This week, the House Armed Services Committee made a decision that might seem commonplace in our highly-militarized nation: they shifted money around in the budget to fund the purchase of F-22 fighter jets.

However, this is no ordinary decision. They want to take $322 million away from the fund to cleanup dangerous nuclear waste in order to pay Lockheed Martin for these planes.

It gets worse. The Pentagon doesn’t even want these fighter jets because they were designed for use in a conflict with the Soviet Union. The US military already has 187 F-22s, which are viewed by many inside and outside of the military as obsolete and wasteful.

Taking money away from the cleanup process underway at some of the nation’s nuclear weapons sites is inexcusable. Radioactive waste continues to cause harm to the environment and people in the surrounding communities. For example, in Hanford, Washington, barrels of highly radioactive waste are leaking into the ground and the water table.

We as a nation cannot afford to continue ignoring the urgent need to clean up the mess left behind by nuclear weapons production. The US military budget is already at the highest level in history. To pad this bloated budget, especially at the expense of vital environmental cleanup, is shameful.

Call or write your Representative today to demand that this foolish misallocation of funds be reversed. To call your Representative, dial (202) 224-3121. To write, click on the link below:

http://capwiz.com/wagingpeace/issues/alert/?alertid=13604796

Source: Nuclear Age Peace Foundation