Rhode Island does not need more Pentagon spending

Despite the clear threat posed by hunger, the pandemic and climate change, the federal government continues to spend our taxpayer dollars on weapons and war instead of solving human problems. In 2021, the average taxpayer spent about $2,000 on the military, according to the National Priorities Project. That same year, each of us only spent $27 on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and $5 on renewable energy.

We saw how those spending decisions worked out – the military spending didn’t stop a war from breaking out, low investment in public health has kept us mired in a years-long pandemic and the emaciated spending on renewable energy means that we’re still barreling toward climate crisis. The overreliance on military approaches to global conflicts dangerously puts us on a path of spiraling violence.

Pope Francis has described it as “madness” for countries to use the Ukraine war as a reason to increase military budgets and has challenged nations to replace the “perverse and diabolical logic of weapons” with a more effective approach to addressing international conflicts.

These poor spending decisions are about to be repeated. President Biden requested $813 billion for weapons and war in 2023, a $31 billion increase over this year’s budget. Astonishingly, some members of Congress are pushing for even higher military spending levels despite many arguing that things like the Child Tax Credit and other poverty-reducing programs are too expensive.

I can see that spending priorities are clearly not aligned with the actual problems affecting our communities and I’m not alone. A recent poll found that 56 percent of U.S. adults are supportive of taking money out of the Pentagon budget and reinvesting it into things like housing, health care and education.

Our Rhode Island legislators in Congress have an important role to play in fixing this problem. Senator Whitehouse sits on the Budget Committee, Sen. Reed chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee and sits on the Defense Appropriations Committee and Rep. Langevin sits on the House Armed Service Committee. They can and must do more as representatives of our community.

This year, I urge our Rhode Island legislators to heed the call of faith leaders across the country and work to move money away from weapons and war and into urgent community priorities instead.

Sister Ann McKenna

Sister Ann McKenna RSM is a retired educator in Rhode Island who has also worked in Belize, Honduras, Peru and Belgium.