On the recordJuly 20, 2020
I stand in strong support of this amendment by my fantastic co-chair, Mr. Pocan, and Ms. Lee. This is critical for us to just do this small step of cutting 10 percent of our Pentagon budget. Enough is enough. This year's defense budget is 90 times bigger than the budget for the Centers for Disease Control. Yet, we are nearing 4 million COVID cases and over 141,000 deaths, and this President wants to add money for defense spending while cutting money for testing. That is just wrong. It is a small amount, but it is a start. That $74 billion could mean childcare for every family. It could mean housing vouchers for every eligible family. It could mean a $23,000 raise for every public-school teacher. So many things that we could do with this money--what we cannot do is give it away to corrupt defense contractors. Pass this amendment. Reset our priorities. It is time.
