How can they pass a budget without considering the department, agencies, and federal workers dismantled by Musk? They’re approving a budget to continue funding what no longer exists. They should demand a reconciliation of the departments etc dissolved and the impact on the budget. If the amount of money put back in the federal coffers is…
How can they pass a budget without considering the department, agencies, and federal workers dismantled by Musk? They’re approving a budget to continue funding what no longer exists. They should demand a reconciliation of the departments etc dissolved and the impact on the budget. If the amount of money put back in the federal coffers is even close to what’s claimed, there’s no justification to cut Medicare, Medicaid, SS , and VA. Due diligence is required if they are claiming to be fiscally responsible.
Due diligence generally requires some thinking and intelligence.
I think we have the wrong crowd for that here.
And they have NEVER been fiscally responsible, regardless of what they say (or parrot). If they wanted an audit, they’d have looked at forensic accounting measures - but that was never their intention so we got feral children with hacking skills unleashed on the systems.
Yes. And this group HATES oversight, inspection, etc.
Because they're "transparent" don't cha know (yes, that's sarcasm).
Look at the # of inspectors and oversight groups let go, disbanded, etc pretty much immediately. Then look at later reports of "X" blocking Signal and other numbers for folks to report fraud. It's all part of the larger pattern.
The question I really want Joe to answer - in his travels in the Capitol, has he encountered any Democrat members of congress who are still gullible enough to negotiate the budget with Mike Johnson’s team in good faith? If any D’s are still credulous enough to believe the executive branch will spend the money the legislature budgets, then both parties have lost the plot. Don’t expect Joe to provide names. Just hoping the Democrats are still living in the real world.
Constituents have been trying to get any response (beyond a standard thank you for your contact) from them for the past month+. It's not reassuring, unfortunately.
I have only republicans to represent me in Congress, so I can only imagine what it feels like to feel frustration upon contacting a Democratic member of congress, but perhaps this letter from Senator Chris Murphy will help a little:
February 22, 2025
“Last night in the Senate, something really important happened. Republicans forced us to debate their billionaire bailout budget framework. We started voting at 6 PM because they knew doing it in the dark of night would minimize media coverage. And they do not want the American people to see how blatant their handover of our government to the billionaire class is.
So I want to explain what happened last night and what we did to fight back.
The apex of Republicans’ plan to turn over our government to their wealthy cronies is a giant tax cut for billionaires and corporations. And they plan to pay for it with cuts to programs that working people rely on. Popular and necessary programs like Medicaid, Medicare, and SNAP, are all being targeted.
In order to pass the tax cut, Republicans have to go through a series of procedural steps. Last night, they took the first step which requires them to pass an outline of their plan, but with it, any senator can offer as many amendments as we want. So my Democratic colleagues and I did just that.
Now, we knew that Republicans would largely unanimously oppose them, but we had two objectives here. One, Republicans were forced to put their opinion on record — many for the first time — on the most corrupt parts of Trump and Musk’s agenda. Two, as I’ve been saying, I am going to make every process and procedure as slow and painful as possible for as long as my colleagues choose to ignore the constitutional crisis happening before our eyes.
So what did we propose? We proposed no tax cuts for anyone who makes a billion dollars a year. We made them vote on whether or not Elon Musk and DOGE should have limitless access to Americans’ personal data. We made them vote on whether to protect IVF and require insurers to cover it.
Every single amendment Democrats proposed was shot down. On almost every single amendment, Republicans universally opposed it. Every Republican voted against our proposal to prevent more tax cuts for billionaires.
The corruption and theft is happening in the open here. The whole game for Republicans is taking your money and giving it to the wealthiest corporations and billionaires — even if it means kicking your parents out of a nursing home or turning off Medicaid for the poorest children.
They know what they are doing is deeply unpopular. They are offering a tax cut to the most wealthy that is 850 times larger than what they are offering working people. Oh and by the way, any tax cuts for working people are going to be washed out by higher costs for basic necessities, like health care and food. It’s a fundamental injustice.
Thanks to your pressure and support, many of my Democratic colleagues have joined my effort to do everything we can to make sure they cannot destroy democracy and steal your money in the dark of the night. We are being loud about what is happening. I’m going to continue to grind the gears of Congress down as much as possible to make it that much harder and slower to get away with this corruption. That’s why the votes lasted until nearly 5 AM.
This is a five-alarm fire. I don’t think we have two years to plan and fight back. I think we have months. It’s still in our power to stop the destruction of our democracy with mass mobilization and effective opposition from elected officials.
So we can’t miss any opportunity to take advantage of opportunities to put Republicans on the record and shine a light on what is happening.
And you have a role to play in this as well. I need you to amplify what’s happening, support the leaders who are fighting for you to make sure they can continue speaking truth to power against Musk and Trump’s billionaire cronies, and show up at rallies and town halls. Use every tool at your disposal to send a message loud and clear about how you expect my colleagues to lead and fight in this moment“
I have a lot of respect for Chris Murphy - he’s been a consistent voice.
We also have family who live in CT and they feel he is very responsive, accessible.
Again, our rep (solid D who shows up, listens, keeps showing up) is great - but our Senators are beyond disappointing and their continued silence feels like betrayal and their staff can’t be as poorly trained, informed, etc as they present should one get through to them.
Tim recently interviewed Jared Moskowitz, rep from Florida, and he brought this up in that interview. Per Jared, if they pass a CR, then all the funding, etc., that DOGE is attacking gets reinstated. For this to not happen, an actual budget bill needs to pass. Check out the interview. Jared was very much on topic.
I also heard on NPR that the framework they’re patting their backs over after weeks of discussion is supposed to be the easy part of the process. Next up are the actual detail discussions. This shit is gonna get wild lol.
I posted this on today's Morning Shots. Note the use of "legally entitled". I bet a lot of currently legally entitled will suffer a change of state during discussions on the details.
Today, Congressman Derrick Van Orden (WI-03) released the following statement after voting to pass the House budget resolution:
“To be explicitly clear: today’s budget resolution did not include any cuts to specific programs. Anyone saying otherwise is lying and engaging in the fearmongering of our farmers, veterans, seniors, and most vulnerable populations. The budget resolution simply sets the framework for how the federal government can be better stewards of taxpayer dollars.
“Millions of Americans depend on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, and I will have no part in cutting these programs for the folks that are legally entitled to them.
How can they pass a budget without considering the department, agencies, and federal workers dismantled by Musk? They’re approving a budget to continue funding what no longer exists. They should demand a reconciliation of the departments etc dissolved and the impact on the budget. If the amount of money put back in the federal coffers is even close to what’s claimed, there’s no justification to cut Medicare, Medicaid, SS , and VA. Due diligence is required if they are claiming to be fiscally responsible.
Due diligence generally requires some thinking and intelligence.
I think we have the wrong crowd for that here.
And they have NEVER been fiscally responsible, regardless of what they say (or parrot). If they wanted an audit, they’d have looked at forensic accounting measures - but that was never their intention so we got feral children with hacking skills unleashed on the systems.
"Feral children with hacking skills" -- very good!
The Inspector General position was created to provide employees and other citizens with a way to report claims of fraud, abuse etc.
Yes. And this group HATES oversight, inspection, etc.
Because they're "transparent" don't cha know (yes, that's sarcasm).
Look at the # of inspectors and oversight groups let go, disbanded, etc pretty much immediately. Then look at later reports of "X" blocking Signal and other numbers for folks to report fraud. It's all part of the larger pattern.
The question I really want Joe to answer - in his travels in the Capitol, has he encountered any Democrat members of congress who are still gullible enough to negotiate the budget with Mike Johnson’s team in good faith? If any D’s are still credulous enough to believe the executive branch will spend the money the legislature budgets, then both parties have lost the plot. Don’t expect Joe to provide names. Just hoping the Democrats are still living in the real world.
Our D senators are MIA.
Constituents have been trying to get any response (beyond a standard thank you for your contact) from them for the past month+. It's not reassuring, unfortunately.
I have only republicans to represent me in Congress, so I can only imagine what it feels like to feel frustration upon contacting a Democratic member of congress, but perhaps this letter from Senator Chris Murphy will help a little:
February 22, 2025
“Last night in the Senate, something really important happened. Republicans forced us to debate their billionaire bailout budget framework. We started voting at 6 PM because they knew doing it in the dark of night would minimize media coverage. And they do not want the American people to see how blatant their handover of our government to the billionaire class is.
So I want to explain what happened last night and what we did to fight back.
The apex of Republicans’ plan to turn over our government to their wealthy cronies is a giant tax cut for billionaires and corporations. And they plan to pay for it with cuts to programs that working people rely on. Popular and necessary programs like Medicaid, Medicare, and SNAP, are all being targeted.
In order to pass the tax cut, Republicans have to go through a series of procedural steps. Last night, they took the first step which requires them to pass an outline of their plan, but with it, any senator can offer as many amendments as we want. So my Democratic colleagues and I did just that.
Now, we knew that Republicans would largely unanimously oppose them, but we had two objectives here. One, Republicans were forced to put their opinion on record — many for the first time — on the most corrupt parts of Trump and Musk’s agenda. Two, as I’ve been saying, I am going to make every process and procedure as slow and painful as possible for as long as my colleagues choose to ignore the constitutional crisis happening before our eyes.
So what did we propose? We proposed no tax cuts for anyone who makes a billion dollars a year. We made them vote on whether or not Elon Musk and DOGE should have limitless access to Americans’ personal data. We made them vote on whether to protect IVF and require insurers to cover it.
Every single amendment Democrats proposed was shot down. On almost every single amendment, Republicans universally opposed it. Every Republican voted against our proposal to prevent more tax cuts for billionaires.
The corruption and theft is happening in the open here. The whole game for Republicans is taking your money and giving it to the wealthiest corporations and billionaires — even if it means kicking your parents out of a nursing home or turning off Medicaid for the poorest children.
They know what they are doing is deeply unpopular. They are offering a tax cut to the most wealthy that is 850 times larger than what they are offering working people. Oh and by the way, any tax cuts for working people are going to be washed out by higher costs for basic necessities, like health care and food. It’s a fundamental injustice.
Thanks to your pressure and support, many of my Democratic colleagues have joined my effort to do everything we can to make sure they cannot destroy democracy and steal your money in the dark of the night. We are being loud about what is happening. I’m going to continue to grind the gears of Congress down as much as possible to make it that much harder and slower to get away with this corruption. That’s why the votes lasted until nearly 5 AM.
This is a five-alarm fire. I don’t think we have two years to plan and fight back. I think we have months. It’s still in our power to stop the destruction of our democracy with mass mobilization and effective opposition from elected officials.
So we can’t miss any opportunity to take advantage of opportunities to put Republicans on the record and shine a light on what is happening.
And you have a role to play in this as well. I need you to amplify what’s happening, support the leaders who are fighting for you to make sure they can continue speaking truth to power against Musk and Trump’s billionaire cronies, and show up at rallies and town halls. Use every tool at your disposal to send a message loud and clear about how you expect my colleagues to lead and fight in this moment“
Chris Murphy
Thanks for sharing that, Marcia.
I have a lot of respect for Chris Murphy - he’s been a consistent voice.
We also have family who live in CT and they feel he is very responsive, accessible.
Again, our rep (solid D who shows up, listens, keeps showing up) is great - but our Senators are beyond disappointing and their continued silence feels like betrayal and their staff can’t be as poorly trained, informed, etc as they present should one get through to them.
But - we persist.
Not a fan of the other options here.
Tim recently interviewed Jared Moskowitz, rep from Florida, and he brought this up in that interview. Per Jared, if they pass a CR, then all the funding, etc., that DOGE is attacking gets reinstated. For this to not happen, an actual budget bill needs to pass. Check out the interview. Jared was very much on topic.
I also heard on NPR that the framework they’re patting their backs over after weeks of discussion is supposed to be the easy part of the process. Next up are the actual detail discussions. This shit is gonna get wild lol.
I posted this on today's Morning Shots. Note the use of "legally entitled". I bet a lot of currently legally entitled will suffer a change of state during discussions on the details.
Today, Congressman Derrick Van Orden (WI-03) released the following statement after voting to pass the House budget resolution:
“To be explicitly clear: today’s budget resolution did not include any cuts to specific programs. Anyone saying otherwise is lying and engaging in the fearmongering of our farmers, veterans, seniors, and most vulnerable populations. The budget resolution simply sets the framework for how the federal government can be better stewards of taxpayer dollars.
“Millions of Americans depend on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, and I will have no part in cutting these programs for the folks that are legally entitled to them.
That hasn't been done in years because we've only had continuing resolutions to keep the government running.