Center for Campus Organizing Challenge The Lie$: New Priorities Campaign '97

Petition for New Priorities

We, the undersigned, are distressed that the government is making cuts in important social programs in order to "balance the budget." The greatest obstacle to balancing the budget is the $400 billion spent each year on the military and on corporate welfare. (see details on reverse)

We urge President Clinton and all representatives in Congress to make cuts in military spending and corporate subsidies to pay for new priorities that place greater value on education, environmental protection, and human welfare. We support congressional proposals to redirect military spending and corporate welfare to social spending. We pledge to give our votes and our time to candidates who pledge to support these new priorities. 

        SIGNATURE           PRINTED NAME                     ADDRESS

1. ___________________ 	____________________	________________________________

2. ___________________ 	____________________	________________________________

3. ___________________ 	____________________	________________________________

4. ___________________ 	____________________	________________________________

5. ___________________ 	____________________	________________________________

6. ___________________ 	____________________	________________________________

7. ___________________ 	____________________	________________________________

8. ___________________ 	____________________	________________________________

9. ___________________ 	____________________	________________________________

10. __________________ 	____________________	________________________________

11. __________________ 	____________________	________________________________

12. __________________ 	____________________	________________________________

13. __________________ 	____________________	________________________________

14. __________________ 	____________________	________________________________

15. __________________ 	____________________	________________________________
Center for Campus Organizing United States Student Association Student Peace Action Network
Youth for Democratic Action Women's Action for New Directions 20/20 Vision
When returned to the group listed below, completed petitions will be delivered to local representatives, to President Clinton, and to the newsmedia:

Student Peace Action Network, 1819 H St., NW, Washington DC 20006


"Petition for New Priorities" -- Background Info

In the last two years, the U.S. Congress has tried to cut billions of dollars from domestic programs like welfare, student aid, and enforcing environmental laws1 while preserving $150 billion in corporate welfare.2 Politicians have said that we must "make sacrifices" in order to reduce the deficit.3 However, these three domestic programs together amount to less than one-quarter of the military budget, which has been spared from cuts.4

We now spend over $260 billion in tax dollars every year on the military, including nuclear weapons programs.5 Even though the Cold War ended 7 years ago, we spend 90% as much on the military now as we did from 1950-1990.6 Many respected military analysts have detailed how the Pentagon could cut spending by up to 50% and still meet U.S. national security needs.7 We spend 17 times the combined military budgets of all potential adversaries.8 By spreading U.S.-made arms all over the world, we may actually increase the potential for war.9 In October of 1996, the Congress and the President approved a 1997 military budget with $9.4 billion more than the Pentagon requested.10

  1. Information on attempted cuts was provided by the U.S. House Budget Committee in its original budget proposals for FY 1996 and FY 1997, available at the committee Web site (www.house.gov). The cuts which passed were much smaller than those proposed, due to vetos from President Clinton in the fall of 1995.

  2. The Boston Globe estimates Corporate Welfare at $150 billion per year. Their series is located at http://www.envirolink.org/issues/corporate/welfare. The National Commission for Economic Conversion and Disarmament in Washington, DC published a report entitled "Pentagon Corporate Welfare" estimating the portion of corporate welfare in the military budget to be $10 billion, so non-Pentagon corporate welfare is about $140 billion.

  3. For example, Newt Gingrich was quoted in the Boston Globe on February 3, 1995 as saying that students receiving Pell grants were not doing their part to reduce the deficit.

  4. The figures for these three programs:

    Welfare (AFDC): about $25 billion in 1994-5 [Statistical Abstract of the U.S.]
    Student Aid: $32.7 billion in 1994-5 [Chronicle of Higher Education]
    Environmental Protection Agency: $6.3 billion in 1995 [Statistical Abstract of the U.S.]
    Total for Welfare, Student Aid, EPA: $64 billion

    Four times this figure is $256 billion, still less than the 1996 military budget of $265.6 billion.

  5. Gray, Jerry, "Senate Approves a Big Budget Bill, Beating Deadline," New York Times, October 1, 1996, p. 1.

  6. Derived from "U.S. Military Spending, 1945-1996," fact sheet by Martin Calhoun, Center for Defense Information, April 2, 1996. Includes spending on nuclear weapons programs by the US Dept. of Energy.

  7. See Korb, Lawrence, former Asst. Secretary of Defense in the Reagan Administration, in "Our Overstuffed Armed Forces," Foreign Affairs, November/December 1995; also America's Defense Monitor interview with William Colby.

  8. In 1991, General Colin Powell was quoted, "We no longer have the luxury of having a threat to plan for." Below are the military budgets of all the countries the Pentagon defines as potential adversaries, as listed in the report World Military Expenditures and Arms Transfers, US Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, 1996:
    Iraq3 billionSyria3 billion
    Libya1 billionCuba0.3 billion
    North Korea6 billionIran2 billion
    Total : $15.6 billion

    Multiplied by 17, this comes to $265.2 billion, still less than the United States military budget.

  9. "Armed for Profit," The Boston Globe, special 12-page report. Feb. 11, 1996.

  10. "Highlights: The Senate's Bill for Fiscal '97," New York Times, October 1, 1996, chart on p.22.


Back to the Challenge the Lie$ Page

Petition for New Priorities | 24 Lie$ Flyer Series | Speakers Tour | CCO Home Page


1997 Center for Campus Organizing, Box 748, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA 617-354-9363 cco@igc.apc.org