Saturday, March 22

Soon-to-be-chancellor Friedrich Merz has managed to get a $1 trillion spending bill through the German Parliament, serving as a big win for his party as they begin talks over a coalition with the Social Democrats.

The center-right Christian Democrats, won Germany's elections on February 23, making their leader, Friedrich Merz, the next chancellor of Germany after Olaf Scholz was ousted in a no confidence vote last November. However, it is almost impossible for one party to win over the entire Parliament, meaning that Merz would need to form a coalition with another party to have a majority.

In addition to that, in the new Parliament, Merz would not be able to get a two-thirds majority to support his new spending bill, forcing him to call for emergency sessions with the old Parliament, who approved it in the nick of time.

This is a significant achievement for Merz, who brought together several parties to approve a massive bill just as he comes into office. He knew that the parties who were likely to go against his bill would be more powerful in the new Parliament, but he was successfully able to pass the bill in a race against the clock as time wound down-- he only had a handful of days to get the bill through Parliament before the transition.

The bill allocates a staggering $547 billion to improve infrastructure across the country, but it also includes a major section to allow for unlimited defense spending. Earlier this year, Merz had opposed this idea, but he claims that after seeing US President Donald Trump's relationship with NATO and the EU crumble in recent months, he has been motivated to ramp up defense spending within the country. He has done this by including a section in the bill that removes defense spending from the list of government spending items that are capped by a bill introduced in 2009-- that bill prevents defense spending from going over 0.35% of the country's GDP.

However, while the new idea has been met with praise from many people, including the Social Democrats who Merz is attempting to form a coalition with, he will now need to appease the conservatives within his own party. Germany has always been very cautious about taking on large amounts of debt, and Merz will need to take action on the other side of the scale to make sure that the increase in debt does not have dramatic effects on other parts of the economy.

Fact of the Day (Reader's Digest): While most people believe that we only have five senses, some scientists think that we have 8, 21, or even 33 senses, including proprioception and interoception.

Quote of the Day (Gracious Quotes): The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched — they must be felt with the heart. (Helen Keller)

Word of the Day (Merriam-Webster): Permeate (verb, PER-mee-ayt) - To permeate is to pass or spread through something.

In a Sentence: The scent of lilacs permeated the room.