Not a member of MPA? Join over 32,000 members who are... Donate Now! >>and stand up for a better Maine! |
Not receiving our email updates? |
About MPA
Get Involved
Donate Now
News & Media
Health Care
Affordable Housing
The Environment
End the War!
That's why we've held more than ten rallies and press conferences this year calling on Maine's senators to end it.
On August 15, we held a rally in Bangor to release a report drawing attention to the costs of the war here in Maine. Read the press release below or read the full report.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 15, 2007
MPA Reveals Iraq War’s Cost to Maine
New data shows new investments in Maine health care, education, job training, other priorities are a tiny fraction of Iraq War spending every month
Bangor – Maine People’s Alliance and Catholics for an End to the War in Iraq today released a report with new data revealing the cost of the Iraq War to Maine. Maine taxpayers have spent 1.2 billion of the $456 billion in total funding for the Iraq war.
The report, titled “Getting U.S. Back on Track” and authored by the USAction Education Fund, illustrates how Maine’s cost of war could have provided health insurance for more children, funded Head Start and provided more college scholarships in the state.
The report also finds that the modest new investments in neglected priorities such as health care and education to be debated this fall between Congress and President Bush would amount to a fraction of what is spent every month on the war.
“This data highlights how the Bush administration’s upside-down priorities have shortchanged Maine families and communities,” said MPA federal issues organizer Ben Chin. “For a fraction of what Maine taxpayers have spent in Iraq, we could be addressing neglected priorities like providing more health care and college scholarships for families in Maine.”
- Cost of fully funding SCHIP coverage in the United States for one year = about 53.4 days of Iraq war spending
- Cost of restoring Maine K-12 education funding ($22.6 million) = about 99 minutes of Iraq war spending
- Full Title I funding for U.S. schools ($14.4 billion) = less than a month and a half of Iraq war spending
- Cost of restoring Maine child care funds ($1.6 million) = about 7 minutes of Iraq war spending
- Cost of restoring Maine child support funding ($5.3 million) = about 23 minutes of Iraq war spending
- Cost of restoring Maine job training funds ($5.3 million) = about 23 minutes of Iraq war spending
"As a state legislator, I see first hand how Mainers bear the cost of this war. It's crucial that we stop wasting money on this war to redirect our resources to our real priorities in Maine," added state representative Benjamin Pratt of Eddington.
Bush administration officials and Republican leaders have suggested they would shut down the government before passing even modest increases in funding for these vital priorities.
“It is unconscionable for President Bush and GOP leaders to threaten to shut down the government over a fraction of what they are spending on the endless war in Iraq,” said Chin. “Senators Collins and Snowe should vote to override President Bush’s veto of new funding that makes a down-payment toward fully funding children’s health care, job training, education and other priorities that have been neglected for far too long.”
Join us
If you are interested in joining us in our campaign to end the war, contact Ben Chin at
782-7876 or ben@mainepeoplesalliance.org
Read about our Spring rally with Win Without War's Tom Andrews.
Americans Against Escalation in Iraq
MPA is part of the national coalition Americans Against Escalation in Iraq, a national campaign comprised of many of the organizations that successfully mounted the national campaign in 2005 to defeat President Bush’s effort to privatize Social Security. Using that same campaign model, these organizations have joined with more traditional anti-war forces, Veterans and students to mount this campaign because the stakes are so high and because the future of a generation of Americans is on the line.
Visit the AAEI site