CONTACT: Anna Schumann
Communications Director
aschumann@clw.org
(JUNE 23 – WASHINGTON) Upon the House Armed Services Committee’s approval of the FY 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, the Council for a Livable World releases the following statement from Executive Director and former Congressman John Tierney:
“It is absurd to spend $850 billion in the name of national security when so much of that money is going to programs that will actually make us less safe,” Tierney said. “Much of the $37 billion the HASC added beyond President Biden’s already exorbitant topline request only serves to pad defense contractors’ pockets and prevents that money from going to programs that would address current threats, like climate change and future pandemics. And authorizing $45 million to continue research and development of Trump’s nuclear sea-launched cruise missile is misguided and increases the risk of nuclear escalation. This will further strain the already imperiled National Nuclear Security Administration and place undue burdens on the Navy, which did not ask for this program to be brought back. This is all further evidence that common sense can’t compete with the pro-war lobby and the congressional-military-industrial complex.
“As Council-backed Congresswoman Sara Jacobs said when opposing the $37 billion increase, we need to have an honest conversation about the Pentagon budget and make funding decisions based on the threats of the future and not the past. More is not a policy, and there are simply not military solutions to every problem.”
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