Josh, what do you think of the argument that the CR, as written, is designed to undermine the government and the Democrats structurally, by (1) changing how DC money is spent, and (2) effectively empowering DOGE to the possible detriment of the legal challenges to it by giving the administration abnormal spending discretion? Doesn’t that…
Josh, what do you think of the argument that the CR, as written, is designed to undermine the government and the Democrats structurally, by (1) changing how DC money is spent, and (2) effectively empowering DOGE to the possible detriment of the legal challenges to it by giving the administration abnormal spending discretion? Doesn’t that make it something qualitatively different than a normal game of chicken?
On (2), my understanding is that the flexibility afforded in this CR is not different from that in other prior CRs, including the one the government is operating under right now (as Jeff Stein describes here in the 10th and 11th paragraphs: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/03/14/trump-cr-power-government-spending-doge/) So democrats might be worse off in this regard than they would be with a full-year appropriations bill, but that’s not on the table; and they wouldn’t be worse off than they are now (or even than they would be under any shorter-term CR that is likely to pass.)
As for (1), yes, there are a few unfavorable policy changes included in the bill, but with that one being the most widely discussed. The question again is: compared to what? A shutdown does not put DC’s government in a better position, and I don’t see a convincing case about how a shutdown is supposed to lead to legislation to produce a better outcome for DC, let alone for the broader the federal government.
Josh, what do you think of the argument that the CR, as written, is designed to undermine the government and the Democrats structurally, by (1) changing how DC money is spent, and (2) effectively empowering DOGE to the possible detriment of the legal challenges to it by giving the administration abnormal spending discretion? Doesn’t that make it something qualitatively different than a normal game of chicken?
On (2), my understanding is that the flexibility afforded in this CR is not different from that in other prior CRs, including the one the government is operating under right now (as Jeff Stein describes here in the 10th and 11th paragraphs: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/03/14/trump-cr-power-government-spending-doge/) So democrats might be worse off in this regard than they would be with a full-year appropriations bill, but that’s not on the table; and they wouldn’t be worse off than they are now (or even than they would be under any shorter-term CR that is likely to pass.)
As for (1), yes, there are a few unfavorable policy changes included in the bill, but with that one being the most widely discussed. The question again is: compared to what? A shutdown does not put DC’s government in a better position, and I don’t see a convincing case about how a shutdown is supposed to lead to legislation to produce a better outcome for DC, let alone for the broader the federal government.