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Policy Letter

POGO Leads Bi-partisan Support for DOD Appropriations Amendments

The undersigned organizations may not agree on many things, but we all agree on this: The United States must curb wasteful and ineffective spending at the Pentagon. Doing so will save billions of valuable tax dollars as well as help to make America safer with the hard decisions our national security requires.

As you consider H.R. 4870, the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2015, we hope you will keep in mind ways to eliminate wasteful and unnecessary spending, reduce obsolete and antiquated weapons systems and policies, and increase oversight of limited tax dollars. There is a growing consensus—among members of Congress from both sides of the aisle, policy experts of various stripes, and even defense industry CEOs—that you can, and should, find areas for substantial savings in the Pentagon’s bloated budget.

We believe there are smart ways to achieve this savings, and urge you to vote in favor of a handful of amendments that have broad, bipartisan support. While these amendments are only a start to reining in the bloated Pentagon budget, we urge you to use this opportunity to set a stronger, better, and more sustainable path for our national security. In a time of fiscal restraint, we cannot afford to put parochial political interests ahead of our national security.

We urge you to vote YES on the following sensible amendments:

Speier (CA): Cut $50.2 million for the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) counter-mine mission module in order to reduce concurrency.

Speier (CA): Prevent the Pentagon from entering into new contracts for additional Littoral Combat Ships in Fiscal Year 2015.

Nadler (NY): Strike language in the bill that prevents funds from being used to decommission Minuteman III ballistic missile silos.

Murphy (FL): Prevent the Department of Defense from funding operations and maintenance of facilities which are not being utilized.

As you vote on the defense appropriations bill, we thank you for considering our broad consensus for finding sensible savings to make our nation more secure.

Sincerely,

Antiwar.com

Coalition to Reduce Spending

Council for a Livable World

DownsizeDC.org

Friends Committee on National Legislation

Just Foreign Policy

National Priorities Project

National Taxpayers Union

Peace Action

Peace Action West

Progressive Democrats of America (PDA)

Project On Government Oversight

Taxpayers for Common Sense

Taxpayers Protection Alliance

United for Peace and Justice

U.S. Labor Against the War (USLAW)

Win Without War

Women’s Action for New Directions