Horizon Cutting-room Links: Monday, 10 March 2025

Today is Monday, 10 February 2025. Federal agencies in the Washington, DC area are Open. Employees are expected to begin the workday on time. Normal operating procedures are in effect. Mostly clear, with a low around 37. Southwest wind around 3 mph.

"GOP Government Funding Plan Sets Up Clash With Democrats," Wall Street Journal

"The House measure lowers the amount of nondefense discretionary spending by $13 billion from the 2024 funding level, while increasing the amount of money for defense spending by about $6 billion. It also boosts funding for border enforcement."

"If House Republicans manage to stay united and pass the proposal over Democratic opposition, it will need at least 60 votes in the Senate, which has only 53 Republican lawmakers, to get to Trump’s desk. Senate Democrats will need to decide if they want to get onboard the GOP bill, or risk getting blamed for the first shutdown since early 2019."

"House could make early exit if stopgap passes," Politico

"Under Johnson's developing plan, the spending patch through September would go to the Rules Committee Monday and then to the House floor for a final vote Tuesday. If lawmakers can pass the stopgap, GOP leaders are likely to cancel votes for the rest of the week and send members home, according to two people granted anonymity to discuss internal discussions.

"That could keep the Senate, Democrats in particular, from trying to amend the stopgap and send it back to the House before a potential government shutdown that would start just after midnight, early in the morning of March 15. Johnson and GOP leaders are racing to finalize text of the bill, with a goal of releasing it Friday night or over the weekend."

"Chaos at the V.A.: Inside the DOGE Cuts Disrupting the Veterans Agency," New York Times

"It is in many ways a natural target for reform — a bureaucratic behemoth with roughly 480,000 employees, some 90,000 contracts and a documented history of scandals and waste. But it also treats 9.1 million veterans, provides critical medical research and, according to some studies, offers care that is comparable to or better than many private health systems."

"Among the 2,400 employees fired from the V.A. since Mr. Trump’s inauguration are workers who purchase medical supplies, schedule appointments and arrange rides for patients to see their doctors. Many are veterans themselves."

"With 170 hospitals nationwide — and patients who tend to volunteer for studies at higher rates than civilians — the V.A. has pioneered studies that often seek to enroll large numbers of patients at multiple sites across the country. ... The V.A. is also credited with landmark discoveries such as aspirin’s ability to prevent heart attacks, the first cardiac pacemaker and the nicotine patch."

"Trump Tightens Grip on FBI and Justice Department," the Journal

"Patel’s determination to keep in close contact with President Trump himself is an arrangement outside the traditional chain of command in which the FBI director reports to the deputy attorney general, and the president usually talks only to the attorney general. 

"It is but one example of how on matters big and small administration officials including Patel and senior officials at the Justice Department have deferred to Trump and his deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller since taking office, the people said. ... Now, after years of clashing with the Justice Department amid federal investigations into his conduct, Trump has made remaking the institution the centerpiece of his agenda."

"Blocked, Unblocked, Reblocked: How to Understand the Dizzying DOGE Court Rulings," New York Magazine

"Every six hours or so, it seems, some federal judge blocks or unblocks or reblocks some action taken by Elon Musk, DOGE, and the Trump administration: mass firings of government employees, billions of dollars in frozen funding, near-dissolution of an entire government agency, targeted dismissals of departmental leaders and internal watchdogs, emails demanding that federal workers list five accomplishments or else risk either 'resignation,' being 'semi-fired,' or nothing at all, depending on the day."

"How, then, can we understand these dozens of legal disputes as they play out across our federal courts? There’s no magic decoder ring here, no unifying field theory that explains or predicts the decisions as some coherent whole. But it’s not total chaos."