Posted on 03/10/2025 3:23:18 PM PDT by RandFan
As the deadline to avert a partial government shutdown approaches and President Donald Trump urges Republicans to support passage of a funding measure, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., has declared that he will oppose the proposal.
"Unless I get a lobotomy Monday that causes me to forget what I’ve witnessed the past 12 years, I’ll be a NO on the CR this week. It amazes me that my colleagues and many of the public fall for the lie that we will fight another day," Massie declared in a Sunday post on X.
President Donald Trump has urged Republicans to pass the measure.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Massie’s a drama queen. If he can’t tell the difference when we own all three branches then he can GTFO.
Just once I wish Republicans would stand together rather than grandstand for no good reason.
They think it’ll be any easier in September. At some point you’re going to have to do something. It’s hard to disagree with him but at the same time just saying now isn’t helping move the ball. Pay for ads or something to put Pressure on Trump and the congress. He’s not making any movement towards his position.
What we need is a return to regular order: 12-13 appropriations bills, committee hearings and votes on separate bills. It has been suspended since idk when, the Bush era maybe. But the time for him to push for this is not now at the last minute.
I gotta go with Massey and Paul on this one. We are in charge. We need to start acting like it. We don’t need another “clean CR.” We need a CR with SUBSTANTIAL CUTS IN IT! Shutting down the govt won’t cripple what DOGE is doing one bit. If anything, it will make it easier for DOGE to get things done. Don’t believe the “sky is falling” stories. 82% of the govt will still be running during a shutdown. I’ve even heard that Musk and his team wouldn’t get paid. You think Musk needs our money? A 300k salary is chump change to Musk. Trump is working for free. I bet Musk would have no problem doing the same until he gets the job done.
GOPee: the Live to Fight Another Day party.
All these federal workers - yes, I know how so many on here love to jeer them — lost their jobs. And for what? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!
I’m moving from Florida soon - thanks, low-paying job and skyrocketing home insurance - and when I do, wherever I land, I will register as an independent. Why participate in GOPee primaries when they’re most all of them spendthrift clowns anyhow?
“It’s NOTHING. People who expect DOGE to solve the horror of the situation have not done the math.”
You’re the one that is incapable of doing math. The current GDP of the United States is 29.82 Trillion. The average growth of GDP a year is 3.29 percent. Which Trump’s economy will exceed, but I will give you the average of an extra 1 trillion more income just from growth. DOGE’s final goal is 1 trillion which they are on that pace.
So, the projected deficit is 2 trillion. If DOGE cuts 1 trillion and revenue increases by 1 trillion, guess what math genius? A balance budget for the first time in decades.
This is not a small thing like your TDS has convinced you it is. I honestly believe Trump’s GDP is going to far exceed (a 1 or 2% higher) the average, which means we will actually paying down on the debt with the help of DOGE contribution.
At a minimum it means the birth date is wrong. So, what else is wrong?
Over 20% of the names in the system are known to be fictional. Which names? There is no easy way to determine the answer. Those imaginary people are not all going to have invalid birth dates.
When you find that level of data inconsistency in a system that controls major payments there will always be massive fraud hiding in the clutter.
Some of those fictional names will be receiving checks. Some dead people will be receiving checks. Some names will be used to establish false identities for loan frauds and welfare frauds not directly related to Social Security.
We are looking at a potential 900 billion dollars per year that is being stolen from the system. That money is being stolen from seniors who paid into the system and from working people who are still paying into the system.
This is an area that must be approached with great caution. The chainsaw RIF technique which is successful in other divisions will not work here.
Exactly, so we can have 219 GOPee big spenders instead of 218!
Why does KY keep sending him to DC?
The current GDP of the United States is 29.82 Trillion. The average growth of GDP a year is 3.29 percent. Which Trump’s economy will exceed,
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No proof of that. Assumption. And G is part of the GDP equation. Cut G, it’s a drag on GDP. Which adds to the difficulty of getting something extra beyond 3.29%.
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DOGE can have any goal it wants. I have seen claims that add to billions. I have seen no indictments of these fraud events — but there has been nowhere near enough time for that. Bottom line being, until there are indictments and convictions of fraud, claims of billions are just claims and can’t be used in any budgeting.
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So if the projected deficit is $2T, and DOGE has no prosecutions/convictions for fraud — which would be a necessary condition for any sort of clawback — then the deficit remains $2T.
Now . . . recission has some potential. But that is nothing more than a word floating around the Senate. It will have to get 60 votes to be a spending cut.
So yes. Good. You’re thinking about the numbers. But don’t presume the magic of unpassed recission legislation is a valid input to those numbers.
Rather, think about the increasing composite interest rate on the $36T of debt. That’s where magic really is needed.
“Exactly, so we can have 219 GOPee big spenders instead of 218!”
Name the 218 big spenders that have fought the DOGE cuts so far. Whether you like it or not, they are all walking the line. Trump and spending exposing it the sunshine has kept them in line. Hell, Trump even got all his cabinet approved 100% and there are several RINOs in the Senate.
Bitch when something really bad happens in the future, not the current environment. Even with the CR there currently is over 160 billion dollars cut from the budget with billions more a day. If congress doesn’t codified these cuts in the future then I will be screaming with you.
But whining like a baby when something that has never happened in the history of this country (tremendous spending cuts) is happening now does not make sense. I honestly believe that the cuts will go through by the force of Trump’s will (95% republican approved) and his 500,000,000 cash reserves for the midterms (his funds, not republican). Also, Elon is more than willing to spend a million or more in any republican district that votes against his cuts. Elon is already going to spends millions in close Democrat districts.
Where the goodwill of the country doesn’t convince republicans, the power Trump/Elon wields will put the dogs in line.
No Massie-sponsored bill has become law in 12 years.
Why does KY keep sending him to DC?
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Whoa. Wait a minute. I thought this was a Conservative blog.
Conservatism does not celebrate government. And certainly not governance. It celebrates smaller government. The less intrusion of government in life, the better. The fewer laws the better.
So you therefore cannot criticize someone for not having legislation passed.
‘Unless I get a lobotomy’
What’s that saying? “Your terms are acceptable”?
>>”The response we get is: because “Team Trump” is playing a game of 4D chess, we should continue to fund the same corrupt programs, and have the same bloated $2 trillion debt, that Biden had.”
Those cuts can be made via a recission bill later, after the budget bill is passed. A recission bill can be passed with a simple majority in the Senate. Making those same cuts in a CR would require a filibuster-proof majority, which makes it virtually impossible to do. A long shutdown over a CR will only delay passage of the budget bill currently being negotiated - the one with the tax cuts. “Team Trump” IS playing 4D chess. Try to pay attention.
“Bottom line being, until there are indictments and convictions of fraud, claims of billions are just claims and can’t be used in any budgeting.”
Have you actually went to the DOGE website and seen the cuts the over 100,000,000,000 dollars cuts? Have you factored in cutting the workforce by more than 200,000 saves 25,000,000,000 a year. Also, a Cabinet Secretary is not required to spend all the money allocated to their department. The budget appropriations serve as a limit, not a mandatory expenditure.
Trump’s cabinet secretaries do not need congress to cut their spending and follow DOGE’s recommendations. Do you think Trump’s handpicked cabinet secretaries are going to fight Trump/DOGE and spend their budget? No way.
Hell, congress can sit on their hands and Trump’s cabinet secretaries can cut a trillion legally. We are not in normal times. What DOGE is not doing his secretaries are and no one can stop them. Congress can allocate all the money they want, but can’t force them to spend it.
In the past the cabinet secretaries would waste billions upon billions to spend all their allocated money so their budgets would not get cut in the new year.
This is no longer the game.
The same nonsense we heard in the past, which somehow never actually happens.
"Try to pay attention" - we are paying attention, you condescending *****
Not bad, but the firings are probationary. It’s not # of employees fired X avg pay of federal workers. They are at the low end.
As for cabinet secretaries not spending . . . that’s the difference between authorization and appropriation. If it’s department salaries, that has to be paid. There is no discretion there. That’s authorized. And then that is appropriated.
Now, what can be done is a slowing of contract awards, but those contracts already awarded . . . nope, gotta pay them.
Cabinet secretaries are in the Executive. They are responsible for spending the appropriated money and as I noted, there’s very little discretion.
Yay for DOGE finding some badly labeled names in the Soc Sec database, but there is no numerical magic there. $7T was last year’s spending and $1.1T of that was interest on the debt. A few hundred billion, if even that is managed, doesn’t put even a dent in the remaining $6T.
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