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jacobbogage.bsky.social
Jacob Bogage
@jacobbogage.bsky.social
20K followers 560 following 1.1K posts
White House + econ policy @washingtonpost.com. Bad golfer. jacob.bogage@washpost.com. Signal: jacobbogage.87.
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jacobbogage.bsky.social
👋🏼 Say goodbye to the penny.

The Mint stopped making one-cent coins yesterday.

Fear not — prices probably are not going to go up, even though you may never again get exact change.

One (1) cheesesteak was harmed in the making of this video.

Learn more: www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
November 13, 2025 at 2:59 PM
jacobbogage.bsky.social
When I tell you *a lot* went into this story, I mean it.

- Recordings of internal meetings
- Leaked audio from phone calls
- Internal chat logs
- Drafts of secret policy papers
- Interviews with nearly two dozen sources

Thank you for supporting journalism that does this kind of work.
November 6, 2025 at 1:09 PM
jacobbogage.bsky.social
The war inside Heritage has been described to me as the start of the post-Trump civil war within the GOP.

Sources told me it’s not really about antisemitism. And I think that’s true.

But antisemitism animated a lot of how this blew up.
November 6, 2025 at 1:05 PM
jacobbogage.bsky.social
The emphasis on family policy is very evident in Heritage’s policy work.

One draft paper we obtained proposed a “Manhattan Project” for more babies.

A subsequent draft floats giving straight married couples an extra “half vote” in federal elections for each of their children.
November 6, 2025 at 1:02 PM
jacobbogage.bsky.social
Reporting this story, I heard near universal concern from Heritage staff of discrimination against unmarried women.

Then I obtained a letter to the Heritage board from anonymous staffers that alleged the same thing — and more.

Heritage is aware that alleged behavior could create legal trouble.
November 6, 2025 at 12:57 PM
jacobbogage.bsky.social
At a meeting yesterday, staff voiced deep concern about anti-Jewish sentiment at Heritage and on the right.

That was followed by a Heritage staffer complaining about attending a Shabbat dinner.
November 6, 2025 at 12:53 PM
jacobbogage.bsky.social
We’ve set the record for the longest government shutdown in U.S. history: 3️⃣5️⃣ days.

It’s cut off SNAP, caused major airport delays and furloughed 650,000 workers.

We could finally be closing in on some sort of resolution to end it.

🎁 Learn more, gift link: wapo.st/47VeGJU
November 5, 2025 at 12:43 PM
jacobbogage.bsky.social
This is the chart that is really striking to me.

Independents blame Trump and Republicans for the shutdown by a 2-to-1 margin.

More: www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
October 30, 2025 at 6:25 PM
jacobbogage.bsky.social
👀 NEW: Americans blame Trump and GOP more than Democrats for shutdown, per new @washingtonpost.com poll.

Independents blame Trump and Republicans more than Democrats by a 2-to-1 margin, 46% to 23%.

More: www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
October 30, 2025 at 6:07 PM
jacobbogage.bsky.social
20,000 followers calls for a hard reset + timeline cleanse.

I'm Jacob Bogage. I cover the Trump administration's economic policy.

Taxes, spending, government shutdown, Social Security, tariffs, Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP — that's all my bag.

Follow for more econ, dog & college football content.
October 30, 2025 at 5:01 PM
jacobbogage.bsky.social
The Trump administration has billions of dollars to pay SNAP benefits, or food stamp, next month.

It’s refusing to use them.

Here’s why.

🎁 Learn more, gift link: wapo.st/4oK9DBH
October 29, 2025 at 12:30 PM
jacobbogage.bsky.social
👀 There’s one agency left that can push back against Trump during the government shutdown.

Trump is about to pick its new leader.

Meet the Government Accountability Office, the only folks left who can take Trump to court over spending issues.

🎁 Learn more, gift link: wapo.st/48P18Rk
October 27, 2025 at 12:39 PM
jacobbogage.bsky.social
For most of you following the government shutdown closely, you may already know Russell Vought.

If you haven’t been, here’s the introduction you need to Donald Trump’s “grim reaper.”
October 22, 2025 at 3:18 PM
jacobbogage.bsky.social
The US government isn’t funded — but the Trump administration just funded a bailout for 🇦🇷 Argentina.

It’s a geopolitical power play.

Let’s dig into it.
October 17, 2025 at 4:58 PM
jacobbogage.bsky.social
The government shutdown shows no signs of letting up.

Broke out the handy signs to run through who's getting paid right now, and why/why not.

Questions? Reply in the thread and I’ll work through them today.
October 15, 2025 at 11:26 AM
jacobbogage.bsky.social
⚡ The Trump admin's budget office is arguing that furloughed workers are not entitled to backpay after the shutdown ends.

We got the memo laying out their case. Here it is.

Read more (gift link): wapo.st/47dbJEe
Purpose You have requested my legal opinion regarding whether Congress, in an appropriations Act ending the current lapse in appropriations, would have to appropriate funds specifically for the retroactive pay of furloughed Federal employees’ salaries, or whether the 2019 amendments to the Antideficiency Act (ADA) make such action legally unnecessary. Summary The 2019 amendments to the ADA are not self-executing. Therefore, for retroactive pay to be provided to furloughed employees, the appropriations Act ending the lapse in appropriation must specifically provide an appropriation for such purpose. Discussion The Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 (Public Law 116-1) and the Further Additional Continuing Appropriations Act, 2019 (Public Law 116-5) (collectively referred to herein as “GEFTA”) were enacted during the 2019 lapse in appropriations. Public Law 116-5 was also the law that ended that lapse in appropriations. These two laws amended the Antideficiency Act to read: Each employee of the United States Government or of a District of Columbia public employer furloughed as a result of a covered lapse in appropriations shall be paid for the period of the lapse in appropriations, and each excepted employee who is required to perform work during a covered lapse in appropriations shall be paid for such work, at the employee's standard rate of pay, at the earliest date possible after the lapse in appropriations ends, regardless of scheduled pay dates, and subject to the enactment of appropriations Acts ending the lapse. 31 U.S.C. § 1341(c)(2) (emphasis added). When GEFTA was enacted, it stated that furloughed employees “shall be paid for the period of the lapse in appropriations . . . at the earliest date possible after the lapse in appropriations ends.” 31 U.S.C. § 1341(c)(2) (as added by GEFTA sec. 2). Subsequently, Public Law 116-5 further amended § 1341(c)(2) to specify that the advance promise of post-lapse payments is “subject to the enactment of appropriations Acts ending the lapse.” Excepted employees are required to work during a lapse, and therefore the government incurs binding legal obligations for their salaries which must be paid once an Act providing appropriations for those salaries is enacted. In contrast, the government does not incur obligations for furloughed employees’ salaries, because they are not performing services for the government while furloughed. “The term ‘obligation’ has a well-understood meaning in fiscal law[.]” The Anti-Deficiency Act Implications of Consent by Government Employees to Online Terms of Service Agreements Containing Open-Ended Indemnification Clauses, 36 Op. O.L.C. _, at *7 (Mar. 27, 2012). It means a “‘definite commitment that creates a legal liability of the government for the payment of goods and services ordered or received, or a legal duty on the part of the United States that could mature into a legal liability by virtue of actions on the part of the other party beyond the control of the United States.’” Id. (quoting Gov’t Accountability Office, GAO-05-734SP, A Glossary of Terms Used in the Federal Budget Process 70 (2005)); see also 2 Gov’t Accountability Office, Principles of Federal Appropriations Law 7-3 to 7-4 (3d ed. 2006). GEFTA’s amendments to the ADA did nothing to create an obligation on the part of the governme… This conclusion is not only the best interpretation of the text of GEFTA, it is also the most practical and coherent one. To conclude that GEFTA provides an automatic appropriation for the salaries of furloughed workers upon enactment of an appropriations Act ending the lapse would effectively collapse the distinction between excepted and furloughed employees. If payment pursuant to GEFTA were guaranteed, agencies could end all furloughs, because to do so would not result in the government incurring additional obligations. Yet the statute clearly maintains (and is premised upon) the distinction between furloughed and excepted employees, and we must give meaning to such distinction. Finally, the conclusion here is supported by the facts surrounding the enactment of GEFTA. When GEFTA was enacted, neither OMB nor the Congressional Budget Office scored it as mandatory spending, demonstrating that both the contemporaneous Congress and Executive Branch did not understand GEFTA to be creating an obligation. Moreover, as noted above, Public Law 116-5 not only amended § 1341(c)(2) to add the phrase, “subject to the enactment of appropriations Acts ending the lapse” but also was the very appropriations Act that ended the 2019 lapse, as contemplated by GEFTA. Yet in that Act Congress expressly included an appropriation for furloughed employees’ back-pay that stated, “Amounts made available in this Act for personnel pay, allowances, and benefits in each department and agency shall be available for obligations incurred pursuant to subsection (c) of section 1341 of title 31, United States Code.” Public Law 116-5, § 101(2) (amending the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2019 (division C of Public Law 115–245)). This shows that Congress believed that GEFTA was not self-executing, and that an appropriations Act that ended the lapse in appropriations but that was silent as to whether it provided funds for furloughed employees’ back pay would not be sufficient to provide such payments.…
October 7, 2025 at 6:35 PM
jacobbogage.bsky.social
Lightning round of what’s closed and what’s open during this government shutdown.

Got questions?

Drop them in the replies and I’ll work to answer them through the day.
October 1, 2025 at 12:08 PM
jacobbogage.bsky.social
👀 Just Now -- President Trump in the Oval Office said a government shutdown gives his administration the power to cut benefit programs, which include Social Security and Medicare.

www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
“We can do things during the shutdown that are irreversible, that are bad for them, and irreversible by them, like cutting vast numbers of people out, cutting things that they like, cutting programs that they like. And, you all know Russell Vought. He’s become very popular recently because he can trim the budget to a level that you couldn't do any other way. So they're taking a risk by having a shutdown. Because of the shutdown, we can do things medically and other ways, including benefits. We can cut large numbers of people. We don't want to do that, but we don't want fraud, waste and abuse.”
September 30, 2025 at 4:56 PM
jacobbogage.bsky.social
We're hours away from a government shutdown -- it'll be the first since 2018 and the third of Trump's two terms.

Here's our video FAQ + more info in the link.

Got other questions? I'll work through them in the replies the rest of the day.

wapo.st/4o2usrT
September 30, 2025 at 2:36 PM
jacobbogage.bsky.social
A government shutdown is days away. And @rbeggin.bsky.social and I obsessing over it.

What do you want do want to know?

Will do my best to respond throughout the day.
September 26, 2025 at 12:46 PM
jacobbogage.bsky.social
The economy is slowing down, but the wealthiest consumers are still on buying sprees — keeping prices higher than usual.

It’s a weird place for the economy to be, and the Fed is trying to cut rates to address it.

We may need to start talking about (!) stagflation.
September 19, 2025 at 12:59 PM
jacobbogage.bsky.social
Let’s dive a little deeper.

What exactly is behind this “Manhattan Project” for more babies?
September 4, 2025 at 1:38 PM
jacobbogage.bsky.social
This paper set off fireworks inside Heritage.

One person familiar called it “eugenics.” Another, “social engineering.”

In other corners, it’s part of the GOP’s long bent toward being the “family values” party.
September 3, 2025 at 2:42 PM
jacobbogage.bsky.social
The Trump admin is using a loophole to wrestle spending authority away from Congress.

And if we follow this end to its logical extreme, well, we’re a different kind of democracy than we thought.
August 29, 2025 at 6:50 PM
jacobbogage.bsky.social
Between the “One Big Beautiful Bill” + tariffs, we’ve got a fresh picture of the US’s financial health, via new data from leading nonpartisan budgeteers.

It’s not a pretty picture.

But if you stay for the whole video, you’ll get a cute photo of my dog.
August 22, 2025 at 4:50 PM