Senator Ron Johnson (R, WI) has budget concerns. So do I. 
Is This Any Way to Run a Budget?
Ron Johnson asks Is This Any Way to Run a Budget?
The 535 members of Congress could be considered the board of directors, and the news media as the watchdog auditor, of a financial entity that spends more than $7 trillion a year. Yet when I asked my colleagues and the media a few years ago during an omnibus spending debate how much the federal government spent in total, no one offered an answer. My guess is most simply didn’t know because we never talk about it and there is no formal process to review total spending. We appropriate less than 25% of total federal outlays in any given year, and the rest, mandatory spending and entitlements, is on autopilot.
This lack of attention has allowed spending to soar 63%, from $4,447 billion in fiscal 2019 to a projected $7,266 billion in fiscal 2025. In January on these pages I proposed three options for returning to a more reasonable pre-pandemic level of spending. All used projected 2025 spending for Social Security, Medicare and interest. Other spending in these baseline options was adjusted to account for population growth and inflation. Adjusting Bill Clinton’s 1998, Barack Obama’s 2014 and Donald Trump’s 2019 total outlays results in baseline budgets of $5,496 billion, $6,199 billion and $6,496 billion, respectively. The Senate budget resolution used Mr. Trump’s 2021 budget projection for 2025, yielding a baseline amount of $6,061 billion.
Since we’ve already accounted for population growth and inflation in all these options, why are we spending $770 billion to $1.77 trillion above these previous years’ population- and inflation-adjusted outlays? In the private sector, that is exactly what business managers would have to explain to upper management in a line-by-line budget review. We should apply the same rigorous examination to federal spending.
The election of President Trump and Republican majorities in the House and Senate have given America a historic chance to reduce the size, scope and cost of the federal government. With federal debt totaling $36.4 trillion and interest expense exceeding defense spending, it’s vital that the U.S. seize this opportunity.
Ron Johnson Flashbacks
Flashback December 24, 2022: ‘This Has To Stop—We Can’t Continue This Way’: Ron Johnson Rips Omnibus Process
Flashback December 18, 2024: On Wednesday’s “Newsline,” Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson said he will not be voting in favor of the continuing resolution to keep the government funded.
Continuing Resolution Senate Vote March 14, 2025
The above image from Continuing Resolution Roll Call Vote 119th Congress – 1st Session
What About the House?
On March 6, U.S. Representative Massie Votes Against Continuing Resolution
Today, Congressman Thomas Massie voted against H.R. 933, the Continuing Resolution (CR) to fund the federal government until September of this year.
“This Continuing Resolution perpetuates an unbalanced budget, and allows the federal government to spend more money than it did last year,” said Rep. Massie. “I cannot vote for a bill that funds Obamacare and keeps the deficit over $1 trillion.”
Trump Continues to Attack Massie Ahead of Vote
On March 11, Politico reported Trump Continues to Attack Massie Ahead of Vote
In a Truth Social post Tuesday, Trump labels Massie as a “Congressman” and a grandstander. It follows a message Monday where Trump suggested Massie should be primaried — saying he would “lead the charge” against Massie in the upcoming midterm election and comparing the Kentucky Republican to former Rep. Liz Cheney.
Massie has been adamantly against the CR and has vowed to vote against it. “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,” Massie wrote on X on Sunday.
Hypocrites Unite
Ultimately, Massie was the only Republican in the House to vote nay. The CR passed by 1 vote when hypocrite Chip Roy caved under pressure.
Well done Thomas Massie and Rand Paul.
All of the rest of the Republicans are flat out budget hypocrites. So is President Trump. Trump hides under preposterous tariff theories and DOGE lies.
New Economic Theory
On March 18, I commented New Economic Theory “Tariffs Are a Tax Cut for the American People”
Please consider an amazing statement by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
Lutnick Says Tariffs Can Eliminate the IRS and Balance the Budget
On March 12, I noted Lutnick Says Tariffs Can Eliminate the IRS and Balance the Budget
Lutnick: “We’re going to make the External Revenue Service replace the Internal Revenue Service.”
I ran the math on that ludicrous idea. Team Trump only needs to bring in $7 trillion in tariffs on $3.3 trillion in total imports.
Then we need to faithfully collect 200 percent tariffs on everything with of no trade frictions, no retaliations, and full compliance.
See above link for detailed analysis.
Trump Wants a Weak Dollar But Needs a Strong One
On March 16, I commented Trump Wants a Weak Dollar But Needs a Strong One
Trump wants the Fed to cut interest rates to weaken the dollar and boost exports. But that’s not what helped him get elected.
Trumperland Economics
Welcome to Trumperland economics where tariffs are a tax cut.
Trump simultaneously promotes a strong and weak dollar, and proposes we collect huge tariffs while reducing imports.
We will allegedly balance the budget by running huge deficits while having a Detox recession and not having recession.
In Trumperland, contradictions have no meaning, so this is entirely possible.
No one in the administration is willing to challenge this nonsense. Only one in the Senate and one in the House are willing.
To answer hypocrite Rion Johnson’s question, No, Ron, it’s not.
Congrats to Representative Thomas Massie and Senator Rand Paul.
I’ll cut to the chase. Why aren’t the democrats talking impeachment? Because they need Trump to keep doing what he’s doing, because it enrages all voters against him and by association all Republicans. They want to sweep the midterms and get total control of Congress and then impeach Trump, and Vance too if they must.
I suggest a preemptive strike. The Republicans should impeach Trump now and of course the Democrats will have to support getting him out of office.
If we do this (and play by the rules, as you suggest). We can win the midterms and have enough time to implement real programs to Drain the Swamp.
We just need Republicans that are willing to go all in with their careers to save America. Good Luck with that.
Massie voted no and a Democrat who would have probably otherwise voted no, voted yes. Funny how that worked out.
It’s not hypocritical. Keeping the government open is an imperative. They should cut responsibly using normal processes, like DOGE is doing.
DOGE is a normal process?
It’s not hypocritical being a hypocrite especially when you are in power?
Mish, you need to correct your headline, it says Rep Ron Johnson. He is a Senator, it should say Sen Ron Johnson. For more information on why they refuse to budget and continue to pass Continuing Resolutions, see the Timcast IRL with former Rep. Matt Gaetz. He explains that the CRs are filled with money going to donors who then give a portion back as campaign contributions along with other favors. Its pure graft, that’s why he got Kevin McCarthy ousted as Speaker because McCarthy had promised a return to regular order for the budget in order to get support for fiscal conservatives. When McCarthy didn’t follow through Gaetz voted to oust him.
Yes it should say senator.
I had it right everywhere else
Thanks
But there is a report that no one but a few of us read every year. https://www.fiscal.treasury.gov/files/reports-statements/financial-report/2024/01-16-2025-FR-(Final).pdf
It is released every year and is chock full of data that you might find useful
It isn’t possible to spend 7 trillion dollars a year wisely. Hence we have corruption, loss of control and stupid projects funded simply because the money is there. The system needs a revamp.
“The 535 members of Congress could be considered the board of directors, and the news media as the watchdog auditor, of a financial entity that spends more than $7 trillion a year.”
The board of directors is inherently more competent as it is selected on some form of merit or benefit. However, people’s deputies don’t have to jump that bar.
Let me not start with the supposed media watchdog.
This is unfair. A conclusion based on 2 points of reference when there are many, many moving parts to Trump’s effort to drain some little part of the fetid swamp.
Johnson has earned the right to be cut a lot of slack for his heroic performance during the Faucian Plandemic Reign of Witches.
I agree with you, Mish, that Republicans seemedc to be in position to cut spending in this budget–because a shutdown would put spending decisions in Trump’s hands. And their record as a party with regard to spending is 99% as bad as the Dems. But with Trump in a no-huddle offense, I think it is premature to cast such a loose slander at a man who has earned our trust.
As I have said often, there is little difference between the Democrats and the Republicans when it comes to spending. One is more likely to overspend on social programs while the other will be more likely to overspend on defense. In either case they will collectively kick the can down the road until the house of cards collapses. We get closer to the collapse by the day.
I’ll hit the front of the check out line before then but my children and certainly my grandchildren will be here for the collapse. I fear for their futures.
U don’t turn around an aircraft carrier on a dime.
The last year the Government had a surplus was 1957. 67 years of stright (to hell) and still waiting for some one to grab the wheel. Michael, what is your estimate of the time to turn this aircraft carrier arround?
Y
EXCELLENT article Mish!! This should be a mandatory read for ALL Repub. voters (yes, Dems are just as bad if not slightly worse) and kids in HS and College! The R’s only care about the out of control spending, the deficit and debt when the Dems are in the White House!!
But DOGE keeps chipping away at the monster. Elon thinks he can get to $1 trillion in cuts by end of 2026. I know that fart smeller (not smart feller) Mish is pessimistic, but he’s not in the arena. It’s actually a good plan. Go ahead and get the budget deliberation out of the way, while Elon is aggressively looking for low-hanging places to cut.
Why is the Federal budget increasing substantially faster than population growth and inflation? 2 major reasons that speaker Johnson needs to be deliberately obtuse not to understand:
1 Population aging (from baby boom bulge and low fertility) increasing social security and medicare spending (and to a lesser extent pension and health care benefits to retired Federal workers and veterans)
2 Interest on an increasing debt at increasing average interest rates, as US govt. debt with suppressed low rates issued from 2008 through around 2022 rolls off.
The real reson is that no one has the guts to be the guy that defuses the ticking time bomb.
When one swings for the historical fences, it helps to have some smidgen of coherence. I am beginning to wonder whether Congress is permanently stymied in all directions (other than simply “spend,” revenues or none, on crony projects but nothing ever repealed). But the answer might hopefully be something other than attempted tyranny, with a big dose of day-to-day and edict-to-edict incoherence?
There’s probably a glitch in the earpiece through which their controllers tell them what to say. Or it is hard for the puppet to act coherent with someone’s hand up their rear end. No way a lot of these guys and gals are not compromised. Live boy, dead girl, sexual fetish, cheated on their spouse, or financial scandal, take your pick. They wouldn’t be there if they couldn’t be controlled.
Now an unbalanced budget isnt necessarily a bad thing. Floating trillions of dollars in debt allows the billionaires and near-trillionaires to park their money in a super-safe place, bonds defended by the US military and all the black boys in the inner city who risk their lives for this country. I mean, this setup kinda reveals itself, doesnt it? Trap the young into serving in the country’s military, risking life and dying for the country, to protect the trillions in Treasuries owned by the top 1% worldwide! It’s a rich Repub’s dream!
It sure worked for billionaire Silicon Valley Democrats.
Yeah, they all got in line…but seeing your post, I flashed on a twist to that first Star Wars movie scene with Vader remotely choking out a doubting official “I find your lack of faith in the ‘Golden Age’ disturbing”. Is it fear keeping everyone in line? The very real possibility of getting primaried by DJT affiliates? Unfortunately the most important jobs report in DC is “Do I keep MY job”.
Murkowski said it this week, her GOP colleagues in Congress are all too scared of the consequences of doing anything other than they are told to do by Trump. So they do what they are told, like the unthinking slaves they are.
Thinking in your lane today, too, Rando.
My favorite analogy is the ‘crack addict’. And since the most severe consequence, is death, I am not surprised that the critters are scared…
same for the left