Military Spending
After a short-lived decrease following the end of the Cold War and modest cutbacks following the height of combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. military spending is once again on the rise. More than half the U.S. discretionary federal budget goes for destructive purposes while the remaining discretionary federal programs—including energy and the environment, housing, health, and transportation—divide the remainder. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said decades ago: “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”
We see the true cost of these misguided priorities in unaffordable education, environmental destruction, a crumbling infrastructure, and the lack of universal access to comprehensive healthcare. Cutting military spending and putting billions of discretionary dollars towards positive ends—education, housing, addressing climate change and creating green jobs—would create a more just economy and improve life for many people. UFPJ works with many organizations and coalitions to challenge U.S. budget priorities that fuel the arms race and conflicts around the world.
What People Need to Know about the Kansas City Nuclear Bomb Parts Plant
By Mary Hladky, PeaceWorks Kansas City. Kansas City Missouri is literally at the center of the 2lst century new nuclear arms race. Kansas City MO is home to one of the 8 major sites that make U.S. nuclear weapons. It has an innocuous name, the Kansas City National...
End Women’s Poverty: Invest in Caring Not Killing – International Women’s Day event now online
A report from the California Poor People’s Campaign End Women’s Poverty: Invest in Caring Not Killing, an International Women’s Day event on March 8, was spearheaded by the California Poor People’s Campaign (PPC), with UFPJ, CODEPINK and Women’s International League...
This April 4: Organize a Public Reading of Dr. King’s “Beyond Vietnam: Speech in Your Community
On April 4, 1967, exactly one year before his tragic assassination, in his prophetic speech, “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence,” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. declared: “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on...
Let’s Bend the Arc of Justice on June18!
The June 18, 2022 Mass Poor People and Low Wage Workers’ Assembly and Moral March on Washington and to the Polls will be a generationally transformative gathering of poor and low wealth people, state leaders, faith communities, moral allies, unions and partnering...
This April 4: Organize a Public Reading of Dr. King’s “Beyond Vietnam: Speech in Your Community
On April 4, 1967, exactly one year before his tragic assassination, in his prophetic speech, “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence,” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. declared: “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on...
This April 4: Organize a Public Reading of Dr. King’s “Beyond Vietnam: Speech in Your Community
On April 4, 1967, exactly one year before his tragic assassination, in his prophetic speech, “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence,” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. declared: “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on...
UFPJ Webinar: The Costs of War at Home, recording now available.
Click here for a recording of this webinar. This webinar highlighted UFPJ member groups’ and allies’ work to raise awareness of the impacts of war industries in communities around the U.S., including approaches ranging from focusing on particular armament companies to...
Join the movement to #CutThePentagon for People, Planet, Peace, and a Future!
In 2021, the United States will spend $740 billion on the Pentagon budget which is equal to $1.4 million a MINUTE. With just 10% of the Pentagon budget, we could END homelessness in the United States, yet we’re told time and time again that we just “can’t afford”...
Honoring Dr. King’s Full Legacy – “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence”
April 4, 2021 will mark the 53rd anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s tragic and untimely assassination, and the 54th anniversary of his prophetic speech, “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence.” In the years following the September 11, 2001 terrorist...
War Tax Resistance Resources for Tax Season 2021
Tax Day is a holiday of sorts for war tax resisters. Local war tax resistance groups often take to the streets to promote their displeasure with about 50% of the federal budget dedicated to past, present, and future military expenses. (War tax resisters refuse to pay...
Poor People’s Campaign Launches 14 Policy Priorities for the First 100 Days to Heal the Nation
On December 7, The Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, released a set of 14 policy and legislative priorities for the first 100 days of the Biden-Harris administration. The 14 policies priorities are: Enact comprehensive and just COVID-19 relief...
What do you think of these 10 Challenges for Biden?
How are you feeling after this nail-biting election? Relieved? exhausted? apprehensive? That’s where we—the peacemakers— come in. Just as grassroots groups around the country are pushing Biden to embrace visionary policies such as a Green New Deal and Medicare for...