Politics

[Red Leg]

I am going to say something unpopular with the budget hawks, but our total foreign aid bill last year was $70.2 billion dollars. In country with a 6 trillion dollar budget, that is barely roundoff money. Putting a hold on it does nothing to curb real expenditures or grow investment in Detroit or anywhere else. This sudden suspension is pure political theater to appeal to the base.

 

[mdwest]

There is also some misinformation out there, I heard a talking head last night complaining about USFWS spending money on a marsh in New Mexico (I think) to improve habitat for Mexican ducks. If it was USFWS money , it was almost 100% certain money derived from migratory bird hunting stamp money not tax money. I guess you can call it tax money for the “privilege” to hunt migratory birds.

Its supposedly a pause so that the new administration can review and then decide if it wants to approve, etc moving forward..

the problem as I understand it is multi-faceted.. the Biden Administration tried to rush tons and tons of spending out the door at the last minute... much of which flies directly in the face of what Trump has said he intends, and what the American people have been pretty clear they want..

but.. there are also programs in place all over the globe that have been around for a very long time, that cant (or shouldn't) just have a "stop work" applied to them.. it will actually cost more money to halt activities, partially demobilize (or just have resources and assets sitting around unutilized), then remobilize and have to get momentum going again, and/or have to replace personnel because the old personnel went on and found other work or other projects during the pause.. then have to train those people up, get them to be effective, etc..etc..

some of the programs impacted by this I'd offer a "who cares?"... if we've already thrown a few million into the toilet on some completely valueless "study" or action, Im all for stopping throwing good money after bad.. (some day I should relay a story about a road being funded by the World Bank and the US State Dept in Kenya back in the 90's that literally started and stopped in the middle of nowhere.. it didn't connect any towns or villages.. didn't connect or cross any waterways or market areas.. didn't bring goods to market.. didn't take goods to people, etc..etc.. but we'd put millions of dollars into the project.. and never bothered to do a job site visit.. because someone told DOS it was a good idea)..

But some of the programs, as @Red Leg mentioned impact peoples lives, health, welfare, etc.. and are legitimately vital (even if they are poorly managed, poorly executed, etc)... just throwing on the brakes is very short sighted.. and might cost more money and harm more people than expected or intended...

 

[HookMeUpII]

What am I missing? Isn’t this just a pause in funding for these programs? Granted it doesn’t look good at all but there is way too much waste. They need to find a more efficient way to allocate money but they should do it ASAP before China, Russia and others step in to fill the void.
Wasn’t a stay put on the hold by a judge as well?

You basically summarized it. The issue is that in all that funding you have things like antivirals to fight HIV/AIDS....and then $50mm worth of condoms being sent to Gaza.

That's probably one of the top 3 problems with our government. The right hand of a bill is loaded with good things. The left hand is loaded with "pork" and waste. And it all gets pushed through.

 

[YancyW]

I am going to say something unpopular with the budget hawks, but our total foreign aid bill last year was $70.2 billion dollars. In country with a 6 trillion dollar budget, that is barely roundoff money. Putting a hold on it does nothing to curb real expenditures or grow investment in Detroit or anywhere else. This sudden suspension is pure political theater to appeal to the base.

There is some real coordination happening with states and the feds as it relates to the stoppage of the NGO money. Some states are now actively working to dislodge NGOs from and take back those duties and coverage areas that have been ceded over the past couple decades. It won't be top of mind or even really noticed outside those niches, but I've seen more activity this week than in many years combined.

The process to avoid state appropriations of federal funds by utilizing NGOs and other quasi-governmental agencies isn't new, but its application has exploded in recent years. This isn't the only approach to address it, but it is one that will start the process the fastest.

 

[Red Leg]

State and Fed interaction has nothing to do with State Department managed foreign aid accounts.

 

[YancyW]

State and Fed interaction has nothing to do with State Department managed foreign aid accounts.

Sure, I know a little about 150 too. I was talking more broadly with the federal funding pause, with clearly encompassed foreign aid. There has been more coordination on the matter than I would have assumed, just not something you see very often.

 

[Tanks]

…

on another subject, according to REFORMCALIFORNIA.ORG TONITE trump is withholding all federal funds from CA. for maybe up to 90 days due to lack of cooperation for his mandates of water ect.

If he does that either CA GOP reps will either votes against anything that comes up for vote or they will all get voted out in 2028. You don’t play political games with disaster relief.

 

[Brent in Az]

I am going to say something unpopular with the budget hawks, but our total foreign aid bill last year was $70.2 billion dollars. In country with a 6 trillion dollar budget, that is barely roundoff money. Putting a hold on it does nothing to curb real expenditures or grow investment in Detroit or anywhere else. This sudden suspension is pure political theater to appeal to the base.

Foreign aide will resume at a more responsible level once all the fluff and nonsense is weeded out.
An example of that is Bidens $50 million dollars in "Condom aide" to the Gaza.

 

[mdwest]

If he does that either CA GOP reps will either votes against anything that comes up for vote or they will all get voted out in 2028. You don’t play political games with disaster relief.

Who doesnt play games with disaster relief?

We witnessed tons of gamesmanship in both NC and HI in just the last couple of years related to disaster relief..

they ALL play games... a disaster is nothing more than a political pawn on a 3D Washington DC chessboard..

some see a crisis.. others see an opportunity.. and the shitbirds in DC continue to go round and round and round..

 

[Brent in Az]

If he does that either CA GOP reps will either votes against anything that comes up for vote or they will all get voted out in 2028. You don’t play political games with disaster relief.

You don't play political games with disaster relief? Kind of like FEMA ignoring hurricane victims with Trump signs in their yards, or even all the Covid relief that was mismanaged and rerouted by many blue cities, including California.

How easily democrats ignore those things until it happens to them.

 

[HookMeUpII]

Foreign aide will resume at a more responsible level once all the fluff and nonsense is weeded out.
An example of that is Bidens $50 million dollars in "Condom aide" to the Gaza.

I believe they already lifted the freeze. Or at least that's what CNBC just said.

 

[Brent in Az]

I believe they already lifted the freeze. Or at least that's what CNBC just said.

A federal judge stepped in, just as they always do when the Democrats start squealing

 

[Brent in Az]

I want to know about Bidens IRS tax collecting goon squad of 62,000 that were hired.?
Maybe they can go pick the fruits and vegetables that the liberals are wailing about

 

[Red Leg]

Foreign aide will resume at a more responsible level once all the fluff and nonsense is weeded out.
An example of that is Bidens $50 million dollars in "Condom aide" to the Gaza.

The only question is how much real damage to human lives will be done in lieu of an orderly review. How many would you advise the president is ok? OMB, showing a little common sense, rescinded the order an hour or so ago. The WH still claims the order is in effect. We'll know what is real and what is show over the next couple of days.

 

[deewayne2003]

Who doesnt play games with disaster relief?

We witnessed tons of gamesmanship in both NC and HI in just the last couple of years related to disaster relief..

they ALL play games... a disaster is nothing more than a political pawn on a 3D Washington DC chessboard..

some see a crisis.. others see an opportunity.. and the shitbirds in DC continue to go round and round and round..

Amen to that!.... Going back to "George Bush hates black people!"

I was on the Katrina evacuation route as well as living in one of the designated evacuation points and the politics were NON STOP! - Any mentioning of keeping things in check was instantly met with howls of racism or anti Democrat motives.

The best part of Trumps California visit was him calling out the bullshit clean up permitting which Karen Bass had already said it would take up to 18 months for clean up permits to be issued; and if he hadn't called out this issue these people would have been stuck with it.

Think bureaucracy doesn't hurt people? The official from Paradise inadvertently exposed the massive hurdles these people will face from their local government.....

"Mr. President; In Paradise where we stood 6 years ago together, 3,400 of the 18,000 homes destroyed have been rebuilt with another 400 in progress..."

In 6 YEARS you have only managed to rebuild 19% of the homes destroyed in the last wild fire; and your stating that like a point of F*&KING PRIDE????

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

I am going to say something unpopular with the budget hawks, but our total foreign aid bill last year was $70.2 billion dollars. In country with a 6 trillion dollar budget, that is barely roundoff money. Putting a hold on it does nothing to curb real expenditures or grow investment in Detroit or anywhere else. This sudden suspension is pure political theater to appeal to the base.

$70 billion here, $70 billion there and sooner or later we're talking about real money. Should we just ignore the smaller expenditures and go directly to Medicare, Social Security and/or Defense?

 

[Red Leg]

$70 billion here, $70 billion there and sooner or later we're talking about real money. Should we just ignore the smaller expenditures and go directly to Medicare, Social Security and/or Defense?

It is all about cost vs gains. I simply will say again, 70 billion is spit in the ocean compared to 6 trillion bleeding dollars. The only reason this is being done in this way is because the average ignorant voter thinks we spend hundreds of billions of dollars on foreign aid and Trump will fix it. Pure political theater.

A few years ago, Kaiser foundation did a survey asking respondents what percentage of the budget goes to foreign aid. The average response was 31%

70 billion is roughly 1.1% of 6 trillion.

 

[HookMeUpII]

$70 billion here, $70 billion there and sooner or later we're talking about real money. Should we just ignore the smaller expenditures and go directly to Medicare, Social Security and/or Defense?

This is really the point that needs to be made. At some point, something has to be done. Start with foreign aid first, then go with domestic programs. The "pork" has to get addressed at some point.

There's got to be some room made for the tax changes for citizens, which they are planning. $50mm in condoms to Gaza is a no brainer in terms of what goes first and foremost.

 

[Red Leg]

This is really the point that needs to be made. At some point, something has to be done. Start with foreign aid first, then go with domestic programs. The "pork" has to get addressed at some point.

There's got to be some room made for the tax changes for citizens, which they are planning. $50mm in condoms to Gaza is a no brainer in terms of what goes first and foremost.

No one is arguing that goal. Simply do it like adults.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

No one is arguing that goal. Simply do it like adults.

My question remains which is basically where do we start? If $70B is a rounding error, $50M for condoms is unrecognizable. But it's a ridiculous expenditure. How many of these smaller ridiculous expenditures do we have? What would they add up to? I haven't a clue. But if it's not that much, then back to what I said previously, do we then turn to SS, Medicare, DOD?

It doesn't seem that long ago we had a Dem POTUS and a Rep Speaker of the House that figured out how to balance the budget even if for a short period of time. I for one would like to get back there for the sake of my kids and theirs when they have them. I'd prefer to do this by cutting spending, but I'm pragmatic to realize it will likely require a give/take by both sides on spending/taxes.

So where do you propose we start on the spending cuts?