Brown Bag Lunch Vigil at Betsy Markey’s Office – September 15th

Tell Congresswoman Markey to support the recommendations of the Sustainable Defense Task Force!

Strength Through Peace (STP) and Progressive Democrats of America – Northern Colorado (PDA – NC) are co-sponsoring a Brown Bag Lunch Vigil outside the Fort Collins office of Congresswoman Betsy Markey from 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday, September 15th.  Markey’s office is located in the Opera Galleria building at 123 North College Avenue.

Concerned that President Obama’s “National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform” would focus exclusively on cuts to popular programs like Social Security and on tax increases, Representative Barney Frank and three other members of Congress (one other Democrat, and two Republicans) formed the “Sustainable Defense Task Force” in April of this year.  This task force was charged with looking for ways to cut the bloated military budget.

The Sustainable Defense Task Force released its recommendations in June.  It found ways to reduce the military budget by $960 Billion between 2011 and 2020, which equates to over $100 Billion per year.  The Task Force’s report acknowledges that significant additional savings are possible.  See http://www.comw.org/pda/fulltext/SDTFreportexsum.pdf to view the Executive Summary.

The final report of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform is due on December 1st of this year.  PDA-NC and STP are asking Congresswoman Markey to request that the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform consider the recommendations of the Sustainable Defense Task Force when preparing their report.  It will not be possible to put our financial house in order and make necessary human and infrastructure investments without reducing the military budget substantially.

This Brown Bag Lunch Vigil is part of a national effort sponsored by Progressive Democrats of America to highlight the human and financial costs of war and militarism.  For more information on this effort, click here.

We will gather outside of Opera Galleria at noon on September 15th.  Don’t forget to bring your lunch!  We’ll have signs, or people are welcome to bring their own.  We’ll then proceed to the corners of College and Mountain and College and LaPorte with our signs until 12:45.  After that, we’ll return to Opera Galleria, and those interested in delivering our letter to Markey’s staff will go up to her office to do so.

For additional information concerning the vigil in Fort Collins, e-mail STP or call us at 970-419-8944.