Letter to Senator Kerry

 Newton Democratic City Committee

115 Lowell Avenue 

Newton, MA 02460

 November 8, 2011

Dear Senator Kerry:

We write to you in your capacity as our Democratic senator, and as a key member of the Congressional Super Committee.

We ask that you work to ensure that, in the Committee's recommendations to the Congress, the highest priority be given to protection for existing domestic programs which have already suffered in recent rounds of budget cuts.  We believe that most Americans need and value the range of services provided by the Government.

Favoring domestic programs will require a reduced Pentagon budget, which has grown 80% since 2000, and a speedy end to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, which have cost the nation $1.36 trillion since their inception, as well death and injury to tens of thousands of our troops and perhaps hundreds of thousands of the citizens of those countries.  We believe that a majority of Americans believe that the US should disengage from them, speedily and responsibly.

Along with Warren Buffett, we support the elimination of the inequitable Bush tax cuts for affluent citizens and corporations.

Funds from both of these sources should be used for debt reduction and support for essential domestic programs, such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, infrastructure, and education.

Please press your colleagues on the Committee to include these core provisions in your final report to the Congress. 

Sincerely,

Newton Democratic City Committee Executive Committee