A few months ago the House took the 12 annual appropriations bills and split them into two packages. The first of those packages finally passed today, after several small disagreements were finally resolved. Here's how they went:
- Stopping the VA from barring gun purchases to veterans with mental health deterioration: Republicans won.
- $1 billion increase in WIC nutrition funding for infants and new mothers: Democrats won.
- Three tiny earmarks for LGBTQ services: Republicans won.
- Stopping pharmacies from providing abortion pills: Democrats won.
Speaker Mike Johnson also pointed to the following Republican "victories":
Johnson highlighted a 7% reduction of $122 million for the Justice Department’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives division and a 6% reduction of $654 million for the Federal Bureau of Investigation when compared with the prior fiscal year’s allocated amount. He also touted a 10% reduction to the Environmental Protection Agency, mostly attributable to a $745 million drop in money for its Superfund cleanup sites.
So Republicans got a small reduction in BATF funding because they hate enforcing gun laws; a small reduction in FBI funding because the FBI has been mean to Donald Trump; and a small reduction in superfund cleanup money because.......they hate cleaning up toxic waste dumps?
Overall, the appropriations followed the funding guidelines set out last year in the debt ceiling deal. Republicans won almost none of their culture war battles and failed to make any significant cuts. They could have easily done this six months ago.
So Republicans defunded the police.
Seems ... ?
Exactly.
Next in line, the funding for the IRS. Because simply asking people to file returns is a step too far!
superfund sites have clusters in NY, PA, new england, and lake michigan while the rest are pretty spread out
i'm guessing they cut it because they generally hate the epa and the superfund spending ends up in blue state economies more than red states
superfund map
Hey, give Jersey it’s due; more Superfund sites than Pennsylvania at a fraction the size.
Stupid is as stupid does….
I assume this was the easier half of the loaf to bake?
They could have easily done this six months ago.
But then we'd still have McCarthy as Speaker, and could have missed out on all the entertainment the Rs have provided us.
Don't forget - we had to wait for G-d to anoint the new Moses in the person of that prissy little White Christian Nationalist Speaker of the House.
A repulsive never agrees to anything with out a long meaningless fight then thinks they won with the original proposal. Repulsive oneupmanship!
Aren't Superfund sites considered high-quality creches for the incubation of dinosaur eggs? Fewer cleaned Superfund sites = more Republican Congresscritters!
Easy-Peasey.
Careful now--depending on wording these cuts my be for the whole year, and since half of the fiscal year has passed, they'll be twice as big going forward.
RFK, jr, cosmopolite,
https://twitter.com/Lis_Smith/status/1765564202851139851
Hmm, maybe he should consider leaving the convicted sex criminals off the list of celebs whose names he drops ….
Also, there's that cousin of his who was convicted of murder and he's the only guy on Earth who thinks he's innocent.
There must be a psychological term for this, where he pathologically thinks the reverse of obvious reality is true. It's a condition often at play among social conservatives.
On second thought, is this a deepfake? It seems too ridiculously tone-deaf to be real.
How to Budget
7% reduction of $122 million for the [ATF] - Prioritize ATF investigations and support to blue states
6% reduction of $654 million for the [FBI] - Cut FBI personnel and investigations in red states
10% reduction to the [EPA's Superfund] - Prioritize Superfund work in blue states
I once heard an evangelical argue that it didn't matter if we used all the world's oil. God would put more of it in the ground for us.
I'm pretty sure the line on toxic waste is similar. There probably is no such thing but if there is, God will protect us.
GOP are quick to claim we have a "mental health problem, not a gun problem" and then they work to make sure we continue to have both.