For Peace Against Waste, Just 23 Democrats
It was Congressman Peter Stark who explained the cause. On July 29, 2009, the day before the military appropriations bill of 2009 came to a final vote in the House of Representatives, Stark explained why he could not vote for the bill.
- $128.3 billion for the extension of the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, military adventures that began when the Bush Administration was still young.
- $9.3 billion dollars for a missile defense system that has yet to be proven reliable in actually stopping missiles
- $6.9 billion dollars for other military equipment that the military itself has said it doesn’t need
- Four years ago, under George W. Bush, the military took 51 percent of discretionary spending. Now, under Barack Obama, the military is taking 58 percent of discretionary spending.
In his strongest point, Representative Stark linked the extravagant spending on military projects to the difficulty funding American health care reform. He said, “This giveaway to defense contractors comes at the same time that Members of Congress are balking at health care reform that will cost a fraction of our defense spending over the same time period. I urge my colleagues to join me in voting no.”
The following are the 22 Democrats who joined Representative Stark in taking a stand for peace and against military waste:
Tammy Baldwin
Earl Blumenauer
Keith Ellison
Bob Filner
Barney Frank
Parker Griffith
Dennis Kucinich
Barbara Lee
John Lewis
Zoe Lofgren
Jim McDermott
George Miller
Gwen Moore
Donald Payne
Jan Schakowsky
Jose Serrano
Jackie Speier
John Tierney
Edolphus Towns
Maxine Waters
Melvin Watt
Peter Welch
These Representatives were in a shocking minority within the Democratic Party last Thursday. 230 Democrats in the House of Representatives voted in favor of a bill stuffed with pork barrel, expanding the military, and providing for the continuation of wars that will soon have lasted an entire decade.
