Budget Battle Looms Amidst War in Ukraine April 26, 2022

On Monday, March 28, President Biden revealed his Fiscal Year 2023 budget request. Without fail, Biden continued in his predecessors’ footsteps and requested a disgustingly high military budget. The starting bid for the military is $813 billion, a 4% increase from last year, and the highest military budget in U.S. history. The ongoing war in Ukraine was cited as one reason for such an astronomical request. However, the endless amount of money we throw at the military will not make us safer; it will only make profiteers of the military industrial complex richer.

More spending on our military does not equate with making us safer. As well, despite the U.S. already spending more on its military than the next 10 countries combined, this did not deter Putin from invading Ukraine and threatening to use nuclear weapons.

So who is this money benefiting? Defense contractors.

Often, the reason we spend so much on the military is due to poor budget and project management. The U.S. military is the only government department that has never passed an audit. With no accountability, projects are constantly outsourced and going over-budget, resulting in more than half of the actual military budget enriching private sector defense contracting companies like Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and more– all with taxpayer dollars. This has been made glaringly obvious with the war in Ukraine. Before the war even started, CEOs of these companies were boasting that war and instability in Europe and elsewhere would be good for their business. And since then, Biden has spent more than $3.2 billion on military aid to Ukraine, with nowhere near as much effort going toward diplomatic routes to resolve the conflict between Ukraine and Putin. CNBC reported that due to Ukraine, stock prices for nuclear weapons manufacturers were rising

Unfortunately, this is only the beginning. With President Biden starting the bid at $813 billion, the number is likely to increase as Congress finalizes the budget later this summer.

This wasteful spending and parasitic relationship between the U.S. military and government coffers must end. It is past time for the U.S. government, and the Biden administration, to get its priorities straight and start funding the actual security needs of American taxpayers like yourself. Climate change, pandemic prevention, equitable access to public health and health care, police brutality, economic insecurity, and so much more are being ignored in order to enrich war profiteers.

It’s time to say no more. Contact your representatives today and demand that they stop lining the pockets of defense contractors and pivot government spending toward the American taxpayers, where it will actually make a difference.

If you would like to stay up to date on Ukraine, head over to psr.org/ukrainemedia for all the information you need.