On February 28th, with a joint attack from the Trump administration and Israel, a wide range of military installations in Iran were attacked. The “War,” a name that varies depending on the day and elected official, continues to escalate.
The White House disregards the real consequences to Americans and Iranians alike. Since the initial strikes, thirteen American service members have been killed in action, and over two hundred have been wounded. The civilian death toll is estimated at 1,300 and continues to rise due to American and Israeli attacks. Numbers that will surely grow as the days pass in Trump’s War.
Massachusetts is not immune to the impacts of the Trump administration's recklessness. With communities across the Commonwealth facing increasing gas prices, the average price of regular gas jumped to $3.62 per gallon according to AAA. It was $2.90 just a month ago.
For an administration so fixated on eliminating waste, they sure know how to spend taxpayer dollars. In a closed-door briefing, Pentagon officials told D.C. lawmakers that the cost of this war in Iran had exceeded $11.3 billion in the first week alone.
To put that into context, here are a few things that amount of money could have been used for instead:
1. Cover the cost of healthcare for more than a million Medicaid recipients for a full year.
2. Provide a year's worth of SNAP benefits for more than 2 million American families.
3. Fund 63 years' worth of crucial pediatric cancer research.
The cost of this war has only risen since those first six days. The Administration is requesting an additional $200 billion from Congress to fund continual military action in Iran, with thousands more troops reportedly being deployed soon.
Moreover, our allies are refusing to join the effort, and the turmoil in the Middle East threatens lives, economy, and sustainability across the globe.
Imagine what that kind of money could do to better the quality of life for not only families across the Commonwealth but across the country. This inexplicable war with Iran is just the most recent overreach of power from Donald Trump and his administration. Further proving how disconnected they are from the real economic hardships facing working families and local governments struggling to offset continued rising costs.
Comments
Post a Comment