased out over the next few years. Non war-related contracts and procurement should be removed from the OCO account and be subject to the Budget Control Act limits on the base budget for the Pentagon. The account should be subject to close scrutiny and accountability as to its uses.

We question the effectiveness of repeated military responses to crises in various parts of the world, at a huge cost of lives and resources. After thirteen years of war, we see ample evidence that military strategies have been ineffective in bringing peace to troubled areas in the world. Congress, as the Constitutional “holders of the purse strings” should examine the utility and true cost of military strategies, and seek more effective, sustainable, and humane solutions to conflict, especially in fragile regions.

Because of the continuing pattern of waste and the squandering of resources, we support a reduction in the FY16 budget for the Department of Defense. If a reduction in this year’s budget is not achievable, we ask you, at a minimum, to reject any increases in Pentagon funding. Clearly, the DoD has more than adequate funds available to meet its missions, using accepted practices of accountability and careful management of public funds.

Job creation is an important function of government, but Pentagon spending is the least efficient way to create jobs. Dollar for dollar, an investment in health care or clean energy sectors yields one and a half times as many jobs as money spent through the Pentagon budget. Investment in education yields almost 2.5 times as many jobs – in addition to the opportunities generated by providing better education to our youth.

We support the engagement of offices in the Departments of Defense, Labor, and Commerce to assist communities that have become overly “defense dependent” to find and develop an economic base with more local control. We also support full funding for agencies that provide and sponsor the kinds of services and projects – education, clean energy, and health care, among others -- that generate many more jobs than Pentagon spending.

We are confident that each member of Congress chooses how to legislate, at least in part, on the basis of his or her core values. We pray that in the coming year the value of the common good of all will inform and guide your work.

In faith,

• American Friends Service Committee
• Center on Conscience & War
• Church of the Brethren, Office of Public Witness
• Conference of Major Superiors of Men
• Franciscan Action Network
• Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns
• Mennonite Central Committee U.S. Washington Office
• Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, Justice, Peace/Integrity of Creation Office
• NETWORK, A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby
• Pax Christi International and Pax Christi USA
• Presbyterian Church USA
• Sisters of Mercy of the Americas’ Institute Justice Team
• United Church of Christ, Justice and Witness Ministries
• United Methodist Church, General Board of Church and Society
• Unitarian Universalist Association
• Friends Committee on National Legislation