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Notes -
Some signs that maybe this Trump administration won't just be more of the same...
So apparently the US government will "shut down" on Friday if Congress doesn't pass a continuing resolution. (I put "shut down" in quotes because of course they will still continue the all-important business of sending out transfer payments and paying bureaucrats. Mostly they'll just close the National Parks.).
To keep the government running, the House Speaker (Mike Johnson, Republican) put forward a 1500 page continuing resolution that had all kinds of ridiculous shit in it, including funding pro-regime propaganda, changing the word "offender" to "justice-involved person", and of course a bunch of pork barrel projects for both parties.
A 1500 page bill right before Christmas is all very normal of course. No one expects the Congresspeople to read it. They just rubber stamp and then go home to their constituents bragging about their $100 million in funding for music tourism or whatever.
Only, this time, something happened. Spurred on by Elon and Vivek, constituents started calling their representatives and complaining. The bill looks to be in trouble. And now, reportedly, it is being replaced by a bill that's "only" 116 pages. At this point, our resident nitpickers will come in and mention that most of the important stuff in the bill is still there. The money for molasses research is just a small drop in the bucket compared to the money for hurricane relief. And they're right. But still, this is important progress. A government for the people and by the people needs to legible to the people.
Bills should be only as long as they need to be and no longer. This bill should have been a single page, continuing existing funding levels. 116 pages is still 115 pages too long, but it's progress.
It's a good sign that the swamp is less powerful than before.
p.s. Grok AI is very useful for getting information on current events.
I don't get the sense that, as someone thoroughly impressed by a change in page count, you'll care, but in the interest of facts...
Most bureaucrats do not get paid during shutdowns.
Not that you should shed a tear for then; current law requires that they receive backpay for the shutdown.
So with that correction, please feel free to continue cheering for giving delayed-pay vacations to the bureaucrats.
Yeah Contractors get hosed, unless their company has enough private contracts, employees get a delayed pay vacation.
I believe contracts are generally written such that funding isn’t affected by a small shutdown.
This shit is old hat.
Most major contractors I know something about keep a chunk of their budget aside for this sort of thing, so they can usually keep paying people for a few weeks/months before they have to start freezing nonessential workers.
I think some contracts are funded up front as well.
I just don’t recall any contractors I know worried about losing pay from shut downs.
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