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PaperclipPerfector  11d ago (text post)   34037 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of February 17, 2025

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Office of Management and Budget will adjust so-called independent agencies’ apportionments to ensure tax dollars are spent wisely.

See, this is why I hate this. I support about 80% of this and then they have to throw in a blatantly illegal thing like this. Appropriations are clearly the realm of Congress and the anti-impoundment act has been on the books for a half century at this point. The OMB has no authority to "adjust" appropriated money.

I don't meant to start a flame war about the rest, which seems quite clearly warranted. Just the admixture of this inside that was jarring.

There's a saying in sports: "If you're not cheating, you're not trying hard enough." If people are willing to do incredibly unethical things to alter the outcomes of something that tops out at sports betting, why not politics?

Once you get over the sacred, idealistic form of government, it really is just another ruleset to be gamed. Banging the table and insisting that the Impoundment Act is unconstitutional and doing whatever you want while it winds its way through the courts is just clever brinksmanship. Only the rules that have been formally written down matter: regulations, gentleman's agreements, and norms can be ignored without consequence. Because ultimately what defines legality is how much the institutions are willing to push back against you. If you can get away with it, it becomes precedent.

Sure, but the Impoundment Act is pretty clearly written and very likely constitutional. It's not a regulation or a norm or a gentlemen's agreement.

There's good sense in pushing the boundaries, but at some point it becomes damaging to the rest of your platform.

Sure, but the Impoundment Act is pretty clearly written and very likely constitutional. It's not a regulation or a norm or a gentlemen's agreement.

The truth is, nobody knows if it’s constitutional. It’s something we’ve agreed not talk to about for the past 50 years. We may get the opportunity to find out.

I would wager pretty highly it is, based on the powers in art I.

It’s not some total unknowable mystery even if there is some uncertainty.

they need to get their people into the agencies controlling what the money is being spent on instead of using the OMB. short term they should be able to do something similar to impoundment from within the agency, however in the long run according to laws congress has passed they need to spend the money. but then they can just use their 'discretion' to spend the money in ways that are very objectionable. for example lots of agencies spent money on DEI commissars and that was completely legal. i'm sure trump and elon are not lacking in imagination.

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