Administration's Budget Submission

Josh presents this document in the Roosevelt Room to OMB aides and the First Lady, citing its $80 million figure as a negotiation anchor to settle at $70 million. He has quietly removed a $12 million earmark for CDC immunization education promised to Mrs. Bartlet, altering the proposal without prior notice to Max or others present.

1 appearances

Appearances in the Narrative

When this object appears and how it's used

1 moments

S4E17 · Red Haven's On Fire

The $12 Million Trade — Pragmatism vs. Loyalty

The Administration's Budget Submission is invoked as the negotiation anchor: Josh says 'we'll tell them the budget submission's at 80', and it is the document from which the $12M earmark has been quietly removed. Narratively, it is the tangible artifact where political trades are written and concealed.

Before: Drafted and circulating as the administration's negotiating posture; originally associated with the earmark promise (implicitly or explicitly committed to the First Lady).

After: Presented conceptually as set at $80 as an opening demand; the $12M earmark has been removed from whatever internal version Josh controls, making it no longer protected in the submission.

View full event