The sliver of the federal budget Congress is fighting over

Make Me Smart September 28, 2023 Transcript

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Kimberly Adams 

Hey, everyone, I’m Kimberly Adams. Welcome back to Make Me Smart where we make today make sense.

Kai Ryssdal 

And I’m Kai Ryssdal. 28, September, Thursday is what it is.

Kimberly Adams 

Yes, it is. And what are we three days from US government shutdown now?

Kai Ryssdal 

A little bit less I saw on the CNN countdown clock. A little while ago, I saw two hours and six, sorry, two days and six hours. So we’re inside three.

Kimberly Adams 

Inside three. All right. Well, aside from that today, because it’s Thursday, we are going to be listening back to some of the big stories of the week, we’ve got some audio clips, we’re gonna get into what was said in those clips and what was left out. So let’s get to the first one.

Romina Boccia

The reason we see so much conflict around funding the federal government through discretionary appropriations and the potential for a government shutdown, is because Congress has so few avenues remaining to make its voice heard that the minority party really seizes on these on these must pass bills in order to signal its political commitments to its constituents. I think it’s also a sign of our growing debt crisis. And the fact that most of the debt crisis is driven by popular programs such as Social Security and Medicare spending growth, which politicians have a very tough time tackling, for, for the reason that they would like to be reelected. So you’re getting a lot of fighting over a smaller and declining part of the budget.

Kimberly Adams 

So I know that was a lot, but there’s so much to unpack there. That was Romina Boccia. She is the Director of budget and entitlement policy at the Cato Institute. I interviewed her earlier this week, on one of the I’m sure what will be many shutdown stories that I’ve done, and I want to take apart some different things. So she said the reason there’s so much fighting over discretionary spending, right? I think a lot of people fail to realize that there’s very little of the federal budget, that is discretionary spending, at least around two thirds of the budget is just off the table. It’s Social Security, it’s Medicare, it’s interest on the national debt. And so members of Congress can’t really mess with that, apart from large scale government intervention, new legislation, or blowing up the debt ceiling, as we saw a while back. And so interest on the national debt is a big chunk. Social Security and Medicare are a large and growing chunk, which leaves only about a third of the federal budget that is actually up for debate in these appropriations bills, which are supposed to be passed by October the first, which is why we get government shutdown. So layered on top of the fact that it is a smallish and shrinking section of the federal budget, which is makes it even harder to fight over. There is less than less legislation moving through Congress at all, because of the divided government because of partisanship because of dysfunction. And so people in Congress who want to get anything done to take back to their constituents want to hitch all of their wagons to these very few pieces of legislation that must pass aka funding for the federal government. So layered on top of the fact that we have a narrow and shrinking slice of federal spending that is even up for debate any given year. There is fewer pieces of lead. There are a few fewer pieces of legislation moving through members of Congress want to attach everything to it. And then on top of that is the political grandstanding. And so I think that helps kind of unpack how we got where we are right now.

Kai Ryssdal 

Yeah, I think it actually distills what’s going on here. Just just for perspective sake, right? The federal government spends give or take $6 trillion a year. It’s a federal budget of about $6 trillion, five point something in change. So as Kimberly said, two thirds of it is obligated already, which is $4 trillion. So while they’re, while they’re negotiating over a relatively small percentage wise slice, it is still $2 trillion in spending.

Kimberly Adams 

It is still 2 trillion. But a big chunk of that is defense spending, which they also don’t want to touch.

Kai Ryssdal 

Right? Very nearly right $865 billion this year, right? So, so really, 2 trillion minus 8655 billion is, like 1.3 trillion, right? The number actually gets smaller and smaller, the more you think about it.

Kimberly Adams 

Yes, exactly. Right. And so if you don’t want to mess with defense spending, you don’t want to mess with entitlements. You don’t want to mess with interest on the national debt. It leaves this tiny sliver if not tiny, but relatively small sliver and shrinking of federal spending that is getting all of this attention, simply because the other stuff is just too hard and cost you elections. So exactly. Anyway. All right.

Kai Ryssdal 

Next one, shall we?

Joseph Biden

I’ve said it many times, Wall Street didn’t build the country, the middle class built the country. Unions built the middle class. Let’s keep going. You deserve what you earned and you’ve earned a hell of a lot more than you get paid now.

Kai Ryssdal 

Joe Biden self-proclaimed a union man in Wayne County, Michigan on Tuesday talking to UAW workers with the head of the UAW Shawn Fain standing right next to him. That, of course came a day before Donald Trump goes to a non-union shop in Macomb County, Michigan to talk to non-union workers invited at the behest of the boss of that company, to make his case that he is a pro union president. UAW may expanded strikes, by the way, I think tomorrow, the thing I’m really curious about in those expanded strikes is what they’re going to do with Ford. Right, because remember, last time they expanded, which was a week or two ago, they expanded to distribution centers run by GM and Stellantis. They left Ford out, saying it had made progress. So what happens with Ford tomorrow will be something of a tale of how negotiation to go. And we’re into like week two now, right? Tomorrow, I think it’d be day 14.

Kimberly Adams 

Wild, wild. Yeah. Are you hearing this? This hissing sound in the back here?

Kai Ryssdal 

That’s a weedwacker. Hold on let me close the door.

Kimberly Adams

I was like is there a distortion on the line?
Kai Ryssdal

It’s suburban America. That’s what that is. All right.

Kimberly Adams 

Yay. All right. Good stuff. Good stuff. All right. So with weedwacker, you know, quelled. Let’s go on the next piece tape.

Advertisement

People couldn’t see my potential. So I had to show them. I’ve run this place for 20 years. But I still need to prove that I’m more than what you see on paper. Today, I’m the CEO of my own companies, where my mind works. I have a very mechanical brain, why are we not rethinking this anymore? I’m more, I’m more, I’m more than what I am on paper.

Kimberly Adams 

So I watched the GOP debate was last night was it last night? It was last night, so much, so many things happen. And it was chaotic. I actually thought it was a pretty good metaphor for the state of the Republican Party in general, because the same kind of chaos we’re seeing in the house was right up there on that stage. But I paid a lot of attention to what ads are running during the GOP debate. This is one of my favorite things to do when I’m watching debates and presidential speeches and political speeches in general. Because these ads are targeted based on who they think is watching. And so this ad in particular is from a it’s something with the Ad Council and a bunch of other corporations called STARs. It stands for a “skilled through alternative routes.” And it was basically an ad complaining about the paper ceiling, which is their term, which I think is quite clever, actually, for this barrier that people who have a lot of skills, maybe trades maybe just years of experience, maybe just life experience face in the workplace because they do not have undergraduate degrees or bachelor’s degrees or traditional degrees to a four year university. And as we’ve been dealing with this new labor dynamic post pandemic, I think there’s been so much more attention paid to the fact that and I know you’ve said this before, that we need more people with skilled trades. And so many jobs in this economy are like, Oh, you need a college degree. And it’s like, but do you really? Really? And I remember when I was going to college, and I said I wanted to study journalism, and my dad was like, “Yeah, but you need a real degree.” And so he insisted that I get some sort of academic degree, because he said journalism is a trade. And it’s great for you to get your degree in a trade but you also need to get an academic degree, which is so hilarious, because that’s not at all how most people think about journalism. But anyway, you know, there are so many people out there with real skills who are being, as you know, the argument here is that they’re being blocked from advancing in this economy, simply because they don’t have a four year college degree. And so this is a coalition of a whole bunch of recruiting companies and hiring companies that are saying, No, we need to end the paper ceiling. And this is fascinating to me, because it’s running during the GOP debate, which tells you a lot about who they think is watching and where they think their coalition is. And as we move further and further into this campaign, I feel like we can learn a lot from who thinks their people are watching. And yeah, that’s it. That’s it. Yeah.

Kai Ryssdal 

That’s good insight. That that’s a that’s a very good insight. I like that one. Okay, let’s go. Last one.

Ryan Reynolds

It’s nearly fall again, which means the entire universe will once again be losing its mind for pumpkin spice. Well not at Aviation, not on my watch. Let’s make a Negroni.

Kai Ryssdal 

Ryan Reynolds bless your heart. So that’s Ryan Reynolds, the actor. Also. Yes. Also one of the owners of Aviation Gin, by the way, doing an ad for Negroni and Aviation Gin. But, look, it was viral. Ben in Cleveland sent it to us by the way, thank you very much. We appreciate that. I just I done with pumpkin spice. That’s all.

Kimberly Adams 

But who knew you and Ryan Reynolds are besties in the pumpkin spice patriot.

Kai Ryssdal 

I, never mind I’ve got a whole thing about good looking men in Hollywood. Nevermind. Nevermind. But that’s a different that’s a different podcast.

Kimberly Adams 

No, it isn’t. It’s actually funny. I want to hear it.

Kai Ryssdal 

No it really is. Maybe the next live show after I’ve had a couple of beers in front of 750 people, we’ll about it.

Kimberly Adams 

I’m super curious. Look, I do believe the gin is the devil but I also do love some Ryan Reynolds. And so I I was very entertained when when that when that came down the pipeline. So it was yes. Although at some point I need to figure out a way to ship from DC to California, the ingredients for my pumpkin spice Margarita. Because I am convinced that you will enjoy this cocktail.

Kai Ryssdal 

I will not.

Kimberly Adams 

You haven’t tried it. It’s delicious.

Kai Ryssdal 

Don’t, don’t do it on your own dime make the company pay for it so that you’re not wasting your money when I pour it down the drain. I will absolutely not. Absolutely not.

Kimberly Adams 

I think you will. I think you need to try do you are you a tequila person at all?

Kai Ryssdal 

No tequila to me is like gin to you. I got horribly horribly, well that’s different. We’ll do that at a different podcast too. That’s sophomore. freshman year in college, anyway.

Kimberly Adams 

Yeah, I wish I had been so yeah. Anyway.

Kai Ryssdal 

We’re gonna go now. If you have something to share with us perhaps your uh, nevermind. You know how to get a hold of us, marketplace.org. Call us five at 508-U-B-SMART. That’s how you get a hold of us. Oh my goodness.

Kimberly Adams 

Yes, that’s it for today. We really got to stop. But please join us tomorrow for your boozy or non-boozy, tequila, gin, whatever your Devil is not that but whatever you would like to drink to wind down for the week. We’re going to have economics on tap. Our YouTube live stream goes live at 6:30 Eastern 3:30 Pacific and we’re gonna be breaking down the news of the day probably talking more about what seems to be an inevitable government shutdown partial government lapse in a lapse in appropriations. And we’re also going to play some games so there we go.

Kai Ryssdal 

Today’s episode of Make Me Smart was produced by Courtney Burgsieker with assistance from H Conley. Audio engineering by Juan Carlos Torado. Ellen Rolfes writes our newsletter our intern is Niloufar Shahbandi.

Kimberly Adams 

Marissa Cabrera is our senior producer. Bridget Bodnar is our Director of podcasts and Francesca Levy is the executive director of Digital.