In 2024, the Veterans’ Health Care Eligibility Reform Act of 1996 accounted for nearly $120 million in government funds despite its appropriations being authorized through 1998

Summary

Vivek Ramaswamy, recently appointed to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has proposed defunding federal programs that lack current congressional authorization.

This could affect programs like veterans’ healthcare, NASA, and early education initiatives, which still receive funding despite expired authorizations.

Ramaswamy argues that cutting these programs could save billions, and he’s committed to targeting expenditures that “don’t advance the interests of American citizens.”

DOGE, co-led by Elon Musk, aims to curb government spending, with Musk estimating potential cuts of up to $2 trillion.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
    471·
    6 days ago

    Remember when if you didn’t “support our troops,” Republicans would ask you why you hated America?

    • AntiOutsideAktion@lemmy.mlEnglish
      51·
      6 days ago

      The good old days when it was republicans who were “if you’re not with us I will enjoy watching you die”

    • SwingingTheLamp@midwest.socialEnglish
      7·
      6 days ago

      At best, “support our troops” was a version of that dumbass magical thinking that, in earlier times, held that the U.S. lost in Vietnam because Americans didn’t clap for Tinkerbell, err, I mean, support the war. Mostly, it was a thought-terminating cliché.

      Yeah, as you rightly point out, it was never about the soldiers themselves.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
        93·
        6 days ago

        I learned the ugly truth of that way back in 1990 when I was still in Middle School and Bush Sr. sent Americans to die for oil in Iraq and all of his fans in my town were tying yellow ribbons around the trees in their yard to “support the troops” being sent to die pointlessly.

      • frezik@midwest.social
        6·
        6 days ago

        “Lost in Vietnam”? Oh, no, they were saying much worse than that. It used to be that if you suggested the US lost Vietnam that you were “insulting the bravery of the troops” or some shit like that. It was only after the War on Terror became unpopular that you could say the US lost Vietnam (because, you know, it did) without some jackass wingnut bringing out the faux patriotism.