US Families Freeze While Billions Fuel Offshore Conflicts
Kristy Hallowell went six months without electricity, according to the BBC, just one story of rising energy bills crushing US families. These are the same families whose tax dollars, via their elected representatives, ensure billions in aid flow to other nations. For instance, the recent $14 billion military aid package to Israel, passed with bipartisan support, while domestic programs addressing
energy poverty remain perennially underfunded. One might wonder if Hallowell's lights would be on if those billions were invested at home. While Americans agonize over kilowatts, Washington rubber-stamps massive military aid packages. Just this year, the US finalized a $3.3 billion annual defense aid package to Israel, part of a $38 billion ten-year agreement signed under Obama. (Source: White
House, 2016) Meanwhile, the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) struggles for adequate funding year after year, offering a mere fraction of what's sent abroad. It's a stark contrast: a nation with citizens in the dark funding those who bomb others into it. Perhaps American families should start a foreign lobbying group. They might actually get some relief.