No Bundling
Sometimes, you can combine otherwise distinct items into a single transaction and save money. It’s called “bundling”–for example, if I have my auto insurance and my home insurance with the same company, they give me a multi-policy discount because I bundled my coverage together. Similarly, if I have my telephone and internet both from the same provider, I get a discount over what the two would cost from separate vendors…another “bundle” to save money.
While bundling may be a good cost-saving idea when talking about insurance or communications…it doesn’t work at the federal government level.
Oh, sure…they love bundling separate things together…but it never saves us money—it only costs more.
Witness the current conversation about additional U.S. taxpayer money going to Ukraine and to Israel. A growing number are skeptical about more money going to Ukraine, while there appears to be broad support for aid to Israel. Standing alone, the aid to Israel might pass, but the aid to Ukraine might fail.
That’s where the “bundling” comes in…Democrats in the Senate and the White House are keen on bundling the two issues into a single piece of legislation to ram through a less popular item on the coattails of a more popular item. It’s done all the time in D.C. — which is one reason why we are in this swampy financial mess.
If you vote against the bill because you don’t like the aid to Ukraine, then you’ll be criticized as opposing Israel. If you vote for the bill to help Israel, you’ll be criticized for issuing a blank check to Ukraine.
Nuance and subtlety are long gone in political discourse.
Reports are that last night’s presidential address to the nation was actually written as a “funding for Ukraine” speech before the Hamas terror attack on Israel even took place. But under the idea of “never let a crisis go to waste,” the Administration saw an opportunity, added some paragraphs about Israel and voila…a major bundled package was born.
Each has merit and should be able to stand on its own for a vote, up or down.
That is, if the House can ever get back to having votes on issues besides who won’t be Speaker.
