Philadelphia City Council Says Stop Funding the War Machine
By Jane Dugdale
June 21, 2012
Philadelphia City Council, by a vote of 15-2, passed today a resolution "calling on the U.S. Congress to bring all U.S.
troops home from Afghanistan, to take the funds saved by that action and by significantly cutting the Pentagon budget,
and to use that money to fund education, public and private sector family-sustaining job creation, special protections
for military sector workers, environmental and infrastructure restoration, care for veterans and their fammilies, and
human services that our cities and states so desperately need."
Introduced by Councilmember Maria Quiñones-Sanchez on April 12 with six other co-sponsors , the resolution was drafted
by the Delaware Valley New Priorities Network, comprised of dozens of labor, neighborhood, faith, and peace
organizations. The resolution details the human catastrophe in the City of Philadelphia: a third of its children live in
poverty, more than a third are hungry, more than 300 veterans are homeless on any given night; schools and health
clinics are closing; teachers, firefighters and police are losing their jobs.
According to John Braxton, President of the Faculty and Staff Federation of the Community College of Philadelphia and
representative of the Delaware Valley New Priorities Network, "This resolution asks you [members of Philadelphia City
Council] to join the majority of Americans who favor cutting the military budget and rebuilding America.’’
The City Council of Philadelphia is now on record as having done just that.
The resolution contrasts the $2 billion shortfall of the City of Philadelphia over the next five years with the $5
billion spent on wars by Philadelphians since 2001. The resolution notes the doubling of military spending in the last
decade and that the U.S. military budget could be cut by 80% and still be the largest in the world.
The Delaware Valley New Priorities Network is comprised of: American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (District Council 47), and retirees of
same; Brandywine Peace Community, Center for the Celebration of Creation (Chestnut Hill United Church), Catholic Peace
Fellowship,Faculty and Staff Federation of Community College of Philadelphia, Coalition of Labor Union Women, East Mt.
Airy Neighbors, Fight for Philly, Journal of the Working Class Struggle, Living Water United Church of Christ, Main Line
Peace Action, Mt. Airy Presbyterian Church, Neighborhood Networks, Pennsylvania Progressive Democrats of America,
Philadelphia Granny Peace Brigade, Philadelphia National Writers Union, Philadelphia United for Peace and Justice
Delaware Valley Network Education Committee, Philadelphia Area Black Radical Congress, Physicians for Social
Responsibility, Temple University Graduate Students Association, US Labor Against the War, Vets for Peace, Women’s
International League for Peace and Freedom.
Click for big version.
Councilmember Maria Quinones-Sanchez, who successfully introduced the resolution to Redirect Military Spending to Fund
Our Communities, poses outside Philadelphia City Council Chambers with some of the members of the Delaware Valley New
Priorities Network, which drafted the resolution, passed by Philadelphia City Council June 21 by 15-2. From left, Andrew
Deffley, philadelphiacommunities.com; Jane Dugdale, Main Line Peace Action; Councilmember Quinones-Sanchez; Ben Sears, Philadelphia Federation of Teachers,
retirees; Bob Smith, Brandywine Peace Community; John Braxton, Faculty and Staff Federation of Community College of
Philadelphia; Ken Heard, National Writers Union.
ENDS