David Ditch
@DavidADitch
Policy analyst covering the federal fisc with @epicforamerica; opinions are mine. Fan of struggling causes (limited government & Buffalo Bills).
-Limiting the *growth* of Medicaid spending to 3% per year is not a cut. -Limiting gimmicks that massively benefit states and medical providers is not a benefit cut. -Addressing improper payments is not a benefit cut. Vital for hesitant members to understand these facts.
Van Drew said Johnson agreed to mods on the floor not to cut Medicaid for "qualified, legal recipients." --Johnson then repeated publicly GOP doesn't want to cut benefits --do want work req's, more eligibility checks, fight "waste, fraud and abuse" Lot depends on definitions
New piece from me on why criticisms of Medicaid reform are off-base. The changes in OBBB genuinely tackle waste, fraud, and abuse, and merely slow the program’s growth.
Five myths about Medicaid reform in Trump’s ‘One Big Beautiful Bill Act’ tinyurl.com/35v2r4x9
Coastal CA is covered in parasitic NGOs, which is why charitable efforts must be very careful about how they distribute funds. (Also why the federal govt should give CA fewer handouts)
Just shocking and infuriating. Celebrities and others raised almost $100 million for the LA fires. It appears that almost none of it has gone to the actual victims. Instead it is being distributed to a bunch of completely unrelated non-profits.
Good thread on this absolute lunacy.
The district court in Massachusetts enjoined Congress from cutting funding for Planned Parenthood. Abandoning it's earlier Bill of Attainder theory, the Court finds that Congress passing a law defunding PP violates their First Amendment and Equal Protection rights. I'm skeptical!
I plugged the estimate for OBBB into the latest baseline. In 2034, spending will be 23.8% of GDP and revenue will be 17.1%. For comparison, from 1969-2019 we averaged spending of 20.3% and revenue of 17.4%. Deficits are still overwhelmingly driven by elevated spending!
Estimated Budgetary Effects of Public Law 119-21, to Provide for Reconciliation Pursuant to Title II of H. Con. Res. 14, Relative to CBO’s January 2025 Baseline cbo.gov/publication/61…
In 2024, there were fewer than 2 workers to support every Medicaid recipient.
In my guest post for the @ConcordC blog, I explain why fiscal hawks should support the spending cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill. Only by championing these marginal reforms will we see more of what's actually needed in the future.
My favorite is the conspiracy theory that there's massive auto industry lobbying against rail and transit, when there's essentially zero privately funded lobbying against *any* subsidies or spending whatsoever.
The urban planner world is awash with people who believe in a conspiracy theory wherein a convoluted system of laws pushed by the auto industry has made us car dependent while also impeding the adoption of mass transit. It never occurs to them that many people just prefer cars.
You can agree or disagree with the rural hospital fund as a matter of policy. What you can't do is claim that rural hospitals are put in peril by the OBBB.
Rural hospitals receive only 1.3% of Medicaid spending and were largely exempt from cuts to the program in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. But thanks to a new $50 billion grant program, these facilities might almost double their annual Medicaid revenues. Read more from @CPopeHC:
Apparently Buttigieg was locked in on giving out $80B in DEI grants but didn’t see it as within his “interest” as Transportation Secretary to get more planes in the sky. Incredible stuff.
Pete Buttigieg’s DOT spent $80 billion on DEI grants, delayed air-traffic-control upgrades: records, industry insiders trib.al/IxLKwWg
The House budget resolution’s reconciliation framework was a gigantic step in the right direction, forcing members to think about trade-offs and resulting in savings. Still a long ways to go.
We may need more zero sum thinking (about the budget). Make trade-offs again.
Inside beltway thinking--first line in recent Urban Institute report: SNAP is "the most effective defense against hunger in the country." What about markets, which miraculously distribute $2 trillion in food each year to 1 million food stores and restaurants across our vast land?
Thread: Progressives are standing with Sesame Street. For a long time, Sesame Street has lived on in the imaginations of people who think that it is still a little non-profit that generates kids educational programming. Nothing could be further from the truth. Let's see.
"1,270 firings in 1987: 8% of the State Department direct-hire staff of 15,800." "1,353 firings in 2025: 5% of the State Department's total direct-hire staff of 27,230" open.substack.com/pub/sharylattk…
This is how a transit agency gets labor costs of ~$200k per employee. That’s approaching member of Congress territory.
San Francisco BART wants to increase sales taxes so they can continue to give employees an extra holiday on their birthdays. Does your company give you a paid holiday on your birthday?
Dr. Ed Feulner was a visionary of the conservative movement - having helped shape and found two of our pillar institutions: The Heritage Foundation and the Republican Study Committee. It has been an honor of mine to have been at least a small part of both institutions, and of…
The Heritage Foundation released the following statement today from Heritage President Dr. Kevin Roberts and Board of Trustees Chairman Barb Van Andel-Gaby, lauding the legacy and mourning the loss of Heritage Founder Edwin J. Feulner: It is with great sorrow that we announce…