🚨Trump Administration Illegally Withheld Funding AGAIN, Government Watchdog Reports www.budget.senate.gov/ranking-memb...

The Trump Administration broke the law when FEMA illegally withheld funding for the Emergency Food and Shelter Program the and Shelter and Services Program.

GAO this morning: Pocket rescissions? Still illegal. www.gao.gov/products/b-3...

WaPo: Rounding is for losers

🚨HUGE WIN: A federal court has confirmed what Ranking Member @merkley.senate.gov has been saying all along: Trump and Vought CANNOT trample on Congress's power of the purse and claw back approved funding with their illegal “pocket rescission.”

The best part of Cassidy fact-checking Paul on vaccines is the latter’s insistence on being called “Dr. Rand Paul”

This quote from the Trump admin about its pocket rescissions couldn’t be more brazen. Pocket rescissions are an illegal way to ignore the will of Congress — which they feel comfortable saying out loud directly to the press.

Pocket rescissions are illegal. Picking foreign aid also highlights the intent here is to overrule the will of Congress. Trump already asked Congress to legally get rid of $8 billion in foreign aid funding. Why not also get rid of this $5 billion then? Cause they were worried Congress would say no.

This is illegal. www.gao.gov/blog/what-po...

Hello again my old friend apportionment-public.max.gov

Point of personal privilege: Check out my lovely wife’s furniture restoration side hustle

oh rly

This interactive tool is neat! The GOP reconciliation bill – which takes $2,000 from the poorest to give $13,000 to the richest – is not. www.cbo.gov/interactive/...

Non-partisan experts at the Government Accountability office: "Are pocket rescissions legal? No." Delighted by the complete lack of ambiguity on this one.

The Trump Administration broke the law when it illegally withheld NIH grant funding.

💰CBO Tells Ranking Member @merkley.senate.gov: When Including Interest and Assuming Temporary Tax Provisions Are Made Permanent, “One Big, Beautiful Bill” Adds $5 Trillion to Debt   www.budget.senate.gov/ranking-memb...

The Trump Administration broke the law by withholding funds to help K-12 public schools make necessary energy infrastructure improvements across the country.

The Trump Administration broke the law by illegally withholding Head Start funds.

It's absolutely maddening that the Trump Administration is working to undermine the exact same law – the Impoundment Control Act – it just used to rescind foreign aid and public broadcasting funding.

CBO: The Republicans’ reconciliation bill will “increase by 10 million the number of people without health insurance in 2034,” add $3.4 trillion to deficits.

In a huge victory, we secured a permanent injunction in our case against OMB for violating the law requiring public disclosure of how taxpayer dollars are spent. The public has a right to know what the government has been doing with your taxpayer dollars. protectdemocracy.org/work/omb-req...

🚨BREAKING: Cuts to NIH and FDA will lead to 53 fewer new prescription drugs and the full scope of Trump's proposed cuts suggest the harms could be far greater. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/18/h...

This one tax cut for rich investors in the Republican reconciliation bill is twice the size of the funding the same Republicans just clawed back from foreign aid and public broadcasting

Late last night and into the early morning, Democrats fought cuts to vital programs—offering amendments to protect emergency communications systems, global women’s health programs, and food aid for starving children. Republicans voted no, again and again.

Russell Vought during his confirmation process, answering a question from Sen. Merkley, vs. Russell Vought in this article. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

“What the hell are we doing here? You want to have a conversation about debt and deficits, you want to have a conversation about aligning our foreign policy better… we can have that conversation. But I dare you to justify lighting food on fire.”

The Carrot weather app is the last true thing left on this earth

It was never about “efficiency”

Gotta side with the **shudders** Dodgers here

An absolutely insane collection of headlines

We trollin'

The comic sans here is really on point

CBO tells @jeff-merkley.bsky.social that, under the budget baseline that's the law of the land, the Republicans' reconciliation bill breaks the rules both by exceeding the their budget resolution's instructions by trillions of dollars, and by adding to the deficit beyond the 10-year window.

More Byrd Rule violations, including special carve-outs for Alaska and Hawaii.

It’s literally this meme

CBO: The Senate Republicans’ reconciliation bill “would increase by 11.8 million the number of people without health insurance in 2034.“

Provisions including a bunch of onerous fees on immigrants violate the Byrd Rule.

Republican tax provisions, including a new school voucher scheme, are subject to a Byrd Rule point of order.

Health care provisions including a ban on Medicaid and CHIP paying for gender affirming care and a prohibition on states covering undocumented folks with states’ own funds are subject to a Byrd Rule point of order.

Provisions including forcing existing student loan borrowers into new programs and adding new Hyde Amendment language will face 60-vote hurdles under the Byrd Rule.

MERKLEY: How do you feel about being responsible for hundreds of thousands of kids dying because of your sudden interruption in these key programs? VOUGHT: I reject the assertion MERKLEY: I find your response both ignorant & callous. Few Americans have had a more devastating & disastrous impact

I mean, not a *legal* option, but sure

🦜

Tonight's edition of GOP provisions violate the Byrd Rule, including the mandatory sale of public lands.

More provisions that violate the Byrd Rule, including the forced sale of the Postal Service's new (adorable) EVs and a massive pay cut to federal employees' retirement benefits.

Republicans want to cut GAO's budget in half while making it impossible for GAO to bring a lawsuit when Trump illegally impounds funds. ❌Find waste, fraud, and abuse ✅Protect presidential illegality