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Philadelphia City Council, by a vote of 15-2, passed a resolution “calling on the U.S. Congress to bring all U.S. troops home from Afghanistan, to take the funds saved by that action and by significantly cutting the Pentagon budget, and to use that money to fund education, public and private sector family-sustaining job creation, special protections for military sector workers, environmental and infrastructure restoration, care for veterans and their families, and human services that our cities and states so desperately need.”

Introduced by Council member Maria Quinones-Sanchez on April 12 with six other co-sponsors , the resolution was drafted by the Delaware Valley New Priorities Network, comprised of dozens of labor, neighborhood, faith, and peace organizations. The resolution details the human catastrophe in the City of Philadelphia: a third of its children live in poverty, more than a third are hungry, more than 300 veterans are homeless on any given night; schools and health clinics are closing; teachers, firefighters and police are losing their jobs.