I don't have any use for PEP politicians (progressive except on the Pentagon), but there are going to be serious members of the U.S. Congress next year who aren't afraid of flags and war songs. There are going to be a lot more than (AOC+3) four of them.
CORI BUSH
One is going to be Cori Bush from St. Louis who won her primary against a long-time incumbent. She's recently tweeted the following:
"If you're having a bad day, just think of all the social services we're going to fund after we defund the Pentagon."
"Militarization makes up 64% of our federal budget. Medicare & Health are 6%. Education is 5%. Social Security, Unemployment, and Labor together are 3%. Ignorance is thinking those priorities keep our families safe."
"220K+ people, including 1,700 healthcare workers, have died from COVID-19 due to our government's inability to protect its citizens & pass pandemic relief. Ignorance is Trump's Pentagon taking $1 billion in funding designated for PPE production to make jet engine parts."
"@BernieSanders and @EdMarkey proposed a 10% cut on the Pentagon budget to use to fund health care, housing, childcare and educational opportunities for cities and towns experiencing a poverty rate of 25% or more. Ignorance is blocking this bill knowing it would save lives."
"Ignorance is paying Lockheed Martin more than $1 trillion over the course of a 60 year contract for a dysfunctional F-35 program. Ignorance is letting their CEO take a $20 million dollar salary while military veterans go homeless."
"The Department of Defense has never passed an independent audit, yet we continue to give them money unchecked. Ignorance is the Trump administration *INCREASING* the Pentagon budget by more than $100 billion since he was elected."
"Ignorance is giving weapons of war to local police departments with no accountability or oversight. Ignorance is calling us radical for saying that's wrong."
Cori Bush may appreciate this billboard going up in St. Louis. And I'm sure she fully appreciates that she's up against Joe Biden on all of the above just as much as Trump. But she's not going to be alone.
JAMAAL BOWMAN
Jamaal Bowman of New York said of his now-defeated primary competition:
"My opponent, Representative Eliot Engel, and I do not share the same foreign policy vision. He voted for one of the worst policy disasters of my lifetime an unjust and costly 2 trillion dollar war in Iraq. He voted against President Obama's signature foreign policy achievement which put a lid on Iran's nuclear program. He went on CNN this past year and said he didn't want to tie Trump's hands when it came to strikes on Iran. He was one of only 16 House Democrats in 2016 to vote against an amendment that blocked the transfer of cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia which has been relentlessly dropping them on Yemeni civilians. My opponent accepts donations from corporations and arms manufacturers like Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon. He supports a hawkish and costly foreign policy agenda instead of focusing on the communities in our district that have been neglected for far too long. We must dramatically reduce the Pentagon's budget over the next ten years, end the forever wars, and rebuild a diplomacy-first approach through the State Department. We have been in Afghanistan for 19 years, in Iraq for 17 years, and in Syria for five years. Congress must reassert its authority to bring our troops home."
Engel stood by his warmongering and sank with it. This means that a different warmonger will become the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, while Engel likely heads off to make the big bucks from a yet-to-be-named weapons dealer.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
1
1
1
