Michigan Senators Stabenow and Peters also voted for the $895 billion US military budget while millions living in the US are barely surviving

On Wednesday of this week, Michigan Senators Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters voted to approve the largest US military budget in history at $895 billion.

The vote passed in the US Senate with very little resistance, with 85 voting for the National Defense Authorization Act and only 14 voting against.

As I noted earlier this week when the US House passed the proposed $895 billion US military budget, there were two other provisions to the National Defense Authorization Act. One of those provisions, according to a recent article on The Intercepted, “would bar the Pentagon from publicly citing as “authoritative” casualty data from the Gaza Health Ministry, effectively concealing the full extent of the death toll in Gaza in the military’s public communications. The data from Palestinian authorities has been the only consistent and reliable count of the death toll out of Gaza over the last 14 months, with Israel consistently denying human rights workers access to the enclave and preventing foreign media journalists from entering.” This fits with Rep. Scholten’s unconditional support for Israel, especially in the past 14 months while Israel has been committing a genocide against the Palestinians. 

A second provision  would prohibit transgender children on military health insurance from receiving gender-affirming care. This provision was included by the Republican Party, which would codify explicitly anti-LGBTQ+ policy into federal law for the first time in decades.

The votes from Michigan Senators Stabenow and Peters come as no surprise, since both of them have consistently voted for every US Military budget, regardless of who is in the White House. This vote by Senator Stabenow is likely to be one of her last voted in her long political career. Besides always voting for massive US military budgets, Stabenow has consistently supported US weapons sales abroad, even to countries like Saudi Arabia, which has a horrendous human rights record. According to the website boughtbyzionism.org, both Senator’s Stabenow and Peters have received significant funding from Pro-Israel groups, which has translated to their unconditional support for Israel, even while Israel is committing genocide.

Senator Gary Peters did post something on his website about the $895 billion US military budget, which you can find here. Senator Peters loves to brag about things like making sure that US military facilities in Michigan receiving funds from the National Defense Authorization Act, along with bragging about how Military contractors are being supported, which is really just a form of corporate welfare for weapons manufacturers. What Senator Peters fails to mention in his Press Release are the two provisions cited above, preventing the Pentagon from citing Palestinian deaths or casualties, and prohibiting transgender children on military health insurance from receiving gender-affirming care. 

The National Defense Authorization Act is going to President Biden’s desk to be signed and there is no indication that he will veto it. Just one more example of how Michigan Senators Stabenow and Peters have always supported military funding over the meeting the basic needs of millions throughout the country. 

“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.”  Dr. Martin Luther King Jr