1.1 	A resolution
1.2 	urging the United States Congress and the President of the United States to reorder 
1.3 	federal spending priorities.
1.4 	WHEREAS, Minnesota is faced with a $5.028 billion budget shortfall; and
1.5 	WHEREAS, past budget cuts have resulted in painful reductions in essential services 
1.6 	and future cuts would further erode the quality of life for and, in fact, endanger the lives of 
1.7 	many citizens; and
1.8 	WHEREAS, many cities and communities in Minnesota are laying off police, firefighters, 
1.9 	teachers, and other essential employees; and
1.10 	WHEREAS, past budgets have been balanced by cutting social services, underinvestment 
1.11 	in essential infrastructure, and other measures that push the crisis onto local governments and the 
1.12 	poor; and
1.13 	WHEREAS, Minnesota taxpayers even during these times of economic crisis and fiscal 
1.14 	austerity are poised to pay the equivalent of three-quarters of the entire state biennial budget, 
1.15 	more than $26 billion over the next two years, for their share of the Defense Budget of the 
1.16 	Federal government; and 
1.17 	WHEREAS, Minnesota taxpayers alone have already spent more than $27.5 billion, and will 
1.18 	spend $8.4 billion more over the next two years for the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; and 
1.19 	WHEREAS, 58 cents of every dollar of federal discretionary spending is devoted to 
1.20 	military purposes; and 
2.1 	WHEREAS, military spending priorities at the national level negatively impact budgets 
2.2 	and quality of life at all levels of government and society; and 
2.3 	WHEREAS, our nation desperately needs to better balance its approach to security to 
2.4 	go beyond military defense and include the economic, social, and environmental needs of our 
2.5 	communities, state, and nation; NOW, THEREFORE,
2.6 	BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota that it urges Senators 
2.7 	Klobuchar and Franken, and Representatives Walz, Kline, Paulsen, McCollum, Ellison, 
2.8 	Bachmann, Peterson, and Cravaack as well as Congressional Leadership, other members of 
2.9 	Congress, and President Barack Obama to shift federal funding priorities from war and the 
2.10 	interests of the few, to meeting the essential needs of us all.
2.11 	BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of the State of Minnesota is 
2.12 	directed to prepare copies of this memorial and transmit them to the President of the United States, 
2.13 	the President and the Secretary of the United States Senate, the Speaker and the Clerk of the United 
2.14 	States House of Representatives, and Minnesota's Senators and Representatives in Congress.