What can $104 billion buy, other than war in Iran? $37 billion has been spent so far on this war. Now the Pentagon wants another $67 billion for a war that Congress hasn’t approved, authorized, or declared—and has actually publicly rebuked. So here are some things we could spend that money on instead.
We could cancel half of all medical debt in the United States.
We could cancel student debt for over half a million borrowers.
We could eliminate the budget shortfall for Pell grants and let millions of low income students attend or stay in college.
We could close the funding gap for all underfunded public schools in the United States.
We could buy six years of free lunch for all public school students in the US.
We could offer three years of health care subsidies so that millions of Americans could afford health care.
We could give $5,500 to every small business in the US.
Instead of throwing money away on bombs that kill people, we could invest it here in people who would then be able to work and contribute more to our economy and our tax revenue, and also just take care of people who need help, because that’s the normal human nice thing to do.
Ben Sheehan is a political commentator and digital creator. He specializes in civics education, which is showcased in his latest book, What Does the Constitution Actually Say?: A Non-Boring Guide to How Our Democracy Is Supposed to Work. Check out his Substack, Politics Made Easy.
