Object

Hoebuck's $115,000 NIH Prayer Study Funding Request

Senator Hoebuck leverages this precise $115,000 federal funding ask for a broader NIH study on remote intercessory prayer. Dr. Chen backs it with double-blind data showing 11% fewer cardiac events in prayed-for patients. Toby faces it in the Roosevelt Room alongside Josh and Will; they grapple with the deal's implications amid vote desperation.

9 appearances

Purpose

Secure NIH funding to expand intercessory prayer study beyond pilot

Significance

Forces White House to trade credibility for a swing vote, crystallizing tensions between politics, science, and faith

Appearances in the Narrative

When this object appears and how it's used

9 moments

S4E12 · Guns Not Butter

Counting Votes, Buying Prayers

Hoebuck's $115,000 NIH Prayer Study Funding Request is the explicit bargaining chip he offers for his vote; it transforms a scientific-sounding proposal into a transactional lever inside the Roosevelt Room/Toby office negotiation.

Before: Conceptualized and presented by Hoebuck as a concrete dollar figure tied to a federal grant request.

After: Leaves Toby's office as an active demand the White House must evaluate politically and morally; it becomes a live lever in the administration's decision calculus.

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S4E12 · Guns Not Butter

Prayer for a Vote — Hoebuck's Price

Hoebuck's $115,000 NIH Prayer Study Funding Request is the explicit bargaining instrument: a concrete dollar figure linked to a federal agency. It's framed as a small, targeted appropriation whose political cost-benefit is immediately calculated against a $17 billion bill.

Before: A verbal/implicit proposal articulated by Senator Hoebuck during the meeting, not yet formalized into legislation or an earmark.

After: Left as an unresolved demand: presented and then walked out with, now on the White House's agenda as a live choice.

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S4E12 · Guns Not Butter

Hardin Seals Off; Hoebuck's $115K Price

Hoebuck's $115,000 NIH Prayer Study funding request functions as the explicit bargaining chip in this exchange — the price he attaches to his Foreign Ops vote. It crystallizes the ethical dilemma and becomes a concrete obstacle the staff must confront.

Before: An active, private demand circulating among Senate negotiators and staff; not yet publicly flagged within the White House chain as a formal negotiation point.

After: Exposed to Josh and senior staff as a live quid pro quo; now on the White House agenda and shaping immediate strategy and moral debate.

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S4E12 · Guns Not Butter

Hoebuck's $115K Ransom: Remote-Prayer Demand

Hoebuck's $115,000 NIH Prayer Study request is the explicit quid pro quo at the heart of the scene: Toby reports it as the price for a vote, which transforms a policy negotiation into an apparent earmark and forces Josh's moral rejection.

Before: Exists as an active, circulating funding demand lodged by Senator Hoebuck and framed as a research proposal.

After: Now exposed publicly within the White House team as the price of a vote; it becomes subject to internal escalation and ethical scrutiny.

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S4E12 · Guns Not Butter

From Memo to Moral Pledge

Hoebuck's $115,000 NIH prayer-study funding request is invoked verbally as the explicit currency of a vote-trade; it operates as the policy object that turns moral outrage into a tactical decision and frames a key ethical dilemma for the administration.

Before: A standing demand/proposal circulating among staff and senators as a potential earmark for vote-buying.

After: Now formally on the table in the Oval as a bargaining chip to be weighed against principles and legislative necessity.

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S4E12 · Guns Not Butter

The Price of a Vote

Hoebuck's $115,000 NIH prayer-study earmark is the transactional request that catalyzes the scene: it is presented as the explicit price of a crucial Senate vote and becomes the focus of ethical argument and political arithmetic.

Before: A demand reported by staff as an active, offered quid pro quo for the senator's vote.

After: Rejected in principle by Bartlet and Toby as ethically dubious even as staff accept its practical political implications; remains an external ask rather than an executed appropriation.

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S4E12 · Guns Not Butter

Oval Confession and the Tactical Retreat

Hoebuck's requested $115,000 NIH prayer-study appropriation is the explicit quid pro quo that catalyzes the moral debate; staff weigh whether to buy the vote by funding contested research, and the proposal's ethics directly inform the compromise toward a narrower CR.

Before: Proposed as a senator's earmark/demand to secure his yea; actively part of the negotiation framing in the meeting.

After: Remains contested and morally fraught; staff decide on a narrower CR route instead of fully acceding to the earmark as the primary bargaining currency.

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S4E12 · Guns Not Butter

Buying a Vote and a Fishhooks Pep Talk

The $115,000 NIH remote-prayer study is the concrete bargaining chip Josh admits he recommended funding to secure Senator Hoebuck's vote. It functions as the moral fulcrum of the confession, making abstract vote-trading suddenly specific and embarrassing.

Before: An active legislative bargaining request on the table, championed by Senator Hoebuck but not yet funded.

After: Now named openly between staffers; remains an unresolved bargaining item but has shifted from private whisper to acknowledged reality among senior aides.

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S4E12 · Guns Not Butter

Buying the Vote, Fishhooks, and Ron the Goat

The $115,000 NIH 'remote prayer' study is invoked as the concrete quid pro quo Josh recommended to buy a senator's yea, operating as the textual embodiment of transactional, morally awkward bargaining in the scene.

Before: A senator's requested appropriation floated as a bargaining chip; not yet enacted.

After: Presented to the President by Josh as a recommended trade; remains a potential but politically toxic line-item.

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