Fiscal Note
No appropriation required.
Title
Calling on the U.S. Congress to continue funding human and environmental needs and not increase military spending.
Body
WHEREAS, President Donald J. Trump has proposed to shift $54 billion from social, humanitarian, scientific and environmental priorities at home and abroad in order to increase the military budget; and,
WHEREAS, the residents of Madison already pay over $193 million in federal taxes for military expenditures, an amount that each year could fund all of the following priorities locally:
• 1,034 seats for low-income children in high-quality, subsidized childcare;
• 6 more childcare centers in Madison accredited, thereby expanding access to quality childcare;
• 120 permanent supportive apartments for chronically homeless individuals in brand new state of the art facilities;
• 1 new bus barn to house the expanding fleet of Madison Metro buses to support the 15 million rides taken per year;
• Enough solar panels to power 2000 Madison households;
• 25 new Madison Police Officers;
• 25 new Madison Firefighters;
• 17 million foodbank meals, the total number of meals needed to serve Madison's hungry in 2016;
• 6,500 seats for middle-school students to take a three week web-development and coding class during summer break;
• 167 full scholarships for Madison high-school graduates to attend four years at the University of Wisconsin-Madison;
• 33 new Madison Metropolitan School District elementary school teachers;
• 1 new biodigester to breakdown Madison's organic compost and divert tons of waste from the landfills;
• 1 Public Market;
• Full enrollment in Medicaid for an additional 862 seniors, 498 individuals with disabilities, 542 adults and 1,215 children;
• And 2,584 new family memberships to the Madison Children's Museum; and,
WHEREAS, our community's human and environmental needs are critical, and our ability to respond to those needs depends on federal funding for education, welfare, public safety, and infrastructure maintenance, transit, science and environmental protection; and,
WHEREAS, the President's proposal would reduce foreign aid and diplomacy, which help to prevent wars, famine and the forced migration of refugees, and 120 retired U.S. generals have written a letter opposing these cuts,
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Mayor and Common Council of Madison, Wisconsin urges the United States Congress, and our federal representatives in particular, to reject the proposal to cut funding for human and environmental needs in favor of military budget increases, and to begin moving in the opposite direction, to increase funding for human and environmental needs; and,
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that the City Clerk sends a certified copy of this resolution to the City of Madison’s federal representatives.