Why Does Funding Government Take $1.7 Trillion and 4,000 Pages?

 The text of the $1.7 trillion spending bill was just released by the Senate and House appropriations committees this morning, so everyone's still scrambling to figure out what is in it and what is not. What we do know: Lawmakers are giving all sorts of government agencies and programs way more money than they did in 2022 and more than Biden's budget requested.

The spending bill does contain the Electoral Count Reform Act, which would correct for three procedural weaknesses that enabled former President Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election results.

• The bill would also increase the threshold that would trigger a congressional debate on objections to state election results to one-fifth of each the House and Senate, meaning that the transfer of power would not provide an occasion for frivolous challenges.

$$$$$pending

• Actual spending includes $772.5 billion for "non-defense discretionary programs" and $858 billion for defense spending
• The bill includes $770.8 million for Byrne-Justice Assistance Grants (JAG), through which the federal government funds state and local police activities.
• There's also $324 million for the COPS Hiring Program-up 32 percent over 2022 funding
• Immigration and Customs Enforcement will get $8.42 billion in 2023-$161.1 million more than in fiscal year 2022

The seemingly eternal battle over a public health order used to expel migrants continues

• Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts put a temporary hold on the termination of Title 42, set to expire on December 21
• In November, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia vacated the order, and a group of Republican-led states then appealed the decision
• Last Friday, the US Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit declined to intervene

Can the FTC block technology mergers based on future market predictions?

• The FTC is attempting to stop Facebook’s parent company Meta from acquiring Within, the company behind the virtual reality fitness app Supernatural
• Meta has already entered markets for VR hardware, social platforms, and games
• Should make its own fitness app to increase consumer choice, increase innovation, spur additional competition to attract the best employees, and yield other competitive benefits while avoiding "dampening future innovation and competitive rivalry"

Quick Hits

• A Los Angeles jury found Harvey Weinstein guilty of rape, and he will be sentenced to 20 years in prison
• The FBI paid Twitter $3.4 million to cover the costs of processing requests from the FBI
• At the Turning Point USA conference, young conservatives talk of Trump centered around his legacy rather than anticipation about his political future
• In California, a bill would decriminalize certain psychedelic drugs including psilocybin, psilocyn, dimethyltryptamine, mescaline, and ibogaine

https://reason.com/2022/12/20/why-does-funding-government-take-1-7-trillion-and-4000-pages/