We demand that Congress reject the Trump administration’s request for a massive funding package to pay for its illegal war against Iran. Multiple media reports indicate that they are seeking as much as $200 billion. We do not want another cent of our tax money to go towards sustaining this aggression – Congress needs to use its power over the budget to cut off the war machine.

It is an outrage that the Trump administration wants to prioritize death and destruction in Iran at a time when it has become almost impossible for working people to make ends meet. $200 billion would be enough money to provide every uninsured person in the country with healthcare. It could create 1.9 million jobs that pay a living wage. $200 billion would clear the backlog of repairs needed in our crumbling public school system, or pay for the construction of a high-speed rail network across the country. But Trump wants to waste this money on weapons that can only be used to destroy and kill.

The only people who benefit from this war are executives at oil companies and weapons manufacturers. Iran poses no threat to the people of the United States, and Trump has not even bothered to come up with a consistent excuse for why he started the war. But Trump wants to use $200 billion of our taxpayer money to line the pockets of his friends at corporations like Lockheed Martin and Boeing. The people want our money to be used to meet people’s needs, not feed the war machine.