Another shot starting from the feet up. Sam is pacing outside Toby's office. Toby, sitting at his desk reading a paper, asks whether Sam is guarding Toby's office. Sam laughs weakly, almost perfunctorily, and says, "That's funny." It is? Toby thanks him. Sam sighs. He doesn't go anywhere -- just stands in front of Toby's door looking off in a different direction. Toby: "Yeah?" Sam comes in and tells him that on Monday, the OMB (Office of Management and Budget) is putting out a new formula for calculating the poverty level. Toby knows, and wonders whether it needs Presidential approval before it goes to Congress. It does, but Sam describes it as a "good news/bad news thing." He says that the new formula means that poverty is up 2\%; the previous threshold was $17,524, but the new formula would put anyone with an annual income under $20,000 below the poverty line, which translates into four million "new" poor people. Toby: "Four million?" Sam says that's obviously the bad news. He indicates the good news is that more people are eligible for benefits. Toby: "And taxpayers are nuts about that. Let's get back to the bad news: four million people became poor on the President's watch?" Sam points out, "They didn't become poor. They were poor already. And now we're...calling them poor." Toby tells Sam to find out what was wrong with the old formula. Sam suggests that it's possible this is a statistical reality and not a political fight. Toby tells Sam to find out what was wrong with the statistical reality of the old formula, and to do it today. As Sam leaves, Toby gripes, "It's like when they did the thing with the SAT scores and I got dumber twenty years after I went to college." Sam agrees that it's a little like that.

C.J. is talking to the Indians in the lobby. Maggie is citing how the Treaty of 1856 meant they were moved from New York to Wisconsin. C.J. says this isn't a good place for this; it's a lobby. Maggie says, "I know what this is. I have a degree from the University of Michigan." I found this line weirdly defensive in this context; it's as if we need to be told that there are native people with advanced educations or something. Or at least, that these particular people are not unsophisticated malcontents. So far they've been nothing but civil, poised, and patient; it's not like they're having conniption fits or spray painting the lobby or anything. Jack says, "If we give up this ground, we lose our one bullet in our gun. We need to be in view of the press." C.J. asks what tribe they're from. They are Stockbridge-Munsee Indians. Jack says that when they signed the Treaty of 1856 and were moved to Wisconsin, the government, in turn, was supposed to protect their reservations, provide education and health care, and recognize them as a sovereign nation. He states, "But then the Dawes Act came." C.J.: "You were forced to sell the land?" He continues, "We went from 46,000 acres of tribal land to 11,000. The Dawes Act was also supposed to 'civilize' us." He manages to say this without spitting in contempt, which is more than I would have managed. Jack: "Henry Dawes said, 'To be civilized, you must cultivate the land, wear civilized clothes, drive Studebaker wagons, and drink whiskey.'" Maggie, dryly: "The drinking part was particularly constructive advice." C.J. apologetically says, "Now, before we go any further, I should tell you there's absolutely nothing I can do for you." Maggie: "Imagine our shock." C.J., sheepishly: "Yes." Maggie states, "In two generations, we'll be wiped out." Understandably, C.J. doesn't know what to say to that.