The current 2025 budget battles do not seem to address the $2 Trillion dollars being spent each year on a non-existent emergency. Where is this money going?

“The problem is not that people are taxed too little, the problem is that government spends too much.” Ronald Reagan   The Great 2025 Budget Battle The first half of the year 2025 has been consumed with revelations of alleged waste and fraud in federal programs (discretionary, mandatory and supplemental). Arguments over simple majority votes for budgetary items or filibuster proof votes for discretionary expenses seem all the rage in DC. One argument, however, keeps rearing its head and will not disappear: Why are we STILL including pandemic emergency funds in the current budget? We spent HOW MUCH? In 2019 (the final full year before the pandemic) the federal government spent $4.5 Trillion. A year later that number had jumped to $6.6 Trillion due to emergency spending to treat and assist the citizenry. The 2020 budget represented a 25% increase in federal spending. But it was a onetime expense once the disease had run its course. Right? Uh…No. The pandemic ended when?! The CDC declared an end to the pandemic emergency on May 11, 2023. According to the declaration, the collection of data would continue but emergency response activities would shut down. It would seem that pandemic related emergency spending would similarly be brought to a halt. Pandemic funding is still being doled out Common sense would indicate that federal spending be returned to pre-pandemic levels. However, the 2023 and 2024 budgets were $6.1 Trillion and $6.8 Trillion respectively. The current 2025 budget battles do not seem to address the $2 Trillion dollars being spent each year on a non-existent emergency. Where is this money going? Here are two major mandatory programs that have seen explosive growth post pandemic: * Medicaid $200 Billion yearly increase post 2019 * Social Security $400 Billion yearly increase post 2019 That is $600 Billion beyond 2019 expenses for just two programs. Obviously there are numerous others but it is beyond the limited scope available here to uncover. Suffice to say that the budget hawks have a VERY valid argument when advocating for a return to 2019 spending levels. To gain some insight as to how easily money can be “distributed/buried” across the federal government, the chart linked here is eye opening. The eternal roof repair or one and done? Hurricanes are an annual weather related emergency in Florida. It’s not uncommon for roof damage from a major storm to require complete replacement. A home owner in need of roof replacement typically faces a $15,000 bill. Whether it is funded by insurance, bank loan or personal cash, one thing is for certain: The roof replacement cost does NOT become part of the home owner’s ongoing annual budget. Pandemic costs, on the other hand, seem to have found permanent residence in the national budget. What should have been one-time emergency expense has become part of Ronald Reagan’s observation about the spending problem that defines Washington DC. Sometimes “Only in America” is not complimentary. COS Proposes a Mechanism for Brakes on Perpetual Emergency Spending The August 2023 Simulated Article V Convention adopted a proposed fiscal{{https://content.conventionofstates.com/cosaction-prod/public/content/images/98270/98270_original.jpg?}} amendment to the US Constitution (note the two passages with emphasis added by author): “Fiscal Restraints Proposal 1: Section 1. Congress shall adopt a preliminary fiscal year budget no later than the first Monday in May for the following fiscal year and submit said budget to the President for consideration. Federal expenditures for each fiscal year shall not exceed average annual revenue collected in the prior three fiscal years. Total expenditures shall include all expenditures of the United States, including those for payment of interest on debt. Total revenue shall include all revenue of the United States except that derived from borrowing. Any surplus of revenue over expenditures in any fiscal year shall be applied to outstanding federal debt. Section 2. Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses of Congress by roll call vote deem it necessary, may exceed the spending limit in section one for one fiscal year by borrowing as provided for in the second clause of the eighth section of Article One of this Constitution. Section 3. Taxes levied under the eighth section of Article One of this Constitution shall not be raised to increase the revenue of the United States unless two-thirds of both Houses of Congress by roll call vote concur. Section 4. Nothing in this amendment shall be construed to allow for an increase in taxes without the express approval of Congress. Section 5: This amendment will become effective three years after ratification.” An Article V Convention of States resolution to pass pass the above or similar fiscal amendment would have the effect of stopping eternal emergency spending in its tracks. If you are concerned about funding a long extinct emergency please consider two things: * PLEASE contact your congressional representative and senators and ask them (politely) to rescind all remaining pandemic-related spending across all government programs. * Consider signing the Convention of States (COS) Article V petition. COS is the only non-governmental entity seriously advancing the Founding Fathers ultimate protection against federal tyranny: Article V. #

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