Congress passed a bill for $1,900,000,000,000. The Senate will debate it this week. Republicans are complaining about the huge size, almost 2 TRILLION dollars. Their main argument is that a year ago they already passed a bill of similar size, and not all of it has been spent yet.

President Biden defended the total and asked a rhetorical question, “What would you cut?” Before anyone could answer, Speaker Pelosi almost fell out of her chair. She had crammed so much excess baggage onto a Covid relief bill all four tires are flat. “Don’t give them a chance to cut my California bailout!”

If you remember, Republicans suggested a bill of about $600,000,000,000. So, President Biden gave them free rein to point out $1,300,000,000,000 worth of pork to cut. (Fortunately, this is on a computer and not in an old-fashioned newspaper; the poor typesetter would have run out of zeros.)

Doubling the minimum wage to $15.00 is in there, but the Senate intends to cut it out. Since no one employed by Congress makes the minimum wage, it has no effect on them. Unfortunately, families across the country with teenagers will be affected. Instead of getting a “starter job,” at $7.50 an hour they will be at home with nothing to do, or worse, out on the street learning “skills” that may not lead to reputable adult employment. (See the third quote)

You may be wondering, aren’t those teenagers in school? The lucky ones are. But too many kids in grades K-12 live where the leaders are content with closed schools. One option for students in Chicago and other similar cities is to go to Mexico, sneak back across our border, then get arrested and put in the “luxury living quarters” (formerly known as cages). Those youth ARE being taught. In-person. In classrooms. In Spanish.

President Biden plans to punish Saudi Arabia for killing a journalist. Well deserved. However, the plan is to stop selling American military gear to them. That punishes us, not them. Instead, we should refuse to buy any of their oil.

Oh, wait. We reduced our supply from federal lands and from Canada so we can’t get along without their oil. This is why campaigning is so much easier than governing.

Historic quotes by Will Rogers:

“Our government is the only people that just loves to spend without being compelled to, at all. But the government is the only people that don’t have to worry where it’s coming from.” Radio, April 21, 1935

“The budget is a mythical beanbag. Congress votes mythical beans into it and then tries to reach in and pull real beans out.” DT #2047, Feb. 23, 1933

“It’s not what you pay a man [or teenager] but what he costs you that counts.” WA #119, March 22, 1925