THE MORNING RANT: It’s Shutdown Theater Time Again! Let’s Look at What Government Spending Will NOT Be Cut

Because the federal government is about to run out of money again, we are about to have another round of government-shutdown theater, and if Congress does not appropriate more borrowed money, then “non-essential” government services will be suspended until this “crisis” is resolved.

And how will the crisis be resolved? By Republicans capitulating to more spending, without any cuts, as is the tradition.

A spokesperson with the U.S. Office of Management and Budget said a short-term continuing resolution will be needed in the next month, keeping government funding at its current levels while negotiations continue over longer-term appropriations bills.

“…keeping government funding at its current levels…” Well, of course.

Funding for the federal government is set to run out on Sept. 30 unless action is taken by Congress.

Deep divisions remain between the parties with Republicans looking to implement large spending cuts unlikely to pass in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

Forcing the Democrats to capitulate on spending cuts rather than having the Republicans capitulate on deficit spending would be a new twist. But the truth is, most Republicans are not ”looking to implement large spending cuts.” That is posturing for the voters back home, and is part of their “budget hawk” charade.

Earlier this month, President Joe Biden requested a stopgap measure to cover standard government programs and an additional $40 billion — $24 billion for Ukraine and other foreign policy challenges, nearly $4 billion for border and migration issues and $12 billion for disaster relief to boost the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

And there it is, we have to channel another $24 billion through Ukraine, and we must also continue to fund ”other foreign policy challenges.”

Regarding that ”$4 billion for border and migration issues,” do you remember when all the “budget hawks” in both parties were adamant that there was not $5 billion to fund Trump’s border wall, but now that Joe Biden has thrown the border open we are going to spend another $4 billion, on top of all that has already been spent, dealing with the domestic humanitarian crisis his policies have unleashed.

But let’s circle back to the ”other foreign policy challenges” that require additional emergency deficit spending to avoid a government shutdown.

Oilfield Rando (@Oilfield_Rando) does a fantastic job highlighting wasteful government spending at his randoland.us (@RandoLand_us) website. He goes straight to the source, www.usaspending.gov, to get this information. The comical descriptions of how your tax money is being squandered are not his, they are direct quotes from the government’s website. Here are just a few of the ridiculous ways your State Department is financing “foreign policy challenges”:

In 2022, the Department of State awarded $987,654 to WINROCK INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT to ADDRESS GENDER DISCREPANCIES IN THE ENERGY SECTOR LABOR FORCE IN HIGH EMITTING COUNTRIES WITH SIGNIFICANT GENDER GAPS.https://t.co/jdLIyhlhk6

— RandoLand.us (@RandoLand_us) August 23, 2023

The budget hawks in Congress have the Constitutional authority not to fund “gender discrepencies in the energy sector labor force in high emitting countries with significant gender gaps.” But they won’t withhold funding, because they are frauds who actually support using US tax dollars and deficit spending in this manner.

Here are a couple more appropriations for “foreign policy challenges” that were highlighted by Mr. Rando, with embedded links to the federal government’s spending website:

In 2022, the Department of State awarded $499,827 to NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY to ENABLE GENDER PARITY FOR FEMALE ENVIRONMENTALISTS IN CLIMATE CHANGE AND TO BUILD A PAKISTANI WOMEN UNIVERSITY CLIMATE CHANGE CONSORTIUM WHICH WILL DEVELOP PAKISTANI CAPACITY TO ADAPT TO AND MITIGATE CLIMATE CHANGE

In 2023, the Department of State awarded $39,984 to DIPLO US to FOSTER A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES AND THEIR POLICY IMPLICATIONS IN HUMAN AND GENDER RIGHTS, EQUITY, EQUALITY, AND INCLUSIVITY.

Examples like these go on and on and on and on….

It’s obviously not just the State Department…here is an example of how the federal government spends money on “education”:

In 2023, the Department of Education awarded $572,126 to SISTEMA UNIVERSITARIO ANA G. MENDEZ, INCORPORADO for PROYECTO ABRAZO: EMBRACING DIVERSITY, INCLUSION AND A SENSE OF BELONGING THROUGH ACADEMIC, REAL-LIFE SKILLS AND CULTURAL ENRICHMENT

Don’t forget, the inflation nightmare that we are going through was precipitated by government deficit spending. As your paycheck’s purchasing power erodes each month due to inflation, you can take solace in knowing that North Carolina State University is repurposing your lost purchasing power to build a Pakistani women’s climate change consortium.

Can cutting these ridiculous appropriations alone fix the budget deficit? Of course not. But there will never be support for making more painful cuts if our government continues to fund absolute nonsense, especially when we are facing a “government shutdown” because the government has run out of money.

Once upon a time I paid for the content I read, specifically magazines and periodicals. Nowadays it’s pretty much all on line, and I don’t have to pay for subscriptions. But it’s important to still financially contribute to those websites and online journalists who do great work, and whose work we read and enjoy.

Oilfield Rando is a roughneck whose hobby is investigating government spending, and also making us laugh at the woke ruling class. He does better investigative work on wasteful spending than I can find from full-time writers at traditional conservative publications. I frequently use his work, so I am glad to be a subscriber of his at just $1 per month. If you would like to do the same, you can do so by following and subscribing at this Twitter link:

Since we’re on the subject, Ace’s carpentry projects and Kaboom habit don’t come cheap. You can contribute to Ace by clicking on the orange box that says “PayPal Donate” at the top of the page, on the left.

And of course, there’s the invaluable Cut Jib Newsletter, which replaced Drudge as my daily link-buffet several years ago. You can donate to Cut Jib Newsletter at this link.

Enjoy the rest of your Labor Day.

[buck.throckmorton at protonmail dot com]

posted by Buck Throckmorton at 11:00 AM

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