Office of Peacebuilding and Policy signs interfaith letter opposing $1.5 trillion Pentagon budget

Faith Communities Urge Congress to Reject the $1.5 Trillion Pentagon Budget: An Interfaith Sign-On Letter to the United States Congress

April 2026

Dear Senator / Representative:

As faith communities across the United States, we write to urge you to reject President Trump’s proposed $1.5 trillion Pentagon budget for Fiscal Year 2027. Our traditions are united by a shared moral conviction: the call to protect human dignity, care for the vulnerable, and pursue peace demands that our nation make wiser and more just choices with its resources.

This proposed budget would represent a staggering 50 percent increase over the already enormous $1 trillion dollar FY 2026 Pentagon budget—at a moment when millions of Americans are losing access to health care, food assistance, and other vital support. The United States already spends more on its military than the next nine countries combined, including China and Russia. A $1.5 trillion budget would mark the first time the US has accounted for more than half of total global military spending. A Pentagon budget increase of this magnitude is not a response to genuine security needs; it is a moral failure.

Across our many traditions—Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh, Quaker, Unitarian, and others—we share a common teaching: we are called to tend to the least among us—not to build ever-larger arsenals of destruction while cutting the programs that sustain life.

The human cost of this proposed budget is already visible. In H.R. 1, enacted this past summer, more than $1 trillion was cut from Medicaid, Medicare, the Affordable Care Act, and SNAP—programs that millions of families depend on for food and health care. Some of those funds were redirected to add $150 billion to the Pentagon. These choices have made our communities less safe, not more.

We are also deeply troubled by the lack of accountability that accompanies this unprecedented spending. The Pentagon has never passed an independent audit. More than half of its budget flows to corporate military contractors whose profits continue to rise. To dramatically increase funding for an institution that cannot account for the money it already receives is not stewardship; it is recklessness.

True security is built not on military dominance, but on the shared prosperity that comes from housing, health care, clean air and water, ending hunger, and quality public education. A nation that neglects its sick, its hungry, its unhoused, and its children while funneling ever-greater sums into an unaccountable military apparatus is fundamentally insecure, and fails to reflect the values of a just society—let alone those of the many faith traditions that have helped shape this nation’s moral character.

We therefore call on Congress to:

Reject the proposed $1.5 trillion Pentagon budget and oppose any increase in Pentagon funding for FY 2027.

Protect funding for essential human needs programs such as Medicaid, Medicare, SNAP, housing assistance, education and other programs that support the health and dignity of millions of Americans.

Demand accountability from the Department of Defense, including a credible path toward passing a full financial audit before any further budget increases are considered.

Invest in alternatives to militarism—such as foreign aid, diplomacy, peacebuilding, and nonviolent social movements to ensure true human national and global security.

At this critical moment, we ask Congress to act with moral clarity. We urge you to move forward wisely, justly, and in the spirit of the common good.

Sincerely,

Signed Organizations:
A Community Voice ACORN
Alliance of Baptists
American Friends Service Committee
Center on Conscience & War
Church of the Brethren, Office of Peacebuilding and Policy
Church World Service
Colombia Human Rights Committee
Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, U.S. Region
Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes Peace & Justice Office
Dominican Sisters of Hope
Dominican Sisters of Peace
Dominican Sisters of San Rafael
Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa Peace and Justice Office
Emmanuel Congregational UCC, Watertown NY
Faithful America
Felician Sisters of North America
Franciscan Action Network
Friends Committee on National Legislation
Holy Spirit Missionary Sisters, USA-JPIC
Latin America Working Group Education Fund
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns
Medical Mission Sisters
Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate
MPower Change Action Fund
Mennonite Central Committee U.S.
Muslim Civic Coalition
Muslim Community Network
National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd
National Council of Churches
Presbyterian Church (USA) Office of Public Witness
Presbyterian Peace Fellowship
Presentation Sisters San Francisco
Presentation Sisters Union – US Unit
Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism
Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati
Sisters of IHM, JPIC Committee, Scranton, PA
Sisters of the Holy Family
Sisters of Mercy of the Americas
Sisters of St. Dominic of Caldwell -Commission on Global Issues
Sisters of St. Dominic/Racine Dominicans
Sisters of St. Francis, Clinton, Iowa
Sisters of St. Joseph Associates
Sisters of St. Joseph of Boston
Sisters of the Humility of Mary
Sisters of the Precious Blood Justice Committee
Texas Impact
United Church of Christ
United Women in Faith
The United Methodist Church – General Board of Church and Society
US Council of Muslim Organizations (USCMO)

#MissionAndMinistryBoard #StrategicPlan #RacialJustice #LoveOurNeighbors #Discipleship #NewTestamentGiving

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