Ramaswamy, co-chair of the “government efficiency” department, calls for eliminating veterans’ medical care - the largest program with expired authorization
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Correct.
And it's not going to even be a legitimate office in the White House if it's true that VR and EM will remain private citizens: it's more an external consulting project with its own dark budget, did I get that right?
There's been a ton of clear promises to cut gov., but not a lot of detail into ground truth. There's def gov waste, but a very large % of the budget are for things people want and/or value. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out.
There's a whole office on government efficiency already, we call it the GAO. They have a lot of recommendations for how to save a lot of money already. Maybe we should look at them?
He also called for stopping funding for operations that aren't meritocratic so obviously we have to shut down this new thing he and Elon are going to run.
It seems as if there’s a regular battle over the authorization of a lot of things. One party wants to add something to the program…another wants to take away…so they just don’t bother and instead just keep giving the budget every year.
This is all part of the graft. The acronym came first, the titles and appointments came next. Just wait til they start pumping the crypto as a must-have investment.
yeah, but like he just looked at the topline number and didn’t bother to look under the hood. just seriously lazy stuff. https://www.cbo.gov/publication/60580
(yes, the idea was to show how quickly someone on the committee or working group would be able to find the info, not to complain about yr link, in fact thank *you*)
Funny. I know several veterans—trump voters—who are “disabled veterans.” I’ve never asked their disabilities because it’s none of my business. They’re collecting $$$ and working, too. Good for them. But they’re gonna be unhappy if those checks stop coming and their health care is snatched away.
We already dumped most of the mentally ill into the prisons so why not dump veterans into the prisons as well? Cruelty and greed - their entire platform without exception. I get the VA has issues but it’s better than nothing.
About 2/3's of US veterans voted for fascism. Historically veterans have been at the core of fascist movements. From Mussolini to Hitler to Trump it could not have been done without the overwhelming support of war veterans. Another reason why the Iraq War was such a tragedy.
Ok, so you've just cut back from blaming all veterans to blaming 2/3 of veterans. That's progress, but not good enough.
Where did you get the 2/3 number from?
BTW, only six percent of Americans are veterans, so you can stuff your hypothesis in the trash can.
First off, Mussolini and Hitler didn’t lose because of “war veterans”. They lost because of ordinary people like my Father and others who fought fascism on a global scale. Many of them were kids who became veterans.
Do not lump us all together. My dad would be horrified by Trump.
The House GOP essentially passed NOTHING in four years. Not one of these programs has any hope of survival. These people are idiots to be kind. Evil is a better term.
Also a stupid bone to pick. There's no way Roivant isn't getting some of the $48bn given to the NIH to fund "cancer moonshot" research, which would be included in this proposal.
I have honestly never seen a Trump hat or spoken to a veteran at the VA who supported him. I’ve been in the VA system since 1994. We hate him. The younger troops are the gullible ones. Not all, but many.
Oh, my stepdad did, and that man was one of the guys who lied about his age to enlist in WWII. But he also mainlined Fox News. Died in a VA hospice unit.
And this is why I think Vivek will be pushed out before Elon gets pissed off with Trump (aka battle of the Alphas). V will embarrass Trump with the blowback.
Trump will fire him and claim he hardly knew him… that Vivek was begging him for a position.
This plus the nativist stance will cripple military recruiting. So they must not care about military recruiting. Why wouldn’t they care about a sufficient military, one wonders….
twtr banned. did viv list or link to the 1,200 programs? Does anyone know what those programs are & what they’re for? I guess corporate media has already contacted him and gotten the info, but I can’t find it anywhere. Weird. I’m not saying it’s a made up number. I’d have gone with 1,200 as a guess
I have ALWAYS wondered why programs that CLEARLY work well for vast numbers of citizens were EVER subject to automatic expiration.
Why are so many Americans regularly put at such great risk?
They are! No question. But our government now (or will) include UNELECTED persons who in large part control Congressional actions. If this isn’t oligarchical, please tell me why.
Inconceivable that many vets who have been on a steady drip of far-right propaganda, starting at overseas bases with Fox News playing in mess halls, would vote against their own interests and *earned* benefits. But here we are.
It boggles the mind that they believe the BS spewed by the GOP.
Reading would help them to understand that Republicans are no friend of the military or veterans.
I’ve been trying to explain to vets I know that Project 2025 plans to gut vet programs to pay for billionaire tax cuts as GOP doesn’t have the votes to push a tax cut using national debt. Almost all said “he loves vets and won’t do that.” Sucks because of all people, vets earned their benefits.
It’s a horrible insult to a very good dog. I feel bad for her owner. (I know there were several Shiba Inu images that were used but Kabosu was the main one)
Government isn’t perfect but these people are going to be owned when they learn that nobody is asleep at the wheel and every agency is already underfunded except DoD
Maybe it's just me but showing up for a new job and not knowing what the job entails, to the level that he didn't ask a single soul or do a Google search before talking about it live to the world is "get canned on day one" stuff.
Folks from corporate backgrounds appointed to govt leadership often fail to understand that govt is not a corporation. Govt exists to deliver a multitude of services to the population on an equitable basis for the good of the country. Govt doesn’t deliver profits for only a few shareholders.
Veterans as a group supported Trump. Us Progressive Vets were attacked repeatedly online and told our we were the traitors because we didn’t support Trump. They need to suffer before they will see he doesn’t care about them. They are about to be in the Find Out portion of Fascism.
All of these people are incompetent bumbling ignorant clowns who are clueless as to how things work. They’re gonna waste tons of time on idiocy like this until they find out it can’t be done. I’m not sure if that will work to our benefit or our detriment.
I have the opinion that cutting of waste in government will not affect any of Elon's government largesse.
Just the little people that I thought the government worked for.
@aoc.bsky.social do you know what programs he's referring to? i don't agree with his premise, to be clear, i just want to know if i have to get my people ready sooner than we expected.
The guy that was nominated to be SECDEF was in charge of a Koch-owned lobby group called "Concerned Veterans for America" and their entire stated purpose was to dismantle the VA Healthcare system as part of their move to destroy Obamacare.
he was a real PITA when the CHOICE Act was going through.
that guy's been on my radar ever since the CHOICE Act. I was occasionally helping my Senator (I was running a local chapter of a VSO at the time) get support for the Bill, and Hegseth was the Arch-dirtbag during the whole process.
Let me offer some comfort here. This Black woman USMC Nam-era Vet did not vote for that draft-dodging fuqtard. Matter of fact, I beat up a boy like him when I was in 7th grade. He can go masturbate razor blades for all I care.
Just remember how often the budget got not approved and people went month without pay, only for a ridiculous Trump demand. Before COVID. - This time it’s gonna get way worst.
Always easy to say by a billionaire.. America shouldn’t have voted for one. Even that lapdog Vans spelled it out and still they made Vans basically President.
Another snake oil salesman who has no allegiance to this country. All of these “republicans” who voted for Trump…many vets too…they drive around with flags attached to their pickups with Dumps face. The most unpatriotic people planning to gut the patriots who served. No surprise.
For folks asking/seeking clarification, Congress authorizes spending over in the authorizing committees. It sometimes funds them in the same bill, but sometimes it funds them in other places.
The authorizations are sometimes permanent, but often they are temporary, to encourage Congress to
revisit it to update various parts of the bill, such as eligibility, benefits, etc. Some of these authorizations have lapsed because Congress believes they need to be updated but can’t agree.
What does that mean if you want to fund the programs?
Obviously ideally Congress would function better. But authorization bills having lapsed doesn’t mean Congress can’t fund the program in its appropriations bills.
Dude spent 5 minutes reading summary page and not the details. Decided to tweet because it passed freshmen year logic. He has no idea what he is saying.
As if the veterans have expired???
There are so many veterans who depend on VA for healthcare and couldn’t afford it otherwise.
No VA? No volunteers for military service.
If you're not seeing it you're not looking.
Dem vets are getting elected, VoteVets is a thing in the world.
The old clichés aren't really in play anymore. The GOP doesn't own law and order, national defense, freedom, patriotism, etc. the way they want people to think they do.
Notice the convenient omission of ‘veterans health care’. Instead its couched in broad spectrum bullshit of ‘expired programme’. And maga will gobble it up like a baby bird without even a question as to how or who it will effect.
Actually I'm ok with this. Why are they wasting my taxes on the military, troops, veterans, wars and genocide? Still racist party though. They'll probably still waste my taxes on religious institutions too.
I come from a military family. I have a son and 2 nephews that were combat injured in service for this country in Afghanistan and Iraq. I will fight him until death on this- We sent them, they served, and it was part of the contract that they get care. I also have one injured in Viet Nam
"We'll challenge any politicians who disagree". Like isn't that all those jerkoffs can really do? Just write a strongly worded letter and tweet that they don't like the spending? They won't technically have any authority to tell congress what to do with the budget. Right?
This is why my dad, an army vet, refused to vote for Republicans his entire life up until he died. They've frequently threatened veteran's benefits over decades. Look dad, I'm glad you aren't here to see this.
Why does this feel like the part in the movie Dave where Kevin Kline brings in his accountant friend to balance the budget?! These clowns are watching fiction like they are documentaries
My veteran parents would be outraged from the time of that announcement until the end of the Hannity episode explaining to them why it’s actually necessary and brilliant.
It's points like this that we need to "sterilize" in a way that it doesn't look like an attack on Trump or Republicans and get this into the hands of maga boomers on Facebook. If we continue to use these as direct attacks from our side against their side, it will only dig them in.
Then hand them a trenching tool and start ordering the tankers of napalm. You have to understand that much like Brexit here in the UK, in the minds of its supporters MAGA can not fail it can only BE failed, and no amount of "sterilisation" will make this info pass their sniff test.
It might be true, but what is definitely true is that shoving this in their face with a "this is your fault message" will immediately put them into fight mode and negate the message. I've seen pro Trump family members post messages akin to those dirty politicians better not touch my social security
So what I'm saying it to lay off the blame initially (sterilize) and get them on the same side of the issue without making it partisan. Then it becomes much easier for them to make the connection that their party is not aligned with their self interest.
When their social security goes, no matter what you tell them or how you explain it to them, they will happily proclaim that they're being punished by the "deep state" or "those people" for how they voted, they will actively refuse to make the connection.
Comments
And it's not going to even be a legitimate office in the White House if it's true that VR and EM will remain private citizens: it's more an external consulting project with its own dark budget, did I get that right?
That being said, I will admit to being sincerely confused by the idea that programs with expired authorizations continue to function.
https://www.cbo.gov/publication/60580
Table 3, page 5 of 9. Took me 5 minutes.
Was it worth it?
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-elections/exit-polls
Where did you get the 2/3 number from?
BTW, only six percent of Americans are veterans, so you can stuff your hypothesis in the trash can.
White men voted for Trump.
Do not lump us all together. My dad would be horrified by Trump.
White men voted for Trump.
Deeply unserious shit.
Trump will fire him and claim he hardly knew him… that Vivek was begging him for a position.
Or are we all just gonna pretend this bullshit is real?
Why are so many Americans regularly put at such great risk?
you are making the same idiot mistake liberals have been making since 2015, taking them literally
piss off
Reading would help them to understand that Republicans are no friend of the military or veterans.
Cruel.
Because this is how you get homeless vets.
Just the little people that I thought the government worked for.
😳
he was a real PITA when the CHOICE Act was going through.
dude is a Grade-A Blue Falcon.
Hope that answers your question.
that guy's been on my radar ever since the CHOICE Act. I was occasionally helping my Senator (I was running a local chapter of a VSO at the time) get support for the Bill, and Hegseth was the Arch-dirtbag during the whole process.
And Republicans won't do a thing, because people voted for this.
"no, not like that"
The authorizations are sometimes permanent, but often they are temporary, to encourage Congress to
What does that mean if you want to fund the programs?
You can still do so! It just means it counts as
Obviously ideally Congress would function better. But authorization bills having lapsed doesn’t mean Congress can’t fund the program in its appropriations bills.
/s
Real talk, Vivek is a gross grifter scam scamboi. Disgusting slimy little weasel.
There are so many veterans who depend on VA for healthcare and couldn’t afford it otherwise.
No VA? No volunteers for military service.
I can at least anecdotally say that this is wishful thinking at best and outright delusional at most likely.
My original zinger was to say
Vivek would incur their wrath, not necessarily Trump/GOP, because what’s implying is
within the amount he is targeting.
NIMBY vibes soon
I just don’t have much evidence to suggest that Trump/GOP voters writ large are rational actors.
Veteran bonus fiasco in the 1930s. History often rhymes.
Dem vets are getting elected, VoteVets is a thing in the world.
The old clichés aren't really in play anymore. The GOP doesn't own law and order, national defense, freedom, patriotism, etc. the way they want people to think they do.
Jokes
The check is coming due.
As I said: Same as Brexit here in the UK.
Maga