Bernie Sanders Secures Support from Half of Senate Democrats In Bid to Defund the Pentagon

breitbart ^ | 22 Jul 2020 | KRISTINA WONG

[MarvinStinson]

Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday touted securing the support of half of the Senate Democrats for his amendment to defund the Pentagon by 10 percent and invest in “distressed communities” instead.

Sanders’ amendment gained support from 23 members of the Senate Democrat Caucus — half of the 45 Democrats in the Senate.

The support was not enough to get the amendment passed and part of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, but was a show of support from Democrats for defunding the military.

Sanders said in a statement after the vote:

"Today, almost half of the members of the Senate Democratic Caucus — 23 Senators — voted to cut Pentagon spending by 10% and invest in human needs. This is far and away the most significant step forward in recent years in addressing our bloated $740 billion military budget and changing our national priorities.

"We are going to continue building a political movement which understands that it is far more important to invest in working people, the children, the elderly, and the poor than in spending more on defense than the next 11 nations combined."

Sanders’ amendment was co-sponsored by progressive Sens. Ed Markey (MA), Elizabeth Warren (MA), Jeff Merkley (OR), Ron Wyden (OR), and was endorsed by Senate Democratic Leader Schumer (D-NY).

Sanders also pointed out that a companion bill in the House received 40 percent support from Democrats.

The amendments to defund the Pentagon come on the heels of progressive activists’ calls to “defund the police.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) called Sanders’ proposal “unhinged.”

“Today, the Senate will vote on a Democrat amendment to slash defense spending that was advertised in an op-ed titled ‘Defund the Pentagon.’ From defunding the police to defunding the U.S. Armed Forces.” he tweeted.

[ronnie raygun]

So not only are we defunding law enforcement and its open season on civilians we have now pulled out pants down and allowed our enemies abroad to come right in. There is an option “we the people” have but do we have the balls?

[robowombat]

Could be. Massachusetts made no bones of wanting all US military out of the state aside from the Boston Navy Base because of Old Ironsides being there.
When Ft Devens was closing up, the county inked a contract for a warehouse park for part of the former base. The county executive said, live on TV, ‘We are now looking forward to a better class of tenants here.’

[ncfool]

Maybe Joe Biden will double down on this and adapt this on the DNC platform at 25% defunding. That would be a big election gift for President Trump.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/07/22/sanders-secures-half-senate-democrats-defunding-pentagon/