H-5068.1  _______________________________________________

                     HOUSE JOINT MEMORIAL 4040

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      55th Legislature     1998 Regular Session

By Representatives Ogden, Romero and Cole

Read first time 02/17/98.  Referred to Committee on Government Administration.

Regarding redirection of money from the military budget.

    TO THE HONORABLE WILLIAM J. CLINTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE AND THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AND TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED:

    We, your Memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled, respectfully represent and petition as follows:

    WHEREAS, Although we believe that the United States should retain its position as the strongest military nation in the world, we also believe that the security of our nation is fundamentally not on military might, but on the well-being and vitality of our citizens; and

    WHEREAS, Programs which sustain and improve the health, education, affordable housing, environmental protection, and safety of our citizens are being transferred from the federal to the state governments; and

    WHEREAS, The funds being provided by the federal government to the states are insufficient to fulfill these responsibilities; and

    WHEREAS, The seven countries currently identified as our potential adversaries have a combined military budget of fifteen million dollars, while the United States military budget for 1997 is two hundred sixty-five billion dollars; and

    WHEREAS, The United States military budget remains at cold-war levels and contains:  Eleven billion four hundred thousand dollars not requested by the Pentagon, twenty-five billion dollars for ten thousand nuclear weapons and their delivery systems, and forty billion dollars excess of what many former military leaders and leading business executives consider sufficient; and

    WHEREAS, Current Pentagon spending outweighs all military threats, and creates fewer jobs than increased spending on domestic programs would deliver; and

    WHEREAS, Shifting funds from the military to repairing our infrastructure would dramatically improve the well-being of our citizens and strengthen our ability to compete successfully in the world market;

    NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully pray that sufficient amounts of money be redirected from the military budget to the several states so that we can meet the critical needs of rebuilding our communities and inner cities, repairing our schools, educating our children, eliminating hunger, providing housing, improving transportation, protecting our environment, and obtaining a decent level of health care and safety for all of our citizens, thereby increasing fundamentally our security and well-being.

    BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to the Honorable William J. Clinton, President of the United States, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and each member of Congress from the State of Washington.

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