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Replies: 29
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Paw Master [17135]
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Ultimate Tiger [34898]
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Straight up question for you...do you believe the President/Exec Branch...
Feb 4, 2025, 7:54 AM
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can cut programs created, authorized, and appropriated by Congress?
If so, what is your Constitutional basis for that?
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110%er [3880]
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Re: Straight up question for you...do you believe the President/Exec Branch...
Feb 4, 2025, 8:16 AM
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I highly doubt congress met and approved to fund a DEI musical in Ireland.
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Valley Legend [12671]
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Clemson Icon [25939]
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Paw Master [17135]
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Show me the congressional approval for these programs.
Feb 4, 2025, 9:03 AM
[ in reply to Straight up question for you...do you believe the President/Exec Branch... ] |
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If one president can direct blanket funds to the absurd based on his political idealogy; then another president can stop it. This is the result of a lazy congress.
You really think congress created USAID for this? Really?
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Orange Phenom [14752]
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Re: Straight up question for you...do you believe the President/Exec Branch...
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Feb 4, 2025, 10:20 AM
[ in reply to Straight up question for you...do you believe the President/Exec Branch... ] |
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can cut programs created, authorized, and appropriated by Congress?
If so, what is your Constitutional basis for that?
A legislatively created Agency cannot be disbanded by the President and will take Congress to do so (i.e. Dept of Education etc...). I've not seen any serious argument by the Trump Administration that they can do so. They may state they want to get rid of DOE and USAID and that in no way precludes them from actually working with Congress to do so. There is nothing unconstitutional about stating a desire to get rid of a statutory Agency. If Trump tries to do so through EO - then it will quickly be stopped by the courts...
All Executive Government Agency funding is appropriated by Congress. Almost all of the appropriations are done in large, somewhat generic "pots" where the the President and Agencies have great leeway on how that money is actually spent and contracted to execute policy and Agency functions.
As such - the President has a lot of ability to cut funding, cancel contracts, and get rid of Agency bloat that is not specifically listed in Statute. Sometimes Congress will be very specific in the spending and put it in statute and for that spending the President/Agency has no choice. But that is not the majority of appropriations. Furthermore - just because Congress appropriates a certain amount of dollars to an Agency doesn't mean the Agency has to spend every penny of it. However, just about every Agency will spend their entire budget in order to avoid having their budgets cut in the next appropriations cycle.
So far everything being cut - particularly the scuttling of certain grants and contracts - is within the President's authority to do so. Trump hasn't attempted to cut a statutory agency or statutory spending. Rest assured if he does - the Swamp will quickly try and stop it in the courts.
I've already touched on all this here:
https://www.tigernet.com/clemson-forum/message/congress-funds-the-agencies-who-in-turn-contract-as-necessary-to-do-their-36377818#36377818
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Ultimate Tiger [34898]
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Straight up question for you...do you believe the President/Exec Branch...
Feb 4, 2025, 7:54 AM
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can cut programs created, authorized, and appropriated by Congress?
If so, what is your Constitutional basis for that?
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Clemson Icon [27824]
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Never figured you as a ballet enthusiast... or is it the ballet?***
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Feb 4, 2025, 7:57 AM
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Paw Warrior [4764]
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So no intelligent answer to his question then?***
Feb 4, 2025, 8:08 AM
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110%er [3880]
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Re: So no intelligent answer to his question then?***
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Feb 4, 2025, 8:17 AM
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Can you show me an article where congress approved funds for a DEI musical in Ireland?
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Paw Warrior [4764]
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Still no answer to the original question?***
Feb 4, 2025, 8:55 AM
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110%er [3880]
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Re: Still no answer to the original question?***
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Feb 4, 2025, 9:05 AM
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No answer to the question because it is completely irrelevant to this topic.
Congress didn’t approve funds for Tranny ballets and DEI musicals in other countries. Congress may have approved funding to USAID and that’s fine.
The president shouldn’t be able to block it but that’s not what he’s doing, is he? He’s auditing what USAID has been a spending the approved funds on and finding it’s a ton of bs. Which, in my mind, requires firing and room for new leadership.
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National Champion [7645]
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Re: Found the real reason 19B is so mad about USAID cuts...
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Feb 4, 2025, 8:28 AM
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Oh its a lot worse than tranny ballets. We've been paying Hamas a ton of cash for years. That's the real reason the board kooks hate all of this. It shouldn't be a surprise that the party full of jew haters would be upset that our covert funding of Israels terrorist antagonists is nearing an end. Tranny ballets are a waste of money, funding our enemies is a whole lot worse and these organizations have been doing exactly that.
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Clemson Icon [27824]
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$60 Million for condoms for Gaza...? Really?***
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Feb 4, 2025, 8:36 AM
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Clemson Icon [25939]
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Re: $60 Million for condoms for Gaza...? Really?***
Feb 4, 2025, 8:55 AM
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You're not thinking this through. That was a great idea.
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Clemson Icon [27824]
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"That's a LOT of condoms." - Bret Baier***
Feb 4, 2025, 9:01 AM
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Clemson Icon [25939]
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Re: "That's a LOT of condoms." - Bret Baier***
Feb 4, 2025, 9:04 AM
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But enough?
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Clemson Sports Icon [52655]
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Reminds me of this joke...
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Feb 4, 2025, 8:29 AM
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Doctor: Sir?
Patient: Excuse me Doctor, it's "ma'am".
Doctor: Well ma'am, you have prostate cancer.
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TigerNet Icon [152054]
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Oh, man. You got me. Good one.
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Feb 4, 2025, 9:54 AM
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You know how much I love tranny ballets.
Look, I'm pretty sure both sides are fine with the ultimate goal of evaluating and streamlining the cash flows through USAID and other agencies. Flipping the switch and turning literally everything off while you figure this out is not the way to handle this, nor has it ever been. USAID can be audited top-to-bottom and findings and recommendations presented to Congressional committees. Musk, Trump, and Rubio aren't the final arbiters of what is considered wasteful or worthwhile.
The way it's currently being handled is impacting agencies and NGOs doing actual valuable work and saving lives around the planet. Unless you're just in full on "eff them non-American kids" mode, which wouldn't be even mildly surprising.
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Orange Phenom [14752]
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NGO's that rely on more than half their funding from the US Government really
Feb 4, 2025, 10:43 AM
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aren't a "Non-Governmental Organization" are they...
It's about time our Government gets out of this NGO shell game where a significant amount of them are run by former White House/Congressional staffers and political appointees where 90% or more of their total funding is coming from Federal dollars.
We don't need to throw the baby out with the bath water but at $36+ Trillion in debt - we are well past the time we need to stop putting in bath water without a pause and scrutiny.
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TigerNet Icon [152054]
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Yes, they are, by definition.
Feb 4, 2025, 10:50 AM
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You think an NGO is corrupt? Audit it. Blanket statements about an entire sector is lazy and dangerous, particularly to the people that NGOs help. .
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Orange Phenom [14752]
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That's just it - those NGO's whose model is to rely on mostly US tax dollars
Feb 4, 2025, 11:34 AM
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for funding are usually cozy with the very bureaucrats that fund them. But here's the twist - since they are an "NGO" they very rarely, if ever, receive Congressional oversight and are largely unaccountable to anyone other than their friends in the particular Agency who granted or contracted them the money in the first place.
Show me a process where every one of these agencies is held to account every year by our elected officials where their activities and salaries are examined and I'll probably be a bit more amenable to majority Government funded NGOs.
But at this point - such accountability doesn't really exist and there are a so many of them getting grants and contracts to the point we have no real idea of how much tax money is being given to these organizations and how many of them may be working outside of US policy or even US law. But at least with DOGE we are starting to find out where some of this money has gone and what it has funded...
If Charities are worthwhile then they can raise money on their merits. Samaritan's Purse is a prime example as they are almost exclusively a donation funded NGO that does plenty of good work and don't require our US tax dollars to sustain their organization.
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TigerNet Icon [152054]
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"But at least with DOGE we are starting to find out where some of this money has
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Feb 4, 2025, 12:30 PM
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gone and what it has funded..."
Are we, though? Or are we relying on 3am tweets from Elon saying "USAID is completely corrupt and it must die"?
There is a very fundamental difference between an actual audit, and an individual with specific thoughts and biases about the very concept of NGOs and charitable giving (a bit like yourself, it would seem) giving his opinions on various agencies and programs.
Again, there are some very critical concepts you seem to be refusing to acknowledge in your neverending quest to justify the extremely tenuous legality this admin is currently tightroping:
1. Elon having his hands in all Treasury operations and disbursements is a MASSIVE conflict of interest, considering the 11 figures of current federal contracts his companies are currently operating under. Additionally, Musk having access to individual data for every taxpayer in the country, and having a handful of high-school aged kids and lackeys ham handedly move OPM server data to apparently unsecured cloud environments is a national security failure. Gosh, I wonder why the security clearance process exists, even if a President can technically legally bypass it. So...strange.
2. Whether the corruption in an agency like USAID impacts .2% or 20% of its funding, there are real people being severely impacted when the remaining large majority of the funds are shut down with no warning whatsoever. People who actually need the help that NGOs provide. I'm sorry your view of the entire NGO concept is so jaded and cynical--that doesn't seem like a fun way to go through life.
3. Trying to run the federal government like a for-profit enterprise is, in a word, dumb.
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Orange Phenom [14752]
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Show me in the Constitution where it is the obligation of US Citizens to pay
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Feb 4, 2025, 3:07 PM
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taxes in order for that money to be given to foreign countries??
What you are putting forth is an emotional moral argument not a Constitutional or legal requirement. What you are asserting, that I very much disagree with, is that the USA has an obligation to be giving money to the rest of the world in order to hopefully help "people in need". For decades, the US has sent $Billions to foreign countries in the Middle East, Africa, and South/Central America and decades later these same countries are still incapable of self-sufficiency and continue to "need" $billions in US tax dollars. At what point do we realize that endless handouts is the wrong policy??
I certainly believe in charity when one's circumstances allow for such charity. At $36 Trillion in debt, the USA no longer has the luxury of being the world's free charitable piggy bank. Call me cruel, mean or whatever descriptor you desire but when that US debt finally crushes our own citizens to the point that our future generations suffer a crumbling society - that will be the real cruelty and they will curse us for our reckless debt spending.
But to address your top point... recommend you hold your nose and watch this - particularly at the 1:40 mark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuPr2-T_Z_U
"Where we think there is a conflict or a problem - we won't let him go near it." So I guess we will see won't we....
As it turns out I addressed the legality and most of your other complaints yesterday with this post:
https://www.tigernet.com/clemson-forum/message/short-answer-is-because-they-are-government-employees...-36377150#36377150
Specifically to USAID - for years Mike Benz has been documenting all the nasty that USAID has been bankrolling - everything from subversives overthrowing Governments to paying off State media companies to censor and spew desired propaganda. USAID is so much more than just handing out plates of food to hungry people... Combine that with Marco Rubio's statements last night of USAID refusing to be answerable to Congress (Joni Ernst has said the same) and it becomes clear USAID has morphed from it's altruistic beginnings to a rogue Government funding stream who thinks they are free to spend as they want. It's long past the time for the whip to be cracked on USAID...
The problem that apparently you and the Democrats are having is that Trump is doing EXACTLY what he said he would on the campaign trail. Trump didn't hide any of this and those of us that voted for Trump are getting the exact policy shifts and scrutiny of Government spending for which we elected him. Thus far DOGE is going after the non-statutory spending they find wasteful for which the Executive Branch has every authority to cut. Those that don't like the non-statutory cuts - then the Democrats can try and codify some of this spending in statute - but good luck running and winning future elections on that strategy.
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TigerNet Icon [152054]
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It's not in the Constitution.
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Feb 4, 2025, 3:36 PM
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But guess what? It kinda comes with the territory of being THE global superpower, and the richest nation on the planet, as well as the World Policeman role we've been playing for the last half century. "Hey, we're gonna put bases in your country, and in exchange...NOTHING, hahaha! We already gave you money and you're still not fixed!"
Weird take. Geopolitics is complex, as you're quite aware, and if the US shuts down all foreign aid, things shift dramatically--alliances, trading partners, support, and everything else. It might look good on a balance sheet in the short term, but what happens over the next 5-10 years will be decidedly less pleasant with regards to the stature that the US currently enjoys.
But hey...we're just running a business here, right? That's what countries are, after all.
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Clemson Icon [27824]
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Did your NGO take a hit...? Poor baby.***
Feb 4, 2025, 4:06 PM
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TigerNet Icon [152054]
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I've worked with a number of NGOs as a consultant, and they're full of people
Feb 4, 2025, 5:06 PM
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far more decent than you'll ever be. You guys are really showing your hand here with the "we're not interested in auditing NGOs, let's blow the whole thing up" takes.
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Campus Hero [14075]
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40% of your posts on Tnet have something to do with transsexuals
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Feb 4, 2025, 12:13 PM
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Me thinks thou dost protest too much. What you're doing here is called projecting. Don't be too hard on yourself; the heart wants what the heart wants(or in your case the crotch).
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Legend [6784]
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Re: Found the real reason 19B is so mad about USAID cuts...
Feb 4, 2025, 3:27 PM
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Winning!
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Replies: 29
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