Dems score massive victories in Spending Bill

[the-pi-guy]

Alt-Right/Conservatives have meltdown as Dems score massive victories in Spending Bill | ResetEra

 

Why is Trump raging about the budget? Because Democrats got most of what they wanted.  

But the real reason Trump is probably angry about the bill is that Democrats won out. Indeed, the true message of this whole affair is that Republicans know full well that their agenda, and even their entire ideological approach to governing, is one that the American public just doesn't share. They have complete control of government, and they aren't willing to put their beliefs into practice.Click to expand...

Republicans know that if they actually did cut spending the way they claim to want to, the public would be horrified. And with a wave election coming, they didn't want to pass a bill full of cuts to popular programs, which would generate controversy and give voters even more of a reason to reject them in November. So they gave Democrats almost everything they wanted. Here are some of the ways Democrats won out in this bill, despite being in the minority in both houses:Click to expand...

So what are Dems so happy about getting in this "too long to read bill? Let's take a look. Per the article:

• • $1.6 billion for border fencing, but with the specification that it only apply to existing designs, meaning no wall.
  • The Fix NICS Act, which modestly improves the existing gun background-check system, plus a provision instructing the Centers for Disease Control that it is free to conduct research on gun violence. Such research was effectively stopped in 1996.
  • A slight increase to the IRS budget. While not nearly what the agency needs, especially given the challenge of implementing the new tax law, at least it doesn't continue the long-standing GOP effort to starve the IRS of funds and make enforcement a joke.
  • $380 million in assistance to states to improve the security of their election systems, and $300 million to the FBI to combat Russian hacking of those systems.
  • No repeal of the Johnson Amendment, which prevents churches from endorsing candidates and acting as political organizations. President Trump has advocated that the amendment be repealed.
  • A bar on employers such as restaurants keeping any portion of workers' tips. The Trump Labor Department had proposed allowing tip "pooling," including letting the boss control and potentially take workers' tips.
  • Increases for the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities. Trump had proposed eliminating them entirely.
  • No cuts to the EPA (Trump had proposed cutting the agency's budget by a third) and an increase in funding for clean energy research through ARPA-E, which Trump had proposed eliminating entirely.
  • Increased funding for affordable housing.
  • Increased education funding, along with what nearly everyone is describing as a complete rejection of Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos's agenda.
  • Increased funding for the National Institutes of Health.
  • A doubling of child-care funding for low-income families.
  • No defunding of sanctuary cities or Planned Parenthood.
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Yes, there are some things in there that Republicans wanted. They boosted the defense budget to $700 billion and threw money at some other of their priorities, such as "abstinence-only" education. But when it comes to cutting domestic spending -- which nearly all Republicans say they want to do -- they took a pass. Why? The simple reason is that they're afraid. They understand all too well that while voters might say they like "small government" in the abstract, voters also really like nearly all the things government does. And when you start cutting those programs, there's a backlash. With an election coming less than eight months from now, the last thing they need is to provoke controversies over slashing important and popular programs.Click to expand...

[/size] So now for the best part, other than the bill's victories; the delicious alt-right salt. Some selections from the other thread: Luap said: ↑  

Our boys at r/Conservative are not taking this well.Click to expand...

Luap said: ↑  

Oof... To be fair, I'd be fudgy pissed too. Spoiler lmfao Click to expand...

cameron said: ↑  

Click to expand...

Thought it'd be important to isolate this from getting lost in the "Veto threat" thread to get more eyes on just how thoroughly Trump got gamed in a bill "too long to read". As always: 

[Xevross]

Yeah this bill seems really bad for a party which controls are parts of the government. I guess its pretty bad for the country too, your budget deficit is getting ridiculous.

[the-pi-guy]

Yeah this bill seems really bad for a party which controls are parts of the government. I guess its pretty bad for the country too, your budget deficit is getting ridiculous.

Yeah.  Gotta give everyone tax cuts!

A lot of these things are huge though, like not cutting the EPA.  The border fencing is a good alternative to building a $20 billion wall.  

[Xevross]

Yeah.  Gotta give everyone tax cuts!

A lot of these things are huge though, like not cutting the EPA.  The border fencing is a good alternative to building a $20 billion wall.  

Yeah, if it had some tax raises instead of tax cuts for the rich it would be a good bill.

[darkknightkryta]

This is generally how it goes for the "right".  They just think all governments are run poorly.  They get into power, cut taxes first, then realize there's nothing in the government they can cut cause everything's already been cut down to vital services.  Then the deficit runs up huge cause they're still spending the same money, but now with less revenue.  But hey, those people making millions of dollars a year, money that they'll never be able to spend in their lifetime, or their kids lifetime, or their kids lifetimes, etc get to keep more money while the tax cuts on the low end do nothing.  Rich people don't understand that when you're poor less taxes helps far less than a higher wage.

[the-pi-guy]

This is generally how it goes for the "right".  They just think all governments are run poorly.  They get into power, cut taxes first, then realize there's nothing in the government they can cut cause everything's already been cut down to vital services.  Then the deficit runs up huge cause they're still spending the same money, but now with less revenue.  But hey, those people making millions of dollars a year, money that they'll never be able to spend in their lifetime, or their kids lifetime, or their kids lifetimes, etc get to keep more money while the tax cuts on the low end do nothing.  Rich people don't understand that when you're poor less taxes helps far less than a higher wage.

It's just bizzare.  So many things that Republicans promised cuts to, ended up getting more funding.  
Trump promised the EPA would get a budget cut, didn't happen.  
Education was supposed to get a budget cut, didn't happen.  
Defund planned Parenthood and sanctuary cities, didn't happen.  
Build a wall, bill actually made it harder to build one.  

[Xevross]

It's just bizzare.  So many things that Republicans promised cuts to, ended up getting more funding.  
Trump promised the EPA would get a budget cut, didn't happen.  
Education was supposed to get a budget cut, didn't happen.  
Defund planned Parenthood and sanctuary cities, didn't happen.  
Build a wall, bill actually made it harder to build one.  

Its almost like the Republicans are full of shame! *pretends to be shocked*

Anyway, they got what they really wanted already with massive tax cuts for their rich friends (and themselves), so I doubt they care much at this point. NRA bribe money is probably better than ever too.