As a divided Congress and President Biden fight over raising the debt ceiling to pass a budget bill, some House Democrats have proposed slashing the United States defense budget by $100 billion.

The proposal comes as the United States faces threats from both Russia and China, where the latter has escalated its antagonism significantly by deploying spy balloons over U.S airspace.

The United States has also depleted its stockpiles by giving billions of dollars of weapons to Ukraine as they try to fend off a Russian invasion.

One might think that if Progressives were proposing to slash the United States defense budget, they would also be skeptical of sending more military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine, which came to roughly $62 billion in Fiscal Year 2022.

Instead, the House Progressive Caucus sent a weakly worded letter to Biden last October that they were later forced to retract after being criticized but have otherwise supported giving a blank check to Ukraine.

Americas Voice News Reports–

House Democrats on Wednesday introduced a bill to cut the Department of Defense’s budget by $100 billion amid an ongoing battle over raising the nation’s debt ceiling.

Democratic Reps. Barbara Lee, Calif., and Mark Pocan, Wis., this week reintroduced the “People Over Pentagon Act” to slash the defense budget. The Pentagon’s total budget currently stands at $817 billion for 2023 due to the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act.

“More defense spending does not guarantee safety, but it does guarantee that the military-industrial complex will continue to get richer,” Pocan said of the bill. Lee contended in a press release that funds sent to the Pentagon are often “mismanaged” and added that “just $100 billion could do so much good,” before pointing to alternative projects that might benefit from the money.

“Year after year, this country pours billions into our already-astronomical defense budget without stopping to question whether the additional funding is actually making us safer,” Lee said.