October 11, 2026 —
Make Military Spending an Issue for Every Candidate for Public Office
People across the United States face a growing affordability crisis. The costs of housing, food, health care, and education keep rising while wages struggle to keep pace. Meanwhile, public services are cut, infrastructure deteriorates, and urgent environmental needs go unmet.
How can the richest country in history fail to provide for its own people?
Part of the answer lies in the enormous concentration of wealth. Another lies in Washington’s staggering military spending, which diverts public resources from human needs to wars abroad and enriches war profiteers.
Taxing the super-rich would be a start toward reversing that concentration of wealth and curbing their disproportionate political power. More immediately effective would be a drastic cut in military spending, which fuels wars and threatens humanity’s future.
The United States is caught in a vicious cycle. Ever-expanding military commitments demand ever-greater expenditures, while working people at home are told there is no money for affordable housing, health care, education, or social services.
Austerity at home is the domestic counterpart of militarism abroad
Trump’s proposed military budget for FY 2027 is $1.5 trillion. But the Pentagon budget alone does not capture the full cost of US militarism. A recent study estimates that actual military spending in FY 2025 ranged from $1.5 trillion to $2.3 trillion, depending on the accounting method and whether interest on military-related debt is included. With Trump’s proposed military buildup, annual spending could climb still higher. To fund war Trump is deeply cutting human needs funding.
And there is no end in sight. From the Middle East to Latin America, US military interventions, economic warfare, and threats of aggression, along with killing sanctions, raise the prospect of endless wars, each creating the pretext for still more military spending.
Imagine what even half that sum could accomplish if redirected toward meeting people’s needs.
The alternative is clear: transform a federal budget devoted to killing into one dedicated to healing by reducing military spending and redirecting public resources toward rebuilding our communities. Workers affected by military cutbacks must be guaranteed comparable employment or paid retraining without loss of income.
To start, immediately end the war on Iran; stop funding the war in Ukraine; impose an arms embargo on Israel and end diplomatic and financial support. Don’t start a war on Cuba and end the blockade. End political and economic interference in Venezuela.
At home, stop the militarization of local police. Terminate programs such as the Pentagon’s 1033 program that transfer military equipment to law enforcement agencies. Cancel participation by US police in Israeli security training programs that promote militarized policing. End programs such as 287(g), which delegate federal immigration enforcement functions to state and local law enforcement.
The issue is not simply how much the United States spends, but what kind of country we want to build: one committed to perpetual war or one that provides for the well-being of its people.
Ask every candidate for public office where they stand on cutting the military budget and funding human needs instead.
Build the Move the Money campaign: MoneyForHumanNeeds.org
