Folks?
The House GOPer’s have ANOTHER false promise exposed….
There is probably NOT gonna be much of any budget cuts…..
Some of us knew and Bull Shit story when we heard it….
There will be NO Defense budget cuts….
Congress ADDED to President Budget line for Defense….
There will be NO Social Security or Medicare cuts….
Trump warned against THAT and the end of the Pandemic Emergency will start cuts in eligabity for ceratin programs anyways….
The money for the IRS is baked in the lasat budget and cutting that going forward would actually cost the government revenue it needs…
So where is the Republican House Speaker gonna go to make his House crazies get SOMETHING?
Biden says the pandemic is over?
Why not grab that money back since the Republicans never quite believed the covid virus was here anyways….
Hang on…
I suspect there will be more twists and turns in this story….
Oh?
The Debt Ceiling WILL BE Raised in the end…..
No Doubt….
House Republican aides point to government estimates showing $4.61 trillion has been authorized in Covid-19 spending, but $4.12 trillion has been spent. That leaves nearly $500 billion in unspent funds, although a portion of that has been “obligated” to certain pots of money and may be difficult to return to the U.S. Treasury.
Rep. David Schweikert, R-Ariz., a Ways and Means member, signaled support for the idea, but cautioned that there’ll be challenges in identifying and reclaiming the unspent money.
“There’s some disputes on what the dollar amounts actually are, and what’s actually technically obligated and what’s not obligated,” Schweikert said. “Because we have some states that … put it into their rainy day funds. And there’s specific language that you can’t supplant it. So that’s that sort of thing you’re going to have to dig into and figure out what’s really there.”
At an Oversight Committee hearing about federal pandemic spending on Wednesday, Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., pressed the U.S. Government Accountability Office on how much of the money is left and unspoken for.
“As of November 2022, there’s about $157 billion unobligated funds,” Gene Dodaro, the comptroller general, responded.
“Unencumbered, unobligated, unspent?” Biggs asked….
…
On Capitol Hill, some Republicans believe a proposal like tapping excess Covid money could fall into a political sweet spot that adheres to both parties’ red lines on the debt ceiling. It may satisfy GOP demands to cut some spending — though it won’t come close to addressing conservative wishes to balance the budget. It’s the sort of add-on that Democrats may be willing to dismiss as fig leaf, given that it’s unspent money, and especially as President Joe Biden seeks to declare victory against Covid.
The White House said Biden made clear in his Tuesday meeting with Speaker Kevin McCarthy that preventing default is “not negotiable or conditional.” Most Democrats are standing with Biden, insisting that the debt ceiling be lifted without strings attached.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, said negotiating on the debt limit is “a nonstarter.” But when asked broadly about the policy merits of sending certain Covid money back to the Treasury, she signaled openness to reviewing ideas….