Senate Shakes

Shlush fund for thugs too much to swallow

The federal budget process has rarely been a cake walk. Most of the available allocation is already committed: debt service (14%) and long-term commitments like social security and health care (60%). That leaves only 25% to fund everything else and the military takes about half. The government normally spends more than it takes in as revenue. It borrows the rest. Kick the can down the road is the American way. Put in perspective, the budget is $7.4 trillion and the. Gross Domestic Product is $29.5 trillion

In recent memory the only time it took in more than it spent was the post cold war peace dividend during the Clinton administration. One war after another has been paid for with borrowed money and dead youth: $2.3 trillion in Afghanistan, $3 trillion in Iraq alone and 50,000 killed in Viet Nam, for example.

As for the residual non-defense related available12%, federal agencies submit what they want to twelve Congressional subcommittees. The request gets kicked around the Senate and the House and a final tally, when passed by both Houses, gets sent to the President for a yes, no or yes but.

Which brings us to Trump two. His team cut spending by reducing health care subsidies for ordinary Americans and reduced taxes without a compensating revenue source. Under his “big beautiful?” bill, tax reductions are projected to be $4.5 trillion, and the deficit will increase to over $3.4 trillion over ten years.

Trump has continued to spend as if the supply of funds was limitless. The Iran war has cost over $200 billion. He wants $1 billion for security for his ballroom. And then we have $1.8 billion allocated to his fund to compensate victims of government persecution; convicted felons who beat up cops during the insurgency, so- called patriots who already got their get out of jail pass from the President. Is he out of his mind? Don’t answer that.

So far, the Republican Congress has genuflected to his every whim. But this round might be indigestible. Before they left for the holiday, their leadership tried to jam through $70 billion for the Iran war. But resistance related to Trump’s profligacy kept the leadership from success even as they used the reconciliation device to avoid the 60 Senator minimum needed to avoid a Democrat filibuster.

To add fuel to the fire, some Senators were angered when Trump endorsed the Texas A. G. Paxton, a sleaze, over their colleague, Texas Senator Conryn. It is likely that when they return, they will reject Trump’s slush fund and maybe trim his sails on the Iran war costs. All the turmoil increases Democrat hope that November’s election will give them control of the House as well as the Senate. Flipping four seats will do the trick. Ohio, Alaska, and Texas all look promising. Is there light at the end of the tunnel?