 So we have another testimony, and that will be from Carly Town. Hey, Carly. Carly is the co-director of Code Pink and coordinates the Defund, the Pentagon program. Thank you, Carly. Thank you, Rachel. And thanks everyone for being here this afternoon or this evening, wherever you are. And, you know, I just want to go ahead and share my screen quickly. Thanks so much for that wonderful introduction, and good to see you as well, Chris. So as Rachel said, my name is Carly Town. I'm co-director of Code Pink. I work on our divest from the War Machine campaign, which works to divest our schools, our cities, our politicians, and other financial institutions from the War Machine. I want to thank everyone again for putting on this amazing event. And today I'm going to talk a little bit about an important legacy of the Cold War, which is military spending. So with that, I want to talk about current levels of U.S. military spending in the United States. I think this is a really important graphic. I'm sure many people here have seen it, but important to show, right? It means that right now the United States spends more than the next 10 nations combined on our Pentagon budget. You can see that there. Some important things about this. It's important to note that the category of, quote, unquote, defense in budget accounting doesn't include programs that would probably be classified as part of spending on national security. So most obviously, right? Those are separate accounts for the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Veterans Affairs. So when we look at a graphic like this and you see that number, it's important to understand that doesn't even capture the entirety of U.S. spending on militarized programs within the United States. Okay, so we see how much more we spend on the Pentagon budget compared to other countries, right? So I wanted to explore a little bit about the Pentagon budget a little more. So in 2021, right? The Pentagon budget is $740 billion, which means if we break that down, we'll spend over a million dollars a minute on the Pentagon in 2021. So by the time I'm done with this presentation, probably $10 million. Half of that budget will go directly to private, quote, unquote defense contractors, including weapons companies like Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, which represents a huge increase in spending on private defense contractors since 2001 alone. So that's the Pentagon budget today. We dedicate so much of the Pentagon budget to creating and maintaining weapons that the U.S. military sends quote, unquote, excess military-grade weaponry to local police forces through something called the 1033 program. And the 1033 program was created in the 1990s during the quote, unquote war on drugs and has since transferred over $7.4 billion that we know of in excess property, including weapons to local police forces. And you see that photo there is from a protest from this summer in Miami where a police officer watches from an armored vehicle. So, you know, I think that these numbers are shocking, right? And at the end of the day really demonstrate what our real priorities are as a nation. And you know, it's important to put them into a broader context, right? When I say $740 billion on the Pentagon budget, you know, you can see here just 10% of that could help end homelessness in the United States, right? Something Chris was mentioning. 20% of that could make public college tuition free for two years. 50% of the Pentagon budget could end world hunger by 2030, right? So within that context, it's really important to understand how do we get to this point where our budget priorities are so skewed, right? And today, right, I'm going to talk a little bit about how we can't talk about our current military spending without understanding it as part of the many legacies of the Cold War, right? This is really, really important. So I want to show people here another graph. This one shows us more of a timeline of our spending on national defense over the years. So, you know, many current discussions about the U.S. military budget began around the early 2000s, right? During the beginning of the so-called war on terror. You'll see that first pink arrow there pointing to that. But if we take defense spending historically in a broader context, current spending on defense and nuclear weapons, nuclear weapons, the latter is under the auspices of the Department of Energy actually exceeds levels during the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Reagan buildup in the 1980s, which I also pointed out in the graph there with that pink arrow. But also we need to understand that U.S. nuclear capability has primarily been motivated by and justified by right after World War II, a parallel buildup in the Soviet Union. The Vietnam War was often justified by reference to the dominant theory that through Vietnam, of course, right, communism was spread to the rest of Southeast Asia. That was the dominant theory. And after the end of World War II, if you go to the final arrow there, you can see a sharp increase in military spending, which has not been below spending levels in the post-war period of the 1950s since, right? So, while we see a large uptick in military spending during the so-called war on terror, you have to look back historically to see when this large uptick in military spending really started and has since not dipped below, right? So, that's really important. Another thing that's an important legacy of the Cold War is from the cost of war data, which shows a similar trajectory. So, on the screen, you actually see an animated photo, which is showing you over the years the number of U.S. military braces abroad. And again, that the United States has been the world's dominant military power since the end of World War II in the beginning of the Cold War. U.S. military bases around the world, of course, right, really stirs a physical testament to the legacy of U.S. military buildup during and after the Cold War. So, I think this is another really important legacy that we have to remember when we talk about current levels of Pentagon spending to put it into that historical context. So, all of this, I think, can be a little bit overwhelming. Understanding the enormity of the Pentagon budget can really feel that way. But I think it's also important for us today to recognize that the tide is turning. You know, we're officially a little over one year into a really devastating public health crisis that is really wreaking havoc on the lives of millions of people across the globe and in the United States. And many people are really waking up to the fact that we can't continue the failed strategy of pouring hundreds of billions into the Pentagon budget while we underfund things like public health programs, the Green New Deal, that sort of thing, right? And I think this tweet from Corey Bush is excellent to remind yourself that the tide is turning on the conversation around the Pentagon budget. So, I also just wanted to end with a quick, what can you do, right? It's not all doom and gloom. So, a recent study from the Security Policy Reform Institute found a direct correlation between contributions from the defense industry and voting to maintain or increase military spending, right? We all know that that link is there, but there's a study now showing that. And at Code Pink, we're calling on everyone to reach out to their congressional representatives to sign the Code Pink pledge to commit to stop taking campaign contributions from weapons companies. I posted that link in the chat box right before I started speaking. So, you can see the pledge here. We're asking people to commit to refuse money from weapons makers. It's a very simple pledge. It's a really great way to start talking to your local congressional representative. And if they say no, that they're unwilling to stop taking campaign contributions from weapons makers, that's a really important piece of information for you and for activists in your area. Why is it that your congressional representative won't commit to stop taking money from weapons makers? And we have a list of some of the folks that we've already asked to sign on who have agreed. I'll leave this on the screen for a couple of seconds here and, you know, make sure you ask yourself, has your representative signed our pledge to stop taking campaign contributions from weapons manufacturers? And if they haven't, right? It's really important that they do. Again, I posted a link in the chat box, which takes you to it. I also wanted to mention, you know, the importance of this pledge. The security policy reform institute also recently did a study of every congress member who has signed our pledge to divest from war, who has also voted unanimously to move funds from the Pentagon to the people, right? So this is, again, a really important tool that I'd love for people to check out. And last thing before I wrap up, having your congressional representative sign our pledge to stop taking campaign contributions from weapons companies is really important first step. We also need to show our politicians that we have concrete ways they can reduce the Pentagon budget and invest in our local communities, which is why we have a code pink guide to Pentagon cuts. I also posted in the chat for people. When you go to that website, you'll see the specific cuts that we're asking our representatives to make. It's a way to also educate them about what actually is contained within the Pentagon budget. As I said, it's enormous. And even our congressional representatives don't know what's inside. So I just wanted to end with a way to, to encourage people to take action today. It's also in the chat box. And with that, I want to thank everyone for a really excellent event. And I will go ahead and stop sharing my screen now. Thank you so much. Thank you, Carly. And.