Wednesday, March 17, 2021
Starve
the Pentagon, Feed the People
It’s time we stop prioritizing weapons before citizens and
re-evaluate our funding of nuclear weapons.
commondreams.org/views/2021/03/17/starve-pentagon-feed-people
Members of
the New York Campaign to Abolish Nuclear weapons (NYCAN) gathered outside the
David N. Dinkins Municipal Building in Manhattan on the 75th anniversary of the
bombing of the city of Hiroshima, to give notice to the New York City Council
that it is time to bring Resolution 976 and INT 1621, known as the Nuclear
Disarmament Legislation to the floor for a vote at the next Stated Meeting.
(Photo by Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Policymakers
insist that they cannot afford to provide relief to millions of Americans
struggling during a pandemic, cannot afford to provide universal health care,
and cannot find funds for education. Despite this, the massive National Defense
[sic] Authorization Act passes each year in an allegedly
bipartisan fashion.
These
priorities, putting weapons before citizens, are clearly to the detriment of
not just those living in the United States, but to those across the globe.
As
Democratic Representatives Barbara Lee of California, Mark Pocan of Wisconsin,
and Jake Auchincloss of Massachusetts state in a letter sent
to President Biden, “Our federal budget is a statement of our national values,
and part of undoing the damage of the last four years is re-evaluating our
spending priorities as a nation. That re-evaluation should begin with the
Department of Defense.”
The budget
for 2021 clocked in at more than $740 billion. Passed
during the throes of the pandemic in mid-2020, Congress awarded $130
billion more than requested for the nuclear-armed Columbia class submarine
program. While these same legislators whittled down the second round of
stimulus payments to Americans to $600, they simultaneously lined defense [sic]
contractor’s pockets.
These
priorities, putting weapons before citizens, are clearly to the detriment of
not just those living in the United States, but to those across the globe. The
Pentagon intends to request more funding for nuclear weapons this year as part
of a Trump Administration-mandated revival of
sea-launched cruise missiles, a program that had been retired more than a
decade ago under President Obama.
These
weapons would eventually equip the
Navy with twenty to thirty nuclear-armed submarines, doubling its current fleet
size, while also increasing the risk of a mistake or miscalculation, and
aggravating relations with China further.
In addition
to sea-launched missiles, the Pentagon is also planning to modernize
ground-based strategic defense systems despite compelling
evidence that this is unnecessary. Located in states such as
Nebraska and Colorado, this system replaces intercontinental ballistic
missiles, though both are often referred to as the nuclear sponge, based
on a strategy of drawing incoming domestic attacks away from major cities.
In essence,
the United States has designated these states as sitting ducks, ready to soak
up a nuclear attack. Representatives of these states claim the jobs are worth
the risk, yet only 18 percent of
Americans agree. Not only does the perpetuation of these weapons
put these communities at risk, the contract benefits a single
manufacturer: Northrop Grumman.
A small
portion of the National Defense
[sic] Authorization Act funds go toward mitigating the damage
these nuclear weapons have already caused, by funding retrospective solutions
such as cleanup, health care, and victim compensation. Communities impacted by
nuclear weapons see little progress year after year, despite the evidence of
ongoing harm.
In 2019,
reports emerged that the Runit dome was cracking,
allowing radioactive waste to seep into the surrounding Pacific ocean. The
Runit dome was constructed in
1977 as a temporary measure to contain thousands of gallons of nuclear waste
remaining from tests the United States conducted on atolls in the Pacific Ocean
from the 1940s to the 1950s. Few improvements have been made since, and U.S.
lawmakers have repeatedly
denied responsibility.
Despite
agreeing to pay $150 million in restitution in 1986, a 2010 hearing makes it
clear only a fraction has
so far been paid out, decades later.
As climate
change causes the tides to rise, Runit will only deteriorate further, and other
nuclear waste storage solutions, many near rising tides as well, are at similar
risk. The United States has designated Yucca mountain, a space sacred to the
Western Shoshone Nation, as a final resting place for U.S. nuclear
waste, but protests at the local and legislative levels have stalled
construction. This waste has been shuffled around the country while it waits
for a final destination, often spending periods of time stored in lower-income
areas where residents’ protests are dismissed.
The
treatment of the Marshallese underscores
a hard truth about U.S. nuclear policy: the abandonment of its long list of
victims, spanning from veterans to Indigenous communities. Groups subjected to
nuclear fallout from testing, called down-winders,
have faced similar neglect from the government that exposed them.
Nearly every
year, amendments are offered to the National Defense
[sic] Authorization Act that would expand the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act,
another half-measure offered to victims of nuclear pollution, yet nearly all
have failed.
This act,
which is set to expire in 2022 unless it’s renewed, currently provides a
one-time payment of $50,000 to $100,000 to a select group of victims that does
not include New Mexican down-winders. These small payments are a drop in the
bucket when one considers the lifetime of various cancers many victims
experience. New Mexico, the birthplace of the nuclear age, has documented decades of proof that
the nuclear fallout from the Trinity test caused a range of cancers,
reproductive issues, and health concerns identical to those of other fallout
victims in the included states: Utah, Nevada, and Arizona.
Even if this
act is renewed before its expiration next year, it leaves hundreds of thousands
of victims and their family members—who are often left to carry the financial
burden—behind, including those on the Marshall Islands.
Nuclear
weapons pose a grave threat to
the climate; they would, if used, rapidly accelerate climate change and cause a
nuclear winter. Their very existence and proliferation are a threat to the
well-being of the planet. Countless people have already suffered due to the creation
of our current arsenal, and expanding it, during a pandemic no less, is a cruel
testament to the values of our lawmakers.
Standalone
bills have been introduced to solve many of these issues, but they are often
championed primarily by representatives from impacted states, or fiercely
opposed when money is on the line. The Invest in Cures
Before Missiles Act, introduced by Democratic Representatives Ro
Khanna of California and Ed Markey of Massachusetts, shifts funding away from
modernizing the ICBM systems and into COVID-19 response. Senator Chris Van
Hollen of Maryland and Representative Joe Courtney of Connecticut have
also introduced a
bill to halt funding for Trump’s revival of sea-launched cruise
missiles.
The National
Defense [sic] Authorization Act for fiscal year 2022 poses a unique opportunity
to seize agency over the defense budget and lobby representatives to support
amendments such as those that provide compensation for downwinders and move
funds away from expensive, redundant weapons programs.
The Biden
Administration, in its first defense [sic] request, would do well to heed Lee,
Pocan, and Auchincloss’s call.
Tristan Guyette is the National Field Manager for Beyond the Bomb, a people-powered movement to end the threat of nuclear war. Previously, they have worked on reproductive justice and voter rights issues.
© 2021 The
Progressive
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"The master class
has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles.
The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject
class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their
lives." Eugene Victor Debs
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