Hi Peter- Thank you for very interesting & well detailed post (3/3/2025 spending in the US Just Got DOGE’d”).
If the current economy trends noted are being somewhat positively influenced by the DOGE efforts, then it would be important for the Trump administration to send Congress a “rescission package” ASAP (which would rescind any noted wasteful / nonessential prior Federal payment authorization). To pass a rescission package in Congress would only take a simple majority (50% + 1) vs. the typical 60% super majority & debate would be limited per the Budget Act of 1974. In addition, if this passed, the administration could put forth to Congress additional rescission packages in the future as needed (as additional wasteful & nonessential prior Federal payment appropriations are discovered / brought to light).
Of course, every Republican would need to vote “Yes” on any rescission package, unless by a remote chance, a moderate, budget/deficit conscious Democratic had the courage to buck the stonewalling Democrat leadership. Regardless, if there are any Republicans who vote “No”, each one should be called out in public & demanded to explain which specific wasteful / nonessential previously funded appropriated program they are in favor of keeping (& why).
Thanks again & I enjoy your thoughtful writings. Take care.
Yep, term limits would be a good start, along with campaign finance reform (codifying in law the elimination of the Citizen United court ruling). The problem right now are the many Congresspeople who have a vested personal interests in maintaining these wasteful Federal government spending status quo.
You are 100% correct about the only remedy for now is to vote out politicians that won’t focus on or simply don’t want to eliminate wasteful/nonessential Federal spending & are more interested in their own self interests than in addressing the huge Federal Deficit which is in the majority of the public constituents best interest.
Thanks again & keep writing / sounding the alarm for everyone to get involved in making their congressperson accountable during this potentially short window of opportunity!
Hi again Peter: You bring up sone very good points. I need to look into how a Continuing Resolution - CR works in Congress, but if there is more than one way to codify any rescission into law, I’m all for it.
Otherwise just relying on an administration’s Executive Order to cut these prior authorized programs, will only result in massive amount of litigation through the courts by the people vested in maintaining these wasteful status quo & the possible overturning of the EO cuts by the courts.
I like the idea of a recission package. It ties in well with many of the complaints about Speaker Johnson's latest CR that, as a "clean" CR perpetuates much of the wasteful spending DOGE is trying to axe.
Whether this needs to be done as a separate recission package or as part of the CR negotiations is a tactical issue for the Congress to resolve. What Trump can do, however, in the meantime is take to his many bully pulpits and put the pressure on Congress not to sustain the axed spending through the ongoing budget Kabuki theater currently being played out.
One thing that everyone should do is make every public statement, comment, petition, or whatever to call attention to whether members of Congress are voting to continue the wasteful spending or no. People need to make a real push for Congressional accountability, to a degree that has not been demanded before.
I will repeat my hope that the MAGA coalition will primary EVERY member of Congress in the next election cycle, and every election cycle thereafter. We need to make every Congressional seat "unsafe" for the incumbent. Until we get term limits passed we need to make every Congressman campaign vigorously each electoral cycle.
The only way to get accountability from Congress is to vote them out on a regular basis.
Thank you for the undeniable, indisputable data, Peter. And these results are just for the few DOGE days in January - I can’t wait to see the data for February! I know the government hasn’t released any official data for Feb yet, but if you see any reliable indicators of what the DOGE effect has been during Feb, please let us know your analysis of it. Your thoughts are highly valuable!
The hard part for Trump and Musk is that the short-term pain - maybe a recession that’s partly Biden’s fault - will be blamed on the Trump administration in screams and shrieks in the corporate media. I sure hope that Americans still have enough common sense to think things through.
And I hope that Trump and Musk continue to slash, chop, and eviscerate every penny of fraud, graft, waste and corruption throughout government until the positive effects are evident to even the most clueless sheep in our country!
We'll get an early indicator of DOGE impact at the tail end of this week when the February Employment Situation Summary comes out.
Barring a complete reversal from the courts, we should be seeing a steady drop in government employment levels, even without the proposed mass layoffs Trump wants to make.
That means we're going to see government payrolls shrink, and either a spike in the unemployment rate or a further rise among those Not In The Labor Force.
The full impact won't be known for months, might not even be known this year. But it's already established that there is an impact. Right now, voters are going to like that.
What’s the deal with that picture? It shows the back of a car but the rearview mirrors show it’s the front of the car. Definitely got my attention.
I often generate an image using Substack's AI image tool. AI images are...imperfect renderings at times! ;)
Hi Peter- Thank you for very interesting & well detailed post (3/3/2025 spending in the US Just Got DOGE’d”).
If the current economy trends noted are being somewhat positively influenced by the DOGE efforts, then it would be important for the Trump administration to send Congress a “rescission package” ASAP (which would rescind any noted wasteful / nonessential prior Federal payment authorization). To pass a rescission package in Congress would only take a simple majority (50% + 1) vs. the typical 60% super majority & debate would be limited per the Budget Act of 1974. In addition, if this passed, the administration could put forth to Congress additional rescission packages in the future as needed (as additional wasteful & nonessential prior Federal payment appropriations are discovered / brought to light).
Of course, every Republican would need to vote “Yes” on any rescission package, unless by a remote chance, a moderate, budget/deficit conscious Democratic had the courage to buck the stonewalling Democrat leadership. Regardless, if there are any Republicans who vote “No”, each one should be called out in public & demanded to explain which specific wasteful / nonessential previously funded appropriated program they are in favor of keeping (& why).
Thanks again & I enjoy your thoughtful writings. Take care.
Yep, term limits would be a good start, along with campaign finance reform (codifying in law the elimination of the Citizen United court ruling). The problem right now are the many Congresspeople who have a vested personal interests in maintaining these wasteful Federal government spending status quo.
You are 100% correct about the only remedy for now is to vote out politicians that won’t focus on or simply don’t want to eliminate wasteful/nonessential Federal spending & are more interested in their own self interests than in addressing the huge Federal Deficit which is in the majority of the public constituents best interest.
Thanks again & keep writing / sounding the alarm for everyone to get involved in making their congressperson accountable during this potentially short window of opportunity!
Hi again Peter: You bring up sone very good points. I need to look into how a Continuing Resolution - CR works in Congress, but if there is more than one way to codify any rescission into law, I’m all for it.
Otherwise just relying on an administration’s Executive Order to cut these prior authorized programs, will only result in massive amount of litigation through the courts by the people vested in maintaining these wasteful status quo & the possible overturning of the EO cuts by the courts.
Yeah, I'll have to dig into that one myself. It's been a while since I tried to unravel the Byzantine budget processes we have within Congress.
I like the idea of a recission package. It ties in well with many of the complaints about Speaker Johnson's latest CR that, as a "clean" CR perpetuates much of the wasteful spending DOGE is trying to axe.
Whether this needs to be done as a separate recission package or as part of the CR negotiations is a tactical issue for the Congress to resolve. What Trump can do, however, in the meantime is take to his many bully pulpits and put the pressure on Congress not to sustain the axed spending through the ongoing budget Kabuki theater currently being played out.
One thing that everyone should do is make every public statement, comment, petition, or whatever to call attention to whether members of Congress are voting to continue the wasteful spending or no. People need to make a real push for Congressional accountability, to a degree that has not been demanded before.
I will repeat my hope that the MAGA coalition will primary EVERY member of Congress in the next election cycle, and every election cycle thereafter. We need to make every Congressional seat "unsafe" for the incumbent. Until we get term limits passed we need to make every Congressman campaign vigorously each electoral cycle.
The only way to get accountability from Congress is to vote them out on a regular basis.
Thank you for the undeniable, indisputable data, Peter. And these results are just for the few DOGE days in January - I can’t wait to see the data for February! I know the government hasn’t released any official data for Feb yet, but if you see any reliable indicators of what the DOGE effect has been during Feb, please let us know your analysis of it. Your thoughts are highly valuable!
The hard part for Trump and Musk is that the short-term pain - maybe a recession that’s partly Biden’s fault - will be blamed on the Trump administration in screams and shrieks in the corporate media. I sure hope that Americans still have enough common sense to think things through.
And I hope that Trump and Musk continue to slash, chop, and eviscerate every penny of fraud, graft, waste and corruption throughout government until the positive effects are evident to even the most clueless sheep in our country!
We'll get an early indicator of DOGE impact at the tail end of this week when the February Employment Situation Summary comes out.
Barring a complete reversal from the courts, we should be seeing a steady drop in government employment levels, even without the proposed mass layoffs Trump wants to make.
That means we're going to see government payrolls shrink, and either a spike in the unemployment rate or a further rise among those Not In The Labor Force.
The full impact won't be known for months, might not even be known this year. But it's already established that there is an impact. Right now, voters are going to like that.
Excellent information Peter thank you!