"Senate votes to end funding for F-22 fighter jet"

Back in the Day...

Anyone who has been involved with TrueMajority for a while knows that although this particular fight might have started in February, the struggle has been going on much longer. We've been pushing the idea that too much of our tax money goes to wasteful Pentagon toys since 2002, and back in 2007 we won the agreement of a longshot candidate for the Democratic nomination.

Barack Obama stayed true to that promise in February 2009 when his very first Presidential budget contained some of the exact cuts to weapons systems TrueMajority has been advocating for years. The F-22 fighter; the Reagan-era Star Wars program; extra battleships intended to fight the Soviets - all curtailed.

When that budget was announced, we knew this could be our moment. Thanks to the ongoing support of members and donors who have believed in this goal for years, and the resources of our organizational parent, USAction, we were the only national grassroots group able to immediately launch a campaign supporting the President's cuts to the Pentagon budget.

"If we cannot hold the line on this F-22, it's very bad news for holding down excesses in military spending." - Rep. Barney Frank

The cuts needed a lot of support against weapons lobbyists who began spending tens of millions of dollars to keep their tax-funded income flowing. Both we and the weapons industry picked the F-22 fighter as the key "must-win" vote.

The jet was designed for Cold War dogfights which never happened. A whistleblower says its damage-prone "stealth" coating doesn't actually work. It requires $44,000 of maintenance and repair for every hour of flight time. But at the same time, production of the plane has been spread among 44 states to make the program politically "cancellation proof".

TrueMajority members came out strong with messages to Congress supporting the F-22 cuts, then made 1,700 phone calls to Representatives, the largest group of activists to take up the fight. We brought together a collaboration of groups approaching the fight from all across the spectrum, like Center for American Progress and the Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities campaign; Common Cause; Womens' Action for New Directions; VoteVets and Peace Action.

Crucially, we were able to work with state affiliate groups tied to our USAction parent group. So when we targeted House appropriations committee members with in-district lobby visits, our New Jersey Citizen Action partners were there to lead the meeting and bring along powerful organized labor representatives. Our Florida Consumers' Action Network partners brought military vets to the meeting with the Representative there.

TrueMajority members sent copies of our classic F-22 animated hologram pocket card to every member of Congress - and then Online Director Matt Holland and Online Organizer Drew Hudson followed up with visits to the D.C. offices of key members of the budget committee to make the case in person.

For the more recalcitrant Congress members we prepared a report revealing the connections between campaign contributions and Pentagon spending earmarks delivered back to those same contributors. After releasing the report and an interactive website built from the data, we put together a hard-hitting radio ad attacking the worst offenders and put it on the air in their home districts.

It was an intense seven-month sprint.

For the first time TrueMajority expanded beyond public education, and into focused political strategy aimed at winning key Congressional votes. The phonecalls, lobby visits, ads, media outreach and coalition building paid off with a 58-40 Senate victory, finally ending the F-22 program and opening a new chapter in our campaign for a budget more in line with our values.

Now What?

This was a great victory. But like we said when we launched this F-22 campaign in February, the biggest impact is that now we have a field on which to fight the bigger battles. After all, even with these cuts, Obama's military budget is slightly larger than last year's. Our 2010 Pentagon budget plan has big ambitions - we'll be pushing the President's team to write a better budget from the beginning, and freeing up that money for more important domestic needs. And we'll focus on building stronger bridges with the labor movement and veterans' groups. To turn this year's advantage into a permanent change will require a bigger team working on our side.

It will take a lot of work. But if this win has shown us anything, it's that having big goals and working at them relentlessly, backed by supporters who believe in the mission, can do the impossible.