Conservatives, Liberals and Moderates Agree:

Washington, DC —A politically diverse coalition of interest groups—ranging from liberal anti-war organizations to conservative Tea Party activists—is calling for the House of Representatives to support an amendment that would freeze the Pentagon’s budget at current spending levels. In fact, the groups say the House should go further and make even deeper cuts.

In a letter organized by the Project On Government Oversight (POGO), the groups today urged House members to support the bipartisan Mulvaney-Frank amendment, which holds Pentagon spending at the fiscal year 2012 level of $518 billion. Doing so would require a modest $1.1 billion reduction from what is currently proposed in the House bill but would still leave a Pentagon budget that is $3.1 billion more than what the military requested.

The 25 groups that signed on to the letter include conservative groups such as Tea Party WDC and National Taxpayers Union and liberal groups such as the Campaign for America’s Future and CREDO Action.

The freeze offered by Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.) and Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) would exclude spending on military personnel, the Defense Health Program and operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. And rather than targeting specific programs, the amendment allows commanding officers to make strategic spending decisions.

The letter notes that Congress has already voted for greater spending caps in last year’s Budget Control Act. Right now, the House defense appropriations bill is $17.1 billion over the baseline spending caps.

To read the letter, go to: http://www.ourfuture.org/files/documents/Mulvaney-Frank-Amendment-Letter... "> http://www.ourfuture.org/files/documents/Mulvaney-Frank-Amendment-Letter... [1]

Groups signing the letter:
AgainstCronyCapitalism.org
Campaign for America’s Future
Center for International Policy
Center for Media and Democracy
CODEPINK
CREDO Action
Council for a Livable World
Foreign Policy in Focus
Global Exchange
Just Foreign Policy
Ladies of Liberty Alliance
Mennonite Central Committee U.S. Washington Office
National Taxpayers Union
New Jersey Peace Action
Peace Action
Peace Action New York State
Peace Action West
Project On Government Oversight (POGO)
Rio Grande Foundation
Taxpayers for Common Sense
Taxpayers Protection Alliance
Tea Party WDC
Tri-Valley CAREs
United for Peace and Justice
USAction
WAND

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