WEBVTT - Selects: How Government Shutdowns Work 0:00:00.920 --> 0:00:03.400 Hi, they're friends. It's me Josh. For this week's select 0:00:03.440 --> 0:00:08.160 I've chosen our September twenty nineteen episode on government shutdowns. Sadly, 0:00:08.200 --> 0:00:10.560 this is such a perennial topic we should re release 0:00:10.600 --> 0:00:13.600 it every couple months. It's a good thing to understand 0:00:13.680 --> 0:00:15.640 so that you can be good and ticked off at 0:00:15.640 --> 0:00:18.880 your elected officials any time of shutdown happens, because, as 0:00:18.880 --> 0:00:23.520 we learn in this episode, they are totally avoidable. So enjoy. 0:00:24.079 --> 0:00:25.000 I guess. 0:00:29.120 --> 0:00:35.360 Welcome to Stuff you Should Know, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:38.640 --> 0:00:41.040 Hey, and welcome to the podcast. So I'm Josh Clark, 0:00:41.080 --> 0:00:43.880 and there's Charles w Chuck Bryan, there's Jerry over there, 0:00:44.000 --> 0:00:47.240 and this is the podcast, Like I said, in particular, 0:00:47.400 --> 0:00:50.600 it's the Stuff you Should Know podcast. So if that's 0:00:50.640 --> 0:00:52.199 not where you're here to listen to, you're in the 0:00:52.200 --> 0:00:52.840 wrong place. 0:00:53.240 --> 0:00:55.080 And if you don't want to listen to us talk 0:00:55.080 --> 0:00:57.920 about government shutdowns, then you're in the wrong place. 0:00:58.160 --> 0:01:01.200 Well, who doesn't want to know about government shutdowns? 0:01:01.520 --> 0:01:05.880 Yeah? I agree. Educate yourselves right as a matter of fact, 0:01:06.120 --> 0:01:07.720 because it's gonna happen again soon enough. 0:01:07.840 --> 0:01:10.319 That's exactly right. That is why I wanted to do 0:01:10.360 --> 0:01:13.800 this episode. Yeah, because I've been meaning for us to 0:01:13.840 --> 0:01:17.960 do this for years now, and every time we do it, 0:01:18.000 --> 0:01:20.240 and it's like, every time I go to do it, 0:01:20.680 --> 0:01:22.960 say let's do a government shutdown episode, I think, is 0:01:23.000 --> 0:01:24.720 what I'm trying to say. Sorry, I just drank a 0:01:24.720 --> 0:01:26.240 Red Bull because I was about to fall over and 0:01:26.319 --> 0:01:29.360 now I'm talking really fast. Just give me like ten minutes. 0:01:29.400 --> 0:01:31.559 Okay, and you're drinking a Coca Cola. 0:01:31.720 --> 0:01:34.160 Well, we don't have zero here anymore. This is all 0:01:34.200 --> 0:01:34.440 we have. 0:01:34.800 --> 0:01:36.720 We want that extra caffeine kick on top of the 0:01:36.720 --> 0:01:37.119 red bull. 0:01:37.200 --> 0:01:39.800 I think I have just this twelve ounce can. It's 0:01:39.800 --> 0:01:41.640 not even gone, and I think I've burned a hole 0:01:41.680 --> 0:01:42.360 in my stomach. 0:01:42.520 --> 0:01:44.720 Yeah, it's crazy but delicious. 0:01:44.920 --> 0:01:47.720 It is delicious, I'll give you that. But Coke zero 0:01:48.040 --> 0:01:54.080 is really delicious too, for being a diet cola at 0:01:54.160 --> 0:01:54.640 any rate. 0:01:55.200 --> 0:01:59.160 Government shutdowns you were saying, Yeah, every time we go 0:01:59.200 --> 0:02:00.440 to do this, it. 0:02:00.400 --> 0:02:02.680 Shuts down, so it looks like we're chasing a trend, 0:02:02.720 --> 0:02:04.880 so we have to wait. Yeah, I'm like, finally the 0:02:04.920 --> 0:02:06.160 time is right, because. 0:02:05.920 --> 0:02:07.360 It wouldn't be cool to do one in the midst 0:02:07.400 --> 0:02:07.640 of one. 0:02:07.720 --> 0:02:11.280 Is that the definitely not gotcha? No, that's like buying 0:02:11.320 --> 0:02:13.840 a T shirt at a concert and then putting that 0:02:13.960 --> 0:02:16.680 T shirt on and looking around like, yeah, I'm. 0:02:16.600 --> 0:02:20.640 At the concert right with that horrible smell. Oh yeah, shirt, 0:02:20.720 --> 0:02:23.080 especially concert t shirts that are printed out of you know, 0:02:24.120 --> 0:02:25.480 straight chemicals. 0:02:25.040 --> 0:02:28.360 Out of Buffalo Bill's basement, made of skin. 0:02:28.560 --> 0:02:29.840 Man. He's been on my mind a. 0:02:29.800 --> 0:02:32.160 Lot because of the Egean episode. 0:02:32.639 --> 0:02:35.400 Well, because that, and then I just saw on the 0:02:35.440 --> 0:02:38.400 movie Crushers page someone posted a funny little thing that 0:02:38.440 --> 0:02:43.360 was a Buffalo Bill tender profile. This was really funny. 0:02:43.400 --> 0:02:44.239 I got to do that. 0:02:44.880 --> 0:02:46.919 And then there was something else from this past weekend. 0:02:47.080 --> 0:02:49.440 There was a lot of Buffalo Bill happening. He's everywhere. 0:02:49.639 --> 0:02:52.240 Yeah, yeah, remember we used to send each other that 0:02:52.240 --> 0:02:56.040 that one screenshot. Yeah, that's great. Ye back when we 0:02:56.080 --> 0:02:57.600 shared a cubicle wall. 0:02:57.680 --> 0:02:59.520 I know, and it was easy enough to do that 0:02:59.560 --> 0:02:59.920 back then. 0:03:00.919 --> 0:03:05.560 Now we have gold plated airon chairs, no walls anywhere. 0:03:05.680 --> 0:03:06.880 I'd take a regular eiron. 0:03:07.680 --> 0:03:09.640 I think that's what you're sitting in right now. 0:03:10.520 --> 0:03:11.360 I'm quite comfy. 0:03:12.200 --> 0:03:15.640 So anyway, welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh, there's Chuck. 0:03:15.840 --> 0:03:18.160 We should edit all that other stuff out, don't you think. 0:03:18.200 --> 0:03:20.959 Or get money from Red Bull Coca Cola and Aaron, 0:03:21.360 --> 0:03:25.120 you're right, and Buffalo Bill right, or the Buffalo Bill's 0:03:25.120 --> 0:03:26.160 football team. 0:03:26.600 --> 0:03:29.200 Dang Man, you just really pulled it together with that 0:03:29.280 --> 0:03:33.600 last one. So we've been through some shutdowns in our time. 0:03:33.480 --> 0:03:35.040 Chuck, sure, in our day. 0:03:35.240 --> 0:03:39.080 Yeah, as a matter of fact, you'd think based on 0:03:39.200 --> 0:03:42.840 how common they kind of seem. I mean every few years. 0:03:42.840 --> 0:03:45.640 There's like the federal government, I should say, for our 0:03:45.680 --> 0:03:50.960 fellow listeners outside of the United States, our government is broken, right, 0:03:51.320 --> 0:03:54.680 We're talking about government shutdowns, and it's a lot like 0:03:54.760 --> 0:03:56.320 what it sounds like. I mean, we'll get to the 0:03:56.400 --> 0:04:00.440 nuts and bolts of it, obviously, but it's basically where 0:04:01.640 --> 0:04:05.320 the federal government, not state governments, but the federal USA 0:04:05.360 --> 0:04:09.600 government parts of it just stop functioning, right, And the 0:04:09.680 --> 0:04:14.400 reason they stop functioning is because those agencies that those 0:04:14.440 --> 0:04:17.320 parts of the federal government have not been funded. And 0:04:17.360 --> 0:04:21.360 since they haven't been funded by law by Congressional Act 0:04:21.440 --> 0:04:25.279 from years back, they are not allowed to pay workers 0:04:25.320 --> 0:04:29.480 any longer. They're not even allowed to accept volunteer work 0:04:29.880 --> 0:04:32.839 from their workers. So with no workers, that means the 0:04:32.880 --> 0:04:36.360 agency shuts down, and that's a government shutdown. That's what 0:04:36.440 --> 0:04:38.880 we're talking about. Literally parts of the government shut down. 0:04:39.240 --> 0:04:41.680 Yeah, and again we will get into all the nuts 0:04:41.680 --> 0:04:44.560 and bolts, but it shuts down because of funding gaps, 0:04:44.880 --> 0:04:51.360 and those funding gaps happen almost always because of entrenched politics. 0:04:51.480 --> 0:04:55.120 Yeah, it's two sides playing chicken over the budget, right, 0:04:55.360 --> 0:05:00.520 and when the government shutdown happens, neither side blinked. 0:05:01.440 --> 0:05:03.600 Right. And it's also very important to point out that 0:05:04.240 --> 0:05:07.480 a big part of government shut downs is trying to 0:05:07.480 --> 0:05:11.760 get the other side to maybe not accept blame, because 0:05:11.760 --> 0:05:13.599 no one ever does. It seems like sure, but at 0:05:13.680 --> 0:05:18.000 least the perception in the general media that this person 0:05:18.120 --> 0:05:19.680 or this side is the one to blame. 0:05:19.839 --> 0:05:23.240 Yeah, and more often than not, public polling shows that 0:05:23.320 --> 0:05:26.559 it's Congress that almost always takes to blame. Oh really, 0:05:26.640 --> 0:05:30.280 until this last one, it was always Congress, right, no 0:05:30.279 --> 0:05:32.280 matter what, Which is funny that they would try to 0:05:32.279 --> 0:05:34.400 pull us off because it's so politically risky. 0:05:34.560 --> 0:05:35.520 Yeah, because it's. 0:05:35.400 --> 0:05:39.520 So damaging on an individual level among like federal employees 0:05:39.640 --> 0:05:42.760 or just average Americans, but also on a national level. 0:05:42.839 --> 0:05:44.520 Yeah, our economy takes a huge, shit. 0:05:44.560 --> 0:05:46.880 Huge hit that we just never regain. 0:05:47.200 --> 0:05:48.520 All Right, that's a great setup. 0:05:48.720 --> 0:05:52.080 I think so too, So Chuck, to start, I think 0:05:52.080 --> 0:05:56.160 we should talk about how money moves around the federal government, 0:05:56.200 --> 0:05:56.520 don't you. 0:05:57.160 --> 0:05:59.720 Yeah, And this is again, if you live outside the 0:05:59.800 --> 0:06:01.839 kind and even if you live in the United States, 0:06:03.120 --> 0:06:05.719 you may not understand what power of the purse means. 0:06:06.360 --> 0:06:09.520 But in the United States and in the US Constitution, 0:06:10.279 --> 0:06:12.400 Article one, section nine claws seven. 0:06:12.560 --> 0:06:15.880 Yeah, not even the Bill of Rights, like the Constitution. Yeah, Like, 0:06:15.920 --> 0:06:17.800 this is one of the first things they thought about. 0:06:18.040 --> 0:06:21.520 It was Congress who was granted control over the money. 0:06:22.200 --> 0:06:27.760 So the President and can't just fund something. The Senate 0:06:27.800 --> 0:06:31.159 can't just fund something. Everything has to be agreed on 0:06:31.360 --> 0:06:35.320 and they can't spend a dime without Congress's express approval. 0:06:36.320 --> 0:06:40.120 Through this process, we're going to get into called appropriations. 0:06:39.480 --> 0:06:43.440 Right, and so in the Constitution it just said the 0:06:43.720 --> 0:06:46.880 Congress is the one that approves all money. Everything comes 0:06:46.880 --> 0:06:47.640 through Congress. Right. 0:06:47.720 --> 0:06:49.400 Yeah, we should read that though, because it does have 0:06:49.400 --> 0:06:52.599 one funny line. You go ahead from the Constitution, no 0:06:52.680 --> 0:06:55.960 money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence 0:06:55.960 --> 0:06:59.440 of the appropriations made by law. So far, so good, Okay. 0:07:00.040 --> 0:07:03.560 Regular statement of account of receipts and expenditures of all 0:07:03.640 --> 0:07:07.080 money shall be published from time to time. It's very 0:07:07.120 --> 0:07:07.799 non specific. 0:07:07.839 --> 0:07:08.839 Whenever you get to it. 0:07:09.120 --> 0:07:12.160 Why not like you know, in November of every year. 0:07:12.320 --> 0:07:15.640 I honestly don't know, because I mean, from time to 0:07:15.680 --> 0:07:17.320 time makes it seem unimportant. 0:07:17.560 --> 0:07:20.760 It makes it seem what's the word when you don't 0:07:20.760 --> 0:07:22.960 have to do something, makes it seem non mandatory? 0:07:23.080 --> 0:07:27.320 Yeah? Optional, optional, Sure, that's the word. I know you 0:07:27.360 --> 0:07:31.560 so well after all these years. So that's the It's 0:07:31.600 --> 0:07:36.080 from Article one of the Constitution, and presidents from seventeen 0:07:36.200 --> 0:07:40.760 seventy eight onward said, Okay, I can work with that. 0:07:41.040 --> 0:07:45.200 There's a huge loophole here, like no, I can't. I can't, 0:07:45.360 --> 0:07:49.320 you know, spend money myself, Like I can't pay anybody myself. 0:07:49.360 --> 0:07:52.480 I have to wait for Congress. But that doesn't mean 0:07:52.520 --> 0:07:55.840 I can't like get the work done first and then 0:07:55.920 --> 0:07:58.400 when it comes time to pay, I can just direct 0:07:58.480 --> 0:08:04.320 this contractor vendor, whoever, militiaman to Congress to go get money. 0:08:04.400 --> 0:08:07.360 Yeah, which is really I mean that is so United 0:08:07.400 --> 0:08:10.200 States government to be like, well, I'm technically not writing 0:08:10.240 --> 0:08:14.040 the check. I've just engaged someone services and now we 0:08:14.120 --> 0:08:14.960 owe them this money. 0:08:15.040 --> 0:08:18.200 Yeah, Congress, pay this guy's yeah, yeah, he did what 0:08:18.280 --> 0:08:20.800 he's saying he did. And so there was this representative 0:08:20.800 --> 0:08:23.400 in Virginia who was not happy about this, yeah, this 0:08:23.520 --> 0:08:26.920 kind of precedent that had been adopted by the executive branch. 0:08:27.840 --> 0:08:31.080 This representative said in eighteen oh six that presidents were 0:08:31.120 --> 0:08:35.800 acting like a saucy boy whose wealthy grandfather was going 0:08:35.880 --> 0:08:39.439 to cover his needs, and that that was the case. 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:43.160 So eventually Congress said, we got to close this loophole, 0:08:43.160 --> 0:08:45.080 and they did in eighteen eighty four. 0:08:45.200 --> 0:08:50.080 I think, yeah. The Anti Deficiency Act basically said, no, 0:08:50.600 --> 0:08:54.000 you can't just pay the guy to paint your house 0:08:54.040 --> 0:08:56.120 and then stand there tapping your toe looking at the 0:08:56.120 --> 0:08:57.400 guy with the checkbook. 0:08:57.040 --> 0:09:00.120 Right exactly. As a matter of fact, they said, you 0:09:00.200 --> 0:09:05.040 can't spend a single dime that Congress hasn't already appropriated 0:09:05.160 --> 0:09:08.120 for that. That's right, You just can't do it so 0:09:08.240 --> 0:09:11.600 much so that again, you can't even accept volunteer work 0:09:12.160 --> 0:09:15.920 unless it is basically to protect life, for public safety, 0:09:16.000 --> 0:09:17.480 something really really important. 0:09:17.600 --> 0:09:17.800 Right. 0:09:18.040 --> 0:09:22.200 But when we say we fund you, Congress funds the 0:09:22.240 --> 0:09:25.719 executive branch, all the agencies in the federal government, we 0:09:25.760 --> 0:09:28.640 really mean it. And that's what the Anti Deficiency Act really. 0:09:28.440 --> 0:09:31.600 Said, yeah, but it would take until nineteen seventy four 0:09:31.720 --> 0:09:36.240 when Richard Nixon signed the Congress Budget and Impoundment Control Act. 0:09:36.520 --> 0:09:38.559 It's a barn burner, yeah, but. 0:09:38.559 --> 0:09:40.839 That's what really changed everything, and that's what kind of 0:09:40.880 --> 0:09:44.200 laid out this process that we still work with today 0:09:44.679 --> 0:09:47.600 or don't work with, or sit on our hands and 0:09:47.720 --> 0:09:48.480 hold our breath. 0:09:48.640 --> 0:09:54.080 Right. Ideally, it functions kind of clunky even in its 0:09:54.120 --> 0:09:57.840 best form, Yeah, but purposefully so it's to keep Congress 0:09:57.880 --> 0:10:01.000 from being profligate with it spending sure, right, Like I mean, 0:10:01.280 --> 0:10:03.840 it's to say, this group over here and this group 0:10:03.840 --> 0:10:07.280 over here, we're taking the same task and making you 0:10:07.280 --> 0:10:10.080 guys do it twice separately and then come together and 0:10:10.120 --> 0:10:12.120 hammer out the details. Yeah. 0:10:12.120 --> 0:10:14.240 It's really discouraging to look at the history of our 0:10:14.320 --> 0:10:18.040 country and the you know, the idea should be that like, 0:10:18.080 --> 0:10:19.880 all right, we know that in this country we have 0:10:19.920 --> 0:10:21.360 a lot of people that feel one way about a 0:10:21.400 --> 0:10:23.240 lot of stuff, a lot of people that feel the 0:10:23.280 --> 0:10:25.600 other way, and the government's job should be to come 0:10:25.600 --> 0:10:28.760 together and negotiate and find nice middle grounds. And it 0:10:28.800 --> 0:10:33.040 seems like it's more like the government just finds loopholes 0:10:33.120 --> 0:10:36.440 and is sneaky and underhanded to find workarounds from actually 0:10:36.440 --> 0:10:38.559 trying to work together and find a middle ground. 0:10:38.360 --> 0:10:40.880 Right stinks. 0:10:40.880 --> 0:10:41.440 Sick of it. 0:10:42.200 --> 0:10:44.720 I'm I'm pretty fed up with government too. I think 0:10:44.800 --> 0:10:48.560 most people in America and I would gather the UK too. 0:10:48.640 --> 0:10:52.760 All right, oh man, especially right now. So here's how 0:10:52.760 --> 0:10:56.439 it happens. Every year, the two chambers of Congress, they 0:10:56.480 --> 0:10:59.720 have to agree on a budget for the discretionary spending, 0:10:59.720 --> 0:11:04.280 which is I think only thirty percent of the overall 0:11:04.320 --> 0:11:09.560 budget is discretionary. Everything else is mandatory or nondiscretionary, and 0:11:09.600 --> 0:11:13.360 that means stuff that you just can't not pay. 0:11:13.200 --> 0:11:17.320 For, right and it's mostly things like Medicaid, Medicare, social 0:11:17.400 --> 0:11:22.880 security entitlement programs right to where these are mandatory programs 0:11:23.160 --> 0:11:25.520 that are created by an Act of Congress that says 0:11:25.800 --> 0:11:29.440 whatever these programs need to run and operate, that's how 0:11:29.559 --> 0:11:33.000 much Congress gives them. There's no spending levels, there's no 0:11:33.320 --> 0:11:35.080 you know what about this is like you can go 0:11:35.160 --> 0:11:39.000 in in monkey with the operation by congressional act. But 0:11:39.120 --> 0:11:41.720 as far as spending and budget goes, whatever they need 0:11:41.760 --> 0:11:42.200 they get. 0:11:42.440 --> 0:11:42.960 That's right. 0:11:43.280 --> 0:11:47.120 The other stuff, the discretionary stuff, that's what'd you say 0:11:47.120 --> 0:11:48.520 about thirty percent of the budget. 0:11:48.559 --> 0:11:51.360 It's thirty percent, but that's still like in twenty eighteen, 0:11:51.400 --> 0:11:54.360 that was one point two trillion dollars, And it's really 0:11:54.360 --> 0:11:58.280 important stuff. It's not like the mandatory spending is the 0:11:58.320 --> 0:12:02.520 only important stuff. We're talking about the f DA, Homeland Security, TSA, 0:12:03.640 --> 0:12:06.679 the NIH, National Parks, the IRS. 0:12:06.440 --> 0:12:07.560 The Department of Defense. 0:12:07.720 --> 0:12:08.920 Yeah, big time stuff. 0:12:08.920 --> 0:12:12.280 Basically everything except Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare. 0:12:12.800 --> 0:12:15.559 Oh really is that seventy percent essentially? Jeez? 0:12:15.640 --> 0:12:15.920 I know. 0:12:18.000 --> 0:12:21.640 All right, So this all starts this appropriations process. It's 0:12:21.679 --> 0:12:26.000 laid out for the first Monday in February, and this 0:12:26.080 --> 0:12:28.680 is the deadline. It lines up with the deadline for 0:12:28.720 --> 0:12:32.839 the president to submit their budget to Congress, which you 0:12:32.880 --> 0:12:37.160 always hear this is a president's budget. The president oversees 0:12:37.160 --> 0:12:39.520 stuff and approved stuff. But the president's not in there 0:12:39.559 --> 0:12:41.640 with the calculator crunching numbers. 0:12:41.920 --> 0:12:44.240 No, No, it's the Office of Management and Budget that 0:12:44.280 --> 0:12:46.280 does it for the president, that's right, But it's under 0:12:46.320 --> 0:12:48.520 the president's direction. The president says, I really want to 0:12:48.520 --> 0:12:51.240 do this. Yeah, I don't want to do this anymore. Right, 0:12:51.440 --> 0:12:53.440 But the thing is, it's almost like a little kid 0:12:53.480 --> 0:12:56.720 going through the Montgomery Ward wish Book and then writing 0:12:56.760 --> 0:12:59.840 their list in crayon that has about the same polling 0:13:00.480 --> 0:13:03.480 as the president's budget. Yeah, it really is saying this 0:13:03.559 --> 0:13:05.320 is what the president wants to do, and then Congress 0:13:05.320 --> 0:13:08.040 either says these are good ideas or they say we're 0:13:08.120 --> 0:13:10.520 not listening to that at all, because it's not legally 0:13:10.559 --> 0:13:11.640 binding in any way. 0:13:11.720 --> 0:13:16.920 There's probably in fact party line templates. They just throw 0:13:17.000 --> 0:13:19.640 down like a mad lib and they tweak it a 0:13:19.679 --> 0:13:22.040 little bit, but they say like, oh, here's the Republican 0:13:22.160 --> 0:13:26.560 style budget, and here's the Democratic style budget Obama or Trump, 0:13:26.600 --> 0:13:28.640 and now do your minor tweaks. 0:13:29.280 --> 0:13:31.640 I think that is kind of it's got to be 0:13:31.640 --> 0:13:34.079 because it's a huge, massive document. 0:13:34.320 --> 0:13:36.920 Yeah, they can't like start from scratch every time, can they. 0:13:36.920 --> 0:13:38.880 Know it's got to be like the first few pages 0:13:38.880 --> 0:13:41.280 are what really count, you know what I mean? It's 0:13:41.320 --> 0:13:41.760 got to be. 0:13:42.200 --> 0:13:45.480 But again, this is like they call it in this article, 0:13:45.520 --> 0:13:48.880 like the wish list of funding priorities. And that's a 0:13:48.920 --> 0:13:49.600 good way to put it. 0:13:49.679 --> 0:13:52.520 The Montgomery Ward Wishbook wish list. 0:13:53.520 --> 0:13:56.280 I was a Sears kid. 0:13:57.040 --> 0:13:59.160 I didn't discriminate. I went through all of them to 0:13:59.160 --> 0:14:00.600 make sure all my basis cover. 0:14:00.720 --> 0:14:03.040 Yeah, we didn't even have Montgomery Wards, so I never really, 0:14:03.160 --> 0:14:04.840 I've never laid eyes upon that catalog. 0:14:05.040 --> 0:14:07.959 It was it was good. It was a good one. 0:14:08.000 --> 0:14:09.480 I put it up against the Series one. 0:14:09.559 --> 0:14:12.280 Yeah we had seers. And then I guess Service Merchandise 0:14:12.360 --> 0:14:12.640 was another. 0:14:12.920 --> 0:14:15.440 I remember that. Didn't they sell everything from like diamond 0:14:15.520 --> 0:14:16.760 rings to Cassio keyboards. 0:14:16.800 --> 0:14:18.679 Oh, they sold everything. I think I bought my very 0:14:18.679 --> 0:14:21.600 first guitar from Service Merchandise, oh, and returned it like 0:14:21.680 --> 0:14:24.840 a week later because it was creddy broken, and I 0:14:24.880 --> 0:14:26.480 went to a real guitar store. 0:14:27.320 --> 0:14:28.640 Sam Ash No. 0:14:29.000 --> 0:14:31.000 I actually I remember I went to dirt Cheap Music 0:14:31.040 --> 0:14:33.920 on Memorial Drives not there, and again shop Local. Yeah. 0:14:34.120 --> 0:14:38.200 Yeah, dirt cheap buzz marketing for a business that is 0:14:38.240 --> 0:14:39.240 no longer around. 0:14:40.120 --> 0:14:43.880 So they've got this wish list. Then it goes onto 0:14:43.920 --> 0:14:46.320 Congress and they have to pass what's called a concurrent 0:14:46.680 --> 0:14:48.040 budget resolution. 0:14:47.840 --> 0:14:51.360 Right, and Congress can totally ignore the president's budget. They're 0:14:51.440 --> 0:14:55.920 taken into consideration if the If Congress is in the 0:14:56.520 --> 0:14:59.240 controlled by the same party the president is, the president's 0:14:59.240 --> 0:15:01.840 wishes are probably going to be taken into consideration. But 0:15:02.000 --> 0:15:04.880 ultimately Congress says, this is what we want to do. 0:15:05.240 --> 0:15:07.080 And from what I can tell, when they come up 0:15:07.120 --> 0:15:08.400 with this concurrent. 0:15:09.720 --> 0:15:15.200 Budget right, yeah, concurrent budget a cbs R Current Budget Resolution. 0:15:14.960 --> 0:15:17.760 It's basically just setting the spending for the year. Right. 0:15:17.800 --> 0:15:20.120 That's that's all that is, Isn't it like this the 0:15:20.160 --> 0:15:23.320 cap on what the federal government can spend entirely? 0:15:23.440 --> 0:15:26.160 I think. So it's just that broad agreement of the 0:15:26.200 --> 0:15:27.120 total amount of. 0:15:27.200 --> 0:15:30.080 Spending, Okay, and then it starts to get divvied up. 0:15:30.120 --> 0:15:31.960 Yeah, they're not in the weeds at this point. No, 0:15:32.360 --> 0:15:35.560 but they're supposed to pass that by mid April, and 0:15:35.600 --> 0:15:38.880 that's where they set these spending levels for twenty categories. 0:15:39.720 --> 0:15:41.920 And this is where you know, this is where it 0:15:41.960 --> 0:15:45.080 starts to break down, or not breakdown, but like in 0:15:45.120 --> 0:15:47.200 a bad way. But they start to break it down 0:15:47.240 --> 0:15:50.240 because it's such a massive thing. You got to break 0:15:50.240 --> 0:15:51.680 it down in the smaller departments. 0:15:51.760 --> 0:15:55.040 Right. So Congress says, here's the total amount of money 0:15:55.120 --> 0:15:58.360 that we're going to spend this year, and it goes 0:15:58.400 --> 0:16:02.360 to the Appropriations Committee in the Senate and the Appropriations 0:16:02.360 --> 0:16:05.520 Committee in the House, and then each of them says, Okay, 0:16:05.560 --> 0:16:10.400 we've got this hole let's divvy it up into twelve slices, 0:16:10.800 --> 0:16:13.840 not necessarily equal slices. I think they'd probably be pretty lazy. 0:16:15.080 --> 0:16:18.680 But they say, you know, Agriculture and Rural Development, you're 0:16:18.720 --> 0:16:22.440 going to get this much this year, Commerce, Justice, and Science, 0:16:23.000 --> 0:16:25.080 you're going to get this much, like this slice of 0:16:25.120 --> 0:16:28.720 the pie. And they do that over twelve departments that 0:16:29.040 --> 0:16:34.320 roughly correspond to the different cabinet posts in the federal government. 0:16:34.680 --> 0:16:37.600 That's right. And it's up to those subcommittees, those twelve 0:16:37.600 --> 0:16:40.760 different ones, once they get their little slice of pie, 0:16:40.840 --> 0:16:43.320 to then decide how to eat that pie. Yeah, I 0:16:43.320 --> 0:16:44.480 think it's that piece of the pie. 0:16:44.520 --> 0:16:47.920 There's an appropriation subcommittee that says this is how you're 0:16:47.920 --> 0:16:50.320 going to spend this, that's right, and they have hearings 0:16:50.320 --> 0:16:52.000 and stuff like that, where like the heads of these 0:16:52.040 --> 0:16:54.520 departments come and say, we really need this. We've got 0:16:54.560 --> 0:16:57.640 some really exciting stuff coming up. Give us some more 0:16:57.720 --> 0:17:01.080 money where we figured out how to sharks and hunt 0:17:01.160 --> 0:17:03.320 dolphins with spear guns, and we really want to get 0:17:03.320 --> 0:17:04.159 into that this year. 0:17:04.359 --> 0:17:06.520 Or you know, we really need to build this thing, 0:17:07.359 --> 0:17:09.960 or the military really needs to upgrade that thing. 0:17:09.920 --> 0:17:13.120 Right, stuff like that, and then these appropriation subcommittees, each 0:17:13.160 --> 0:17:16.040 one dedicated to a group of agencies or a couple 0:17:16.119 --> 0:17:19.359 an agency, just a single one, say okay, this is 0:17:19.400 --> 0:17:22.440 how we're going to spend this money. And then once 0:17:22.480 --> 0:17:24.919 that happens in the House and the same thing happens 0:17:24.920 --> 0:17:29.239 in the Senate, those two groups, the appropriation subcommittees for 0:17:29.320 --> 0:17:30.919 each of these twelve slices. 0:17:30.520 --> 0:17:33.120 Of pie, come together ideally. 0:17:33.119 --> 0:17:34.960 And they say, well, we came up with this. What 0:17:35.040 --> 0:17:36.359 did you guys come up with And they say, well, 0:17:36.359 --> 0:17:38.200 we came up with this, and we're off by seven 0:17:38.280 --> 0:17:41.040 billion dollars. How are we going to figure this out? 0:17:41.080 --> 0:17:42.840 That's great, only seven billion. 0:17:42.600 --> 0:17:45.119 Dollars, right, that's nothing these days. 0:17:45.160 --> 0:17:47.359 Well, they negotiate with each other to come up with 0:17:47.400 --> 0:17:53.080 a joint spending bill. I imagine those meetings are contentious 0:17:53.119 --> 0:17:57.960 and tough. Sure, and eventually, though ideally, they negotiate that 0:17:58.000 --> 0:18:00.919 spending bill. Then that gets sent to the President and 0:18:00.960 --> 0:18:02.639 they can veto that or sign that. 0:18:03.000 --> 0:18:07.240 Right. So, remember there's twelve there's actually twenty four of 0:18:07.280 --> 0:18:11.280 these going on over twelve different slices of pie. And 0:18:11.320 --> 0:18:15.840 when they come back together and form twelve different appropriations resolutions, 0:18:17.160 --> 0:18:19.520 they can say we're done. This is good let's send 0:18:19.520 --> 0:18:21.400 it to the president and the president can sign that. 0:18:21.800 --> 0:18:24.440 If things are going along really smoothly and Congress wants 0:18:24.480 --> 0:18:27.000 to show off, they'll say, we want to get all 0:18:27.040 --> 0:18:29.880 these together in one package. We're going to present all 0:18:29.960 --> 0:18:33.639 twelve to the president and the president can either sign 0:18:33.680 --> 0:18:36.040 or veto. So they could the president can sign or 0:18:36.080 --> 0:18:40.440 veto each one separately, in small groups or as a whole. 0:18:40.520 --> 0:18:42.199 As a whole is called omnibus. 0:18:42.440 --> 0:18:45.040 Yeah. If you ever heard the term omnibus spending bill 0:18:45.040 --> 0:18:47.119 and you're like, what in the world is that, that 0:18:47.200 --> 0:18:48.639 just means it's everything grouped together? 0:18:48.840 --> 0:18:51.880 Right, And so one reason that you would go through 0:18:51.880 --> 0:18:54.080 the headache of trying to put all twelve of those 0:18:54.119 --> 0:18:57.520 appropriations bills into one package is that if there's something 0:18:57.560 --> 0:19:00.760 in one of those appropriations bills that you want, yeah, 0:19:00.800 --> 0:19:02.960 you got a lot more leverage than the other eleven 0:19:03.040 --> 0:19:05.320 that you can trade from the budget as a whole 0:19:05.600 --> 0:19:07.440 to get that thing out or get this thing in. 0:19:08.040 --> 0:19:11.760 If it's one appropriations bill, you have much less leverage. 0:19:12.040 --> 0:19:13.919 So that's why they would go to that trouble. But 0:19:14.000 --> 0:19:15.719 that's fairly rare, I believe. 0:19:15.880 --> 0:19:19.280 Yeah, And this is all due by October first, because 0:19:19.320 --> 0:19:22.560 that is the beginning of the federal government's fiscal year 0:19:23.000 --> 0:19:25.800 is October one. And since we've been doing this in 0:19:25.840 --> 0:19:30.800 modern times, I believe nineteen seventy seven was when we 0:19:30.840 --> 0:19:35.160 started this process. Congress has passed all twelve by October first, 0:19:35.200 --> 0:19:37.400 by that deadline only four times. 0:19:39.359 --> 0:19:41.359 Four times, that's right. 0:19:41.480 --> 0:19:44.480 So we'll take a break and we'll discuss what happens 0:19:44.920 --> 0:19:46.840 all of the other times right after this. 0:20:18.920 --> 0:20:22.080 So okay, Congress comes along. Also, big shout out to 0:20:22.160 --> 0:20:25.320