Runaway Spending and the Captain’s Eggnog
After failing audit after audit, the Pentagon gets a haircut. Plus, how to make the best eggnog in America.
As published in the Daily Caller
This week the House of Representatives slammed the door on bigger defense budgets without more accountability.
The fissure opened at the end of the 118th Congress among Republicans voting on funding for the U.S. military. After much wrangling, the Senate and House agreed to setting the Pentagon’s budget in fiscal 2025 to $884 billion.
But that’s not the whole story.
The Senate approved $909 billion for America’s military, but several House conservatives yanked the brake lever on the extra $25 billion.
Hawkish corners of the conservative world squawked in protest. The Wall Street Journal editorial board lamented that the Republicans of the 2020s may join the Republicans of the 1930s in “failing to protect the country.” The bizarre claim that greater military spending might have prevented World War II omits the glaring fact that Democrats controlled the House, Senate and White House from 1933 through 1947.
So, what’s so wrong with wise fiscal owls in the House?
A more assertive House of Representatives is good for the republic. While the Senate wields great power — and senators often joke that the House is the “elementary school” — it is in the House where all spending must start. The nation’s founding fathers originated the power of the purse in the House because its 2-year election cycle puts members closer to the people, and thus more in tune to their mood.
And the will of the people at the moment is one of fiscal restraint.
Americans are jittery about Washington’s spending spree on all programs, not just the Department of Defense. Just look at the excitement surrounding DOGE (the Department of Government Efficiency) headed by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. There is a real air of excitement on both sides of the aisle that the pair can whack back our regulatory thicket and curb the nation’s $36 trillion federal debt and $2 trillion annual budget shortfall.
⚓️ The Captain’s Eggnog
The biggest fight I had at Southern Living was over my eggnog recipe. The well-intentioned ladies that ran our test kitchen insisted that my eggnog needed to be brought to a temperature of 160 degrees lest some Salmonella kill a reader or two.
“Madam,” I said to the venerable head of our test kitchen, “if said bacteria can survive the amount of rum and bourbon I put in my eggnog, they deserve to live.”
Happily, I won that war. Besides, nobody wants an eggnog that tastes like scrambled eggs. My recipe is no weak, sugary eggnog that gurgles in paper cartons. No, this is a serious eggnog. It will cause pretty visitors to swoon under mistletoe and cure all sorts of holiday melodies from bad caroling to complicated toys that need “some assembly.”
INGREDIENTS:
Eight large egg yolks
1 1/4 cups sugar
One cup bourbon
One cup dark rum
2 teaspoons freshly grated cinnamon
2 teaspoons freshly grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
7 cups heavy whipping cream
METHOD:
Beat egg yolks in a large bowl until pale, add sugar, whisking until blended. Whisking constantly, add bourbon and rum to egg yolk mixture in a slow, steady stream, whisking until smooth. Whisk in cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla. Store covered, in refrigerator. Top each serving with whipped cream, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
TO KEEP LONGER
If desired, pour eggnog mixture into an empty bourbon bottle, and store, covered, in refrigerator for two weeks (or longer), shaking every so often to combine. When ready to serve, shake mixture vigorously, and pour a shot into an old-fashioned glass as you would straight whisky (it is, after all, mostly booze at this point). Add heavy cream at a ratio of two to one. For those who like their eggnog a bit foamier, whip the cream until soft peaks form before adding to eggnog mixture. Or, whip cream into eggnog mixture just before serving. If allowed to stand, the mixture will separate.
🥃 Parting Shots
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