#budget committee

[comite-de-salut-public]

reasons why I can (and should) throw Robespierre out the window:

1- He is boring

2- A big nerd

3- thin, malnourished and short

4- His poofy and cringe wig

5- talk a lot of nonsense

Several citizens have asked us why we moved our meetings to a windowless room.

This. This is why.

[tomorrowusa]

We need to smash the mythology of Republicans being fiscally responsible and good at economics. Shoveling vast amounts of money into the pockets of venal oligarchs who don't need it is not good for the country.

Former president Donald Trump approved almost twice as much borrowing as current President Joe Biden during his four years in office, according to the Committee for a Responsible Budget (CFRB). Trump, who presided over the federal government from 2016 to 2020, approved $8.4 trillion in new ten-year debt. But incumbent president Biden, who defeated Trump four years ago, has approved $4.3 trillion in new borrowing, said a new report by the committee. As for reducing the budget deficit, Trump cut it by $443 billion. The Biden administration has reduced it by $1.9 trillion. The U.S. is sitting on a total of $34.73 trillion in national debt, accrued over the country's history, according to government data.

I often say that Republicans create a mess when in office. And when they're voted out, the Republicans then try to make a campaign issue out of Democrats not cleaning up the Republican mess quickly enough.

During the Trump years, his tax cuts added $1.9 trillion in U.S. debt, while the budget passed in 2018 and 2019 generated borrowing of $2.1 trillion. Those two policy moves contributed some of the largest debt increases during Trump's tenure. Over the last three and a half years, under Biden, some of the largest contributors to the national debt included the appropriations bills of fiscal year 2022 and 2023 that generated $1.4 trillion of borrowing, while the American Rescue Plan Act was responsible for $2.1 trillion in debt, according to CFRB.

The Trump tax breaks for the filthy rich will automatically expire in a few years. That's why multi-billionaires are ignoring Trump's dictatorial behavior and criminality and are dropping HŪGE donations into Trump's campaign coffers so that he can renew their tax breaks if he gets back into office. Their rapacious greed is downright pathological.

When those tax breaks expire, provided Biden wins, the debt will then level off as it did during the Clinton administration after Democrats raised taxes on the filthy rich. Bill Clinton ended his presidency with a budget surplus.

As long as we're talking economics, a reminder that 90.9% of all recessions of the past 71 years began under Republicans.

... just sayin'.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

WaPo: Trump proposals could drain Social Security in 6 years, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget

Julie Zauzmer Weil at WaPo:

A new report projects that the Social Security Trust Fund might run out of money within six years under a Donald Trump presidency, while Vice President Kamala Harris’s proposed policies would not meaningfully change the current trajectory.

Social Security faces a looming funding crisis in an aging country, with trustees most recently predicting that the retirement and disability program’s trust fund will become insolvent in 2035. Many of Trump’s campaign proposals would accelerate that timeline, potentially by years, said the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan group that opposes large federal deficits. In a report released Monday, the organization concluded that many of Trump’s proposed second-term agenda items all work in the same direction when it comes to the Social Security Trust Fund. The budget group did not produce a similar report on Harris’s policies because they would have a negligible effect measured only in weeks or months rather than years, said Marc Goldwein, CRFB’s senior policy director. Compared to prior presidential campaigns, Goldwein said, “I can’t think of anything that would be this order of magnitude” in its detrimental effect on Social Security’s bottom line compared to the policies Trump has proposed.

Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt dismissed the report in an email to The Washington Post: “The so-called experts at CRFB have been consistently wrong throughout the years.” She said Trump’s energy and trade policies would improve the economy to “put Social Security on a stronger footing for generations to come,” and alleged that Harris would damage the program by allowing millions of undocumented immigrants to stay in the country. The campaign promise made by Trump that would most directly affect Social Security collections is his promise that no Social Security recipients should have to pay federal income taxes on their benefits. Under current law, 40 percent of beneficiaries pay taxes on some portion of their Social Security. The tax they pay on their benefits goes directly back to the trust fund, and getting rid of it could cost the program almost $1 trillion over 10 years, the report forecast. Other Trump policies might have indirect effects. Trump’s pledge to deport millions of undocumented workers could cost the trust fund hundreds of millions of dollars, the CRFB said. Many undocumented immigrants have payroll taxes taken out of their paychecks for the Social Security Trust Fund, but never become eligible to claim benefits, so they are a net positive for the program.

Trump’s proposed high tariffs on all imports could affect the economy in several ways detrimental to Social Security’s financial health, CRFB said. If the tariffs drive high inflation as projected by Wall Street experts, Social Security will have to pay out more in benefits because of automatic cost-of-living adjustments based on inflation. The report also pointed to Trump’s promises not to tax tip income or income earned during overtime hours. Trump has not clarified whether he means to exempt them from federal income taxes only or also from taxes that fund Social Security and Medicare. If he means the latter, that could cost Social Security $150 million to more than $1 trillion over a decade, with the likely outcome on the very high end of that range, CRFB said.

[...] Both Trump and Harris have said they aim to protect Social Security to prevent cuts if elected, but neither candidate has offered a comprehensive plan to plug the current projected gap. Stabilizing the trust fund will require either raising more money or spending less money in some way, or a combination of the two.

Donald Trump’s proposals to Social Security, despite claiming to be a champion of Social Security, could hasten the depletion of Social Security funding, per a report from Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

See Also:

MMFA: New analysis shows Trump would devastate Social Security’s finances, debunking MAGA talking point

[gwydionmisha]

Remember how we spent all last year and the early part of this one fighting this sort of thing where they slip anti-bodily autonomy stuff into must pass funding bills?

Here we are again. Please, call your critters in the Senate, whether Republican or Democrat. Democrats actually had our backs through these fights in the last few years, but it's not guaranteed given the scapegoating in the press, so call Democratic critters too help stiffen their spines. Thank them if they are standing up for bodily autonomy; tell them your opinion if they aren't. Express support for trans healthcare as well as abortion

If you can't safely contact them in person, here are some other options:

Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to the representative of your choice. Here is one that will send your reps a fax: https://resist.bot/ To get your Critters' numbers to call direct: https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member

[transformativeworks]

OTW Finance: 2023 Budget

OTW's Finance Committee has released our 2023 budget.  They detail where donations go and what our expected income is this year.  Find out more about what it takes to run the organization at https://otw.news/af6503

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[corvidcall]

idk why people think they can out-post the menswear guy, but every day im glad they keep trying so i get to see him obliterate them

[hauntedfalcon]

I missed it this spring, so here's a little reminder that:

the Organization for Transformative Works' most recent accessible cash assets (end of year 2022) total over 2.7 million dollars.

2023 budgeted legal advocacy funds totaled $5,491. actual spending in that category (screencap taken from the 2023 Actual column of the 2024 budget posted this spring) was $438.14.

this money went to productivity tools. $0 was spent in 2023 on filing fees or travel expenses.

for some reason, the 2023 budget update post on the OTW's blog used the estimated number instead of the final number. why? we don't know.

the OTW remains committed to not diversifying its funding sources or investing its reserves, having abandoned repeated claims that it was attempting to do so in previous years.

in conclusion, this nonprofit does not need your money. thank you for your time.

[tealfruit]

another day another dealing with management scrambling about their own poor decisions and supply chain/budget issues even tho I'm really fucking not paid enough for all that

[govtshutdown]

Today on the Hill, the Appropriations committee will markup the Defense, Financial Services, and Legislative Branch bills. The bill currently on the House floor is this year's NDAA, the National Defense Authorization Act. Sorry for the confusion.

[anotherpapercut]

if you're a sane human being who possesses a reasonable amount of common sense with extra time/a flexible schedule consider applying or nominating yourself to be on a library board

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Ben Leonard, Meredith Lee Hill and Kelsey Tamborrino at Politico:

House Republicans are passing around a “menu” of more than $5 trillion in cuts they could use to bankroll President-elect Donald Trump’s top priorities this year, including tax cuts and border security. The early list of potential spending offsets obtained by POLITICO includes changes to Medicare and ending Biden administration climate programs, along with slashing welfare and “reimagining” the Affordable Care Act. Five people familiar with the document said those provisions are options to finance Republicans’ massive party-line reconciliation bill or other spending reform efforts, including those being spearheaded by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency. The people, granted anonymity to discuss closed-door negotiations, said that the list originated from the House Budget Committee, chaired by Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-Texas). Republicans involved in the reconciliation plans have been generally targeting the listed programs for several months, but internal GOP fights over trillions of dollars in potential cuts are just beginning. The overall savings add up to as much as $5.7 trillion over 10 years, though the list is highly ambitious and unlikely to all become law given narrow margins for Republicans in the House and Senate. Cuts to Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act and the country’s largest anti-hunger program would spark massive opposition from Democrats and would also face some GOP resistance. House Speaker Mike Johnson can’t afford any Republican defections if he wants to pass a package on party lines. Even proposed cuts to green energy tax credits, worth as much as $500 billion, could be tricky — as the document notes, they depend “on political viability.” Already 18 House Republicans — 14 of whom won reelection in November — warned Johnson against prematurely repealing some of the IRA’s energy tax credits, which are funding multiple manufacturing projects in GOP districts. A House GOP source said that the “document is not intended to serve as a proposal, but instead as a menu of potential spending reductions for members to consider.” Johnson and GOP leaders are hunting for trillions of dollars in cuts, with lawmakers estimating Trump’s domestic policy agenda — including tax cuts and border security proposals — costing as much as $10 trillion over the coming decade. Johnson, with scores of House Republicans this week to chart the way forward, and groups of GOP members are set to meet with Trump in Florida this weekend. In addition to Medicaid and ACA cuts, the document floats clawing back bipartisan infrastructure and Inflation Reduction Act funding.

[...] Also on the chopping block are President Joe Biden’s climate policies, which are estimated to yield as much as $468 billion. That includes Trump’s repeated promise to repeal Biden’s “EV mandate,” as well as discontinuing “Green New Deal” provisions from the bipartisan infrastructure law and green energy grants from the IRA.

Medicare, PPACA, and climate change combatting initiatives could be on the chopping block, according to House Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington (R-TX).

See Also:

HuffPost: Big Cuts To Medicaid Reportedly On The Menu For House Republicans

[yuyu-bi]

next week is going to be a test of my mental capacity lmaooo

[rightnewshindi]

हिमाचल में पोषण अभियान का पैसा बेकार: 11.37 करोड़ रुपये खर्च नहीं, विधानसभा समिति नाराज!

Himachal News: हिमाचल प्रदेश में पोषण अभियान के तहत कुपोषण से जंग लड़ने के लिए मिला करोड़ों रुपये का बजट खर्च नहीं हो सका। वित्तीय वर्ष 2022-23 में 83.39 लाख रुपये और 2023-24 में 11.37 करोड़ रुपये अनुपयोगी पड़े रह गए। इस लापरवाही पर राज्य विधानसभा की कल्याण समिति ने कड़ा रुख अपनाया है। समिति की रिपोर्ट में इसकी तीखी आलोचना की गई है, जिससे सरकार और विभाग पर सवाल उठ रहे हैं। यह अभियान छोटे बच्चों,…

[alyfoxxxen]

Appropriators in Congress issue warning to White House budget office • Idaho Capital Sun

[wausaupilotreview]

The Senate is expected to take up the House’s budget resolution at some point and make changes to the document, though when exactly they’ll do that is an open-ended question. The budget resolution would then have to go back to the House for final approval.