This paragraph from the Investor’s Business Daily article on the Obama administration’s remarkable inability to get states to sign off on state Obamacare exchanges caught my eye, particularly the part I bolded:

In the states with federally run exchanges, HHS will be tasked with hiring the people to run the exchanges, ensuring that insurance plans applying to be on the exchange are compliant with ObamaCare regulations, and setting up and running the websites for the exchanges. Congress has not yet appropriated the money to let HHS hire exchange employees.

…And why, exactly, should Congress appropriate more money for that? I’m sure that HHS can cut some discretionary income somewhere in order to handle the situation.  Certainly the House of Representatives shouldn’t just give HHS a blank check, or anything so fiscally irresponsible; in fact, future House budget bills should deliberately not incorporate extra projected HHS exchange expenses at all.  After all, HHS can take it out of the billion per year that they’ve already reserved out for exchange-based expenditures; the Department may have to tighten its belt a little, but this is the Great Recession, remember?  And if the Senate doesn’t like any of this… well.  They can put in any additional appropriations into their own budget, pass that and Congress can sort it all out in committee.

(pause)

Oh.  Right.  Senate Democrats don’t believe in budgets anymore.  To quote somebody or other: I assure you, they exist.  And – as far as I know – the makeshifts to them that we’ve been using up to this point don’t take this increased cost of Obamacare into consideration.

…Oops?

Moe Lane (crosspost)