The Federal Budget is the Key to Making America Great Again – Top 3 Takeaways – February 20th, 2025
- Budget talk. I know boring right? In fact, the only thing that might sound more boring to you than talking about your own budget is talking about the federal budget. Even for a wonk like me that sounds potentially painfully boring. However, we now live in the era of DOGE where it’s not nearly as boring as it may seem. In fact, some of the first cracks I’ve taken at looking into what’s happening budgetarily in Washington D.C. kinda excites me... If you care about the future of our country and what your tax money is being thrown into you might too. What DOGE is doing to evaluate federal spending and to begin to right size the federal government is critically important work. But so too, actually more so, is what’s actually being allocated to be spent. DOGE has won a series of legal challenges of late to allow their work to continue and to allow for the federal buyout package to go through, but there was one they recently lost on as well. A federal appeals court ruling forcing USAID funding to continue. The crux of the case is this. The previous congress passed funding for government agencies that the previous president signed into law. The court ruled that the current administration can’t unilaterally put an end to what was specifically allocated. So, while, for example, DOGE has been able to put an end to funding a transgender opera in Columbia, a tranny comic book in Peru and a DEI musical in Ireland...because those weren’t specific allocations authorized by Congress, DOGE can’t put an end to USAID and all of its funding. And that leads to two important points. There are two ways to cut the size of the federal government. The way that DOGE is currently doing it, by identifying and eliminating wasteful government programs and seeking to shrink bloated federal government agencies...or (and preferably)...
- The way that congress can do it...by either passing legislation to put an end to certain agencies or at a minimum defunding them. After all, all any government agency can do is what it’s given money by congress to do. Take away the money and the rest is academic. This is where DOGE’s role is especially instructive. Just as the senate is to provide “advice and consent” for judges, justices, and executive branch cabinet members – DOGE is also effectively providing advice (if not consent) for what spending should and should not be in many federal departments and agencies. Most importantly congress appears to be listening. What we have in front of us right now is a once and a lifetime opportunity. When was the last time the world’s most successful man dedicated himself to trying to make our country run as well as his companies? What DOGE is doing is truly the dirty work required to make America great again. It’s critically important that it’s not wasted. On that note, when Elon Musk set out to lead DOGE, he outlined $2 trillion in spending cuts as a “best-case outcome”. Also, with a deficit last year of $1.83 trillion, it’s essentially a needed outcome. Nevertheless, to quote Musk: I think if we try for 2 trillion, we've got a good shot at getting 1. With $6.8 trillion in annual federal spending, cutting a trillion would equal 15% of total federal spending. It’s entirely doable, frankly two should be too. But here’s the good news that takes me back to this not being such a boring budget talk story. While there’s no shortage of debating left to do in the House of Representatives – where Republicans can currently lose only one vote and pass their priorities on a party line vote – the House Budget Committee passed a 45-page resolution (on a party line vote) directing committees to come up with at least $1.5 trillion in savings (in addition to accounting for Trump’s tax policy). One of the biggest areas sought for savings is turning out to be Medicaid where an initial review shows that $800 billion in savings can be achieved by simply applying work requirements which used to be in place back into place. Why? Because only 44% of adult Medicaid recipients are working full time. And as for the remaining 56% who are on Medicaid but aren’t working full time... a study has shown only 2% currently aren’t working because they couldn’t find full-time work. In other words, it’s a choice for most on Medicaid to not even attempt to find full-time work – much less to actually do it. And it’s one made possible through the abuse of Medicaid, along with other federal government programs, courtesy of tax dollars paid for by you. It’s about to get loud from the left who’ll claim families will die and the world will come to an end if spending cuts to programs like Medicaid through work requirements happen.
- That's why it’s important to know now what the truth of the situation really is. The fact of the matter is that it’s not just our border and asylum processes that have been abused. It's not just foreign aid that’s been abused. Unsurprisingly domestic government assistance programs have been and are rampantly being abused by people who are perfectly capable of working to support themselves and their families but choose not to. Addressing these abuses is another benefit of DOGE doing its job to pressure Congress to do a much better job at actually representing our interests. So, about that. Based on DOGE’s initial findings, as studied by the House DOGE subcommittee, what percentage of federal government spending is fraud? The answer is 20%, or $1.4 trillion this year. Btw, the private sector fraud rate in business is 3% - meaning that based on the DOGE findings thus far, the federal government runs 667% less efficiently than the average business. Not a well-run Elon Musk-like managed business mind you. The federal government has been running 667% more poorly than just your run-of-the-mill business. If this country will be made great again, the budget will be the key to being able to do so. That’s why what’s happening with committee reviews and votes on it right now is so critical. Budget talk may generally be boring, but what’s happening with it right now is the key to Donald Trump’s MAGA story.