Pax Christi USA joins 37 organizations in condemning the U.S. ranking in global military spending

Ed. Note: With the release of the latest data on global military spending from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) Pax Christi USA has joined with 37 other organizations in condemning the United States’ ranking. The SIPRI data shows that the U.S. is first in military spending, accounting for 39% of the total global military spending, and that the U.S. spends more than the next 12 countries combined. Read below the statement we signed onto with our partners.

For more on the Global Days of Action on Military Spending, read our PSA (Pray-Study-Act) at this link.

Once again, the United States tops one of the world’s most infamous rankings lists — top military spenders. In 2020, the United States’ spending on the military and nuclear weapons made up 39% of the global total, according to an annual report released today by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. This is the third year in a row that the United States’ spending has increased.

As 38 organizations that work in the United States, we are continually disappointed by the members of Congress and presidents that choose to purchase weapons and wage warfare at the expense of our communities and our children’s futures.

Our political leaders’ militaristic foreign policy choices and blatant disregard for the domestic needs of taxpayers have fueled the growth of the bloated Pentagon budget year after year. In 2020, our nation faced crises ranging from a pandemic to disastrous wildfires, evidencing the urgent need for investment in public health and climate change instead of F-35 warplanes and new nuclear weapons. The misallocation of our resources into militarized spending has weakened our nation’s ability to respond to the things that affect people’s day-to-day well-being.

Even as it becomes increasingly apparent that militarized spending isn’t the answer to today’s global problems, the Biden administration proposed increasing the 2022 discretionary defense budget to a whopping $753 billion. Members of Congress must do better. We call on them to significantly decrease spending on the military and nuclear weapons for FY2022 and to reallocate that money into true national priorities like public health, diplomacy, infrastructure, and addressing climate change.

Signed:

• +Peace
• Alliance of Baptists
• American Friends Service Committee
• Beyond the Bomb
• CODEPINK
• Campaign for Peace Disarmament and Common Security
• Center for International Policy
• Christian Peacemaker Teams
• Climate Crisis and Militarism Project of Veterans for Peace
• Coalition on Human Needs
• Columban Center for Advocacy and Outreach
• Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, U.S. Provinces
• DC Dorothy Day Catholic Worker
• DC Peace Team
• Dominican Sisters of Sparkill
• East Lansing, University United Methodist Church
• InterReligious Task Force on Central American and Colombia (IRTF Cleveland)
• LP Indivisible
• Leadership Conference of Women Religious
• Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns
• Massachusetts Peace Action
• National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd
• National Priorities Project at the Institute for Policy Studies
• Outrider Foundation
• Passionist Solidarity Network
• Pax Christi USA
• Peace Action New York State
• Peace Education Center
• Pennsylvania Council of Churches
• Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association
• RootsAction.org
• Sisters of Mercy of the Americas – Justice Team
• The United Methodist Church – General Board of Church and Society
• Washington Office on Latin America
• Win Without War
• Women’s Action for New Directions
• World BEYOND War
• World Beyond War – Florida Chapters