5 thoughts on “Weekend Open Thread”

1. Well, the US House and Senate finally delivered the last of the budget to the White House, and it got signed.  "only" 4 Continuing Resolutions and 175 days into the 366 day fiscal year.  Diana DeGette put it this way: with a

   vote of 286 to 134, House Democrats provided the votes needed since fewer than half of the House Republicans supported the effort to keep our government open.

   As usual, this bill is far from perfect, but it avoids draconian cuts, contains no poison pills, and keeps essential services running in Denver and across the country.

   In addition to the 3 vacancies, 12 Representatives didn't vote.  Needing a procedure allowing the House to by-pass the Rules Committee, it needed 278 for a two-thirds supermajority.  101 Republicans voted to keep the Government open. 112 voted to oppose passage.  Democrats supported the bill, 185 to 22. 

   In the Senate, the bill needed a 3/5ths majority, and was passed 74 to 24 on March 23, 2024 at 01:51 AM.  2 Republicans didn't vote.  22 Republicans, plus Roll Call reports, “Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., who protested the lack of Ukraine aid, and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who sought funding for Palestinian aid.” One suspects Bennet and Sanders would have been Yes votes if their protests weren’t merely symbolic."

   Bennet's press release:

   March 23, 2024

   Washington, D.C. — Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet released the following statement after voting against a government funding bill that did not include aid for Ukraine: 

   “I voted against tonight’s appropriations legislation because it failed to include any financial support for Ukraine. Since Putin’s invasion two years ago, the Ukrainian people have fought on the front lines for freedom and democracy. Tonight, they are running out of bullets and artillery.   

   “Over a month ago, the Senate passed a national security package with 70 votes. Speaker Johnson has refused to bring this legislation to the House floor for a vote even though it has bipartisan support. 

   “Speaker Johnson claims he will hold a vote on the national security assistance after the Easter recess. House Republicans who care about maintaining our national security, defending democracy, and defeating tyranny must hold Speaker Johnson to his word and fulfill our obligation to Ukraine. 

   “I have worked hard in the Senate to pass bipartisan support for Ukraine, and we must continue to fight until Speaker Johnson allows a vote in the House. If the Speaker puts Ukraine funding on the Floor, it will pass with a bipartisan vote; if he does not, he will have to explain why he lost Ukraine.”

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   1. Thanks for the update, JohnIn. We are so poorly served by today's Congress. Its inaction and failed policies fail to serve this country in so many ways. Congress is incapable of passing an immigration reform bill which leads to a disaster at the border, ripe for partisan political manipulation. And the Putinists in our midst apparently believe it's fine to fail to support Ukraine which could allow Putin greater access to eastern Europe, destabilizing our world even further. 

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2. An untold side of the failure to pass budgets is the damage to agencies it causes.  In most cases hiring and promotions in the federal government take a long time.  Most of that is to plan for a new or replacement person which takes months and oftern years. So a CR shifts everything because you are essentially under the previous years budget.  When a budget is finally passed and signed you may have to start over if you have less than six months of the new one. Also, new, revised or corrected regulations may not happen due to not being able to pay for them or the public comment period.   Congress may have passed a statute making some agency responsible for whatever the statute does. But, no budget, no action.  And, a lot more.

   The little program I was on was what we called congressionally funded, it was a multi-department, multi-agency, program, which the various departments shared what the Congress told them was the overall budget for each agency.  It was not fee supported or department budget. It was a weird world where we had to “read” the budget, like reading entrails, to find bits and pieces of what we might be getting for the next year.  Under sfb the House deleted us, the Senate would put us back in, and then fights in reconcilliations.

   Edit: A major problem with a budget showing up in March, actually closer to July due to all the departments, agencies, distributions and assorted hands. A process that would have started in September or October for input to the next budget, is now clobbered with last year’s budget. Federal operates from October 1 to September 30. All in all, whether intentional or not, the magats have caused major issues in running the government.

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3. Hey MAGAts!!

   Wanna help your fuhrer cover his bills? Send him a Megamillions or Powerball ticket. Maybe the best chance he has of raising the cash..

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   1. Nah, the best bet their Great Leader has for raising the money is if he asks each and every one of the MAGAts to forego this coming week's purchases of booze, smokes, meth and ammo purchases and send the money to him.

      He got 74 million votes last time around. If each of his sheep kicks in $8, that gets him $592 million. He could pocket the excess as "administrative costs and overhead."

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