SB 29-25: Federal Budget FY 2022 (Passed)

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

The plan here is to actually try and get the budget done on time. Under the Budget Process and Control act of 2017, we are suppose to start debate in April to ensure we have proper time to discuss and consult both chambers etc.

While I don't expect this to be completely smooth, I think we will find it better than the waiting until months after it is late. Obviously the deadline for passage is October 1st.

The text as entered is January's budget with the name updated. The first big change that we should do is compile spending passed since then and amend it into the text as well as account for short term spending that is ending.

After that we can move towards getting scores and such where needed.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I'm surprised that the top income tax rate isn't higher. To reduce income inequality and enable us to support the rest of society, I hope we either increase that top rate or create a new higher bracket with a higher rate. In the future 30% may be a better corporate tax rate but perhaps we're better off doing that next year.

You can change that right here, by offering an amendment.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Historically speaking, and this stems from a time when we had a had more amendments each session, I developed a formalization process of sorts.

This allowed Senators to "pitch texts back and forth for discussion purposes" without each one being processed as an amendment. If someone said they were formally offering a text as an amendment, then the process would proceed.

We have gone the opposite direction solely for the purposes of expanding the total number of amendments since we now have so few. For many newer people, who never experienced a Senate with 100 plus amendments offered in a session, the idea of curtailing the number of times the amendment process (feedback - Objections/Vote) was initiated must seem unimaginable.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I feel confident about this in the new chamber simply because we will have 18 people looking at it and not six. We also have a good four months and only one chamber to worry about passage in, which allows us to utilize more of that time.

There are to road blocks right now to this succeeding though. One we have got to compile the latest spending and taxes up to a set "cut off" date, maybe say July 1st.

Second there is the whole issue of the comptroller and comptroller reform as it were. This needs to be sorted out in satisfactory manner towards the beginning of the new session in the new Senate because lacking the scoring will make this a rather hollow debate with little basis in the numbers.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

One Time Coronavirus Stimulus spending ($5295.126 Billion)
$9.226 Billion.... Coronavirus Containment and Emergency Response Act
$4807 Billion.... Economic Stimulus Act of 2020
$478.90 Billion.... JOBS AND PAY DURING THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC ACT

Why is this still here? There isn't that much spending from the previous stimulus bills that goes into FY 2022. These are the same numbers from last year's budget.

This is literally a copy paste job to get something before the Senate around the time the Senate was suppose to start debating the budget under statute (April set as such in 2017), the ultimate objective of decreasing the likelihood of needing to use CRs as many years recently have required by expanding the time before October that this was in front of the legislative branch.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

The amendment is friendly.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Noted.

TOTAL Revenue: $ 3973.83 Billion $ 3904.04 Billion

This will still need feedback from Yankee. He's been busy lately, so if his absence continues I will allow another senator to co-sponsor.

That wouldn't work actually since the primary sponsor has to give feedback. Historically speaking, in cases of extended delay of response from sponsor (as determined by the presiding officer), the standard practice was to assume hostile and put it to a vote.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

As an ex rust belter with a hard on for the Erie Canal, I am certainly open to investments that pay off in the long run.

However, barring emergencies/short term spending like the virus, I think that all long term appropriations and entitlements should have dedicated revenues or a spending offset.

Therefore, hostile.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Nay

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Friendly

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Ishan's amendment is friendly. Going to use my Deputy powers to call 24 hours for objections.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Friendly on the amendment offered by Scott. Senators have 24 hours to object.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Lets try to stay with this. We have just over a month and a half before the end of the fiscal year. Lets be on time for once.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Bumping again seeing as it's been a whole two weeks without debate. At this rate, we're not making the deadline without CG input and we will have to pass a CR until someone can fill that role.

If there was one thing I looked forward to becoming easier with unicameralism, it was passing the budget on time.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Are we any closer to addressing the CG issue?

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Anyway, the tax calculations are one thing; I assume once the appropriations bills stop coming to the floor we can round them up and do a bit more solid number crunching there. That is probably something I can help with in re: getting those bills off the floor.

We should not be changing appropriations for the FY starting October 1st this late in the year anyway. The cutoff should be something like July 1st with all other spending taking effect the following fiscal year, unless it is emergency measures.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

What else exactly needs to be done here?

Probably calculating the updated revenues would be the main concern.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

1. Calculating Revenues
2. Compiling expenditures passed up to x cut off date (it could even be Oct 1st since we are late now anyway, but in normal circumstances to allow for passage of the budget and debate and such you need an earlier cut off with spending taking effect the following fiscal year if enacted past that date)
3. Cleaning/removing/modifying line items in line with legislation passed repealing or altering pre-existing spending line items

And then once all of that is done is when you get to have the competing proposals and such forth like we used to do in the period of 2010-2014, at least if 1-3 were to be in by say May or April (save for the last minute stuff in May and June as per the above cutoff, which could easily be incorporated in the first week of July). Technically under the law, the executive branch is suppose to submit the budget by like April 1st (it might be May 1st) but no administration has every managed to do this since that legislation was passed.

I think we are stuck on 2 right now if I read Scott's posts on the previous page correctly.

 

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I have been out the pass couple days because New Years rush at work.

I agree with Scott, I think our priority for this one would be to get this one completed and leave us in a position to have larger and more in depth discussions in the next budget.

And keep in mind the way that works if the process is adhered to is the administration makes it proposal and it gets submitted for debate, but there can be competing proposals and such, hence the long length of time between submission and the end of the Fiscal year (we might be able to shorten that time with unicameralism back but lets make it work at least once before we start curtailing the time frames).

Perhaps if we were to go towards and appropriations model, that could be an area that would drive interest towards the budget process, disagreements over the funding levels. I could see the President submitting a proposal and then both the left and right offering alternatives.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I sponsor for the President and submit the amendment for consideration thus.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

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On that note, I would like to ask Senator Yankee a question for clarification. Senator WM expressed to me that passing the authorization bill separately from the budget was akin to "passing the budget twice". I know that was not quite your intention in the budget reform law you wrote, so how did you envision the process to go, exactly? Were the authorizations supposed to be passed concurrently with the budget in the same vote?

Ultimately, that is what troubles me about the partisanship of that vote. There was no communication, and you didn't answer my question in the Discord chat, so I pretty much went the rest of it alone because I just wanted the budget done and April's blueprint ready. If the authorization bill failed, I would've had no choice but to reintroduce it.

The authorizations are the line items scattered throughout the various bills we pass. There was never any consideration of doing an omnibus authorization bill like WD and you have in mind. There is nothing to prevent an administration from doing it, especially if they want to advance an agenda, but I didn't desire to add another layer as a regular process when we have still yet to get this right with just one layer.

The only reason that I referenced "Authorizations" at all, was to end the practice of each individual bill appropriating money, thus necessitating the President to be compiler in chief. By deeming them "authorizations", it means that the President is not obligated to collect them all, rather it is the job of Senators to fight for appropriations to carry out these authorized programs.


To put it graphical form:
1. Dozens of bills passed throughout year containing spending = Authorizations = must be specific dollar amounts
2. Budget = Appropriations = Proposed by the administration in the Spring for the Fiscal year starting the following October.
3. Senate Debates the budget and passed it by the beginning of the fiscal year that it is far with two months of lead time (That August 1st cutoff) for practicality reasons.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Also to comment on the partisanship of the authorization vote, it would be unreasonable to expect people who voted against bills such as New Great Society, to vote to "authorize" large expenditures for them because that is essentially the same as repassing the same line items even if altered somewhat. Both the line items in the original bill and those in the Authorizations bill, are considered "authorizations" under the law.

It would very much be reasonable to expect that any such "omnibus" authorizations adjustment done to reflect administration priorities would necessarily end up becoming partisan or at least controversial.

As for you leaving you alone, I am deeply sorry about that, but between work and school over the past two weeks particularly, with the added layer of handling the usual red tape that comes with transferring and such, tax season and a number of such things, I had to put real life first. At work we had to train nearly 15 people in less than two weeks or so, to replace the massive wipe out of our crew just after the holidays. I apologize for not being able to clarify these points sooner and help with the final lift.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

It's very likely I missed something given I'm bad at math

The nice thing about my online statistics course is, most everything is worked out in excel.

=Sum(A1:A20) is so amazing.

Not an option on the tests unfortunately.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Aye