Progressives have suddenly found themselves lost in the political wilderness, caught in a self-inflicted trap of anger and fear. From the sound of their fury, they could be there for a long while. (Thoughts and prayers.) With Democrats now irrelevant, the second Trump administration has four years to take a wrecking ball to the Washington establishment, including deep cuts to federal spending and an overhaul of the bloated bureaucracy. To understand why the wrecking ball is needed, look at the annual budget deficit ' $1.8 trillion in fiscal year 2024. In a time of relative peace and prosperity, the deficit grew 8% in one year, even though federal revenue increased by 11%. In other words, the Biden-Harris administration collected significantly more money from taxpayers in the last fiscal year but still managed to blow up the deficit by an additional $138 billion. That's simply unsustainable.
@#26 ... His answer is plunge Americans into hardship so he can continue his tax cuts, i.e., even MORE debt. ...
Musk, Ramaswamy Proposal to Slash Spending Could Include VA Medical Services
www.military.com
... A plan by the incoming Trump administration to slash government funding could kneecap Department of Veterans Affairs health care.
In an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal this week, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who President-elect Donald Trump tapped to lead the so-called "Department of Government Efficiency," confirmed that they plan to target "unauthorized" federal spending, a category that includes the VA's medical services. ...
The pair did not specifically call out the VA. But the type of spending they're taking issue with includes about $120 billion for the VA's medical services, according to a report issued earlier this year from the Congressional Budget Office.
Historically, in order for a federal agency to operate, Congress passes two different types of legislation: an authorization bill to authorize funding and an appropriations bill to actually allocate the funding.
For example, for the Pentagon, Congress passes the National Defense Authorization Act and a Pentagon appropriations bill every year.
But for most federal agencies, Congress hasn't bothered with the authorization bills in years, instead streamlining its work by considering the appropriations bills to be self-authorizing.
A 2023 report from the Congressional Research Service notes the distinction between authorization and appropriations bills "is based on chamber rules, rather than a constitutional or general statutory requirement."
For VA medical services, the last authorization bill was 1996's Veterans Health Care Eligibility Reform Act, according to the Congressional Budget Office report. ...
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