But hang on for the ride – there will be a few more fiscal “cliffs,” “curbs,” “mudslides,” “berms,” or whatever bumpy metaphor you might like to use. Decisions about spending cuts of the so-called “sequestration” were not part of this deal. Instead they were passed off to the next Congress being sworn in on January 3, 2012 to figure out with a new March 1 deadline. And by the way, the budget for Fiscal Year 2013 was never completed. Instead Congress passed a stop-gap Continuing Resolution funding the government until March 27. We need a deal by then to keep the government running. In addition, we are reaching the debt ceiling. Without congressional agreement to raise the debt ceiling, we risk government shutdown, defaulting on loans and economic disasters.

Ready for more? In the midst of this roller coaster start to 2013, there will be plenty of need to raise the issue of budget priorities. We cannot afford to make cuts to everything else while letting the bloated Pentagon budget escape fiscal discipline. Fortunately, some new voices are starting to recognize this, too. Conservative leader of Americans for Tax Reform, Grover Norquist, says that, “Serious conservatives need to declare that they, that taxpayers, are looking at the entire budget and saying, ‘where can we be more efficient and more effective?’ We have a rather large Pentagon budget, larger than most of the other countries in the world that have armies, navies, and air forces combined.”

Nevertheless we know well that the defense industry lobbyists are ready to make the case for more nuclear weapons, more F-35s, maybe even more bayonets and a cavalry, too.

We hope you are as ready as those lobbyists – ready to make the case for budget priorities that will lead us to safety, strength and prosperity, even if we have to make it through a few bumps and spins to get there.

Published: December 4, 2012 by The Hill's Congress Blog

Republished: December 22, 2012 by NJ Today

With the campaigns over, our leaders must roll up their sleeves and get to work on the serious financial decisions facing the nation. Congress has known for more than a year that automatic budget cuts and tax increases loom in January, but they’ve left all the work to be done at the last minute. They need to hear from us that we expect them to make a balanced deal to preserve programs that strengthen our nation while making sensible budget cuts to programs that are wasteful or unnecessary.

As state legislators, we battled to maintain critical investments in our states as revenues plunged with the start of the Great Recession. We provide many services to our communities in partnership with the federal government, so the possibility of further deep cuts to these programs is of great concern. Education, health care, housing, and transportation, along with an array of lesser known but equally important programs, are critically important to meet the needs of our citizens.

These programs are especially important right now as people still face significant struggles to recover from the down economy. Millions have lost their jobs, or face the daily fear of layoffs, decreased hours and reduced wages. It’s often said that we can’t afford to meet these needs and rebuild the economy, but really we can’t afford not to. It’s simply a question of government spending priorities that serve the greater good versus a handful of special interests.

Our leaders must recognize the need for investments that promote jobs and build the economy, even as we cut back on spending. Unlike most other areas of spending, the Pentagon budget has grown unchecked for the past decade. But it is not clear that these dollars are the investment we need for the 21st century. Reshaping Pentagon spending, which currently eats up more than half of the discretionary spending that Congress allocates annually, will be crucial to any deal on the federal budget.

America maintains a large and expensive nuclear arsenal from the Cold War era. For the cost of just one new nuclear submarine, we could provide body armor and bomb-resistant Humvees to all our troops overseas, house and treat every homeless U.S. veteran, and still have $2.2 billion left over to pay down debt. Our troops and security should come before pork-barrel programs.

Our national security priorities must include a reduction in drawn-out expensive wars with massive price tags and lasting negative effects felt here at home and in the nations where wars are waged. We are still stuck in Afghanistan – America’s longest war. We need an exit strategy that focuses on a political solution in Afghanistan, with particular concern for the welfare of women and children.

Responsibly reshaping Pentagon spending would free up money for much-needed investments here at home. Programs that keep us safe, like border security, disaster relief, and air traffic control, and programs that are investments in our long-term economic stability, like education, all face cuts in the coming year. Necessary funding to state and local communities is also on the chopping block. This November and December, we must urge our leaders to find a balanced approach to the so-called “fiscal fiasco” that does not exempt Pentagon spending at the expense of crucial domestic programs.

We are at a critical crossroads in deciding how we as a nation want to spend our money and build our economy. Do we want to invest in education? Roads and bridges? Safe communities and safe borders? Or do we want to continue pouring money into wasteful programs that the Pentagon doesn’t want or need? Will we reshape the Pentagon budget to address 21st century threats, or continue to waste money on Cold War-era weapons?

The good people of Georgia and all fifty states are relying on Congress to find a balanced approach to put us back on the path to prosperity. Our vote on November 6 expressed a belief that Americans, working together, can craft solutions and rebuild our national economy. The votes have been counted. Let’s get to work.

Published: December 25, 2012 by the Cambridge Chronicle & Tab

And, besides, we are not exempt from questions about our own human rights policies -- the use of drones, our inability to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, and our growing and unchecked Pentagon budget that allocates funds to war and defense contractors instead of vital programs that address healthcare, hunger, child abuse and education, for example.

Steve Rothstein, president of the Perkins School for the Blind, said that he could not sleep if he were one of the senators voting no. When he explained that 4.5 million children in the world cannot go to school because they are blind, I could only think of our neighbor’s child who is a student at Perkins and has made great progress there.

It is time to join the rest of the world and work for the goals that represent our better selves.

I and my fellow advocates at Women’s Action for New Directions will be watching and hoping for another vote in the next Congress. Next time, let’s get it right.