In a press conference yesterday, President Trump’s point man for Syria, Jim Jeffrey, said that the defeat of ISIS will not result in a US withdrawal from its illegal occupation of Syrian territory. In fact, he said, the US would continue to support the anti-Assad “vetted Syrian opposition” fighters and would even commit resources to double the number of Kurdish “Syrian Democratic Forces” troops. Meanwhile, US NATO partner Turkey says “over our dead body!” The US Syria policy makes no sense! Tune in to today’s Ron Paul Liberty Report:
Reprinted from The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity.
And President bone spur introduced his budget that calls for $750bn for the military and Homeland Security, or 62 cents out of every dollar leaving 38 cents for social and government programs. This vision for the Fourth Reich is appalling and immoral.
Trump’s budget proposal calls for $4.75 trillion in spending. If “only” $750 billion of it is for the military and Homeland Security, that’s only $15.7 cents out of every dollar, not 62 cents.
But that’s not how it works.
First of all, since the 1920s the law has required the president to submit a budget proposal to Congress, and since the 1920s Congress has promptly deposited that budget request in the trash can and done whatever it wanted.
Secondly, a good portion — about 60% — of the federal budget is “mandatory” spending. There’s a much higher bar for modifying it than there are for “non-discretionary” appropriations. The actual “mandatory spending” law has to be modified in order to change it, and doing so requires a minimum of 60 votes in the Senate. Most “social” programs fall into the “mandatory” category.
In practice, the way the budget process works is this:
– The Republicans demand more military spending and less social spending.
– The Democrats demand more social spending and less military spending.
– The two parties compromise on more military spending and more social spending.
This is pathetic. Now we’re back to vetted opposition fighters and Assad must go. If only Netanyahu would permit us to withdraw.