DoJ Jumps On The Wealth Redistribution Bandwagon

It just never ends with these marxists.  When can we perp walk these folks out of the White House for breaking their oaths to the Constitution?

Justice Department steers money to favored groups

By: Byron York
Chief Political Correspondent
August 5, 2010

The Justice Department has found a new way to pursue civil rights lawsuits, using the powers of the Civil Rights Division not just to win compensation for victims of alleged discrimination but also to direct large sums of money to activist groups that are not discrimination victims and not connected to a particular suit.

In the past, when the Civil Rights Division filed suit against, say, a bank or a landlord, alleging discrimination in lending or rentals, the cases were often settled by the defendant paying a fine to the U.S. Treasury and agreeing to put aside a sum of money to compensate the alleged discrimination victims. There was then a search for those victims — people who were actually denied a loan or an apartment — who stood to be compensated. After everyone who could be found was paid, there was often money left over. That money was returned to the defendant.

Now, Attorney General Eric Holder and Civil Rights Division chief Thomas Perez have a new plan. Any unspent money will not go back to the defendant but will instead go to a “qualified organization” approved by the Justice Department. And if there is not enough unspent money — that will be determined by the Department — then the defendant might be required to come up with more money to give to the “qualified organization.”

The arrangement was used in a recently-settled case, United States v. AIG Federal Savings Bank and Wilmington Finance. The Justice Department alleged that AIG violated the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act by allowing third-party wholesale mortgage brokers to “charge African-American borrowers higher direct broker fees for residential real estate-related loans than white borrowers.” The financial institution denied any wrongdoing, and there was no factual finding of wrongdoing. Nevertheless, under the terms of a March 19, 2010 consent decree, AIG agreed to pay $6.1 million to “aggrieved persons who may have suffered as a result of the alleged violations.”

That is standard procedure in such cases. But then AIG also agreed, in the words of the consent decree, to “provide a minimum of $1,000,000 to qualified organization(s) to provide credit counseling, financial literacy, and other related educational programs targeted at African-American borrowers.” The money would come from unspent funds in the victim-compensation fund. But if it turned out that, after paying off the victims, there was less than $1 million left in the victim-compensation fund, AIG agreed to “replenish the settlement fund so that it contains $1,000,000 for distribution for those educational purposes.”

The consent decree directs AIG to consult with the Justice Department on which “qualified organizations” could receive money, and it gives the Department the right to approve where the money will go. In any event, the money will go to groups who have no direct connection to the lawsuit and its allegations of discrimination.
Xochitl Hinojosa, a Justice Department spokeswoman, says no money has yet been given to organizations under the AIG agreement. But she adds that the funds, and those from other cases, will “go to ‘qualified organizations’ that have a mission that addresses whatever the harm is that was the subject of the litigation.”
The Department followed a similar procedure in another case, United States v. Sterling. In that suit, which was first filed in 2006, the Department accused a large California landlord of violating the Fair Housing Act and other laws by “refusing to rent to non-Korean prospective tenants, misrepresenting the availability of apartment units to non-Korean prospective tenants, and providing inferior treatment to non-Korean tenants in the Koreatown section of Los Angeles.”

The defendants did not admit any wrongdoing, and there was no factual finding of wrongdoing. Nevertheless, in a November 3, 2009 consent decree, the defendants agreed to pay $2.625 million to compensate alleged victims. On top of that, the consent decree stipulated that if there weren’t enough alleged victims on which to spend the $2.625 million, then what’s left “shall be distributed…to a qualified organization(s) mutually agreed upon by the United States and defendants…for the purpose of conducting fair housing enforcement or educational activities in Los Angeles County.”

Hinojosa says that in the Sterling case, $40,000 will be split between the victim fund administrator and a group called the Southern California Housing Rights Center. According to the Center’s website, its goal is to promote “freedom of residence” through the use of “education, advocacy and litigation.” Thus, money used to settle a lawsuit over alleged discrimination might well go to fund yet another lawsuit over alleged discrimination.

Sen. Charles Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, recently learned about the new Justice Department practice and on July 8 sent a letter to Holder asking for an explanation. “While these settlements may appear reasonable on their face, I am concerned that this change in policy has the potential to divert compensation intended for victims to third party interest groups that were not wronged by the defendant,” Grassley wrote. “Absent proper safeguards and internal controls, this policy change could drastically alter the way victims are compensated and could set the Department down a path where third party interest groups are compensated to a greater level than victims. Moreover, as a staunch supporter of victims’ rights, I want to know what this change in policy means for individual victims and for advocacy groups that are both selected and not selected to serve as ‘qualified organizations.'”

Grassley asked Holder which suits have been settled or are being settled in this fashion, how much money is involved, and what guidelines apply to the settlements. “What, if any, qualifications are taken into consideration when determining whether an organization should be designated a ‘qualifying organization’?” Grassley asked. “What protections and safeguards are in place to oversee the use of funds by the ‘qualified organization’ to ensure that monies that could otherwise be used for victim compensation are used in a manner free of fraud, waste, and abuse?”

Grassley has not yet received an answer from Holder.

Republicans are particularly concerned that the “qualified organizations” money might end up with groups that are associated with the community organizing group formerly known as ACORN. Republican lawmakers want to avoid sending federal money to groups that Congress has deemed unsuitable to receive it.

But the concerns of Republicans, and perhaps some Democrats, go beyond ACORN and other activist groups. The new Civil Rights Division tactic represents a departure from a fundamental principle of such cases, which is the pursuit of justice on behalf of actual victims. “If the Department of Justice recovers funds for alleged civil rights violations, the money should go to compensate victims or to the Treasury,” says Bob Driscoll, who was a top official in the Civil Rights Division during the first two years of the George W. Bush administration. “The practice of the Civil Rights Division steering settlement funds to favored advocacy groups is at odds with both civil rights laws and common sense. If Congress wants to fund certain advocacy groups or set up grants for agencies to award in order to promote non-discrimination, it can. But allowing the Civil Rights Division to steer a defendant’s money to its ideological allies is offensive.”

Glenn Beck, 8.2.2010; Students For A Democratic Society

Glenn starts this show reviewing the Weather Underground and their manifesto, “Prairie Fire”, and then continues with the group that started the Weather Underground; Students for a Democratic Society.  Glenn details members of SDS who are now the founders of SEIU, Apollo Alliance, ACORN, etc.  Please pay attention as you are reintroduced to the radicals from the past who are now at the center of power.  Now you will understand why our nation is upside-down.

To see the entire show, go here.

The Birds Are Flocking; Rathke, Wright, Wallis, Obama, ACORN

At this point, I rather enjoy calling these guys fascists as I believe they are all about ‘the control’.  Giving them any one of the other ‘ist’ labels doesn’t seem to encompass ‘the change’ they are trying to achieve.  But I digress. NakedEmperorNews has found the video of a dinner given by the Gamaliel Foundation in 2005.  Go here for more info about Barack’s first employer.

Enjoy this video of the birds flocking .  I especially enjoyed listening to Rev. Wright speak about the ‘haves and have mores hoarding what they got and not sharing with the have nots’.   He is talking about you and me – not just the very wealthy.

House Oversight Report: Follow the Money: ACORN, SEIU and their Political Allies

House Oversight Report: Follow the Money: ACORN, SEIU and their Political Allies

Rep. Darrell Issa’s committee has released their report on ACORN, SEIU and their cronies.  What follows is the executive summary of the 68 page report, found here. (H/T Clementine) I am sure it will be interesting reading, like this nugget:

ACORN has received $5,609,338.00 dollars from SEIU. Anthony Hill, a State Senator from Florida, was simultaneously employed by SEIU and ACORN.

We all know how fast patriots can read after all the homework we have had in the last 18 months.

U.S. House of Representatives
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
Darrell Issa (CA-49), Ranking Member

Follow the Money: ACORN, SEIU and their Political Allies Staff Report

U.S. House of Representatives
111th Congress
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
February 18, 2010

I. Executive Summary

Since the first ACORN Report issued on July 23, 2009, the Oversight and Government Reform Committee staff has reviewed over 50,000 pages of documents: from ACORN offices in California and Oklahoma, from ACORN insiders in Missouri, Colorado, New York and Louisiana, and from Secretary of State investigations in nearly every state in the continental United States. Ranking Member Darrell Issa’s leadership of the Committee’s ACORN investigation has been enhanced by the efforts of several Members of the Committee: Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH) requested ACORN election documents from the Secretary of State in Ohio,1 Representative Patrick McHenry (R-NC) was the first to dispute the Census Bureau’s relationship with ACORN,2 Representative Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) used the example of ACORN’s corruption to propose legislation requiring the Census Bureau to partner with the U.S. Post Office,3 and Representative Dan Burton (R-IN) called on Chairman Towns to conduct an investigation of ACORN and its affiliate corporations.4 Additionally, Committee staff has worked with investigators from several federal Inspector General Offices, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Office of Legislative Affairs at the United States Department of Justice, the Louisiana Department of Justice and several local and state-level prosecutor’s offices. Attorneys from the Kings County District Attorneys office, which is currently investigating ACORN in New York, told the Committee staff that the first ACORN Report had been “invaluable” to their investigation. David Caldwell, the Assistant Attorney General of Louisiana, stated that his office was able to develop probable cause in its investigation in large part due to the findings of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee Minority Staff.

Since the publication of the first ACORN Report, the House of Representatives passed Congressman Darrell Issa’s Motion to Recommit (MTR) to end the federal funding of ACORN, now known as the Defund ACORN Act. Thereafter, Congress passed and the President signed Section 163 of the Continuing Appropriations Resolution of 2010, Division B of Public Law No. 111-68, which cut federal funds to ACORN. After the Continuing Resolution (CR), Congress passed and the President signed the following laws ending ACORN funding: FY 2010 Consolidated Appropriation Act, Pub. Law 111-117, §§ 418, 534, & 511; Section 427 of the Department of the Interior, Environmental and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2010, Pub. Law 111-88; and Section 8013 of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act of 2010, Pub. Law 111-118.
1 EDITORIAL, Rep. Jordan wants Ohio to probe plan of ACORN, COLUMBUS DISPATCH, Nov. 22, 2009, available at: http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/national_world/stories/2009/11/22/dcjord.html? (last visited Feb. 12, 2010).
2 Congressman Patrick McHenry, How ACORN Got Dumped by the Census, BIGGOVERNMENT.COM, Sept. 17, 2009, available at: http://mchenry.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=145479.
3 PRESS RELEASE, Census Should Partner With Post Office, Not ACORN, June 24, 2009, available at: http://chaffetz.house.gov/2009/06/census-should-partner-with-post-office-not-acorn.shtml.

4 PRESS RELEASE, Burton Demands Investigation of ACORN, Sponsors Legislation To Terminate Funds, Sept. 15, 2009, available at: http://burton.house.gov/posts/burton-demands-investigation-of-acorn-sponsors-legislation-to-terminatefunds.

In response to the CR that cut their funding, ACORN sued the United States of America in the Federal District Court in the Eastern District of New York, arguing that the CR constituted an unconstitutional Bill of Attainder, or punishment without the due process guarantees of a judicial trial. Judge Nina Gershon, a federal judge, presided over the case. On December 11, 2009, Judge Gershon issued an injunction against the United States – an order preventing the United State from enforcing the CR – the funding ban against ACORN. However, as the Justice Department argued, the issue was moot because the CR expired December 18, 2009. Fortunately for ACORN, Judge Gershon allowed ACORN to amend its pleadings and challenge all of the anti-ACORN laws, including Public Laws 111-117, 111-88, and 111-118 as unconstitutional bills of attainder. According to the Louisiana Department of Justice, ACORN is nearing financial bankruptcy, as most of its donors have cut ties with the corporation. However, under Judge Gershon’s decision, ACORN will continue to receive taxpayer dollars from the Federal Government. In other words, the American people will have BAILED OUT ACORN.

The first ACORN Report explained how ACORN used a complex organizational structure of overlapping nonprofit community initiatives and political lobbying activities to conceal the partisan political use of taxpayer and private monies originally designated for the public benefit. The report found there was no real separation between ACORN and its affiliates. ACORN is a single corrupt corporate enterprise composed of a series of holding companies and subsidiaries that are financially and operationally dependent upon the main corporation.

This report adds new evidence confirming these previous findings of ACORN’s misconduct in addition to a closer examination of ACORN’s financial transactions and fundraising that define the organization as a political machine.

Committee investigators have identified hundreds of ACORN bank accounts, shell organizations incorporated under different sections of the internal revenue code, and even an ACORN controlled accounting firm (Citizens Consulting Inc.) that helps ACORN obscure the true use of charitable donations and taxpayer funds. Documents and testimony from ACORN whistleblowers reveal that ACORN activities – despite contentions that they are intended to help the poor – fulfill a more self-serving and political purpose for ACORN. ACORN is well aware of the legal problems its political activities create as its own attorneys have acknowledged and outlined the potential for criminal and civil violations in private documents for senior ACORN officials. Since release of the first report, Committee staff met with insiders from both ACORN and the Service Employees International Union (“SEIU”) in addition to obtaining and reviewing documents from virtually every state, including California, Missouri and Oklahoma.

The following report makes four crucial findings:

First, ACORN and SEIU‘s illegal agreements, and the crimes committed in furtherance of these agreements, constitutes a criminal conspiracy.

ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis, Executive Director Steven Kest, and Political Operations Director Zach Polett have actual or apparent authority for ACORN’s illegal acts. The Committee’s investigation has confirmed previous findings as well as identified a method behind ACORN’s criminal activities.

Second, there is a pattern, signature or “trade secret” of corruption common to all ACORN affiliates called “Muscle for the Money.”

Muscle for the Money involves using non-profit corporations for electioneering activities and an SEIU strategy to threaten corporations and banks into brokering deals for ACORN’s financial benefit. SEIU and Project Vote used litigation to force demands from government officials. ACORN, through Project Vote, threatened State Secretary of State offices with lawsuits, thus forcing political compromises at the expense of taxpayers.

SEIU and ACORN are substantially intertwined. SEIU and ACORN jointly manage SEIU Local 100; SEIU Healthcare Illinois Indiana; SEIU Local 21A; SEIU Local 32BJ; SEIU Local 52BJ; SEIU Local 880; and SEIU Local 1199. SEIU aided and encouraged ACORN to put pressure on banks, to use its federally-funded affiliates to target political candidates, and to threaten public officials with litigation. ACORN took the lead in these activities and SEIU was the willing accomplice. The nexus between SEIU and ACORN constituted an agreement between both organizations to engage in fraudulent activities, which ACORN perpetuated through the use of its affiliates.

The Committee investigation found ACORN prepared for these fraudulent activities by issuing membership letters documenting which banks caved-in to ACORN’s pressure; through political plans targeting congressional districts to get sympathetic candidates elected, and via emails and legal complaints reflecting ACORN’s ability to coerce and compel public officials to meet certain demands. These findings reflect a pattern, signature or trade secret common to all ACORN affiliates. This signature crime is known as Muscle for the Money.

ACORN has received $5,609,338.00 dollars from SEIU. Anthony Hill, a State Senator from Florida, was simultaneously employed by SEIU and ACORN. Newly reviewed documents show Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO), former Governor Rod Blagojevich (D-IL), and Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA) have received the support of SEIU’s ACORN affiliates. Insiders claim that, despite SEIU Treasurer Anna Burger’s statement to the contrary, SEIU has never cut ties to ACORN.

Third, ACORN, as a corporation, is responsible for thousands of fraudulent voter registrations throughout the United States.
Responses from various state election offices show that ACORN’s late filings of voter registration cards and the sheer amount of fraudulent cards obstructed election administration efforts in many states. Fraudulent voter registrations are not isolated incidents; they reflect ACORN’s criminal motive to compromise the system of free and fair elections promised in the Constitution of the United States.

Fourth, ACORN contributed to the risky lending that led to the financial collapse.

ACORN drafted language to loosen underwriting standards and decrease down payments in the housing industry, paving the way for the high rate of subprime loans millions of Americans eventually defaulted on.

ACORN used provisions in the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 that allowed community groups to challenge bank mergers and acquisitions if a bank did not adequately invest in its own community. These challenges, which featured ACORN’s standard intimidation tactics, successfully forced banks to make lending agreements with ACORN Housing. If banks refused ACORN’s demands, they jeopardized approval of mergers in a timely manner. ACORN Housing moved to become a conventional service provider for the loans. ACORN reaped profits from over a billion dollars in loans to low- income neighborhoods. Because of the policies and financial instruments developed, in part through ACORN’s lobbying activities, borrowers eventually defaulted on the loans. The end result was the bursting of the housing bubble.

ACORN Housing received a total of $39,925,620.13 from Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase & Co., CitiBank, HSBC, CapitalOne, and SunTrust. These lenders and banks also provided ACORN with grants, address and bank account information of at-risk homeowners so ACORN could provide free counseling services. Instead, ACORN used the address and bank account information to target struggling Americans who would be signed up as dues-paying members of ACORN. ACORN’s membership recruiting brought in $48 million a year for ACORN—a boon for their Muscle for Money program.

Universal Voter Registration

Via Examiner:

What the Dems know that we don’t: Universal Voter Registration

Many are puzzled that Democrats persist in ramming unpopular and destructive legislation down our collective throats while seemingly unconcerned by their plummeting poll numbers. A widespread belief is that the Democrats are committing political suicide and will be swept from one or both houses of Congress with unprecedented electoral losses next November. But since Democrat politicians rarely do things that will not ultimately benefit themselves, this column asked two weeks ago: “what do they know that we don’t?”

We may have found out. It’s called universal voter registration. The Wall Street Journal’s John Fund described the Democrat plan recently at a David Horowitz Freedom Center forum.

Fund describes the proposal as follows:

In January, Chuck Schumer and Barney Frank will propose universal voter registration. What is universal voter registration? It means all of the state laws on elections will be overriden by a federal mandate. The feds will tell the states: ‘take everyone on every list of welfare that you have, take everyone on every list of unemployed you have, take everyone on every list of property owners, take everyone on every list of driver’s license holders and register them to vote regardless of whether they want to be…’

Fund anticipates that Congress will attempt to ram this legislation down our throats like they have been with the “healthcare” bill. What a surprise! Fund covers the vote issue at greater length in his book, How the Obama Administration Threatens to Undermine Our Elections, a very good read.

ACORN: A Seat At The Financial Regulatory Table?

ACORN: A Seat At The Financial Regulatory Table?

Michelle Bachman is not lying.  It’s in there, it’s now 1,279 pages, and this particular amendment is coming from one of the worst offenders in the financial meltdown – Maxine Waters.

Bachmann: ACORN could regulate the financial sector

The embattled community group ACORN could help regulate the financial services industry under new financial regulatory reforms, said Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) on Wednesday.

Bachmann, a consistent opponent of ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), said that an amendment given in the House Financial Services Committee could allow the group to sit on an advisory panel that monitors the regulations.

“ACORN may have a seat at the table being on the oversight committee regulating the financial services industry of the United States,” Bachmann said at a press conference. “And that would be a cruel joke.”

Bachmann’s remarks come as House Financial Services Committee chairman Barney Frank’s (D-Mass.) regulatory reform bill is set to be brought to a floor vote this week.

The amendment offered by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) created Consumer Financial Protection Oversight Board that would need to include five members from the “fields of consumer protection, fair lending and civil rights, representatives of depository institutions that primarily serve under-served communities or representatives of communities that have been significantly impacted by higher-priced mortgage loans.”

The panel does not have the power to create policy but can recommend policies to the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency.

Bachmann argued that this provision could allow ACORN to participate on the board. ACORN was temporarily stripped of its federal funding by Congress in September after two conservative activists posing as a pimp and prostitute filmed ACORN employees offering them financial advice.

The DCCC Launches New Store Because It’s All About Saving Democrats

The DCCC Launches New Store Because It’s All About Saving Democrats

Christmas With The Obamas

Christmas With The Obamas

Monster readers may not be surprised to know that I sign up for lots of lists to receive lots of emails containing all sorts of information.  This morning I received an email titled ‘Cavier Dreams’ from Jon Vogel, DCCC Executive Director announcing the launch of a new store to raise money because they are at a financial disadvantage with the GOP (implied).  Whining liberal victims…

Friend —

The truth is that most of the time it’s easy for Republicans to raise money – they just go to one of their “Fat Cat” special interest friends and ask. And, poof, sure enough Republicans are granted a check so large it will most certainly guarantee a carefree year full of champagne wishes and caviar dreams.

Jon needs to pick up the phone and call George Soros.

Right now is a critical time for Democrats to show our strength and let the big GOP special interests know that we’re ready to stand up to their dishonest attacks. But when you’re working to improve the lives of all Americans-not just the big money special interests – it isn’t as easy, especially in tough economic times. In just a few short days, Democrats are facing their first FEC filing deadline following the historic health insurance reform vote and we’re already under attack by GOP special interests in an earlier than ever ad assault.

Jon, would you consider ACORN and SEIU to not be big money special interests?  Also, you might want to print the whole truth; Democrats are under attack by a majority of average, every-day AMERICANS that are spitting blood because they are so pissed the Dems continue to go against their wishes without even so much as a ‘by your leave’.

That’s why we launched MyDemocraticStore.com. The proceeds benefit House Democrats running for office, so you can help strengthen our Democratic Majority AND get a nice package to put under the tree or the menorah at the same time.

Jon, you better start fund-raising for your traitorous dems who are going to be in the fight of their lives for re-election if they even have the stomach to run after what is surely going to occur when Dems ram this, currently $1.8 Trillion, health care bill through. (H/T Patriot Room for the graph)

How Amusing Is This? SEIU Protests Goldman Sachs

At any other time I would probably be cheering, but in this instance, it’s the pot calling the kettle black and the exact same Alinsky tactics that ACORN used to make banks succumb to writing bad mortgages.  Don’t misunderstand me though, I dislike Goldman Sachs and their henchmen immensely, but on this issue, there are actual people with families behind those bonuses, and it isn’t communist Amerika yet.   Meanwhile, SEIU is making chumps out of their members.

SEIU protests Goldman Sachs’s D.C. offices

About 100 protesters gathered outside the Washington offices of investment banking giant Goldman Sachs, demanding the company donate its $23 billion in bonuses to help struggling homeowners avoid foreclosure.

The protesters, organized by Service Employees Union International and Public Citizen, came armed with “wanted” posters for Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein and a big red homemade vampire squid puppet, replete with fangs and cloak, that every so often tried to wrap its tentacles around a globe on a stick, acting out Rolling Stone writer Matt Taibbi’s description of the company as a “great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity.”

The protesters ended their rally by delivering a poster-sized letter addressed to Blankfein proposing the donation of the firm’s entire bonus pool to stop foreclosures. “Donating the entire Goldman Sachs 2009 nonus pool would prevent every single anticipated foreclosure in America in 2010, and Goldman Sachs would lift one million American families out of poverty at the same time,” the letter said. The letter also chided the company for playing “a central role in the economic collapse.”

So let me understand this; ACORN got these homeowners into this mess and now SEIU wants Goldman Sachs employees to clean up the mess.  What part of the American paradigm of personal responsibility is being applied here by either ACORN or SEIU?

Asked why SEIU was targeting Goldman when it was one of the companies that actually returned the billions it got from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, SEIU president Andy Stern told POLITICO that Goldman received tens of billions in other federal assistance, including about $12 billion via the AIG bailout as a counterparty to the mega insurer, which the federal government made whole.

“They’ve done very well. America came to their rescue when they needed it now America needs help,” Stern said.

The same Andy Stern who has visited the White House more than anyone else since the pResident was installed.

Your Daily Glenn Beck; 11.03.09: Obama, SEIU, ACORN, And The Power Of Persuasion (UPDATED)

Everything is connected, and for those of you searching for Cloward and Piven, go to Obama’s American Socialism: Decades In The Making.

(A note to Monster readers: I have become very ill suddenly – who knows if it is swine flu or Hawaii tourist crud – I will keep you posted, but I may not be posting as often until I feel better. Keep gathering the patriots for the “House Call” on congress on Thursday!)

UPDATE: 11.03.09 from ABC News:

Top Dems: Obama Won’t Get Health Care Bill in 2009

Senior Congressional Democrats say reform before end of year is highly unlikely.

Senior Congressional Democrats told ABC News today it is highly unlikely that a health care reform bill will be completed this year, just a week after President Barack Obama declared he was “absolutely confident” he’ll be able to sign one by then.

“Getting this done by the by the end of the year is a no-go,” a senior Democratic leadership aide told ABC News. Two other key Congressional Democrats also told ABC News the same thing.

This may come as an unwelcome surprise for the White House, where officials from the president on down have repeatedly said the health care bill would be signed into law by the end of the year.

“I am absolutely confident that we are going to get health care done by the end of this year, and Nancy Pelosi is just as confident,” Obama said Oct. 27 at a fundraiser for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi may still be confident — and her spokesman Brendan Daly said today, “We are going to get our part done” — but the reason for the delay can be found in the Senate.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has yet to release the bill he eventually plans to bring to the Senate floor. Reid is still waiting for the Congressional Budget Office to come up with an estimated cost of several possible variations of his bill before deciding which one to introduce in the Senate.

That cost estimate, Democrats tell ABC News, is not expected until next week.

Asked directly by ABC News, “Will you pass health care reform this year?” Reid pointedly did not answer “yes.”
Instead, he replied, “We are not going to be bound by any timetables,” adding, “We are going to do this as quickly as we can.”

The delay is causing some frustration among Reid’s fellow Democrats, but Reid said of his colleagues, “They want us to do this the right way, not the fast way.”

I wonder what will happen after Thursday?

Today’s AYFKM? Award: Maxine Waters And ACORN

10.26.09: I am bumping up this post as I wrote so many yesterday that many have missed this very IMPORTANT INFORMATION!

Mahalo, DT

********

(H/T Mike)

Any doubt who the traitors to the Republic actually are?

From Spencer Bachus (R-AL)

Democrats Vote To Give ACORN Regulatory Authority Over Financial Institutions

WASHINGTON – During consideration of H.R. 3126, legislation to establish a Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA), Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee voted to pass an amendment offered by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) that will make ACORN eligible to play a role in setting regulations for financial institutions. (emphasis mine)

The Waters amendment adds to the CFPA Oversight Board 5 representatives from the fields of “consumer protection, fair lending and civil rights, representatives of depository institutions that primarily serve underserved communities, or representatives of communities that have been significantly impacted by higher-priced mortgages” to join Federal banking regulators in advising the Director on the consistency of proposed regulations, and strategies and policies that the Director should undertake to enforce its rules.

By making representatives of ACORN and other consumer activist organizations eligible to serve on the Oversight Board, the amendment creates a potentially enormous government sanctioned conflict of interest.  ACORN-type organizations will have an advisory role on regulating the very financial institutions from which they receive millions of dollars annually in direct corporate contributions and benefit from other financial partnerships and arrangements.  These are the same organizations that pressured banks to make subprime mortgage loans and thus bear a major responsibility for the collapse of the housing market.

In light of recent evidence linking ACORN to possible criminal activity, Democrats took an unprecedented step today to give ACORN a potential role alongside bank regulators in overseeing financial institutions.  This is contrary to recent actions taken by the Senate and House to block federal funds to ACORN.

A recent inquiry into bank funding of ACORN activities by three House Committees found that institutions that would be regulated by the CFPA have provided millions of dollars to the organization in the form of direct donations, lines of credit, cash, and other assets over the last 15 years.

The Waters amendment passed on a vote of 35-33. Click here to view the vote.

H.R. 3126 Sponsored by, guess who, Barney Frank.

As soon as I finish reading this POS, I will put it up.  If you want to peruse it, click on the link above.

Bad Behavior has blocked 2229 access attempts in the last 7 days.

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