For decades, our government has waged endless wars abroad with bipartisan support in Washington. That bipartisan support has ensured that the Pentagon’s defense spending is the largest budget of any agency and the majority of our taxpayer dollars line the pockets of corporate defense contractors making record profits, who in turn line the pockets of corrupt politicians who greenlight more bottomless spending for war. 

Right now, the Department of Defense is on track to have a $1 trillion budget while our communities fail to receive the federal investment we need in our housing, healthcare, education, and jobs. While defense contractors make billions in profits every year, veterans have some of the highest rates of homelessness, suicide, and mental health crises. At every step, these budgets happen at the expense of the American people – especially those who are shipped overseas to fight politicians’ wars for them. 

I’m running to end the blank checks for war, bombs, and weapons, and to demand that money be re-invested in our communities where it belongs. War is not a foreign policy. As one of the most powerful nations in the world, we should be leading with diplomacy as the center of our foreign policy, and stop letting corporate defense contractors and warmongering politicians steal our money and lead us into wars no one wants.

One of the most horrifying atrocities actively happening right now is the genocide in Gaza that the Israeli military is only able to commit with the financial and political support of the US government. Unlike my opponent, I refuse to let AIPAC buy my silence in the face of genocide, apartheid, and famine. I will fight for an immediate arms embargo, ceasefire, and a massive influx of humanitarian aid to end this genocide and deliver on the promise of Palestinian freedom and self-determination. I will support the Ceasefire Now and Block the Bombs Act in Congress and never vote to send weapons to the Israeli military. No country committing human rights violations should be receiving our aid—from Saudi Arabia to Israel, there should be no exceptions. 

There is nothing complex about genocide and our community deserves leaders who are clear-eyed enough to understand that.