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President Donald Trump's proposed $1.5 trillion military budget for fiscal year 2027 has evoked a strong negative reaction from Democratic Congressional Candidate Ray Bilger of Pennsylvania's 15th Congressional District. Bilger has joined several other congressional candidates across the country in calling for cuts in the bloated military budget and increased investments in programs to meet human needs.
Foremost among those needs, according to Bilger, is rural healthcare.
"Several hospitals in our district have closed or cut services in recent years", stated Bilger in a response to the Move the Money campaign, "Federal investment could keep rural hospitals open, expand mental health and addiction treatment (critical for the ongoing crisis that has hit our region hard with the loss of manufacturing jobs), and bring more providers to underserved counties."
Other candidates in the 2026 midterm elections, in addition to echoing Bilger's focus on increased funding for healthcare, pointed out the critical need to move the money in order to provide affordable housing, family leave, and childcare; improving education; feeding the hungry; housing the homeless; investing in renewable energy; and protecting the environment.
Current legislators also clearly see the dire need to shift federal funding and priorities from the Pentagon to the People. The Defense Spending Reduction Caucus identified "Donald Trump's draconian proposal" to raise the military budget to $1.5 trillion as perhaps "the most egregious waste of taxpayer dollars we have ever seen." In June, Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts introduced the Slash the Pentagon Act (S. 4799) calling for a 50% reduction in military spending. In February, Rep. Mark Pocan of Wisconsin along with 22 co-sponsors introduced the Audit the Pentagon Act (H.R. 7555) in response to the Pentagon's failure to register a clean audit for eight consecutive years.
All these legislative initiatives, progressive stances by candidates, and the Move the Money campaign of the U.S. Peace Council heed the prophetic warning of Rev. Martin Luther King: "A nation that, year after year, continues to spend more on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death."