Bobby Kogan
@bbkogan.bsky.social
Senior Director of Federal Budget Policy for the Center for American Progress doing budget, tax, and econ. Formerly: Biden OMB, Biden Transition Team, Senate Budget Committee (Murray and Sanders). CBO and OMB’s biggest fan! Personal account.
Trump owes more than $100 million in unpaid taxes, so this is just a giant free check he gave to himself with taxpayer dollars
Carl Quintanilla@carlquintanilla.bsky.social · yesterday“.. Trump has leveraged his control of the federal government to instead escape the scrutiny that every other modern president, not to mention every other regular taxpayer, has been subject to.” @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2026/08/03/b...
incredibly committed to the bit, trump got so tired of winning he decided to lose the war in iran just to mix things up
The White House corruptly and illegally cancelled grants for states that voted against Trump. I know this sort of thought exercise is tiring, but imagine if a Democratic president cancelled grants only for states that voted against them. There’d be wall-to-wall coverage and impeachment hearings!
if my (illegal) actions were directly responsible for hundreds of thousands of people dying, i’d probably have a tough time emotionally coming to terms with it too :/
let he who hasn’t ever gotten so carried away illegally impounding federal funds that they killed hundreds of thousands of people cast the first stone
Elon Musk says he got ‘carried away’ with Trump – but still holds on to contentious political views
In interview, billionaire says instead of running ‘Doge’ he should’ve ‘worked on my companies’ and shares extreme predictions
theguardian.com
the other thing that’s crazy is republicans polling above dems on national security even though trump is at -32 on iran lol
Bobby Kogan@bbkogan.bsky.social · 2w agodems winning on handling government spending better, brings a tear to your eyes 🥹
dems winning on handling government spending better, brings a tear to your eyes 🥹
"so you see, historically, in real life, when odysseus' men were turned into pigs fo-"
Watcher Guru@watcher.guru · 2w agoJUST IN: Elon Musk says Grok will make a "full-length movie" of The Odyssey that is "historically accurate" by the end of this year.
Wow. The SNAP cuts in the Big Beautiful Bill — already estimated at the time to be the biggest in history — are turning out to be far, far, far deeper than expected (no shade at CBO, scores are hard). We’re witnessing the beginning of a hunger crisis in America. Katie is a MUST FOLLOW on hunger.
Katie Bergh@katiebergh.bsky.social · 2w ago🚨NEW: In the 9 months after last year’s reconciliation law enacted unprecedented SNAP cuts, the number of people receiving SNAP fell by more than 4.5 million. Based on available data, we estimate that at least 1.5 million fewer kids are receiving SNAP. www.cbpp.org/research/foo...
My latest, with Cerin Lindgrensavage, on a little-known law signed by President Trump that makes it unlawful to pay the salaries of any OMB or agency official who implements funding cuts that the President proposed but Congress rejected. Alas, lots of that is happening. thehill.com/opinion/cong...
Congress rejected some of Trump’s proposed budget cuts. OMB is making them anyway.
President Trump and the Office of Management and Budget are accused of violating the separation of powers by attempting to unilaterally withhold funds that Congress specifically appropriated.
thehill.com
Sometimes fish in a barrel should be shot, and this is one of those times. A senator should call out Tuberville, call him to the floor, and tell him to put up or shut up on who these "four or five" senators are, and show the "proof" he claims to have. A senator skilled in dancing around Rule XIX.
Dunno how to say this without sounding hyperbolic, but this stuff is profoundly corrosive to the country's stability. Purposefully lying about something so crucially important indicates deep rot.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 3w agoTuberville: "We probably have four or five senators that didn't legally win. They shouldn't be up here."
The House veterans debacle today made me curious, so I just graphed veterans spending from 1940-2026. It wouldn't have been my gut instinct, but turns out veterans spending is the highest since 1952.
This is funny because the White House says, in order to get the reconciliation bill done, Congress must pass the "budget resolution—without modification—immediately." But this budget resolution *must be* modified before it can be used for reconciliation. Amateur hour from the White House.
In the Big Beautiful Bill, Republicans gave DOD more than $150 billion. According to DOD's own documents, as of July 2, $89 billion of that still hasn't been obligated. Why does DOD need another $67 billion when they still have more than half the money from BBB still waiting to be used?
Lots of confusion from folks, so it’s worth being clear: Section 407 of the budget resolution is normal stuff. It’s just about “base” versus “non-base” to make FY2027 approps easier. It’s all totally normal non-controversial stuff we’ve been doing for eons, including the health fraud stuff.
Text of the House budget resolution it out! Three key takeaways: 1) No spending cuts (though Ag is flexible — it allows for SNAP cuts) 2) $10 BILLION to bribe states to voluntarily implement the SAVE Act 3) No instructions for the Senate, implying the House hasn’t yet gotten buy-in from them
punchbowl.news
I know that I am the only person on the planet excited for this set, but truly how could I not be
Most economic indicators are largely exogenous to the president, who in reality has few levers and typically unfairly gets blame or credit. But for the very few levers the president actually has, Trump has made them all worse. Tariffs and the Iran war were both self-inflicted.
Justin Wolfers@justinwolfers.bsky.social · 3w agoUS inflation is the highest in the G7.
The meat of the SAVE Act cannot make it through reconciliation w/out violating the Byrd rule. Telling a state how it must run its elections is facially not primarily about changing the federal budget, even if there are indirect effects. Grants to states that voluntarily do SAVE is a maybe, however.
After multiple murders by ICE/CBP, Ds refused to provide additional $$ for them w/out reforms & oversight. Rs were opposed to reform and unilaterally provided more $$ through reconciliation. Now ICE has enough to run at 4x capacity through 2029 — w/ LESS oversight than before. This is the result.
trump did actually make a major public health contribution with operation warpspeed. his followers hate it and he's disavowed it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Bobby Kogan@bbkogan.bsky.social · 4w agoI was chatting with one of the regulars at the park who is a diehard Trump supporter. He used the standard GOP line, “If Trump cured cancer, people would still find a reason to attack him for it.” I said that Trump was actually illegally defunding cancer research. Got an “ah well, nevertheless.”
There are incredible new cancer drugs every year that are showing promise at defeating cancers that were previously guaranteed death sentences — and the Trump administration is doing everything it can to illegally kill the grants that fund the research. MAHA indeed!
On Wednesday, I testified before the Seattle Council's Housing, Arts and Civil Rights Committee on @mayorofseattle.bsky.social Katie Wilson's proposal to regulate rental fees — the pet rent, admin fees, and pay-to-pay charges that can add hundreds of dollars to renters' monthly costs. 🧵👇
Stories like this are why “work requirements” usually don’t actually lead to more work, according to countless studies. Instead they just kick people off programs even though they’re doing everything right, due to so much added red tape.
Katie Bergh@katiebergh.bsky.social · 4w agoThis working mom of 2 has been trying to get her family's SNAP benefits reinstated for months but keeps getting caught in the added red tape. She’s cut back her own meals to make sure her kids get enough. These are the people this administration claims were "lifted" off SNAP.
This working mom of 2 has been trying to get her family's SNAP benefits reinstated for months but keeps getting caught in the added red tape. She’s cut back her own meals to make sure her kids get enough. These are the people this administration claims were "lifted" off SNAP.
The Nation Magazine@thenation.com · 4w agoNew SNAP regulations from the Trump administration have sent states scrambling to reduce payment error rates at all costs, in many cases kicking eligible people off food stamps. https://bit.ly/4f3FI45
Finally turning to my next piece. Probably won't get it out till mid-August cause of all the other stuff I have going on simultaneously. I don't think people have really internalized how much non-defense discretionary has fallen in recent years. This has most of our long-term investment funding.
