Bobby Kogan
@bbkogan.bsky.social
Senior Director of Federal Budget Policy for the Center for American Progress doing budget, tax, and econ.
Formerly: Biden OMB, Biden Transition Team, Senate Budget Committee (Murray and Sanders).
CBO and OMB’s biggest fan! Personal account.
Formerly: Biden OMB, Biden Transition Team, Senate Budget Committee (Murray and Sanders).
CBO and OMB’s biggest fan! Personal account.
Pinned
Bobby Kogan
@bbkogan.bsky.social
· Nov 11
Two starter packs from me!
First, for the very few of you who care about it, a budget and tax starter pack!
Please let me know if you should be on this and I missed you!
go.bsky.app/N6Nukd7
First, for the very few of you who care about it, a budget and tax starter pack!
Please let me know if you should be on this and I missed you!
go.bsky.app/N6Nukd7
As the former Chief Mathematician for the Senate Budget Committee and the head of numbers on the political side at OMB,,,, this is not how it works
FOX: If you cut something by 100%, the cost goes down to 0. If you cut it by 600%, the drug companies are actually paying you
LUTNICK: What he's saying is if a drug was $100 and you bring it down to $13, it's down 7 times
F: Not a 600% cut
L: But it's 700% higher price before. It's down 700% now
LUTNICK: What he's saying is if a drug was $100 and you bring it down to $13, it's down 7 times
F: Not a 600% cut
L: But it's 700% higher price before. It's down 700% now
December 18, 2025 at 9:11 PM
As the former Chief Mathematician for the Senate Budget Committee and the head of numbers on the political side at OMB,,,, this is not how it works
Reposted by Bobby Kogan
LUHAN: Is the FCC an independent agency?
CARR: I think th---
L: Yes or no
C: There's a test for this in the la---
L: It's yes or no, Brendan! On your website, it simply says, man, 'the FCC is independent.' This isn't a trick question
C: The FCC is not
L: So is your website lying?
C: Possibly
CARR: I think th---
L: Yes or no
C: There's a test for this in the la---
L: It's yes or no, Brendan! On your website, it simply says, man, 'the FCC is independent.' This isn't a trick question
C: The FCC is not
L: So is your website lying?
C: Possibly
December 17, 2025 at 4:54 PM
LUHAN: Is the FCC an independent agency?
CARR: I think th---
L: Yes or no
C: There's a test for this in the la---
L: It's yes or no, Brendan! On your website, it simply says, man, 'the FCC is independent.' This isn't a trick question
C: The FCC is not
L: So is your website lying?
C: Possibly
CARR: I think th---
L: Yes or no
C: There's a test for this in the la---
L: It's yes or no, Brendan! On your website, it simply says, man, 'the FCC is independent.' This isn't a trick question
C: The FCC is not
L: So is your website lying?
C: Possibly
Reposted by Bobby Kogan
We blockade countries to defend against drugs they are not sending to us while pardoning drug lords. We declare drugs and their precursors WMD while slashing funds to fight international drug smuggling. See a pattern?
Earlier in the year, Trump unilaterally instituted a 9% cut to international narcotics control and law enforcement.
DJT just signed an EO designating illicit fentanyl and its core precursor chemicals as Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD).
December 17, 2025 at 1:44 PM
We blockade countries to defend against drugs they are not sending to us while pardoning drug lords. We declare drugs and their precursors WMD while slashing funds to fight international drug smuggling. See a pattern?
Earlier in the year, Trump unilaterally instituted a 9% cut to international narcotics control and law enforcement.
DJT just signed an EO designating illicit fentanyl and its core precursor chemicals as Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD).
December 17, 2025 at 1:31 PM
Earlier in the year, Trump unilaterally instituted a 9% cut to international narcotics control and law enforcement.
Absolutely wild graph from @byheatherlong.bsky.social on the bad site
December 16, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Absolutely wild graph from @byheatherlong.bsky.social on the bad site
Reposted by Bobby Kogan
Armed ICE agents trapped US citizens in a restaurant and demanded their papers. Federal agents walked into East African restaurants in Cedar-Riverside, MN. They closed and blocked the doors. Then they demanded to see everyone’s papers. Every person present was a US citizen.
Federal agents use chemical irritant on crowd in Somali neighborhood of Minneapolis amid Trump crackdown
Federal agents have used chemical irritant to disperse a crowd in a heavily Somali neighborhood in Minneapolis. This happened Tuesday during a identification checks amid the Trump administration's cra...
www.mprnews.org
December 14, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Armed ICE agents trapped US citizens in a restaurant and demanded their papers. Federal agents walked into East African restaurants in Cedar-Riverside, MN. They closed and blocked the doors. Then they demanded to see everyone’s papers. Every person present was a US citizen.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas is about learning to love people who look different from you and who were raised with different customs.
It’s about realizing that deep down we’re all the same with the same core desires and values, and that we all deserve to be loved and included.
It’s about realizing that deep down we’re all the same with the same core desires and values, and that we all deserve to be loved and included.
December 13, 2025 at 3:08 PM
How the Grinch Stole Christmas is about learning to love people who look different from you and who were raised with different customs.
It’s about realizing that deep down we’re all the same with the same core desires and values, and that we all deserve to be loved and included.
It’s about realizing that deep down we’re all the same with the same core desires and values, and that we all deserve to be loved and included.
Only like 1% of the country has health insurance that isn’t directly provided by or at least subsidized by the government.
Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., says there won’t be any ACA funding extension unless Democrats agree to beef up Hyde/abortion language tied to the money. “We will not fund abortion with taxpayer money,” he says. “And if that becomes the issue for them, then we'll go to the mat on it.”
December 11, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Only like 1% of the country has health insurance that isn’t directly provided by or at least subsidized by the government.
Trump is helping his billionaire buddies cheat on their taxes
Exclusive: Tax prosecutions plunge as Trump shifts crime-fighting efforts
Federal tax prosecutions fell to their lowest level in decades this year, declining more than 27% from the year before as the Trump administration cut the ranks of attorneys and agents who pursue thos...
www.reuters.com
December 10, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Trump is helping his billionaire buddies cheat on their taxes
Reposted by Bobby Kogan
“She has marks on her neck and wrist from where agents restrained her. Agents cut off her wedding ring and held her in leg shackles at Whipple Federal Building for about five hours.”
Her crime: witnessing ICE, from a distance.
Her crime: witnessing ICE, from a distance.
Federal agents arrest citizen observer watching ICE detain neighbors on her north Minneapolis block
Susan Tincher, a 55-year-old American citizen, appears to be the first observer arrested by federal immigration enforcement officers since the agency launched an immigration surge in the Twin Cities l...
www.mprnews.org
December 9, 2025 at 10:49 PM
“She has marks on her neck and wrist from where agents restrained her. Agents cut off her wedding ring and held her in leg shackles at Whipple Federal Building for about five hours.”
Her crime: witnessing ICE, from a distance.
Her crime: witnessing ICE, from a distance.
There’s literally only one thing Republicans can ever agree on about health care: that they should cut assistance for poor people. Everything else, the party is completely split on.
Remember, just a few months ago, they enacted the largest cuts to Medicaid in history.
Remember, just a few months ago, they enacted the largest cuts to Medicaid in history.
Status update on House Republicans and a health care plan, after this morning’s conference meeting:
“The consensus is we need to come up with something,” Rep. Ralph Norman says.
“The consensus is we need to come up with something,” Rep. Ralph Norman says.
December 10, 2025 at 3:38 PM
There’s literally only one thing Republicans can ever agree on about health care: that they should cut assistance for poor people. Everything else, the party is completely split on.
Remember, just a few months ago, they enacted the largest cuts to Medicaid in history.
Remember, just a few months ago, they enacted the largest cuts to Medicaid in history.
Extremely helpful and thoughtful analysis on the Senate GOP alternative to enhanced premium tax credits.
Oh, it's much, MUCH worse than that (I know you know this, but here's a detailed analysis for those who want more info)
acasignups.net/25/12/08/upd...
acasignups.net/25/12/08/upd...
UPDATED: Senate Republicans come up with one big pile of Crapo.
(sigh) Via Peter Sullivan & Stef Kight of Axios: Scoop: Senate GOP chairs circulate health plan as clock ticks on ACA subsidies Two key Senate Republican chairmen are circulating the outline of a heal...
acasignups.net
December 9, 2025 at 9:44 PM
Extremely helpful and thoughtful analysis on the Senate GOP alternative to enhanced premium tax credits.
The GOP plan is to let premiums massively spike for 21 million Americans.
And then it gives them $1k per year ONLY IF they switch to bronze plans — which it also raises the cost of.
Awful awful plan that fucks over sick people.
And then it gives them $1k per year ONLY IF they switch to bronze plans — which it also raises the cost of.
Awful awful plan that fucks over sick people.
December 9, 2025 at 8:21 PM
The GOP plan is to let premiums massively spike for 21 million Americans.
And then it gives them $1k per year ONLY IF they switch to bronze plans — which it also raises the cost of.
Awful awful plan that fucks over sick people.
And then it gives them $1k per year ONLY IF they switch to bronze plans — which it also raises the cost of.
Awful awful plan that fucks over sick people.
Reposted by Bobby Kogan
They're using the confinement box, one of the most horrific methods of CIA torture in the post-9/11 black sites, against migrants now. This is the direct result of the lack of consequences for the architects of the torture program. Either there will be criminal penalties for this or it will expand.
Torture Techniques from CIA Black Sites Were Used at Alligator Alcatraz
Amnesty International, interviewing migrant detainees, identifies use of the confinement box. There can be no denying it is a torture prison
www.forever-wars.com
December 8, 2025 at 9:40 PM
They're using the confinement box, one of the most horrific methods of CIA torture in the post-9/11 black sites, against migrants now. This is the direct result of the lack of consequences for the architects of the torture program. Either there will be criminal penalties for this or it will expand.
My buddy Ben is in Greece where there are apparently tons of stray cats that like to pose at scenic overlooks
December 9, 2025 at 2:58 PM
My buddy Ben is in Greece where there are apparently tons of stray cats that like to pose at scenic overlooks
If you get your insurance through your job, it’s subsidized by the govt through ESI.
There’s no income cap, it helps the rich the most, and ~1/10 workers in those plans pays no premium.
But when the ACA subsidies help the middle class and provide some zero-subsidy plans? GOP can’t accept that.
There’s no income cap, it helps the rich the most, and ~1/10 workers in those plans pays no premium.
But when the ACA subsidies help the middle class and provide some zero-subsidy plans? GOP can’t accept that.
December 8, 2025 at 2:25 PM
If you get your insurance through your job, it’s subsidized by the govt through ESI.
There’s no income cap, it helps the rich the most, and ~1/10 workers in those plans pays no premium.
But when the ACA subsidies help the middle class and provide some zero-subsidy plans? GOP can’t accept that.
There’s no income cap, it helps the rich the most, and ~1/10 workers in those plans pays no premium.
But when the ACA subsidies help the middle class and provide some zero-subsidy plans? GOP can’t accept that.
Okay, another I just came across
December 5, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Okay, another I just came across
Reposted by Bobby Kogan
After becoming a congressional leader, a politician’s stock portfolio beats out those of peers by 47 (!!!) percentage points a year through trades timed around bills and firms that later get government contracts
www.nber.org/papers/w34524
via @florianederer.bsky.social
www.nber.org/papers/w34524
via @florianederer.bsky.social
December 3, 2025 at 1:42 AM
After becoming a congressional leader, a politician’s stock portfolio beats out those of peers by 47 (!!!) percentage points a year through trades timed around bills and firms that later get government contracts
www.nber.org/papers/w34524
via @florianederer.bsky.social
www.nber.org/papers/w34524
via @florianederer.bsky.social
Reposted by Bobby Kogan
Last week: In response to WaPo’s story on the Sept. 2 boat strikes, the Pentagon says “This entire narrative is completely false.”
Today: The White House confirms that a 2nd strike happened and that “Secretary Hegseth authorized Admiral Bradley to conduct these kinetic strikes”
Today: The White House confirms that a 2nd strike happened and that “Secretary Hegseth authorized Admiral Bradley to conduct these kinetic strikes”
December 1, 2025 at 8:25 PM
Last week: In response to WaPo’s story on the Sept. 2 boat strikes, the Pentagon says “This entire narrative is completely false.”
Today: The White House confirms that a 2nd strike happened and that “Secretary Hegseth authorized Admiral Bradley to conduct these kinetic strikes”
Today: The White House confirms that a 2nd strike happened and that “Secretary Hegseth authorized Admiral Bradley to conduct these kinetic strikes”
Elon and DOGE are responsible for ending billions of actually effective foreign assistance.
This has already killed hundred of thousands of people and will kill millions over time.
This has already killed hundred of thousands of people and will kill millions over time.
It’s in fact extremely easy to give away money in a way that helps people.
Stuff like this is just what you say when you don’t actually want to help others.
Stuff like this is just what you say when you don’t actually want to help others.
December 1, 2025 at 4:34 PM
Elon and DOGE are responsible for ending billions of actually effective foreign assistance.
This has already killed hundred of thousands of people and will kill millions over time.
This has already killed hundred of thousands of people and will kill millions over time.
It’s in fact extremely easy to give away money in a way that helps people.
Stuff like this is just what you say when you don’t actually want to help others.
Stuff like this is just what you say when you don’t actually want to help others.
December 1, 2025 at 4:32 PM
It’s in fact extremely easy to give away money in a way that helps people.
Stuff like this is just what you say when you don’t actually want to help others.
Stuff like this is just what you say when you don’t actually want to help others.
Reposted by Bobby Kogan
