TAX DAY PRESS CONFERENCE: COST OF IRAQ WAR

Washington, D.C.—U.S. Representatives Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Jim McGovern (D-MA), and Peter Welch (VT-AL) will join members of US Action and Americans United for Change to present taxpayers with a bill that shows how much each American family owes for the Iraq War.

Date: Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Time: 10am EST
Location: Cannon Terrace (corner of New Jersey and Independence Ave., SE)
Participants: U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA), U.S. Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT), U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX), USAction, Americans United For Change, Iraq 2008.

The Iraq War has already cost U.S. taxpayers a staggering $526 billion in direct costs and roughly $1.3 trillion to the economy. That’s $16,500 for each U.S. family of four, or roughly $3 billion for each Congressional district in the country. Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz calculates that the eventual cost of the war in Iraq will be about $3 trillion.

The cost of the War in Iraq for Minnesota taxpayers has been $12 billion for the entire state; 3 billion for Hennepin County, and $770 million for the City of Minneapolis. For the same amount of hard-earned tax dollars, we could have provided almost 400,000 5th Congressional District residents with health care, hired almost 24,000 elementary school teachers, or provided 5th District residents with nearly 9,000 affordable housing units.