Armed with paper “Peace Cranes,” members of NJ Peace Action on Friday joined a weekly demonstration at Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen’s (r-11th Dist.) Morristown office to press for a 25 percent reduction in defense spending.
Blanca Gerrard and Helga Moon brought a display of the handmade symbols — which have roots in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima– to underscore their argument that the money could fund infrastructure improvements, fair and equitable health care, and other social programs.
“We’re stronger than anyone else. We know where [the money] goes: To the military-industrial complex,” said Moon, one of about 35 activists who attended “Fridays Without Frelinghuysen.”
The weekly event is organized by NJ 11th for Change, a grassroots group that has been urging Frelinhuysen to hold his first town hall meeting since 2013.
Frelinghuysen, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, endorsed the Fiscal Year 2018 Defense Appropriations bill in his weekly newsletter.
The spending plan reverses “years of unwise cuts to our national security [and] represents the next step forward in rebuilding our military and ensuring our nation is ready to meet any current or emerging threat,” he said.
Slideshow photos by Bill Lescohier
The proposed measure provides $584.2 billion in discretionary funding, an increase of $68.1 billion above the FY 2017 enacted level and $18.4 billion above President Trump’s Defense budget request, said the Congressman, who was not present at the demonstration.
The defense bill includes more than $130 million for armaments projects at Picatinny Arsenal in Rockaway Township, and $776 million for a new Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine program with components in New Jersey, Frelinghuysen said.
An earlier measure approved by the committee proposes $157 million for upgrades to Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst for a new KC-46 tanker plane in 2020.
The 2018 defense bill also calls for $684 million for cancer- , traumatic brain injury- and sexual assault prevention / response research to benefit veterans, Frelinghuysen said.
Morristown Green contributor Bill Lescohier contributed to this report.
