Octopus Overlords

“This budget represents a president who is beholden to nobody but the voters,” Mulvaney said. “He is following through on his promises. We did not consult with special interests on how to write this budget. We did not consult with lobbyists on how to write this budget. The president’s team wrote this budget and that’s what you’ll see in the numbers.”

Parts of the budget proposal also appear to contradict Trump’s agenda. Trump has said he wants to eliminate all disease, but the budget chops funding for the National Institutes of Health by $5.8 billion, or close to 20 percent. He has said he wants to create a $1 trillion infrastructure program, but the proposal would eliminate a Transportation Department program that funds nearly $500 million in road projects. It does not include new funding amounts or a tax mechanism for Trump’s infrastructure program, postponing those decisions.

And the Trump administration proposed to eliminate a number of other programs, particularly those that serve low-income Americans and minorities, because it questioned their effectiveness. This included the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which disburses more than $3 billion annually to help heat homes in the winter. It also proposed abolishing the Community Development Block Grant program, which provides roughly $3 billion for targeted projects related to affordable housing, community development and homelessness programs, among other things.

The budget was stuffed with other cuts and reductions. It calls for privatizing the Federal Aviation Administration’s air traffic control function, cutting all funding for long-distance Amtrak train services and eliminating EPA funding for the restoration of Chesapeake Bay. Job training programs would also be cut, pushing more responsibility for this onto the states and employers.

There were several areas in which Trump proposed increasing spending. He proposed, for example, $168 million for charter school programs and $250 million for a new private-school choice program, which would probably provide tuition assistance for families who opt to send their children to private schools.

The biggest increase in spending would be directed at the Pentagon, but the budget plan does not make clear where the new $54 billion would go. The budget plan would boost funding for the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force. It would, among other things, acquire new F-35 Joint Strike Fighters and rebuild what it says are depleted munitions inventories. But it stops short of saying how these new funds would support new tactics to combat the Islamic State.

...

And he requested $1.7 billion in new funding this year and an additional $2.6 billion in new funding in 2018 to begin construction of a wall along the border with Mexico.

Legal Services Corp. ($366 million): A 43-year-old congressionally chartered organization that helps provide free civil legal advice to poor people.

Ralph-Wiggum wrote:I assume those funds for the wall will get reimbursed by Mexico...

Ralph-Wiggum wrote:So does anyone know historically how much budgets change from when they are first proposed until they are passed? I'm hoping a lot...

The budget is submitted to Congress as a series of bills - the "annual appropriations bills". In order for each to succeed, it has to get 60 votes in the Senate, where the Republicans have 52 seats to 48 for the Democrats.

At least eight Democrats would have to vote for the cuts or at least refuse to obstruct it. Given the level of Democratic animosity towards Mr Trump, those possibilities look slim.

Meanwhile, several Republicans have publicly opposed moves to slash funding for diplomacy and foreign aid.

Senator Lindsey Graham, chairman of the Senate subcommittee responsible for the budgets, said last month: "It's dead on arrival - it's not going to happen. It would be a disaster... If you take soft power off the table then you're never going to win the war."

Ralph-Wiggum wrote:In other news, Trump being elected might have been the worst possible thing for my future job prospects in the sciences...

hepcat wrote:

Ralph-Wiggum wrote:In other news, Trump being elected might have been the worst possible thing for my future job prospects in the sciences...

The only bright spot I've come across with him is that he apparently wants to sink quite a bit of money into NASA projects for space exploration.

Ralph-Wiggum wrote:

hepcat wrote:

Ralph-Wiggum wrote:In other news, Trump being elected might have been the worst possible thing for my future job prospects in the sciences...

The only bright spot I've come across with him is that he apparently wants to sink quite a bit of money into NASA projects for space exploration.

New grant proposal: "Exobiology reproduction in space: insights from horseshoe crab sperm".

hepcat wrote:I'm just surprised there isn't a line item reading "Power Armor for Donald".

We did not consult with special interests on how to write this budget. We did not consult with lobbyists on how to write this budget. The president’s team wrote this budget and that’s what you’ll see in the numbers.

RunningMn9 wrote:

We did not consult with special interests on how to write this budget. We did not consult with lobbyists on how to write this budget. The president’s team wrote this budget and that’s what you’ll see in the numbers.

I know that any time I am looking into making a giant, complex budget that can alter the trajectory of a nation of 320+ million people - my first step is always to ensure that those who know the least about the topics at hand are the ones making the decisions.

Enough wrote:This is the philistine budget.

There have been other digs at Philistine sites, but this is the first time archaeologists have found a large group of the Philistines' remains, the bones of more than 200 Philistine people buried in the sand here at the site of the biblical city of Ashkelon. Many of them complete skeletons, head to toe, wearing bracelets and toe rings and buried with bottles of perfume near their nostrils.
...
MASTER: Well, you can think about what it would mean if you called someone a Philistine today. It would mean they didn't like art and they didn't like music or perhaps they were just uncultured, and so they've really gotten a bad rap. But when we look at them, there wasn't a period where we don't see them loving art and sophistication and decoration.

ESTRIN: Based on the findings from the dig, Master says, the Philistines appear to be a people who came from far away. They made a home on the Mediterranean and had different burial customs and used distinctive pottery. While they may have been Philistines, they had a rich culture. Daniel Estrin, NPR News, Ashkelon.

hepcat wrote:

RunningMn9 wrote:

We did not consult with special interests on how to write this budget. We did not consult with lobbyists on how to write this budget. The president’s team wrote this budget and that’s what you’ll see in the numbers.

I know that any time I am looking into making a giant, complex budget that can alter the trajectory of a nation of 320+ million people - my first step is always to ensure that those who know the least about the topics at hand are the ones making the decisions.

Jared stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night, apparently.

Isgrimnur wrote:

Enough wrote:This is the philistine budget.

Still believing that Hebrew propaganda about the Philistines, eh?

There have been other digs at Philistine sites, but this is the first time archaeologists have found a large group of the Philistines' remains, the bones of more than 200 Philistine people buried in the sand here at the site of the biblical city of Ashkelon. Many of them complete skeletons, head to toe, wearing bracelets and toe rings and buried with bottles of perfume near their nostrils.
...
MASTER: Well, you can think about what it would mean if you called someone a Philistine today. It would mean they didn't like art and they didn't like music or perhaps they were just uncultured, and so they've really gotten a bad rap. But when we look at them, there wasn't a period where we don't see them loving art and sophistication and decoration.

ESTRIN: Based on the findings from the dig, Master says, the Philistines appear to be a people who came from far away. They made a home on the Mediterranean and had different burial customs and used distinctive pottery. While they may have been Philistines, they had a rich culture. Daniel Estrin, NPR News, Ashkelon.

Trump's campaign position on energy states: "Make America energy independent, create millions of new jobs, and protect clean air and clean water. We will conserve our natural habitats, reserves and resources. We will unleash an energy revolution that will bring vast new wealth to our country."

“It is clear that this budget proposed today cannot pass the Senate," the Armed Services Committee chairman said in a statement.

McCain added that as lawmakers work on funding the government, they must come up with a deal "that provides sufficient funds to rebuild the military."

Trump's budget included $603 billion for total defense spending, which includes money outside of the Pentagon, plus an extra $65 billion in overseas contingency funding that is not subject to budget caps.

Vorret wrote:I can't beleive 550 billion isn't enough to fund your military.
That's a fucking shitload of money, most countries total budget aren't even close to that.

Carpet_pissr wrote:"Senator Lindsey Graham, chairman of the Senate subcommittee responsible for the budgets, said last month: "It's dead on arrival - it's not going to happen. It would be a disaster... If you take soft power off the table then you're never going to win the war."
I never. EVER EVER EVERRR thought I would do this, but:

hepcat wrote:I forget where I saw it, but one opinion piece I read felt that Putin doesn't care about military strength, he just wants a drastically reduced State Department. The writer's point of view was that Putin hates the relationships we have built across the world and feels a weakened State Department would be a major first step to dismantling those relationships.

Paingod wrote:

Vorret wrote:I can't beleive 550 billion isn't enough to fund your military.
That's a fucking shitload of money, most countries total budget aren't even close to that.

Our military spending is something like triple the next "biggest" country. In 2014, our spending was roughly the same as China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, France, UK, India, and Germany combined.

Vorret wrote:I can't beleive 550 billion isn't enough to fund your military.
That's a fucking shitload of money, most countries total budget aren't even close to that.