Congressman John Garamendi, Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee, released a statement on May 13 following the Congressional Budget Office’s new $1.2 trillion cost estimate for Trump’s Golden Dome project.
The statement comes amid concerns about federal spending priorities as families across the country face challenges affording healthcare, gas, food, and housing. Garamendi said that after significant cuts to public service programs, the administration is now proposing a major increase in defense spending.
“In a time when families across the country are struggling to afford healthcare, gas, food, and housing after Trump and Republicans passed massive cuts to nearly every public service program that helps with these costs, Trump is now set to spend $1.2 trillion on his egomaniacal Golden Dome project, seven times the administration’s initial estimate of $175 billion,” Garamendi said.
He continued: “A $1.2 trillion price tag is outrageous in itself, but it gets even worse when you read the report and see that this exorbitant cost is only a rough estimate. There are few details, no real objectives, and it’s missing key plans. There is a real possibility that $1.2 trillion is the floor, not the ceiling, for a program that won’t make America any safer.”
Garamendi also criticized what he described as excessive government spending on projects branded by former President Trump: “Just like his golden ballroom or golden luxury jet, Trump’s desire to spend billions of taxpayer dollars to slap his faux-gold branding onto the country’s missile defense system should anger every American who has had their healthcare or food benefits cut to help pay for it.”
He concluded: “What Americans deserve now are answers. I demand that the Trump Administration explain to the American people why even more of their hard-earned money is being poured into a system that will not be able to protect us and into the pockets of defense contractors instead of bringing down costs.”
John Garamendi has represented California’s 8th district in Congress since 2009 after replacing Ellen Tauscher according to Wikipedia. He previously served in both chambers of California’s state legislature according to Wikipedia. Born in Camp Blanding in 1945 and currently residing in Walnut Grove according to Wikipedia, Garamendi graduated from University of California Berkeley in 1966 before earning another degree from Harvard University four years later according to Wikipedia.
