Starve out the F-35s!

Updated on

The “final” decision isn’t final yet.

We are working several avenues to prevent the F-35 joint strike fighter jets from coming to Madison. Here’s a great opportunity.

Thank Mark Pocan if he is your representative.

Read the Washington Post article: Citing financial cost of pandemic, House liberals demand cut in military spending

Representatives Barbara Lee (D-CA-13) and Mark Pocan (D-WI-2) have drafted a letter to the House Armed Services Committee chair Adam Smith (D-WA-9) and the ranking member Mac Thornberry (R-TX-13) urging them to draft a Pentagon budget below last year’s $740 billion levels as we fight this global pandemic.

We need to ensure that we get as many members of Congress to add their names in support of the Pocan/Lee letter. Send this to people you know in other states and districts!

Please call your Rep. today and demand they add their name – or thank them and urge them to specify the F-35 program in their demands for cuts.

1. Call the Congressional switchboard at 1-202-224-3121
2. Ask to be connected to your representative’s office
3. Once connected (or asked to leave a voicemail), say:

Hello, my name is (your name) and I am a voting constituent from (your city). I am calling to urge the representative to add his/her name to the Pocan/Lee letter calling to pass a Pentagon budget this year that’s reduced from last year. America needs a coronavirus cure, not more war.  We need more testing, not more bombs. The F-35 program is a prime example of wasteful spending that can be cut. [comment added by Safe Skies Clean Water WI] In order to reopen our nation in a safe manner, we need to focus our spending efforts on the millions of additional coronavirus tests, as well as covering treatment costs, developing therapeutics, and distributing future vaccines. I look forward to hearing the representative’s response to my request.

You can also sign this international Cancel the F-35 petition

We need to remind Congress that they are accountable to us, the people, and not Trump, not the Pentagon, and NOT to arms dealers. There is a real and immediate need out there for things that will actually make us safer and more secure. We need more N95 masks, not more F-35 jet fighters. Those are useless against the tremendous threat to our security we find ourselves in. We need more masks, more ventilators, and more nurses. We need assistance for the tens of millions of people that have lost their jobs. We need aid for communities that were already struggling before the pandemic. America needs a coronavirus cure, not more war.

Please call your representative today!

This action initiated by Paul Kawika Martin of Peace Action

P.S. If your Rep. is Mark Pocan (D-WI-2), Barbara Lee (D-CA-13), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR-3), Peter DeFazio (D-OR-4), Adriano Espaillat (D-NY-13), Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ-3); Jared Huffman (D-CA-2), Andy Levin (D-MI-9), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY-14) Ilhan Omar (D-MN-5), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA-7), Jamie Raskin (D-MD-8), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI-13), or Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ-12), please call and thank them for already adding their name.