Last Friday, President Trump sent Congress a request proposing a $1.5 trillion Pentagon budget, representing a staggering 50% increase over the already enormous $1 trillion FY 2026 Pentagon budget. At a moment when millions of Americans are losing access to health care, food assistance, and other vital support, this is unacceptable.  

The United States already spends more on its military than the next nine countries combined, including China and Russia. A $1.5 trillion budget would mark the first time the US has accounted for more than half of total global military spending. A Pentagon budget increase of this magnitude is not a response to genuine security needs; it is a moral failure. 

We are called to tend to the least among us, not to build ever-larger arsenals of destruction while cutting the programs that sustain life. The human cost of this proposed budget is already visible. Last summer Congress cut more than $1 trillion from Medicaid, Medicare, the Affordable Care Act, and SNAP—programs that millions of families depend on for food and health care. Some of those funds were redirected to add $150 billion to the Pentagon. These choices have made our communities less safe, not more. 

The Pentagon’s lack of financial accountability is dangerous for everyone. An institution that has never passed an independent audit should not receive more funding. To dramatically increase funding for an institution that has never passed an independent audit is not stewardship; it is recklessness. True security is built not on military dominance, but on the shared prosperity that comes from equitable access to housing, health care, clean air and water, food, and quality public education. 

Call on Congress to: 

1. Reject the proposed $1.5 trillion Pentagon budget and oppose any increase in Pentagon funding for FY 2027. 
2. Protect funding for essential human needs programs such as Medicaid, Medicare, SNAP, housing assistance, education and other programs that support the health and dignity of millions of Americans. 
3. Demand accountability from the Department of Defense, including a credible path toward passing a full financial audit before any further budget increases are considered. 
4. Invest in alternatives to militarism such as foreign aid, diplomacy, peacebuilding, and nonviolent social movements to ensure true human national and global security. 
    

At this critical moment, ask Congress to act with moral clarity, move forward wisely, justly, and in the spirit of the common good.