Cohen Highlights Need to Refocus on American Priorities Instead of Overseas Spending

[WASHINGTON, DC] – After a dozen organizations from across the political spectrum thanked him for leading a successful effort to curb wasteful and risky spending in the Fiscal Year 2014 Defense Department Appropriations bill, Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) today highlighted his work to rein in our overgrown defense sector and protect taxpayers as well as critically important projects, programs and agencies—from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and early childhood education to infrastructure and food stamps—from the disastrous effects of thoughtless sequestration cuts.

“We need to better align our nation’s priorities with those of our nation’s people—and that means winding down our outsized overseas spending and reprioritizing projects here at home,” said Congressman Cohen. “Pentagon leaders admit they do not need as much money as Congress continues to give them—but sequestration’s impact on NIH research projects affects all Americans, cuts to the SNAP program threaten the more than 1 in 4 Shelby County residents who rely on food stamps to adequately feed their families, and bridges and roads across the country are deteriorating. Instead of funding wars, we should be focused on finding cures, feeding and educating our children, and rebuilding America.”

Congressman Cohen has long been an ardent supporter of reining in our defense budget, protecting taxpayer dollars and pushing for smarter spending here at home. During the House of Representatives’ recent debate on the FY2014 Defense Department Appropriations bill, the Congressman authored an amendment to cut the deficit and help limit the risk of taxpayer dollars being wasted or stolen in Afghanistan by reducing funding to the Afghan Infrastructure Fund by $139 million. His amendment passed by a bipartisan vote of 249-173.

In July, Congressman Cohen also introduced the Research First Act to prevent and reverse the disastrous effects of sequestration cuts on critically important NIH research projects that could one day lead to cures for diseases that plague people around the globe. The legislation would replace more than $1.5 billion in crippling cuts to the NIH with Department of Defense funding that Pentagon leaders admit they don’t need. Despite the good work and accomplishments of NIH scientists, researchers, and doctors throughout the nation, the NIH is already seeing its funding slashed through sequestration and without Congressional action stands to lose as much as $1.55 billion. Cuts of this magnitude could cripple or completely stop countless research projects that could one day lead to cures.