{"id":299538,"date":"2019-02-12T16:15:00","date_gmt":"2019-02-12T21:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/?p=299538"},"modified":"2019-02-13T15:47:51","modified_gmt":"2019-02-13T20:47:51","slug":"considering-the-presidents-next-move-on-the-wall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2019\/02\/12\/considering-the-presidents-next-move-on-the-wall\/","title":{"rendered":"Considering the President\u2019s Next Move on the Wall"},"content":{"rendered":"

RUSH: Trump at his rally in El Paso last night. Poor Beto O\u2019Rourke looked like a jack-in-the-box. He looked out of place. He looked unprofessional. It looked like speaking on stage did not appear to be Robert\u2019s forte. He had a crowd of hundreds.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It was kind of funny. They had this giant, big screen behind O\u2019Rourke, and on that big screen the O\u2019Rourke audience could see the Trump rally and could see Trump being introduced. There were eight or 10,000 people in that arena and thousands and thousands and thousands of more outside the arena. So that partially sets the table.<\/p>\n

Greetings. Great to have you, Rush Limbaugh here at 800-282-2882. All right.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s look at the compromise deal regarding the budget and the border wall, border protection, border security that has been announced. Now, a little history here. Because the big news, the Drive-Bys are going nuts here over the fact that congressional negotiators have come up with a deal to fund the Department of Homeland Security in principal. The president is said at this moment to be undecided. He doesn\u2019t know yet how he is going to react, according to the Drive-By Media.<\/p>\n

Now, let\u2019s go back to December 19th when this all began. I was complaining about the media talking about the great compromise bill they wanted Trump to sign. And I meant, and I pointed out back then, that if Trump signed it he would get even less than nothing because originally the Department of Homeland Security funding included $1.6 billion for the wall that did not appear in the compromise bill that Trump was to sign. It got stripped out.<\/p>\n

So that\u2019s why I characterized this as Trump getting less than nothing in the new deal. And the media was calling this the great compromise and this was gonna go forward and they were reporting that Trump was getting ready to sign it. And, of course, I pointed out that that\u2019s crazy, that\u2019d be crazy to sign this thing. Trump\u2019s getting less than nothing. He had $1.6 billion, and it\u2019s been removed. Well, at that point I got a text message assuring me, “Don\u2019t worry. The media reports that Trump\u2019s gonna sign this thing are wrong. He\u2019s not gonna sign it,” and so forth.<\/p>\n

So I announced the president had gotten a message to me that he\u2019s not gonna sign it. That then became the president was gonna sign it until I weighed in and told him not to. And even now let\u2019s go to audio sound bite number 1 with this new deal. Here are the Drive-Bys last night and this morning wondering what\u2019s gonna happen now.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

KIRSTEN POWERS: Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter freaked out and he sort of caved to that. His initial impulse probably was right.<\/p>\n

CHRIS MATTHEWS: Rush Limbaugh and the rest of them, they were all pushing for the wall or else you\u2019re a weakling.<\/p>\n

JOY BEHAR: Last time this happened, he was listening to President Limbaugh.<\/p>\n

JOE SCARBOROUGH: He listened to Rush Limbaugh and he lost like six, seven, eight points in his approval rating. And the question is will he be that stupid politically again to do it?<\/p>\n

MAX BOOT: I just don\u2019t see how he\u2019s going to get a better deal. But I think we still have to wait for President Limbaugh to weigh in.<\/p>\n

RUSH: That was Joe Scarborough here who said that President Trump lost six, seven, eight points in his approval rating. I beg to differ. President Trump\u2019s approval rating\u2019s at 52. It was at 43 at the time of the shutdown. The president\u2019s approval numbers have skyrocketed on the basis of this shutdown. Republicans benefit from these things but you\u2019ll never convince Republicans in Washington that that\u2019s the case, but they do. Historically they\u2019ve never been hurt politically, not dramatically, not even a smidgen by these shutdowns. Only in media reporting do Republicans get hurt with shutdowns.<\/p>\n

How does Trump approval get up to 52% if the shutdown hurt him? Somebody explain this to me, even with the State of the Union in there? How does this happen? He didn\u2019t get hurt by shutting down the government. Besides, that government shutdown served to demonstrate, once again, because the media covered it all day every day, and in the process explained to a lot of Americans what was at stake. Americans who didn\u2019t know what was at stake because the media doesn\u2019t tell them the Republican side of things or President Trump\u2019s side of things.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

So shutting down the government was actually a political benefit for the president, which any time the president can do anything that helps the American people learn things they don\u2019t know because of what media does not tell him, it\u2019s a win-win. And so the shutdown, I don\u2019t know how anybody can argue that it hurt the president when he\u2019s sitting there today at 52% approval.<\/p>\n

Well, let\u2019s get to the details of the compromise legislation. This new offer from the Democrats — they\u2019ve come off of zero. They\u2019re now offering money for a wall, $1.375 billion. And I have to point out that that is still less than the original money agreed to by the appropriations committee. This $1.6 billion that was on the table before December 19th that then got pulled out in the compromise between House and Senate. And the continuing resolution that Trump had in front of him had no money in it, nothing, whereas the Senate side had authorized $1.6 billion that got pulled out in the compromise so that\u2019s why I said he\u2019s getting less than nothing.<\/p>\n

Well, $1.375 billion is back in, not the $5.7 billion he said he wants. This will pay for 55 miles of the 64-mile expansion that the president wants. So we go from a bill that had no money in it for the wall — well, that originally had $1.6 billion in it, but that was taken out in compromise — to the shutdown, and now a deal where the Democrats have agreed to put $1.375 billion back in. That will help the president, allow the president to build 55 miles of the 64-mile wall expansion that he has sought.<\/p>\n

Now, bear in mind the president was pushing for $5.7 billion for additional walls because Border Patrol experts said they were desperately needed. The $5.7 billion wasn\u2019t just pulled out of the air. It was money the president was recommended by Border Patrol experts, what they needed to do their work. Now, another part of this deal is that the Democrats have graciously agreed to move off their insistence that the number of detention beds for illegal-alien criminals be capped at 16,500.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

They seriously wanted to limit the number of criminal illegals who could be detained, and once that limit had been reached — which we have reached it and gone beyond — they\u2019d just be released “into the wild,” so to speak. Now, in this compromise deal, our gracious Democrats are allowing funding for 40,520 beds — in other words, the ability to sleep or detain 40,520 criminal illegal aliens. That is the number of beds funded in the last budget under Obama.<\/p>\n

Trump wanted it increased to 52,000 because of his efforts to round up more illegal alien criminals. So you\u2019ve got movement here. You had zero. Well, you had $1.6 billion authorized. Then it was taken out, so you had zero. So you could say less than nothing. Then we got the shutdown. The shutdown goes on. Trump\u2019s approval numbers skyrocket from 43 to 52%<\/a>.<\/p>\n

State of the Union\u2019s in there. I maintain there were benefits of the shutdown that the Drive-Bys and all of these talking heads who say the same things… No matter who\u2019s speaking, they say the same words, same thing. They will never agree that Trump benefited from this, but the numbers don\u2019t lie. Everything else going on in the country, jobs-wise, economics-wise, all explains this.<\/p>\n

By the way, I\u2019m gonna tell you something else. Let me hopscotch back here for just a second to this John Dowd story<\/a>. If, in fact, this is true — and if, in fact, Mueller does not issue a report. If he doesn\u2019t, what is that gonna do to Trump\u2019s approval number? It\u2019s going to skyrocket! Even if Mueller issues a report and in that report there\u2019s no collusion with Russia — which, remember, 42% of the American people have been misled by the left wing of the Democrat Party and the Drive-By Media into thinking that actual votes were tampered with and the outcome of the elections were affected by Russian collusion and meddling.<\/p>\n

There was none!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

If Dowd is right — and Dowd has been Trump\u2019s lawyer from the get-go on this. If Dowd is right that there\u2019s no report and certainly no evidence collusion (and the Senate Intelligence Committee has said the same thing now), what\u2019s that gonna do to Trump\u2019s approval numbers? So this has to be factored in as well, I think, if you\u2019re talking about the politics of all this.\u00a0So we start with $1.6 billion gets taken out. We got zero. We got a shutdown.\u00a0\u00a0The shutdown goes on a significant amount of time; the American people learn what\u2019s at stake.<\/p>\n

The American people, because of the never-ending reporting by the Drive-By Media, find out what the shutdown\u2019s really all about, and they find out that one side wants essentially open borders with no limits on the number of illegal immigrants that could come into the country.\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s good for us.\u00a0\u00a0People didn\u2019t know this.\u00a0\u00a0People have a different perspective. The people that listen to the Drive-By Media think that Trump is separating families and mothers and children are in tears all day and we\u2019re distorting and destroying families all over the world.<\/p>\n

They got a chance to see the truth and learn the truth.\u00a0\u00a0I think it was a deft maneuver by the president.\u00a0\u00a0So now here we are at another compromise, which authorizes $1.375 billion — less than the $1.6 billion, but still greater than the zero.\u00a0\u00a0So let\u2019s look at the options.\u00a0\u00a0If the president signs this, what can he say?\u00a0\u00a0He can say, “Look, I wanted a 64-mile expansion of the wall.\u00a0\u00a0I got 55 here, and it\u2019s just a continuation.”\u00a0\u00a0One of the president\u2019s themes last night was we\u2019re already doing it. We\u2019re already building the wall. We\u2019re already expanding; we\u2019re already modernizing.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This will be portrayed as a continuation of something that is already happening.\u00a0\u00a0He could portray it as a win, because the Democrats were offering zip, zero, nada — even though it\u2019s less than what Trump said he wanted.\u00a0\u00a0Both sides — the Democrats, knowing them as I do — would claim victory as well over this.\u00a0\u00a0But then the president can continue in his efforts, because the politics of this is, or are, the president\u2019s wall and the construction of it basically means border security, means shoring up the border and stopping this endless flow of illegals.<\/p>\n

Anything that happens that solidifies and cements that effort as being undertaken and underway, the president can portray as a win.\u00a0\u00a0He can always hold out the card of a declaration of a national emergency to get the rest of it built and so forth.\u00a0\u00a0So I don\u2019t know what they\u2019re thinking in the White House on this.\u00a0\u00a0But I\u2019m sure they\u2019re looking at it somewhat similar to this. “If we sign this, how can we portray this as a win to our people?”<\/p>\n

And they could.\u00a0\u00a0I mean, they could.\u00a0\u00a0How many of you…? Let me ask you.\u00a0\u00a0How many of you who voted for Trump, supported the shutdown, still support the shutdown, still believe that immigration is one of the top-tier issues that\u2019s gonna determine the fate of this country and our culture going forward…? How many of you would be angry, frustrated, and at your wits\u2019 end if the president did sign this?<\/p>\n

In other words, if the president signs anything that allocates, appropriates less than the $5.7 billion he was demanding or asking, how many of you look at that as a defeat or as a loss versus how many of you look at that as the completion of a stage of this? The president has promised over and over that the wall is going to get built. He continues in his efforts to get it built.\u00a0\u00a0Nobody can say he isn\u2019t trying.<\/p>\n

Nobody can say he has caved on the premise of controlling illegal immigration and shoring up the border.\u00a0\u00a0These are all the things they\u2019re factoring, I\u2019m sure, at the White House. And of course, the Drive-Bys think they\u2019re all listening to what I\u2019m saying about this before they make up their minds, which I find increasingly incredible.\u00a0\u00a0But they even said… Before this program began, there were elements even on Fox News, folks, that were saying, “The White House is waiting to see how talk radio plays this.”<\/p>\n

I just think somebody is so out of their gourds on this because of their ongoing belief that Trump is some ogre and not sophisticated, not capable, not an individual thinker, and he just…\u00a0They still don\u2019t know who the man is.\u00a0\u00a0They still don\u2019t know who they\u2019re dealing with.\u00a0\u00a0They still haven\u2019t taken the time to learn and figure it out.\u00a0\u00a0But they\u2019re completely misguided on it, in that view of how Trump does business and politics.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH:\u00a0\u00a0Do I think the president is happy with this? No!\u00a0\u00a0There\u2019s no way the president\u2019s happy with this. There\u2019s no way this satisfies him.\u00a0\u00a0What do you want?\u00a0\u00a0What do you want, folks?\u00a0It\u2019s $1.375 billion… Here are the numbers again.\u00a0\u00a0We have $1.6 billion authorized; the number the president wants is $5.7 billion.\u00a0\u00a0Originally, before December 19th, he had $1.6 billion.\u00a0\u00a0That we get taken out. Trump gets zero; we got government shutdown.\u00a0\u00a0The Drive-Bys tell you he was ready to sign it except for I blew up.\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s BS.<\/p>\n

They tried to make it like Trump can\u2019t make up his own mind; Trump\u2019s an idiot. It\u2019s the ongoing effort they\u2019re continuing to make, but they have totally misrepresented that.\u00a0\u00a0I still can\u2019t believe it — and they\u2019re still doing it.\u00a0\u00a0Okay.\u00a0\u00a0Now, we\u2019ve got the government shutdown.\u00a0\u00a0Trump\u2019s approval numbers after the government shutdown and State of the Union skyrocket from 43 to 52% — and the internals are even better than that.\u00a0\u00a0Why do you think the Democrats haven\u2019t mentioned the number?\u00a0\u00a0The Democrats are moving here.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It\u2019s less than the $1.6 billion, the $1.375 billion. But Nancy Pelosi said, no money ever.\u00a0\u00a0Chuck Schumer said, no money ever.\u00a0\u00a0The Democrats have moved here.\u00a0\u00a0Why?\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s called 52% approval.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s called Trump has, in the government shutdown, succeeded in informing and educating the American people what\u2019s really happening here, those that didn\u2019t know.\u00a0\u00a0So do you think the president should say flat-out, “No,” again? “I\u2019m demanding $5.7 billion.” They\u2019ve given him enough money to build 55 miles of the 64-mile expansion he wants.<\/p>\n

Should he shut it down again?\u00a0\u00a0Should he hang in there, hang tough, and shut it down again, or should he take the 55 miles? Take the $1.375 billion and then maybe, depending on how things go, declare an emergency. Let it wind its way through the courts. Continue to demonstrate the commitment to get this done while demonstrating the Democrat Party — which was perfectly fine, by the way, when $1.8 billion in cash landed on the tarmac in Tehran.<\/p>\n

The Democrats had no problem paying off the mullahs in Iran — be it a hostage payment or whatever it was — and enabling the Iranians to nuke up.\u00a0\u00a0No problems with $1.8 billion to Iran.\u00a0\u00a0But $1.6 billion, $5.7 billion for border security for the United States? Democrats are not interested.\u00a0\u00a0The president has, because of the behavior of the Democrats and because of the agendas these presidential candidates are getting behind…<\/p>\n

It has been phrased, somebody said, that this Green New Deal and some of these other proposals may be the longest suicide notes that anybody\u2019s ever written.\u00a0\u00a0So the political opportunities will be rich and ripe for the president going forward here. The question for you is: If he signs this $1.375 billion and declares a victory in it, are you going to accept it?<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Let\u2019s get started on the phones. As you can imagine, people to want weigh in and react. Just one thing.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a cabinet meeting in the White House. The president\u2019s allowed the cameras in. He spoke at length. He monologued. He made it clear he is not happy with what the Democrats have given here. He said he doesn\u2019t can a expect there to be another shutdown, but if there is, it\u2019s gonna be all on the Democrats. He cannot believe that they are not willing to be serious about this, and he\u2019s very, very disappointed. He\u2019s not happy with this at all. But there was no definitive word from him on whether he\u2019s going to sign this or not.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a third alternative here and that\u2019s just tell them to go pound sand and to not sign this thing and do another shutdown and then make tracks right to that national emergency and declare it and then go through whatever court battles there are going to be. I mean, this is a signature issue for Trump. This is a fundamental signature, foundational issue of his campaign and why he got elected.<\/p>\n

\"\"And if he signs this, he\u2019s gonna have to make the case that you never get everything you want all at once in Washington. We\u2019ve got a divided government. We got \u2019em off the zero, we\u2019re moving in the right direction. We\u2019re continuing to build the wall. He made that point right now. He said we\u2019re continuing to build the wall.<\/p>\n

Mick Mulvaney, the chief of staff, said they got money all over the government if they need to get it to build whatever wall they want, however much wall they want. They\u2019ve already found areas of the federal budget with unused funds that they can appropriate during the declaration of a national emergency.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll start here with Brian in San Diego. Welcome, sir. You\u2019re up first today. Great to have you with us.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Hi there, Rush.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Hi.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Yeah. So right to the point, guys like me will not accept if President Trump accepts this deal. It\u2019s not a win for guys like us. It\u2019s a negative. Even if he takes $1.3 billion it\u2019s a negative. It\u2019s weakness on that border. It\u2019s not what we need. I say shut it down again and let\u2019s move forward. We need what we were promised.<\/p>\n

RUSH: If that doesn\u2019t happen, where do you go, what do you do politically? Are you finished with President Trump, then? Are you just deeply disappointed? What are the ramifications? What are you gonna do if you don\u2019t get what you want?<\/p>\n

CALLER: I\u2019m on that line of being finished with President Trump. And the reason being is, I mean, hey, I like him. But this was what we voted on. This is what we wanted. This is what we were promised. This is what needs to come to fruition. And if it doesn\u2019t happen, it\u2019s a feeling of throwing your hands up and going, “You know what? This is as close as we\u2019ve got, and we\u2019re not getting any closer.” And there\u2019s no reason to back another promise.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Okay. So what you basically want — and correct me if I\u2019m wrong — you want Trump to defeat the Democrats. That\u2019s the first and foremost. Because that\u2019s how you get the $5.7 billion. You don\u2019t want the Democrats to be able to claim any kind of a win here that results from a Trump compromise?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Look. It\u2019s not a matter of what the Democrats are going to do and be able to say, hey, they won, they didn\u2019t win, they got beat by Trump. It\u2019s a matter of what this country needs. It\u2019s a matter of what\u2019s right for this country. It\u2019s a matter of guys that walk the street with their families and protecting our families on a day in and day out every day mindset and dealing with what has been described across the nation with what\u2019s coming over the border.<\/p>\n

You have full on communities that have changed, lifestyles have changed, and it doesn\u2019t mean just for — and I know how a lot of people out there take it. Oh, you know, just for the tall white guy out there. It\u2019s not. It\u2019s for all immigrants that have come here legally, it\u2019s for this United States way of life, it\u2019s for what we are. And what\u2019s coming across the border is not what we are. It\u2019s not what the United States of America has promised its people.<\/p>\n

RUSH: That is true, because the people coming across in large numbers, the illegals, have no desire to assimilate and join the American culture as you\u2019ve just described. That\u2019s precisely why the Democrats do want them. Okay. Look. I appreciate the call, Brian. We move on to Jamie in Columbus, Ohio. It\u2019s your turn. Hello, sir.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Hello, Rush. I have to say it is an amazing honor. I\u2019ve been listening to you since I was a kid. Thank you for taking my call.<\/p>\n

RUSH: You bet, sir.<\/p>\n

CALLER: I certainly appreciate the previous caller\u2019s passion. I definitely understand the frustration with things. But with all the things that Trump has accomplished so far, not just with what is obvious, but the behind the scenes, all of the seats that are getting either retired or everybody\u2019s stepping down, all these other people backing down, I\u2019ll support his decision because I trust him as the president. I trust that he\u2019ll make the right decision. While obviously I understand the optic of it looking like he\u2019s backing down taking this deal, I also understand that in negotiations sometimes you gotta take deals that aren\u2019t ideal just to get the ball rolling. We\u2019ve already been working on the wall for —<\/p>\n

RUSH: Right.<\/p>\n

CALLER: — a couple years now.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Look. Let me put some things in perspective. There are some things about this that frustrate me to no — $5.7 billion is peanuts. It\u2019s a rounding error in the federal budget of $4 trillion, $5.7 billion is less than what the country spends on food stamps every month. Trump\u2019s $5.7 billion is enough money for 200 miles of border wall or fence, not just 64. It\u2019s enough for 215 miles of barriers. which includes a hundred miles for new fencing and the rest to fix existing barriers. And this is according to the CPB.<\/p>\n

Now, the political way of looking at this — hey, folks, I\u2019m just telling you what I am sure how this is being looked at in the White House. Not by the president. He\u2019s got his advisers, and I\u2019ll guarantee you the way this is being looked at. A, you got divided government. So in reality, how much can you actually accomplish in divided government. In addition to divided government, you have a presidential election year.<\/p>\n

\"\"Then that means the opposition party isn\u2019t gonna give the incumbent president anything. You got 20 Democrats running for president who are trying to out-leftist and out-socialist each other. They are creating a traveling circus out there. We\u2019ve got the specter now that the Mueller report\u2019s gonna be a big dud for the Democrats, which is gonna just tick them off to no end and their deranged voters.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, with divided government you never get everything you want all at once. If you have the objective of building a wall for border security to stop illegal immigration, you take what you can get when you can get it, and you keep asking for more, demanding more, or what have you. Trump then goes to you and says, “We\u2019re continuing to fight against these people who are intransigent, they are not willing to compromise, they don\u2019t care about border security.”<\/p>\n

He continues to make the political case, advising and informing the American people of exactly what the Democrat Party has become and who they are. Because just as the Democrats are running for the presidency in 2020, so is Donald Trump. And the political realities do intersect all of this. There is a campaign coming up, and there are things that need to be considered as far as that campaign\u2019s concerned.<\/p>\n

The other way to look at this is, “To hell with all this political stuff! To hell with compromise with the Democrats, \u2019cause it still doesn\u2019t get us where we want to go. Shut the government down again. To hell with it all! Shut the government down again and do not reopen the government until everything the president wants and demands for border security has been provided.” The president maintains he\u2019s still undecided. He is unhappy with this deal. He\u2019s being pressured by a lot of people to take it. He\u2019s also being pressured by members of Congress not to take it.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a whole caucus of conservatives in the House who are counseling the president to punt on any negotiated deal, and just go right to a shutdown and the declaration of a national emergency — particularly since they\u2019ve heard the chief of staff say they\u2019ve got the money from other areas of government to do it. So there\u2019s a lot of moving parts in this, with a lot of people weighing in on what they think is the best thing for the president to do, taking all of these various factors into account.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH:\u00a0\u00a0Couple of audio sound bites.\u00a0\u00a0President Trump this afternoon White House during cabinet meeting.\u00a0\u00a0Before the meeting, a little press gaggle.\u00a0\u00a0A reporter: “Mr. President, will you sign the conference committee\u2019s border deal?”<\/p>\n

THE PRESIDENT:\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019m not happy about it.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s not doing the trick.\u00a0\u00a0But I\u2019m adding things to it, and when you add whatever I have to add, it\u2019s all gonna happen where we\u2019re gonna build a beautiful, big, strong wall that\u2019s not gonna let criminals and traffickers and drug dealers and drugs into our country.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s very simple.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s very simple.\u00a0\u00a0We\u2019re building a wall.\u00a0\u00a0And now I\u2019m saying, we\u2019re finishing a wall.\u00a0\u00a0Am I happy at first glance?\u00a0\u00a0I just got to see it.\u00a0\u00a0The answer is, no, I\u2019m not.\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019m not happy.\u00a0\u00a0But am I happy with where we\u2019re going?\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019m thrilled.<\/p>\n

RUSH:\u00a0\u00a0All right.\u00a0\u00a0See, that\u2019s exactly all I\u2019m trying to tell you. It\u2019s movement in divided government incrementally.\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019m telling you, that\u2019s how they\u2019re gonna be looking at this up there.\u00a0\u00a0I, frankly, think… Folks, I think it\u2019s embarrassing — $1.375 billion, $1.6 billion, I think it\u2019s embarrassing.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s not even… It\u2019s so low, I keep calling it “a rounding error.”\u00a0\u00a0But it is not even an amount of money that auditors would care about if they couldn\u2019t account for it in a $4 trillion budget.<\/p>\n