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Cato Weekly Podcast • September 11, 2025 

# The Purse and the Sword 

This week, Congress returns to looming shutdowns and a “pocket-rescission” power grab. Abroad, President Trump pushes “America First” by rebranding the Pentagon as the Department of War—and launching an airstrike on a Venezuelan cartel boat. Our panel asks what all this says about America’s fiscal sanity and its foreign-policy compass.

#### Show Notes 

[![GOP House Budget Medicaid trump](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2025-05/202505_gophousebudget.jpg?itok=3BPzkGeN)](https://www.cato.org/blog/reconciliation-20-fix-or-fiasco-0) 

blog 

### [Reconciliation 2.0: Fix or Fiasco?](/blog/reconciliation-20-fix-or-fiasco-0) 

By [Adam N. Michel](https://www.cato.org/people/adam-n-michel) and [Dominik Lett](https://www.cato.org/people/dominik-lett) 

A well-crafted bill could restore federalism and reverse government policies that raise Americans’ cost of living. But sequels are rarely as good as the original.

[![U.S. Capitol with sun behind the dome and an American flag flying against a clear blue sky.](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2025-09/GettyImages-2214884587.jpg?itok=zzpDyt21)](https://www.cato.org/blog/coming-budget-debates-how-congress-should-navigate-them) 

blog 

### [Coming Budget Debates and How Congress Should Navigate Them](/blog/coming-budget-debates-how-congress-should-navigate-them) 

By [Dominik Lett](https://www.cato.org/people/dominik-lett) 

Congress should use these debates as an opportunity to pursue genuine spending restraint, reining in discretionary spending and allowing wasteful, fraud-ridden health care subsidies to expire.

[![Free Society - The Lost Liberalism (List Image)](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2025-06/Free%20Society%20-%20America%20First%20copy.jpg?itok=aiAazsKk)](https://www.cato.org/free-society/summer-2025/lost-liberalism-america-first) 

Free Society 

### [The Lost Liberalism of America First](/free-society/summer-2025/lost-liberalism-america-first) 

By [Brandan P. Buck](https://www.cato.org/people/brandan-p-buck) 

Yet beneath the modern political fervor and negative historical interpretations, the core of America First rooted its message in a liberal tradition.

[![cartel military](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2025-03/cartel.jpg?itok=aWzx9hO9)](https://www.cato.org/blog/cognitive-shift-how-terrorist-label-may-lead-another-forever-war) 

blog 

### [The Cognitive Shift: How the Terrorist Label May Lead to Another Forever War](/blog/cognitive-shift-how-terrorist-label-may-lead-another-forever-war) 

By [Brandan P. Buck](https://www.cato.org/people/brandan-p-buck) 

Conflating the terrorism of the cartels with the terrorism of organizations like ISIS will create the permission structures to plunge this country into another forever war.

[![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) 
This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/). 

##### Featuring 

[![Ryan Bourne](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2021-01/Ryan%20Bourne.jpg?itok=nv8-2r7d)](/people/ryan-bourne) 

##### [Ryan Bourne](/people/ryan-bourne)

R. Evan Scharf Chair for the Public Understanding of Economics, Cato Institute

[ 

](https://x.com/MrRBourne) [ 

](mailto:rbourne@cato.org) 

[![Gene Healy](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2021-01/Gene%20Healy.jpg?itok=EhkBZWC4)](/people/gene-healy) 

##### [Gene Healy](/people/gene-healy)

Former Senior Vice President for Policy, Cato Institute

[![Adam N. Michel cropped](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2023-02/adam-michel-cropped.jpg?itok=2xIg84-_)](/people/adam-n-michel) 

##### [Adam N. Michel](/people/adam-n-michel)

Director of Tax Policy Studies, Cato Institute; Former Deputy Staff Director at the US Congress Joint Economic Committee

[ 

](https://x.com/adamnmichel) 

[![Brandan P. Buck - cropped](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2024-11/brandon-buck-cropped.jpg?itok=Lt1PZyoy)](/people/brandan-p-buck) 

##### [Brandan P. Buck](/people/brandan-p-buck)

Research Fellow, Cato Institute

[ 

](https://x.com/Brandan_Buck) [ 

](mailto:bbuck@cato.org)