The West Wing
Object

Appropriations Line — Truck Stop Parking Study ($1.5M) (line item, S01E06)

A single printed one-line appropriation tucked into the stapled Appropriations bill packet: a terse program title — “study of parking facilities at commercial truck stops” — followed by a bold, right-aligned $1,500,000 in a budget column. The line sits on thin, bureaucratic paper; staffers jab at it with pens, grimace at its specificity, and hold it up as a concrete example of waste in a tense vote‑strategy meeting.
6 appearances

Appearances in the Narrative

When this object appears and how it's used

6 moments
S1E6 · Mr. Willis of Ohio
Locking Down the Census Swing Votes

The $1.5 million truck-stop parking study line is singled out by Leo as another absurd addition, serving as ammunition in staff conversation about the emotional and rhetorical stakes of the Appropriations Bill.

Before: Embedded in the Appropriations Bill packet on Leo's table, highlighted by conversation.
After: Still in the packet; referenced as part of the public face of the bill's questionable items.
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S1E6 · Mr. Willis of Ohio
Donna Claims Her Surplus

The truck‑stop parking study $1.5M line is cited by Leo to underline absurd or specific local pork, sharpening the team's sense of what needs defense or explanation when negotiating swing votes.

Before: Part of the stapled Appropriations bill in front of staff.
After: Still in the packet; serves as one concrete example of line items that can be used rhetorically or as bargaining chips.
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S1E6 · Mr. Willis of Ohio
Janice's Seat — Willis's Grief and the Swing Vote

Toby brings multiple copies of the Appropriations Bill (represented in the canon by the truck-stop parking study line as a concrete example). The bill is used as the central bargaining object—its absurd line items are enumerated to shame and pressure the congressmen, and to illustrate the cost of a floor fight.

Before: In Toby's possession off-stage or being carried by staff; copies prepared to be placed on the Roosevelt Room table.
After: Placed on the meeting table where it serves as reference and visual leverage during the discussion.
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S1E6 · Mr. Willis of Ohio
Willis Holds His Ground

The Appropriations Bill copies (represented by the canonical truck-stop parking study line) are set on the table as a visual and rhetorical weapon; Toby reads and lampoons specific pork items to shame the congressmen and illustrate the political leverage the White House holds.

Before: Copies of the Appropriations Bill were off to the side, carried in by Toby's staff and then placed on the meeting table by Christopher and Anthony.
After: The copies remain on the table as reference material after Toby's demonstration; they have been used to underscore the negotiation's stakes and are in possession of White House staff.
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S1E6 · Mr. Willis of Ohio
Three‑Fifths Riposte: Toby Reads the Constitution and Wins Willis

The Appropriations Bill (represented concretely by a sample line in canonical materials) functions as the legislative stake — the threatened casualty if the amendment were attached. It is invoked repeatedly to dramatize urgency and leverage political pressure.

Before: At risk of being tied up or altered by the census amendment; the bill's passage is uncertain.
After: Left intact to proceed; the immediate threat is removed when Willis decides to drop the amendment, securing the bill's passage in its current form.
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S1E6 · Mr. Willis of Ohio
Legislative Victory, Personal Rupture

The single appropriations line (truck-stop parking study) functions here as shorthand for the Appropriations bill's tangible stakes; Leo's line that 'Appropriations will pass' implicitly references the bill and the small outrages it contains, establishing the professional victory that is immediately undercut by the personal emergency.

Before: Part of the stapled Appropriations packet being negotiated; a pointed example of waste held by staffers earlier in meetings.
After: Still in the Appropriations packet and politically safe for passage; narratively its presence contrasts the public success with private failure.
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