Today’s news brings a new accounting of disrupted federal grants, another congressional vote on military action against Iran, and a European proposal for responding to extreme heat and wildfires. There are several very large numbers involved, which I will attempt to explain while maintaining a household where locating a matching pair of socks requires an independent investigation.
Meanwhile, I had to get gas this morning, which meant communing with the gods of the underworld and negotiating a reasonable rate for my soul. I am eternally grateful to live in a small town and work from home, because if I were still commuting twenty miles each way, I suspect the negotiations would have included naming rights to my next child. Apparently eternal damnation also has a premium tier, although I declined the rewards card.
We’re slowly wrapping up summer projects, which is a generous way of saying we’re working through a list that has begun adding items without consulting us. We planted red huckleberries last night, and there are still plenty of plants waiting for us to decide where they belong. I try not to make eye contact with them when I walk past, because I have already explained the situation and can’t keep holding these meetings. We will make progress, and if some of it happens in the rain, there are worse things. There’s nothing quite like the smell of rain in Oregon.
My husband is prepping the house for paint, which he greatly enjoys, although the finishing work is always his favorite. We also have a table to finish, which requires tools we don’t currently own, because every project apparently contains a smaller, more expensive project that emerges once you are emotionally committed. We make do, though, and part of the fun is figuring it out together. I’ve been drawing quite a bit, which brings a little peace to a brain that generally operates like seventeen raccoons trying to manage a nursery, a newsroom, and a hardware store from the same folding chair.
The kids are happy, and my daughter has developed an addiction to cantaloupe, which I’m choosing to consider one of our more manageable household developments. At least her demands are seasonal and can be addressed with a kitchen knife aimed at a melon. I’m also trying to put more thought into their meals this year. The quickest and easiest option has carried us through plenty of days, and there’s no shame in that, but I would like to expand the rotation. The grocery bill has reviewed my proposal and suggested that the children consider photosynthesis.
Then there is the laundry, which I am increasingly certain has learned to reproduce. Every day, somebody announces that they’re out of some essential clothing item, and every day I ask how that’s possible when I put those exact things away approximately twenty minutes ago. Nobody can explain it, and the hamper has declined to release its records.
The laundry knows I have ADHD, it knows my organizational capacity is occupied elsewhere, and it’s decided this is its moment. I leave the room to get hangers and return to find that the towels have annexed a chair. Somewhere underneath them is a shirt I’ve washed three times without anyone wearing it, which I can only assume is supervising. Well, I’m onto you, laundry, and as soon as I remember why I walked into this room, there will be consequences. In the meantime, let’s get to the news.
According to reporting from the Associated Press, a tracker from States United Democracy Center and Grant Witness estimates that up to $177 billion in federal grants have been cut or frozen since Trump began his second term, affecting every state and Washington, D.C. Health, nutrition, environmental programs, and disaster relief are among the affected areas. The figure is cumulative and includes frozen funding, rather than representing $177 billion permanently eliminated today. By this point in the reporting, my browser has forty tabs open and I have begun referring to my caffeine as essential infrastructure. It has submitted a request for additional funding, which is awaiting review by the grocery bill.
Meanwhile, the House voted Tuesday, 220–204, for a third attempt to end military action against Iran without congressional authorization, with seven Republicans joining Democrats. The vote hasn’t ended the conflict. Supporters sought congressional oversight, while opponents defended continued operations against Iran, according to the Associated Press.
Separately, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the conflict had cost the Defense Department more than $38 billion as of August 1, with further monthly costs potentially reaching $3 billion depending on the intensity of operations, according to AP’s reporting on the assessment. The war-cost estimate and the grant total measure different things over different periods, so they can’t be directly subtracted from one another.
I realize this requires keeping several enormous numbers and their respective qualifications in our heads simultaneously, which is asking a lot from someone who came into this day struggling to locate everyone’s pants. Nevertheless, the distinctions matter, so I’ve mentally assigned each figure its own laundry basket and asked them very politely not to reproduce.
Over in Europe, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has proposed a European Heatwave Plan and a future firefighting fleet following a summer of extreme heat and wildfires. The EU already operates a small fleet and coordinates resources across member states. The announcement concerns proposed additional capacity, rather than a completed expansion, according to the Associated Press.
I’m maintaining a firm distinction between announcing a project and completing it, because otherwise I would have to describe our table as finished and the plants waiting in their nursery pots as an established botanical garden. The ribbon-cutting would be lovely, but somebody would still have to locate a shovel.
Those are the developments I’m following today, with particular attention to the distinctions between estimated costs and actual spending, frozen funding and permanent cuts, and proposed measures and completed work. Keeping those categories straight requires considerably more concentration than my household seems prepared to authorize.
At home, we’re preparing for the rain, trying to make the grocery budget stretch, finding places for the huckleberries, and working out how to finish a table with the tools we have. There is pleasure in solving those problems, especially together, even when progress is slower than the very ambitious schedule I apparently approved without reading.
I’ll keep drawing, planting, feeding the children, and investigating whatever arrangement the laundry has made with the forces of darkness. For now, the kids are happy, the huckleberries are in the ground, and somewhere in this house there is a clean shirt with a management position.
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Excellent reporting!!
Oh, my! I do love your reporting from the home front, Shanley. Keep it up! And tie that shirt to a hanger by its arms--I mean, sleeves....