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---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 16 Feb 1997 14:41:34 +0000
From: "Dr. Ruben Botello" <sananda at northcoast.com>
To: AHS-L at AMERICAN.EDU
Subject: Students, Unite!
-----------------------------------------------------------------
*PLEASE FORWARD* revised: 2/7/97
Dear Students and Faculty Members:
Congress and the President have begun to wake up on budget priorities!
Some of the worst Republican student-aid cuts were reversed in October by
Congress, and the President yesterday proposed the first significant
increases in education and housing spending in over a decade!
However, rather then get the money from parts of the budget where there
is plenty of fat to cut, politicians are planning raids on entitlement
programs, such as Medicare and Social Security -- pitting the interests of
young and homeless people against elderly folks.
There is no need for this. The United States, as the richest country in
the world, has the resources to provide basic income security to those of
us facing harsh economic trends. If we cut $125 billion from corporate
welfare, cut $75 billion from military forces we no longer need, and tax
the windfall a few are receiving from corporate downsizing, our government
would run a surplus. Yet the rejoinder we hear time and time again is that
we need to make deep cuts in social programs in order to "balance the
budget."
For this reason, the Center for Campus Organizing, the Student Peace
Action Network, the US Student Association, Youth for Democratic Action,
20/20 Vision, Women's Action for New Directions, the Campaign for New
Priorities, and over 20 grassroots peace and justice groups on college
campuses have joined together to circulate a "Petition for New Priorities."
We ask you to join in this effort. All it takes is a group with 5 or
six people to stand in a public place for two or three days near lunchtime
to collect signatures. Then, you can use the support you find to generate
some publicity which will put heat on local politicians to support balanced
budget priorities. For example, you can ask your local Congressperson to
sign the petition; if he or she refuses then you can raise public awareness
about how they have sold out to corporate interests.
Here are the schools involved so far. To get your petition kit, please
call 617-354-9363 or send e-mail to rcowan at lesley.edu. Thanks!!
Schools (as of 2/3/96)
American University
Antioch College
Brandeis University
Clark University
College of Wooster, OH
Cornell University
Marquette University, WI
Penn State University
Purdue University
RIT
St. Cloud St. University
St. John Fisher College
St. Peters College
University of Colorado
University Incarnate Word
University of New Mexico
University of Pennsylvania
University of Vermont
Xavier University
------------------- to get a clean copy with lots of informative posters
and fact sheets, send e-mail to rcowan at lesley.edu
Petition for New Priorities
We, the undersigned, are distressed that the government is making
cuts in important social programs in order to "balance the budget." The
greatest obstacle to balancing the budget is the $400 billion spent each
year on the military and on corporate welfare. (see details on reverse)
We urge President Clinton and all representatives in Congress to
make cuts in military spending and corporate subsidies to pay for new
priorities that place greater value on education, environmental protection,
and human welfare. We support congressional proposals to redirect military
spending and corporate welfare to social spending. We pledge to give our
votes and our time to candidates who pledge to support these new
priorities.
SIGNATURE PRINTED NAME & ADDRESS
1. ___________________ __________________________________________________
2. ___________________ __________________________________________________
3. ___________________ __________________________________________________
4. ___________________ __________________________________________________
5. ___________________ __________________________________________________
6. ___________________ __________________________________________________
7. ___________________ __________________________________________________
8. ___________________ __________________________________________________
9. ___________________ __________________________________________________
10. __________________ __________________________________________________
11. __________________ __________________________________________________
12. __________________ __________________________________________________
13. __________________ __________________________________________________
14. __________________ __________________________________________________
15. __________________ __________________________________________________
When returned to the group listed below, completed petitions will be
delivered to local representatives, to President Clinton, and to the
newsmedia:
(page 2)
"Petition for New Priorities" - Background Info
In the last two years, the U.S. Congress has tried to cut billions
of dollars from domestic programs like welfare, student aid, and enforcing
environmental laws1 while preserving $150 billion in corporate welfare.2
Politicians have said that we must "make sacrifices" in order to reduce the
deficit.3 However, these three domestic programs together amount to less
than one-quarter of the military budget, which has been spared from cuts.4
We now spend over $260 billion in tax dollars every year on the
military, including nuclear weapons programs.5 Even though the Cold War
ended 7 years ago, we spend 90% as much on the military now as we did from
1950-1990.6 Many respected military analysts have detailed how the
Pentagon could cut spending by up to 50% and still meet U.S. national
security needs.7 We spend 17 times the combined military budgets of all
potential adversaries.8 By spreading U.S.-made arms all over the world, we
may actually increase the potential for war.9 In October of 1996, the
Congress and the President approved a 1997 military budget with $9.4
billion more than the Pentagon requested.10
1 Information on attempted cuts was provided by the U.S. House Budget
Committee in its original budget proposals for FY 1996 and FY 1997,
available at the committee Web site (www.house.gov). The cuts which passed
were much smaller than those proposed, due to vetos from President Clinton
in the fall of 1995.
2 The Boston Globe estimates Corporate Welfare at $150 billion per year.
Their series is located at
http://www.envirolink.org/issues/corporate/welfare. Thd National
Commission for Economic Conversion and Disarmament in Washington, DC
published a report entitled "Pentagon Corporate Welfare" estimating the
portion corporate welfare in the military budget to be $10 billion, so
non-Pentagon corporate welfare is about $140 billion.
3 For example, Newt Gingrich was quoted in the Boston Globe on February 3,
1995 as saying that students receiving Pell grants were not doing their
part to reduce the deficit.
4 The figures for these three programs:
Welfare (AFDC): about $25 billion in 1994-5 [Statistical Abstract of the U.S.]
Student Aid: $32.7 billion in 1994-5 [Chronicle of Higher Education]
Environmental Protection Agency: $6.3 billion in 1995 [Statistical
Abstract of the U.S.]
Total for Welfare, Student Aid, EPA: $64 billion
Four times this figure is $256 billion, still less than the 1996
military budget of $265.6 billion.
5 Gray, Jerry, "Senate Approves a Big Budget Bill, Beating Deadline," New
York Times, October 1, 1996, p. 1.
6 Derived from "U.S. Military Spending, 1945-1996," fact sheet by Martin
Calhoun, Center for Defense Information, April 2, 1996. Includes spending
on nuclear weapons programs by the US Dept. of Energy.
7 See Korb, Lawrence, former Asst. Secretary of Defense in the Reagan
Administration, in "Our Overstuffed Armed Forces," Foreign Affairs,
November/December 1995; also America's Defense Monitor, interview with
William Colby.
8 In 1991, General Colin Powell was quoted, "We no longer have the luxury
of having a threat to plan for." Below are the military budgets of all the
countries the Pentagon defines as potential adversaries, as listed in the
report World Military Expenditures and Arms Transfers, US Arms Control and
Disarmament Agency, 1996:
Iraq 3 billion Syria 3 billion
Libya 1 billion Cuba 0.3 billion
North Korea 6 billion Iran 2 billion
Total : $15.6 billion
Multiplied by 17, this comes to $265.2 billion, still less than the
United States military budget.
9 "Armed for Profit," The Boston Globe, special 12-page report. Feb. 11, 1996.
10 "Highlights: The Senate's Bill for Fiscal '97," New York Times, October
1, 1996, chart on p.22.
