Fundamentally alter our national priorities, now is the time. Whether it is fighting against systemic racism and police brutality, transforming our Energy System away from fossil fuel, ending a cruel and dysfunctional Health Care System or addressing the grotesque levels of income and wealth inequality in our country, now is the time for change, real change. And when we talk about real change, it is incredible to me the degree to which Congress Continues to ignore our bloated 740 billion Defense Budget which has gone up by over 100 billion since trump has been in office. Year after year, democrats and republicans who disagree on almost everything come together with minimal debate to support an exploding pentagon budget which is now higher than the next 11 countries combined, now higher than the next 11 countries combined and which represents more than half of our discretionary spending. Incredibly, after adjusting for inflation, we are now spending more on the military than we did during the height of the cold war when we faced a major adversary in the soviet union or during the wars in vietnam and korea. This extraordinary level of military spending comes at a time when the department of defense is the only agency of our federal government that has not been able to pass an independent audit, when defense contractors are making enormous profits, while paying their c. E. O. s exorbitant compensation packages, and when the socalled war on terror will end up costing us some 6 trillion. I believe that this is a moment in history where it would be a very good idea for all of my colleagues and the American People to remember what former republican president dwight d. Eisenhower said in 1953. And as we all recall, eisenhower was a fourstar general who led the allied forces to victory in europe during world war ii. He knew something about war and defense spending. Eisenhower said, and i quote and this is a profound statement that we should never forget. Eisenhower said, and i quote every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. End quote, dwight d. Eisenhower. What eisenhower said was profoundly true 67 years ago, and it is profoundly true today. If the horrific pandemic we are now experiencing has taught us anything, it is that National Security is not just building bombs, missiles, jet fighters, tanks, submarines, Nuclear Warheads and other weapons of mass destruction. National security also means doing everything we can to improve the lives of our people, many of whom have been abandoned by our government decade after decade. Mr. President , in order to begin the process of transforming our national priorities, i have filed an amendment to the National Defense authorization act with senator markey of massachusetts to reduce the military budget by 10 and to use the 74 billion in savings to invest in distressed communities all across our country, communities that have been ravaged by extreme poverty, mass incarceration, deindustrialization, and decades of neglect. At a time when more americans have died from the coronavirus than were killed fighting in world war i, when over 30 million americans have lost their jobs in recent months, 30 million, when tens of millions of americans are in danger of being evicted from their apartments or their homes because they no longer have adequate income, when education in america from child care to graduate school is in desperate need of reform, when half a million americans are homeless tonight and when close to 100 million of our people are either uninsured or underinsured, now is the time to invest in our people, in jobs, education, housing, health care here at home, not more military spending for an already bloated military budget. Now is the time to get our priorities right. Under this amendment, distressed communities in every state in our country would be able to use this 74 billion in funding to create jobs by building Affordable Housing desperately needed in our country, by investing in schools with School Budgets all over america when School Budgets all over america are in desperate shape, investing in child care facilities, Community Health centers, public hospitals, libraries, Sustainable Energy projects, and clean Drinking Water facilities. These communities would also receive federal funding to hire more Public School teachers, provide nutritious meals to our children, and offer free tuition at public colleges, universities, or trade schools. Mr. President , at this Pivotal Moment in american history, we have to rethink our nations priorities and we have to make a fundamental decision about who we are as a people. Do we really want to spend billions more on endless wars in the middle east, or do we want to provide goodpaying jobs to millions of unemployed americans at home as we rebuild our communities . Do we want to spend more money on Nuclear Weapons or do we want to invest in child care and health care for the American People who need it the most . Mr. President , when we take a close look at the Defense Department budget and sorry to say, i dont think we are doing that here in the senate it is interesting to note that congress has appropriated so much money for the Defense Department that the pentagon literally does not know what to do with it. Children go hungry in america, people sleep out on the streets streets, young people cant afford to go to college, but Defense Department literally does not know what to do with all of the money that Congress Throws at it. According to the Government Accountability office, the g. A. O. , between 2013 and 2018, the pentagon returned more than 80 billion in funding back to the treasury. They couldnt spend the money that they had. In my view, the time is long overdue for us to take a hard look not only at the size of the pentagon budget, but at the enormous amount of waste, cost overruns, fraud, and at the financial mismanagement that has plagued the department of defense for decades. Mr. President , let us be clear about half of the pentagons budget goes directly into the hands of private contractors, not our troops. And i think i share the view with every member of the senate that we must protect our troops. I dont want troops and their families on food stamps. I dont want to see our military living in inadequate housing or lacking child care for their kids. We must make sure that our men and women in the armed forces have as good a quality of life as we can provide. But let us again not forget that about half of the pentagons bblg budget goes directly into the hands of private contractors, not the troops. And over the past two decades virtually over the past two decades virtually every major defense contractor in the United States has paid millions of dollars in fines and settlements for misconduct and fraud while making huge profits on those government contracts. Since 1995, a key part of united technologies, the major defense contractors in america paid 3 billion in fines over related settlements for fraud or misconduct, 3 billion in fines related settlements for fraud, those companies received 1 trillion in defense contracts over the past two decades alone. Mister president , i find it interesting that the same defense contractors that have been found guilty your reached settlements for fraud, paying their ceos, excessive compensation packages. The ceos of Lockheed Martin and grumman made 20 million in total compensation, 90 of the companys revenue came from defense contracts. These companies, it is important to note, for all intents and purposes these companies are governmental agencies. They are receiving 90 of their revenue, a subsidiary of the federal government. 90 of their funding from taxpayers of the country they are paying their ceos over 100 times more than the secretary of defense makes. The secretary of defense just fine, but ceos on government revenue, the major Defense Companies earn 100 times more than the secretary of defense. It is not surprising to learn we have a revolving door where our generals and admirals and highranking officials in the military leave Government Service and end up on the boards of directors of Defense Companies. Moreover, mister president , there are massive cost overruns in the Defense Department acquisition budget, the United StatesCongress Must address. According to the gao the pentagons 1. 8 trillion acquisition portfolio, 628 billion in cost overruns, with much of the cost taking place, they tell the government and the dod doesnt mean much doesnt mean after the contract. And and and theres less capability to the war fight. The commission, in 2011, the 60 billion spent in iraq and afghanistan have been lost to fraud and waste. The special Inspector General of Afghanistan Reconstruction reported the pentagon could not account for 45 billion in funding reconstruction projects. A few bucks here and there, of taxpayer money was lost would not be accounted for. The Defense Logistics Agency found the dod could not properly account for 800 billion in construction projects, that is what happens with a huge agency that is truly unaccountable. I believe in a strong military, giving more money to the pentagon than it needs when millions of children in our country are food insecure. 140 million americans cannot afford basic necessities of life without going into debt, going after billions into the pentagon and a few blocks away from here, sleep out on the streets, children cant find decent education, young people cant afford in 1966, Martin Luther king jr. Warned us, quote, a nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death. Let me repeat that. Doctor king said, quote, a nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift approaching spiritual death. The time is long overdue the United States senate to listen to what doctor king said. At a time when in the richest country in the history of the world, half of people struggling paycheck to paycheck, 40 million americans living in poverty, 500,000 americans are homeless, to quote doctor king, we are approaching spiritual death. At a time we have the highest rate of any major country on earth, when millions of americans are in danger of going hungry, approaching spiritual death. When 60,000 americans die unnecessarily, they cant afford to go to a doctor. Their doctors prescribe, we are approaching spiritual death. And unprecedented National Crisis it is time to rethink what we value as society and fundamentally transform our national fight. The status quo is no longer good enough, in national crises, a growing pandemic, economic meltdown, police brutality, and unstable president , it is time for us to truly focus on what we value as a society and fundamentally transform our national priorities. Cutting the military budget by 10 , investing in human needs, is a modest way to begin the process, with that i yield the floor. Maryland senator ben cardin paid tribute to those killed on the anniversary of the Capital Gazette shooting in annapolis, maryland, five employees of the newspaper were killed by a gunman on june 20 eighth 2018