The government is currently shut down over a $5B disagreement, so I'd say $72B isn't something to scoff at.

The disagreement would likely persist even if it was $5M. I haven't heard anyone object to the issue because of its price. The US government spent $4T last year. So yeah, an extra $72B does seem like a drop in the bucket.

7-8% of our budget deficit is not a small number. $72B would let you triple the NIH's budget, quintuple NASA's...

Looked at from the deficit, I suppose. Though I'm not persuaded by arguments based on what extra funds could do; there's a lot we could do by just rearranging the already ginormous amount the government collects. It's not going to happen, though.

You don't actually think that's what they would do with the money, do you?

$72 billion is more than the GDP of some EU member countries.

If the government received [1] $3.422 trillion in revenue last year, this could increase it at most by 2%.

I'm not convinced they could achieve much with 2% more.

[1] https://www.thebalance.com/u-s-federal-budget-breakdown-3305...