WHEREAS:

The severity of the ongoing economic crisis has created budget shortfalls at all levels of government and requires us to re-examine our national spending priorities; and

WHEREAS:

Local and state governments around the country where AFSCME members work are facing serious financial problems and have cut essential_. services and personnel, causing layoffs and economic hardship for many of our members, work overloads for others, and reduced services for the populations most impacted by the economic downturn; and

WHEREAS:

The military budget of $693 billion in fiscal year 2012; more than 700 U.S. military bases in 150 countries around the world; plans to spend $185 billion to expand the U.S. nuclear weapons complex; weapons systems the Pentagon doesn’t want; and scores of other military programs are far in excess of what is actually needed to defend our country; and  

WHEREAS:

Every dollar spent on the military produces fewer jobs than spending the same dollar on education, health care, clean energy, or even tax cuts for household consumption; and

WHEREAS:

U.S. military spending has approximately doubled in the past decade, in real dollars and as a percentage of federal discretionary spending; well over_. half of federal discretionary spending is now spent on the military; and we are spending more money on the military now than during the Cold War, the Vietnam War, or the Korean War; and

WHEREAS:

The U.S. military budget could be cut by 80 percent and remain the largest in the world; and

WHEREAS:

The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform proposed major reductions in military spending in both its co-chairs’ proposal in November 2010 and its final report in December 2010; and the U.S. Conference of Mayors passed a resolution in June 2011 calling on Congress to redirect spending to domestic priorities; and the people of the United States, in numerous opinion polls, favor redirecting spending to domestic priorities and withdrawing the U.S. military from Afghanistan; and

WHEREAS:

The United States is the wealthiest nation on earth but trails many other nations in life expectancy, infant mortality, education levels, housing, and environmental sustainability, as well as non­military aid to foreign nations.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:

That AFSCME calls on the U.S. Congress and the President to bring all U.S. troops safely home from Afghanistan, and to take the funds saved by that action, and by significantly cutting the Pentagon budget, and use that money to fund education, public and private sector family-sustaining job creation, special protections for military sector workers, environmental and infrastructure restoration, care for veterans and their families, and human services that our cities and states so desperately need; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

That upon passage, a copy of this resolution will be sent to President Obama and every member of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.