We have a $1.6 trillion budget deal. What’s Inside? 
The Wall Street Journal reports Congressional Negotiators Reach Agreement on $1.6 Trillion Government Spending Level for 2024
Spending Deal Key Points
- “This is total failure,” the House Freedom Caucus, an ultra conservative group of about three dozen Republicans, said on social media after news of the deal broke.
- The new figure is about in line with the spring level. In separate statements Sunday, Johnson and Senate Democrats said defense spending levels would total $886 billion for the current fiscal year, which began on Oct. 1.
- The agreement allows Congress to “maintain important funding priorities for the American people and avoid a government shutdown,” said House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D, N.Y.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D, N.Y.) in a joint statement.
- “Unfortunately there are only microscopic concessions made by the D.C. Cartel in this new spending ‘deal,’” said Rep. Matt Rosendale (R., Mont.) on social media.
- The canceled spending comes from mandatory funds that were never going to be spent in the first place.
- The deal leaves unresolved some key battles and could open up more friction between House Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) and his conservative flank.
“These final spending levels will not satisfy everyone, and they do not cut as much spending as many of us would like,” Johnson said.
Freedom Caucus Condemns the Deal
The National Review reports Johnson, Schumer Reach Budget Agreement, Freedom Caucus Condemns It
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) reached a $1.59 trillion agreement Sunday night to finance the 2024 federal government — the deal comes two weeks before a partial government shutdown would occur. The deal faces opposition from House Republicans, particularly the Freedom Caucus members, who consider it a “total failure” and “totally unacceptable.”
The agreement allocates $886.3 billion for defense spending and $772.7 billion for discretionary domestic spending. Notably, the deal also rescinds $6.1 billion in coronavirus-emergency-spending authority and advances cuts from $80 billion in new funding for the Internal Revenue Service, stripping $20 billion of that total this year.
The House’s Freedom Caucus, posting on X, condemned the deal: ”It’s even worse than we thought. . . . The true programmatic spending level is $1.658 trillion — not $1.59 trillion. This is total failure.”
The agreement is informed by a deal reached last spring to suspend the nation’s debt limit, with additional spending agreed upon between Biden and then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy. However, Republicans, led by Florida congressman Matt Gaetz (R.), ousted McCarthy for adhering to the agreement, leading to the selection of Mike Johnson as the new House Speaker.
Freedom Caucus Tweet
“A total failure, even worse than we thought”, said the Freedom Caucus.
Gee, who could has possibly predicted that?
Republicans Will Cave In Again
Yesterday, I proclaimed Two Weeks to Fix Three Problems, Republicans Will Cave In Again
The only questions are on timing how fast the Republicans cave in and how many Democrats it takes to pass the final boondoggle.
The Freedom Caucus will howl.
In response to that post one of my readers commented:
“I should have known better than to think cynicism wouldn’t win. Mish you were right. Note that this does not include any funding for Ukraine or Israel, but expect a cave on that as well, eventually.”
Meanwhile please note Debt Jumps Past $34 Trillion, $1 Trillion Interest
The fallback position is not less of anything. Rather, it’s another clean continuing resolution.
A bipartisan majority wants more of this and more of that. So that is what you should expect.
The deal does not address the border at all!
To get any border funding (that Biden will try to find a way to not honor), Republicans will have to further cave in on both Ukraine and Israel.
The total funding will be well in excess of the deal that Kevin McCarthy once had on the table.
Wow.
“maintain important funding priorities [that we can’t afford any more]”…
Gee, I wonder what’ll happen next?
What normally happens when you go a bit too crazy with your credit card?
When the fit finally hits the shan and the buck has to be devalued and debt destruction finally ends in a deep depression, most of the criminal cartel running the country will be retired on some island beach. The fools who elected and re-elected them will become the final bag holders. So they’ll get real democracy and as H L Mencken quipped, they’ll ‘get it good and hard’.
I’ve seen this movie before: Republicans cut taxes mostly benefiting the wealthy, and then scream about the ballooning deficit and the need to cut or eliminate “entitlements” like Social Security and Medicare. I can hear them now – “If they would rather die, …they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.”
So the Freedom Caucus crybabies are upset they didn’t get all they wanted. But they did eliminate funding for more IRS agents. Since the wealthy are the folks who finance the Republican Party, achieving this one accomplishment was a top priority. In return, they had to concede on other issues, especially the social spending priorities for the “commoners” that Democrats really care about.
If you really want to cut the deficit, you’ll need to cut entitlements for the rich, raise their taxes, and insure they are paid. So of course Republicans are jubilant that $10+ billion was removed for the additional IRS personnel that would otherwise have made it harder for them to cheat on their taxes and use questionable loopholes.
Every time tax rates have been cut across the board, starting with JFK, then Reagan, followed by W Bush, and most recently with Trump, revenues have increased. The problem is with spending not revenue!
Well, I guess we know that Johnson is no different than McCarthy.
Any chance a Freedom caucus member makes a motion to vacate?
At this point the Freedom Caucus is just building up “I told you so” points for after when the whole sh!thouse goes up in flames, and someone has to pick through the smouldering debris to do a post-mortem and work out how to rebuild everything back.
“The total funding will be well in excess of the deal that Kevin McCarthy once had on the table.”
McCarthy’s deal wouldn’t have mattered anyway. How much money that wasn’t in previous budgets was spent on Ukraine or the so-called Covid crisis?
“spent on … the so called Covid crisis.”
The only thing good about COVID was that eventually anti-vax MAGA Republicans died at a much greater rate than sane Republicans and Democrats who chose to get vaccinated:
link to npr.org
Every one of them qualifies for the Darwin Award.
Trouble is, many of them didn’t die right away, and then took up valuable ICU beds, and ate up billions in otherwise unnecessary medical costs we all had to pay for because they didn’t immediately die.
Talk about the lack of taking personal responsibility for one’s own actions. If you’re going to be a jackass, at least have the spine to admit you’re one, and bow out of this world with some respect.
Next pandemic, MAGA Republicans should just tattoo “Not vaccinated” on their forehead, and EMS will give them that IV injection of bleach recommended by Dr. Trump, and if they survive that – send them off by taxi to the Covid colony where they can enjoy the company of other deniers while waiting to suffocate in their own secretions without burdening the rest of us with the medical costs of their stupidity.
“The only thing good about COVID was that eventually anti-vax MAGA Republicans died at a much greater rate than sane Republicans and Democrats who chose to get vaccinated”
Covid was treatable with anti-viral drugs. Dr.s Fareed and Tyson have treated over 15,000 Covid patients with no deaths. They kept Covid patients out of the hospital and the morgue. The CDC’s death safety signal triggered shortly after the Covid shots were released. VAERS and V-Safe went off the charts with adverse event reports. Wall Street analyst Ed Dowd has conservatively estimated some 300,000 deaths in the U.S. due to the shots. Former Kaiser nurse Gail Macrae estimated that some 90% of the hospital deaths were due to hospital protocols, not the Covid virus.
Spoken like a true misanthrope.
It is impossible to vote your way out of tyranny
we live in Terrorist nation that only knows war and is run by fascists who have no care about WE THE PEOPLE
otherwise we wouldn’t have open borders, run away debt on 1% can survive
““This is total failure,” the House Freedom Caucus, an ultra conservative group of about three dozen Republicans, said on social media after news of the deal broke.”
Now it’s ultra conservative. Do they use the term country club to describe other Republicans? Back in the early days, what did the federal government spend money on, considering they didn’t have the numerous bloated departments that they have now?
“The canceled spending comes from mandatory funds that were never going to be spent in the first place.”
Always good for virtue signalling.
Financial Doom Loop status quo for the Imperial City maintained! Watch the media propagandists celebrate as we go into the abyss of insolvency, currency destruction, and default.
This is one of those comments that I really wish I could disagree with
If you really want change, you have to vote for it. Dem or Repub will not change. Presently, you get who you vote for, not what you vote for. Same in almost (?) every western country. I wonder why?
You can only run for Congress if you have a significant amount of money and time. That dramatically limits the number of people who can run. The key is the money side. If you don’t want to risk your own, you have to get it from other people, and they will only give it to you if you vote for their priorities. But the folks who have the significant excess resources to donate to political campaigns often have significantly different priorities than those of the average Joe. But it is the average Joe who controls the vote. Therefore, to be a successful long-term candidate you must:
a. It’s the fault of the other party.
b. It’s the fault of the system or the deep state, and/or
c. You embed the vote in some giant bill that no one will actually read.
Why does it work this way? Because it is designed to work this way. You get to feel like you have a choice. You get to be on a team. The donors get the spoils. The Congressman gets a well-paying job. Everyone wins, just in their own way.
It is this way across the western world (and some of the eastern too) because it works. It successfully keeps people from rising up and changing it because it meets the needs of the majority to a “good enough” extent. Human beings are essentially dumb, hairless chimps. As long as you feel like you have a choice and can blame someone else for your problems, you’ll be too lazy to do the hard work of changing anything.
Take it another notch … let’s say you got fed up and decided to run for president on the platform of balancing the budget and even starting to pay down the debt. You would need huge entitlement cuts to the poor and the rich … and you would need big tax increases. Neither party would touch you with a 10 foot pole.
Nor would the American public. It sounds great on paper until people find out they’re expected personally to make sacrifices.
Excellent summarization. Thanks!
Is a US DEBT “Jubilee” inevitable?
DEFINED: “So, kings would often use decrees to forgive certain types of debt and servitude, restoring freedom or land and resetting things for another several decades. Or they would put limits on how many years someone could be a debt slave until they are freed, even if their time in slavery doesn’t fully cover their debts.
Debt jubilees date back at least 4,000 years to ancient Sumer, Babylon, and other areas of western Asia. Ancient kings would sometimes forgive societal debts as a matter of public stability, and some of them put the practice into law at regular intervals or triggered by certain catalysts.”
From Lyn Alden (smart woman): link to lynalden.com
I believe that this will ultimately happen.
Brace yourselves.
The MONEYED ELITES will be exempted from all Harm.
“Is a US DEBT “Jubilee” inevitable?”
Something is going to happen. The WEF elitists have a plan about what to do with us, in their Great Reset. How well their plan will unfold is another matter. With Covid, we have already had a taste of governmental totalitarianism. They are seeking to expand on that with the WHO Pandemic Treaty, which the public is pretty much in the dark about.
I’ve never seen specifics on how this would be done but keep in mind that the flip side of that debt is an asset. Someone takes the hit to forgive someone else’s debt.
“We have to do it for the children” FIFY
Spending Deal Key Points
– “This is total failure,” the House Freedom Caucus, an ultra conservative group of about three dozen Republicans, said on social media after news of the deal broke.
> An ultra conservative would and should say that, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad deal. If it’s snowing outside it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad cold day, but rather your outlook. If you’re a skier for example, it’s an absolutely beautiful cold snowy day!
– The new figure is about in line with the spring level. In separate statements Sunday, Johnson and Senate Democrats said defense spending levels would total $886 billion for the current fiscal year, which began on Oct. 1.
> I am ok with that. How they were able to get that, hold that, and what they ultimately got back for that.
– The agreement allows Congress to “maintain important funding priorities for the American people and avoid a government shutdown,” said House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D, N.Y.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D, N.Y.) in a joint statement.
> The Dems have to make it sound a lot better than it was, but gave up exactly what they didn’t want to do.
– “Unfortunately there are only microscopic concessions made by the D.C. Cartel in this new spending ‘deal,’” said Rep. Matt Rosendale (R., Mont.) on social media.
> First time I have heard the word “concession” used in reference to the Democrat Party, in forever.
– The canceled spending comes from mandatory funds that were never going to be spent in the first place.
> All money that can, will eventually get spent. Good job getting it finally cancelled before that occurred.
– The deal leaves unresolved some key battles and could open up more friction between House Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) and his conservative flank.
> There are always unresolved key battles. They will only cause friction if the Republicans allow it too. Hold tight, and support your new Leader!
– “These final spending levels will not satisfy everyone, and they do not cut as much spending as many of us would like,” Johnson said.
> Totally upfront, honest, and explains his position. Let’s hope they support his valiant efforts over the mess we had before him.
– Freedom Caucus Condemns the Deal
> I would expect them too, and good for them. Biden condemns closed borders, and I condemn open borders. It’s called an opinion, and thank goodness we have “Free Speech” to make such opinions out loud!
– The deal does not address the border at all!
> Biden is the President, and the Senate is held by His Party, the Democrats, and they clamor for Open Borders! While in charge and fixated on Open Borders, why not try stopping to address what the Constitution states Biden should do and isn’t doing. Duly Noted, now let the U.S. Citizens Decide! Open Borders = Dems; Closed Borders = Reps, so make your choice accordingly and stop complaining about the obvious.
Getting rid of the CR was the biggest goal! A continuing resolution was simply continued rubber stamped spending on things only one party truly wanted. It was a fallback guaranteed win for the Dem Party.
– While we had to give them this last amount, that they would have got anyway at some point, as they are in charge after all. What we got was far more than one more time, but rather we got One Last Time!!!
Moving forward we now have much more control in the battle of the budget process. Nothing rubber stamped, and individual wants on their own merit. Personal accountability on the voting records now, and sunlight on a dark unlit process until now, as well. This is a much bigger deal than it is getting credit for, and Johnson stood firm and committed and got it done.
Try to see the good in what occurred, and less concerned about what was done, but rather what had to be done to get where we are now at. Not bad for holding only 1 of the 3 needed to do so.
I will state it again: “Great Job” MJ and keep up the good fight! Now if we can only get all the Republicans behind you, like the Democrats do for their party, and candidates.
One can Hope!!!
Who cares? The whole process is idiotic from the get-go. First you vote on a budget. Then you vote on asking for an increase to your own credit limit to match the budget you already voted for. The second vote is just a waste of time and resources.
Voting for the budget allows you to spend money to make your constituents happy. Voting against the increase in the credit limit allows you to act like your fiscally responsible which makes your constituents happy. What’s not to like?
Um, they’re not voting on a budget. Congress hasn’t passed a budget in at least 27 years. The GOP even brought back earmarks which are crazy!
Freedom Caucus bites the dust. Just like the Tea Party.
Cutting spending doesn’t get votes. More spending does. Welcome to real life.
It is the hardest thing for regular Folks to do. I witnessed a Family Member SPIRAL financially and within a year of my lending him $50,000, he bought a new RV. KEPT SPENDING right in my FACE.
I cannot trust him any longer. I view Congress the same way.
DO NOT listen to the mainstream news. IT IS ALL LIES. ALL of it.
The only bigger lies to those come from the non-mainstream news.
It’s an election year. My guess is that the GOP folks are petrified of reducing social spending, as the vast majority of dollars are going to social security and Medicare.
We know that the Democrats will pound them if they take even just one of those dollars off the table.
And they’re not going to reduce defense spending, because that’s part of the platform.
Because they didn’t get this done a year ago, they are now subject to election year pressures.
The Democrats know this, and they love to lay this trap.
I’m not saying it’s right, but all I’m saying is that there is a reason for it. The plain fact is that politicians are not rewarded for cutting the budget.
Ultimately, this is the Democrats’ and voters’ fault, because if this was bipartisan then they couldn’t use it as a campaign football. But we know this is how Democrats get what they want — by bludgeoning the airwaves with scare tactics about the latest thing the GOP is going to take from you.
It’s a bad situation.
BS. It’s not the democrats fault. It’s the voters fault. Everybody wants spending, just on their stuff. Everybody is happy to cut spending that doesn’t benefit them personally. I live in East Central Florida. We are 100% dependent on federal spending. From NASA to military avionics to military bases, cut any of these and everyone suffers, even unrelated businesses because their customers work in one of the major industries.
And we are a deep red county. But we all believe that leadership in space in what makes America great! And if we don’t build overpriced bombers and weapon systems, we’ll be taken over by the ChinComs within a week! We believe it because we are paid to believe it.
Fuck you GOP. You are destroying my children’s future by financially overspending and destroying this country. I REFUSE to vote for any of you. You dug your own political graves
Bit puzzled; why only GOP? The ‘Democrats’ are the same!
Not exactly the same. On the GOP side recently, the combined addictions to spending and tax cuts make it probably the least financially responsible GOP I’ve seen in my 40+ voting years. You can cut taxes and cut spending, but you generally ought not cut the one and increase the other. As a temporary recession response, fine. As an ongoing goal of governance, no.
They are not rhe same. Communist democrats are WAY WORSE and have beyond repair since the 90s. I gave up on them decades ago. They hate America and Americans. They also never claimed to be fiscally conservative on any platform in my lifetime so we “know what they are.” Fiscally lying, thieving, conniving GOP on the other hand, were a final hope. They are now co-opted and completely gone. We fiscal conservatives have NO ONE
Make sense?
Perfect, and we’re in agreement. Allan might be a UniParty RINO. I knew exactly what your response was about, focused on what should be financial conservatism.
Hank, you are stuck in a doom loop. You forgot to add both sides. WTF?
I didn’t forget. I gave up on the even more disgusting other side over 30 years ago. I ONLY have negative and destructive expectations from them and they keep on delivering well beyond even the lost egregious and degenerate things I can think of.
My last hope for the GOP is now dead and gone too
I was hoping Mike Johnson would change the status quo, unfortunately not.
This is how it will be for the near future … nothing long term, nothing bipartisan. Just making it thru one day at a time. Sad it has come to this.
Individuals do the same thing in crises mode. I have seen it happen.
They will continue the same behaviors and simply DRINK more and CONSUME more and go completely under.
That is HUMAN. It is unfortunately HOW we are (many of us).