By David Swanson

More candidates for Congress have signed a statement opposing war spending that have signed the tea party statement against all spending.  And there is no overlap between the two lists of candidates.  Clearly the opponents of government spending who receive the most media attention do not oppose the single biggest type of government spending.  Why would that be?  They have been exposed as severely limited in their fiscal responsibility, and their cheerleaders in the media have been exposed as biased in favor of war.  But the teabaggers have also been outpaced, as their roster of candidates is smaller than that of the Coalition Against War Spending.

Eighty congressional candidates and 25 national organizations are opposing any more funding for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, no matter what unrelated measures are packaged into the same bill, and no matter whether the bill appears likely to pass or not.  This position contrasts strongly with that of most incumbent congress members who "oppose" and "criticize" the wars.  The new Coalition Against War Spending is inviting more candidates, including all incumbents, and national organizations to join.  The 80 candidates who have already signed on are from 27 different states, and include 28 Greens, 24 Libertarians, 21 Democrats, 4 Independents, 1 Republican, 1 Socialist, and 1 Peace and Freedom Party member (and more may be added to the website by the time you read this).  Sixty-nine are candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives, and 11 for the Senate.  

The U.S. Senate passed $33.5 billion to escalate the war in Afghanistan last month, and the House is likely to take up the same bill in the coming days or weeks.

Members of the Coalition Against War Spending do not all agree with each other on many topics, including their reasons for opposing war spending.  But they all back this short statement:

"The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost Americans over $1 trillion in direct costs, and over $3 trillion altogether.  At a time when our national debt exceeds $13 trillion, we can no longer afford these wars.  It's time for Congress to reject any funding except to bring all our troops safely home."