1. United States
2. N.Y.
3. Letter

I'm writing to you as a son and partner for two people that rely on government programs to help them live due to their disabilities. We cannot give the Pentagon $1.1 trillion after slashing Medicaid and SNAP. It's unconscionable. Especially when the Republicans are lining up to add $350 billion on top of that. Any authorization for military spending at this point should require the Pentagon to pass an audit and eliminate the spend it or lose it mentality. Not only that but we should require full audits of all contracts that most studies show have an estimated 30%-40% profit margin for the largest defense contractors. How is this trajectory of military spending sustainable? It's not and it's unethical when our own citizens are homeless, starving and living paycheck to paycheck. Just as the Republicans claimed to go after "waste, fraud and abuse", Democrats must actually go after waste, fraud and abuse in the Pentagon. We should not be spending more than half our budget and more than most countries combined on the military. It's madness.