The 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (HR 5515) has passed the House. A massive $716 billion is allocated to the military to allegedly defend our nation. Saddened and dismayed, Dwight D. Eisenhower's words came rushing back. "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."

And also the words of Hubert Humphrey, "The moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped."

Our local and federal governments are failing this moral test on almost every level. The U.S. Census Bureau reported in 2016 that 12.7 percent or 43.1 million Americans were living in poverty. The National Center for Children in Poverty estimates 15 million children "live in families with incomes below the federal poverty threshold." And almost 1.5 million veterans are living below the poverty line, according to the Census Bureau.

The House should be thanked for its complete abdication of both moral and fiscal responsibility. What was Rep. Paul Tonko thinking when he cast his "aye" vote? Little wonder so many have joined the Poor People's Campaign nationwide to voice their anger and disgust with our corrupt and failed federal government.

John Amidon

Albany