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Cake day: June 15th, 2023

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  • It still works that way, until the rules change. Republicans have the votes to change how Congress works, if they act in unison. But they will have just a slim a margin as last time, and they had trouble electing a Speaker. Even in the next Congress, they needed a secret vote to elect the Senate Majority Leader because they didn’t want any receipts on who voted for whom to make it back to Dear Leader.

    It is possible that the Republican Party turns into a oroboros of spite, eating itself from within because of perceived grievances. That might be the best possible outcome we can hope for.


  • I think it’s because there is a difference between the Budget and Appropriations in Congress. The budget is a plan, where programs are authorized and an overall budget is set. The appropriations process is what assigns particular dollars to particular discretionary programs. (Certain programs deemed “mandatory” by Congress, like Social Security, Medicare, and interest on the debt, get allocated money automatically and are not involved in appropriations)

    If I had to guess, I would say that once a program is authorized once under a budget, it can continue as long as it (or the Federal department it is part of) is not specifically de-authorized, and as long as it continues to receive appropriations specifically for that program.

    So, it is likely that this is all about Ramaswamy’s total ignorance of how Congress works. Which tracks pretty well with what this DOGE is all about.