[thatoneuser]

Doesn't seem like much of an impact then.

[ceejayoz]

The government is currently shut down over a $5B disagreement, so I'd say $72B isn't something to scoff at.

[Jach]

The disagreement would likely persist even if it was $5M. I haven't heard anyone object to the issue because of its price. The US government spent $4T last year. So yeah, an extra $72B does seem like a drop in the bucket.

[ceejayoz]

7-8% of our budget deficit is not a small number. $72B would let you triple the NIH's budget, quintuple NASA's...

[Jach]

Looked at from the deficit, I suppose. Though I'm not persuaded by arguments based on what extra funds could do; there's a lot we could do by just rearranging the already ginormous amount the government collects. It's not going to happen, though.

[samdunham]

You don't actually think that's what they would do with the money, do you?

[dogma1138]

$72 billion is more than the GDP of some EU member countries.

[CaptainJustin]

If the government received [1] $3.422 trillion in revenue last year, this could increase it at most by 2%.

I'm not convinced they could achieve much with 2% more.

[1] https://www.thebalance.com/u-s-federal-budget-breakdown-3305...