John,

Congress is voting next week to hand Trump even more money for state violence—a record-breaking military budget of nearly $1 trillion taxpayer dollars.

The fascist-in-chief will use this to put more troops on our streets and continue attacking other countries. He’s illegally using the military for law enforcement, and he’s egging on ethnic cleansing and occupation in Palestine.

There are too many war-mongers in our government. Half of the annual Pentagon budget goes to weapons corporations, which many members of Congress own stock in and receive campaign contributions from.¹

So when my colleagues press that yes button to vote for increases to the military budget, some are personally benefiting financially. That’s why I’m leading the push to ban members of Congress from investing in the weapons industry.

Before the Senate and House of Representatives vote on the military budget, we must speak up and urge Congress to invest in life rather than death.

Sign the petition to demand Congress reject the military budget for fiscal year 2026—and instead invest in what our communities need, like healthcare, housing, and clean air and water.

Members of Congress already sent an additional $150 billion to the Pentagon war machine in the Big Budget Betrayal bill earlier this year. Shamefully, they did this while voting to cut healthcare and food assistance for families in their districts.

Many of my colleagues who claim to care about waste and fraud have no problem voting for increases in the Pentagon budget, even though the Pentagon hasn’t passed an audit for 7 years in a row.

Imagine the transformative impact on our communities if we spent $1 trillion more on life instead of death, every year. We could guarantee access to healthcare, housing, clean air and water, and more.

We deserve a government that represents and serves the people, especially now when Americans are struggling with rising poverty, homelessness, and hunger.

Please add your name now to demand Congress reject the National Defense Authorization Act and invest in lifesaving programs for our communities.

Thank you for speaking up. Our government has the money needed to lift children out of poverty and ensure that all Americans can thrive, but we need to keep pushing to make that happen.

With you in the fight,

Rashida

1. Pentagon provided $2.4tn to private arms firms to ‘fund war and weapons’, report finds