Government budgeting, both at the state and federal level, has always been partly about smoke and mirrors. For example, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have long reduced the apparent cost of new spending or tax relief by making it “temporary” — and daring future lawmakers to stop the largesse. But Democrats striving to pare back their massive $3.5 trillion spending plan — the largest spending bill in history — appear poised to take such budget gimmicks to absurd new heights in the weeks ahead. As Politico reported Wednesday,

“The White House is seriously entertaining the idea of across-the-board haircuts to most items in President Joe Biden’s $3.5 trillion social spending package.”