Representative
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515

RE: Please support the Common Sense Budget Act

Dear Representative ,

I strongly urge you to cosponsor and actively support the Common Sense Budget Act, H. R. 4898, which would bring some urgently needed common sense to federal spending. The legislation would divert $60 billion from the Pentagon budget and allocate it to social investment, renewable energy and humanitarian aid.

Distribution of these funds would include:

• $10 billion annually to provide health care coverage for millions of uninsured children.
• $10 billion a year to be spent on modernizing schools.
• $10 billion to be invested annually in renewable energy.
• $13 billion to be spent every year on humanitarian foreign aid.

H. R. 4898's proposed cuts for the Pentagon follows recommendations from Reagan Assistant Defense Secretary Lawrence J. Korb. In a report issued in conjunction with the introduction of the Common Sense Budget Act, Korb writes that, "without diminishing America's ability to fight extremists, America can save $60 billion mostly by eliminating Cold War-era weapons systems designed to thwart the former Soviet Union--weapons and programs that are not useful in defending our country from extremists or the other threats we now face." Most of the proposed savings come from reducing the size of the U.S. nuclear arsenal, cutting most spending for the missile defense program, and scaling back or eliminating support for weapons designed to fight perceived threats from the Soviet Union.

The proposed cuts might upset particular defense contractors and government agencies, but they would not compromise our security at all--rather they would greatly enhance it by channeling funds to domestic investments absolutely vital to our nation’s health and survival.

The Pentagon is seeking $463 billion for the next fiscal year. That figure excludes the amount to fight the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, for which the administration is expected to seek an additional $115 billion in 2006. So we're approaching $600 billion a year in defense/war spending, which amounts to 47 percent of the world’s total government military spending. U.S. population is about 4.6 percent of the global total. It is time to exercise some common sense to ensure our nation’s true security. Please cosponsor the Common Sense Budget Act and do everything you can to ensure its passage.

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