Pssst…Tom Carper, The Pentagon has $Billions for the taking
If the “Trump Emergency” has a silver lining it may turn out to be the news that the Pentagon is just a huge piggy bank stuffed with unobligated billions.
That will be handy when Tom Caper returns to trying to cut Social Security.
Invoking the cost of “the wall” as a reason for not giving the Trump administration the money that was asked for in the first place was pretty much theatrics. Our yearly budget is roughly around 4 trillion dollars. The 5.7 billion that they wanted would have been a very small sliver of the annual budget pie chart.
They have cut important agencies by less. Everything but Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid and the military is a “small sliver” of the annual budget.
It’s a legitimate point, unlike yours.
But, if it’s any consolation, the fact that it’s a stupid idea and useless for its intended purpose are also important factors.
I don’t think it’s so smart to invoke a state of emergency in order to fund “the wall”. Trump will be out soon enough and precedent is a big part of our governance. I could see the Dems invoking a state of emergency for something like climate change ,and that’s pretty troubling considering some of the ideas that have been thrown around lately.
The country has been moving toward a “unitary executive” since WWII, starting with the idea that in the nuclear age there would be no time for Congress to convene in a nuclear attack. This has occurred under presidents of both parties, though moreso under Republicans, but the important thing is that no president ever tries to undo his own power.
You are correct that this is a bad precedent, but another trait of the modern GOP is an unwillingness to engage in long-range, or even medium-range, thinking. Everybody wants to make their pile and let somebody later clean up the mess.
“National Emergency” I should say.
Tommy,
Social Security has already been cut by gradually raising the full SS retirement from age from 65 to 67.
Eliminate the cap.