Ed Markey: “I am proud to speak in support of my amendment with Senator Sanders to prioritize investments in our communities over a…”

“I am proud to speak in support of my amendment with Senator Sanders to prioritize investments in our communities over a bloated Pentagon budget. I thank Senator Sanders for his leadership on this issue, bringing forth this fundamental tension that exists within our society. The men and women of the Armed Forces deserve our admiration, our respect, and our support. Day in and day out, they defend our country's interests in all corners of the world, and their families sacrifice alongside them. But what makes America the envy of the world is not simply the strength of our military but the strength of our people. And 2020 has brought historic challenges: a global pandemic, a growing recession, a reckoning on the systemic racism that pervades our country. We have also seen an estimated 5.4 million American workers lose their health insurance between February and May, leaving them even more vulnerable to a virus surging in every corner of this country. The Sanders-Markey amendment states that we cannot afford, in this, our moment of national crisis, to spend three-quarters of a trillion dollars on bloated defense spending--spending that is supposed to protect or country yet did nothing to inoculate against the most profound public health emergency in a century.…”