Action alert: no more Pentagon slush fund
When we enter the 14th year of war in Afghanistan in October, how much will we spending to keep our troops there? We don’t know, and neither does Congress.
The House is voting on the Pentagon budget next week and the administration still hasn’t decided how much the war is going to cost or how many troops will be there. But they’re not worried because for years, war money has been a separate pot outside of the regular Pentagon budget. There are no caps and no real accountability. It’s time for that to change.
Tell your representative to demand accountability on war spending.
In these tight budget times, both the Pentagon and Congress have taken advantage of the lack of transparency and constraints on war spending. The war budget has become a slush fund for pet projects that aren’t really related to war spending but can’t fit in the capped (but still huge) base Pentagon budget. The military has indicated that they want to keep using this irresponsible practice for years to come, even though we’re supposed to be leaving our decade of war behind.
A bipartisan group of representatives is working to shine a light on this practice. They are circulating a letter to the president calling for an end to limitless war spending outside the budget and strict standards for what counts as war spending. If we’re going to rein in this reckless spending, we need to show Congress that we’re paying attention and push as many of them as possible to speak out.
Let’s shut this slush fund down. Tell your representative to sign the letter to end limitless war spending.
