The issue is time. They could probably cut a lot of things given the time to work them all out, but that’s the job that DOGE is supposed to do. It’s a chicken-and-egg problem, and we can’t leave the government shut down for the months that DOGE will require to do their work.
They’re going to have to work out a short-term budget with a reasonable amount of small cuts (whatever they can come up with quickly) and revisit the issue once DOGE comes back with their results. That was always the plan. Anyone who expects a balanced budget right now is dreaming.
Yes, that’s probably a better way of putting what I’ve posted on other threads. Plus, it’s impossible for Reps. in the disaster areas to vote against the $110 billion in disaster relief that Chip Roy vented about. Those votes alone would have tanked Roy’s approach. Heck, smash up Roy’s district with a hurricane and see if he wants to wait for cuts to free up aid, when the aid is already well behind arriving. If he did, his constituents would probably tar and feather him and drop him in a lake. For Christmas.