A MORAL BUDGET VERSUS A WAR BUDGET
Institute for Policy Studies | Kairos CENTER | Repairers of the Breach | Poor Peoples Campaign
The BBBA is an attempt to respond to these crises – which predate and have become worse during the pandemic – through life-saving programs like health care, cash assistance and paid leave, but it is stalled in the Senate. While there is much more to be done, it is both morally wrong and economically insane to block the BBBA and use the lie of scarcity to claim it is too expensive, when at the same time, Congress will likely pass the NDAA, which is four times greater.
These two bills represent diametrically opposed views of how to address the challenges of our time: a moral budget vs a war budget. Congress: Which side are you on?
What will it do?
Build Back Better Act
National Defense Authorization Act
- Reduce poverty and economic insecurity through fully refundable tax credits that reach the poorest households
- Make health care, child care, and housing more affordable
- Create good jobs in home care and other key sectors of the economy
- Make additional investments towards a clean energy economy
- Prioritize military force over diplomacy by funding $15 for the military for every $1 for diplomacy and non-military aid
- Continue the proliferation of nuclear weapons
- Subsidize huge paychecks for military contractor CEOs
- Worsen climate change by continuing the Pentagon’s role as the largest institutional source of fossil fuel emissions in the world, and contaminate drinking water near military bases with toxic “forever” chemicals.
Build Back Better Act
National Defense Authorization Act
$170 billion per year
(average over 10 years)
$778 billion per year
(This includes $768 in discretionary spending and $10 billion in mandatory spending)
Who will benefit the most?
Build Back Better Act
National Defense Authorization Act
- 61 million children (39 million families) who will continue to receive the Child Tax Credit
- 18 million workers who will have paid family and medical leave
- 17 million low-wage workers who will continue to receive the expanded EITC
- 6 million children who will benefit from universal pre-k
- 4 million uninsured people who will have access to Medicaid
- 800,000 elderly and disabled people who are on the Medicaid waiting list for home health care
- Military contractor CEOs. The top 20 made an average of $18 million in 2020
- Corporate contractors that took in $422 billion in FY 2021 alone
Who will be most harmed?
Build Back Better Act
National Defense Authorization Act
- Families of 900,000 people killed, and 38 million displaced, by U.S. wars
- 18 million veterans who face increased risks of unemployment, homelessness, family violence and suicide
- 642,000 children in military families who endure repeated deployments and separation
- Servicemembers who are targets of sexual assault and white supremacist extremism due to inadequate accountability from the Pentagon
- Many of the up to 110 million people exposed to toxic “forever” chemicals in drinking water
- Everyone in the world, from the Pentagon’s fossil fuel emissions, which are larger than those of many countries
BBBA Proposals vs. Real Military Spending
- More for Pentagon contracts to a single company (Lockheed Martin, $75 billion in FY 2021) than child care and preschool ($40 billion/year under BBBA)
- More for equipment and programs the Pentagon didn’t even ask for ($25 billion) than child and earned income tax credits ($20 billion/year under BBBA)
- More on guarding the world’s oil supply ($81 billion/year) than for climate and clean energy initiatives to protect the planet ($55 billion/year under BBBA)
- More for the Space Force ($17.5 billion) than for healthcare for Americans ($13 billion/year under BBBA)
- More than twice as much for military bases in Germany ($7.5 billion) than for Medicare hearing benefits ($3.5 billion/year under BBBA)
- More for the wasteful F-35 ($12 billion) than on a better immigration system ($10 billion/year under BBBA)
What will it do?
Build Back Better Act
- Reduce poverty and economic insecurity through fully refundable tax credits that reach the poorest households
- Make health care, child care, and housing more affordable
- Create good jobs in home care and other key sectors of the economy
- Make additional investments towards a clean energy economy
National Defense Authorization Act
- Prioritize military force over diplomacy by funding $15 for the military for every $1 for diplomacy and non-military aid
- Continue the proliferation of nuclear weapons
- Subsidize huge paychecks for military contractor CEOs
- Worsen climate change by continuing the Pentagon’s role as the largest institutional source of fossil fuel emissions in the world, and contaminate drinking water near military bases with toxic “forever” chemicals.
Build Back Better Act
$170 billion per year
(average over 10 years)
National Defense Authorization Act
$778 billion per year
(This includes $768 in discretionary spending and $10 billion in mandatory spending)
Who will benefit the most?
Build Back Better Act
- 61 million children (39 million families) who will continue to receive the Child Tax Credit
- 18 million workers who will have paid family and medical leave
- 17 million low-wage workers who will continue to receive the expanded EITC
- 6 million children who will benefit from universal pre-k
- 4 million uninsured people who will have access to Medicaid
- 800,000 elderly and disabled people who are on the Medicaid waiting list for home health care
National Defense Authorization Act
- Military contractor CEOs. The top 20 made an average of $18 million in 2020
- Corporate contractors that took in $422 billion in FY 2021 alone
Who will be most harmed?
Build Back Better Act
National Defense Authorization Act
- Families of 900,000 people killed, and 38 million displaced, by U.S. wars
- 18 million veterans who face increased risks of unemployment, homelessness, family violence and suicide
- 642,000 children in military families who endure repeated deployments and separation
- Servicemembers who are targets of sexual assault and white supremacist extremism due to inadequate accountability from the Pentagon
- Many of the up to 110 million people exposed to toxic “forever” chemicals in drinking water
- Everyone in the world, from the Pentagon’s fossil fuel emissions, which are larger than those of many countries
BBBA Proposals vs. Real Military Spending
- More for Pentagon contracts to a single company (Lockheed Martin, $75 billion in FY 2021) than child care and preschool ($40 billion/year under BBBA)
- More for equipment and programs the Pentagon didn’t even ask for ($25 billion) than child and earned income tax credits ($20 billion/year under BBBA)
- More on guarding the world’s oil supply ($81 billion/year) than for climate and clean energy initiatives to protect the planet ($55 billion/year under BBBA)
- More for the Space Force ($17.5 billion) than for healthcare for Americans ($13 billion/year under BBBA)
- More than twice as much for military bases in Germany ($7.5 billion) than for Medicare hearing benefits ($3.5 billion/year under BBBA)
- More for the wasteful F-35 ($12 billion) than on a better immigration system ($10 billion/year under BBBA)
