Policy Letter

POGO and Campaign Partners Thank House Members for Smart Spending Votes on Defense

Earlier this month, POGO and our campaign partners sent out over 400 individualized thank-you letters to each Member of Congress who sponsored or voted for one of the successful amendmentswe supported on the House version of the Defense Appropriations Act for FY2014, H.R. 1960. This is a sample of the letters we sent.

August 12, 2013

Dear Representative:

Our undersigned organizations offer you our sincere gratitude for your support for curtailing wasteful and unnecessary spending at the Pentagon. We, and our many members and supporters in your district, thank you for voting in favor of amendments that the House approved on the Defense Appropriations Act of Fiscal Year 2014 (H.R. 2397).

There is a growing consensus that Congress can, and should, find areas for substantial savings in the Pentagon’s bloated budget. Our campaign includes organizations with diverse interests and ideologies from progressive to fiscally conservative. We have set aside differences to work together to rein in profligate spending in the Pentagon budget. We are very pleased that several commonsense amendments for which we advocated were approved with strong bipartisan support—resulting in more than $4 billion in savings for taxpayers.

Likewise, we commend you and your colleagues from both sides of the aisle for taking a bipartisan approach to national security budget issues. It’s the way Washington ought to work, but so rarely does. Reining in wasteful and ineffective spending at the Pentagon not only saves valuable tax dollars, but it also helps make America safer. Our economic and national security depends upon the courage you have shown in making these decisions.

Thank you again for the position you took on these votes. We look forward to working with you and your staff to achieve even more in the future.

Sincerely,

American Friends Service Committee

Coalition to Reduce Spending

Just Foreign Policy

National Taxpayers Union

Peace Action

Peace Action West

Progressive Democrats of America (PDA)

Project On Government Oversight (POGO)

R Street

Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA)

Women’s Action for New Directions (WAND)

Win Without War