McConnell tried to pass the Bill without the restrictions against Trump profiting

[coeur_de_lion]

Democrats delayed stimulus bill to insert tighter ban on Trump family profiting

The strengthened language was accidentally omitted due to a clerical oversight, according to people familiar with the situation.

[link:https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/26/democrats-delayed-stimulus-bill-ban-on-trump-family-profiting-150282|

The Senate was about to approve the largest recovery bill in U.S. history on Wednesday night when when Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer hit pause, realizing something was missing — tighter language limiting the money President Donald Trump and his family would get from the stimulus.

Democrats and Republicans had already agreed to revise a clause that would bar money from going to Trump family-owned businesses during the novel-coronavirus outbreak, but that update was not in the final printed legislation, according to two people familiar with the situation.

For two hours, Schumer held up passage of the bill as the stricter language was inserted, the people said. The Senate passed the bill just before midnight.

“We told Republicans it was unacceptable to omit strict prohibitions on Trump businesses having access to the Treasury lending, as well as critical transparency measures, and that we would hold up the bill until they included them in the final text,” Schumer told POLITICO. “They relented and these important accountability provisions were successfully added to the final bill.”

[FiveGoodMen]

1. I'll bet it's still got a loophole

Or else, they'll just steal

[Ponietz]

26. Yeah, the loophole is trying to enforce a congressional subpoena in federal court

[underpants]

2. Clerical oversight huh?

[renate]

4. It was just a coincidence

These people have absolutely no shame. It’s the defining feature of the GOP. Thank goodness for Chuck Schumer!

[gratuitous]

34. Usually it's self-writing, not self-deleting legislation

Oftentimes, little goodies suddenly pop up in must-pass legislation and after the smoke clears and the dust settles, someone goes back through the bill and notices that a juicy little handout just went to a wealthy bankroller. Nobody knows how it got in there, and nobody knows who wrote it, but it's the law of the land now, so some fatcat gets a lovely little bonbon.

This is the opposite, though. A highly unusual restriction on a handout suddenly vanishes from a bill. Nobody knows who left it out, and we get "clerical oversight." I wonder if any of the $500 billion due to be handed out to big business concerns got inadvertently omitted? I'm guessing that the clerks exercise very careful oversight to make sure those provisions stay in the bill.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

51. Exactly. So thankful for Senator Schumer.

Lord how I hate repukes.

[leftieNanner]

3. The corruption is all out in the open now!

Not even trying to hide it. Sheesh.

I'm glad that Chuck notice that the language was "accidentally" omitted from the final bill.

[UpInArms]

5. Moscow Mitch had Rose Mary Woods prepare

the Bill.

[coeur_de_lion]

6. What is the significance of Rosemary Woods?

Is she special? Or would anyone who workd for McConnell have done the same thing?

[UpInArms]

9. She was Richard Nixon's Secretary

Responsible for 18 1/2 minutes of missing tape

[link:https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_Mary_Woods|Fiercely loyal to Nixon, Woods claimed responsibility in a 1974 grand jury testimony for inadvertently erasing up to five minutes of the 18​1?2 minute gap in a June 20, 1972, audio tape. Her demonstration of how this might have occurred—which depended upon her stretching to simultaneously press controls several feet apart (what the press dubbed the "Rose Mary Stretch" )—was met with considerable ridicule. The contents of the gap remain unknown. Later forensic analysis in 2003 determined that the tape had been erased in several segments—at least five, and perhaps as many as nine.

[coeur_de_lion]

12. Now I get it

[paleotn]

18. Oh no....not the Rose Mary stretch!

That takes me back...

[coeur_de_lion]

25. Funny!

[DFW]

27. Herb Block!

Herbert Block was probably the greatest American political cartoonist of the latter half of the 20th century. He despised the Republicans with a passion, but always felt a little bored when they were out of power. He loved savaging them with his wit.

One of my dad's biggest honors was when Herb made a caricature of him on the program of the Gridiron Club program when Herb was already getting close to age 90.

[RestoreAmerica2020]

29. Thanks. I'll have to research his work.

[DFW]

31. Herb was brilliant

There must be anthologies of his cartoons in print somewhere.

[coeur_de_lion]

39. I would buy that book if there is

That Rosemary Woods cartoon is hilarious.

[DFW]

40. Books. Plural. His career spanned over 50 years.

Last edited Fri Mar 27, 2020, 01:47 PM - Edit history (1)

From his foundation (he drew under the name "Herblock" ):

Herbert Block authored a total of 12 books: The Herblock Book (1952), Herblock's Here and Now (1955), Herblock's Special for Today (1958), Straight Herblock (1964), The Herblock Gallery (1968), Herblock's State of the Union (1972), Herblock Special Report (1974), Herblock on All Fronts (1980), Herblock Through the Looking Glass (1984), Herblock at Large (1987), Herblock: A Cartoonist's Life (1993), and Bella and Me (Life in the Service of a Cat) - (1995), updated Herblock: A Cartoonist's Life in paperback with an added chapter and 70 more cartoons (1998).

His career was almost concurrent with my dad's, and they knew each other for decades. Herb Block, Helen Thomas, Dave Broder, Art Buchwald, Jack Anderson, George Will, most of the Washington press did, right or left. DC is a very small town in that respect. My dad came to DC in 1950 as a correspondent for a one horse town on the St. Lawrence Seaway in upstate New York, and never left, died there in 2000. He got out of Columbia Journalism School 1947, and was hoping for bigger things, but when his tiny paper sent him to DC as an experiment in 1950, he found his niche. After a few decades, he knew everybody, and everybody knew him--except the public. He was never burdened with the national spotlight, and he was fine with it. Many of his contemporaries, of course, like all of the above, went the other way, but among themselves, they treated each other as equals. Will, by far the youngest of the group, is still around, but the rest have passed on.

[coeur_de_lion]

42. We sure could use him now

What an education you’re giving me! I disliked George Will until he came out against rump. Now i’m a big fan.

And of course I adored Art Buchwald. Who didn’t? Must’ve been really cool to know those guys growing up. I wonder what Art Buchwald would say if he were alive today.

You have some really cool stories and I would love to hear them.

[DFW]

43. Everybody loved Art

My parents saw him all the time. Ironically, as with Helen, I didn't spend much time with him until after my dad passed. Then, it was, oh, your HIS son! Dave Broder used to take us into the inner sanctum of the Washington Post and had us meet Herb Block's successor, Tom Toles. This started with me early on. As an 8 year old, my dad used to take me up to the Capitol and hang out at the Senate Press Gallery, a special large room set aside where Senators of both parties and member of the press could hang out. There were friends of the family (long story) like Javits and Humphrey, and then some Senators who just loved to entertain, especially Everett Dirksen of Illinois. His way of talking earned him the unofficial title of the "Wizard of Ooze." Then we used to just stroll into the Capitol. These days, you have to go through two layers of security and show what your business is.

Art today would have found a way, in his own unique style, to tear the Trumpanzees some savage wounds, all the while cloaking his barbs in the guise of the bumbling, confused Jewish guy from New York. One of Art's all time classic columns was written the year I was born, when he was a Paris correspondent. He called it Le Jour de Merci Donnant, and called it a guide to explaining Thanksgiving to the French. It was full of deliberate mistranslations, and had you in stitches if you understood both French and English.

[coeur_de_lion]

44. What fabulous memories

You're lucky. You grew up back in the day when everyone on either side were still civil to each other.

Even when we disagreed we all still respected one another. That all changed with *ush.

And now with rump it's like a mass psychosis or mass hysteria.

He's an asshole, he has always been an asshole, and people are devoted to him.

[DFW]

46. It was a different era for sure

I was a Senate Page summer replacement briefly when I was 15, and I clearly remember when the Senators, regardless of party, used to greet each other in the halls. I worked only the Democratic side of the floor, since my sponsor (you had to have a sponsor) was Humphrey. But even so, when running errands, there were always Senators of both parties running into each other in the halls, in the Senate office buildings, or in the shuttles between the offices and the Capitol.

One of the greatest stories was about Carl Rowan. He was a very outspoken journalist of the day, and quite a character. His son was in my class in high school. Carl (Sr.) was one of the first black DC journalists to really make a name for himself, and a decent salary to boot. As he used to tell it, he was mowing his lawn one day on his upscale property, when a fancy car pulled up and a well-dressed white lady asked him how much he got for mowing the lawn. Instead of letting her have it with both barrels, he thought for a second, and then told her, "ma'am, I get to sleep with the lady of the house." She then took off like a bat out of hell. Now this is typical Carl Rowan, so no one really knows if it's true, but what a great story. Only in DC!

[coeur_de_lion]

47. I bet you have a million great stories like that

I love it.

[DFW]

48. I probably do

Just small stuff in passing (it seemed at the time).

My brother and I were always pressing Helen Thomas for JFK stories. I've forgotten most of them, but there was one time she was with JFK at the White House, and he told her he would have to cut her short because he had to participate in a St. Patrick's Day parade, but he told her to just walk with him so they could talk a little longer. Anxious that she would get caught up in the parade, she told Kennedy, "but I'm not Irish (she was Lebanese)!" Kennedy smiled and replied, "nobody's perfect."

[coeur_de_lion]

49. I love that story!

I've been privileged to meet many really interesting and intelligent people on DU and I'm just so tickled today to get to know your background and read some of your stories.

You could write a book and perhaps you should. But meanwhile I hope you continue to grace us with your wit and your stories.

My Dad was an intelligence officer during the Vietnam war. He was stationed at the Pentagon during Watergate and would insist that we discuss the day's news at the dinner table each night. So I feel like I was steeped in Watergate lore but I had forgotten or maybe never even knew about Rosemary Woods.

Lucky you to have grown up in the heart of DC at a time when the best minds were shaping our views of the political scene.

And what a horror today must be for you. The intelligence and wit of your era has turned into the shit show that is trump.

God help us.

Keep the stories coming please I just love them.

[DFW]

50. Actually, I think my autobiography would be an exercise in boredom

I was usually a spectator, or, at best, a peripheral participant.

As for books, well, now that you mention it, I DID write one. It was called the first (and probably last) sci-fi/historical/suspense/romance novel. It did get some very friendly reviews, though. I got some great plugs for the back cover, too--Howard Dean, Spider-Man creator Stan Lee and Adrian Cronauer, the real man portrayed by Robin Williams in "Good Morning Vietnam." Adrian, by the way, was NOTHING like the Robin Williams character. I think there are still some youtube lectures with lectures given by him.

Yes, today is a horror for me. My European friends, who used to envy me presidents like Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, now laugh at me, and greet me with "America First!" and they mean it as a joke. A shit show, indeed!

[teamster633]

10. Rosemary Woods was the Nixon staffer who erased 17 minutes...

...of the Watergate tapes.

[coeur_de_lion]

13. Got it!

[lamp_shade]

7. "clerical oversight" MY A$$ nt

[catrose]

33. Yeah, just amazing that the clerical error wasn't in OUR favor

[Sunriser13]

41. It never is. n/t

[Marrah_Goodman]

8. He has his nose securely wedged up Trump's behind. n/t

[DFW]

11. In a $2 trillion bill.......

I'm betting there are little, subtly hidden billion dollar tidbits here and there to keep Moscow Mitch (as well as Trump, Jared and Doneric Jr.) rolling in it until well after their life expectancy has expired. Mitchie probably asked Dick Cheney for technical advice, since having $9 billion in cash disappear in the middle of the Iraqi desert is no longer an option. Having $9 billion disappear out of a package over 220 times that big is probably something their corrupt accountants can handle with little difficulty, especially if they are promised a 10% commission if the theft is accomplished without a trace..

[Lonestarblue]

16. I'm sure Mnuchin has included some carefully worded loophole that will allow Trump to cash in.

After all, it isn’t enough that he has already hosed taxpayers with his frequent golf trips and inflated prices, he plans to get a substantial portion of that $450 billion slush fund.

[rwsanders]

19. I think "disappear" was a way of covering the funding of some black ops

[DFW]

30. No doubt

But you can bet there was plenty left over for Cheney to spread around among his pals, not the least of whom was himself. You can't inconspicuously spend a billion in cash in the USA, but there was a reason Halliburton moved its world HQ from Texas to Dubai after Obama was elected. The only thing Cheney did to muddy the waters was to change the ownership of his house on Kish (wonder why they never attack Iran?) from his name to Halliburton's. Kish keeps a register of its residents, and partly by the amount of wealth they declared. An Iranian Exile who is allowed back to visit his family saw the register on Kish, and saw Cheney's name in place 76. That will, of course, have been erased now, but I'll bet the house in Halliburton's name still stands as such.

[rwsanders]

37. Thanks, good information!

[Grins]

14. The problem: That this had to be part of any bill.

To specifically have THAT language in a bill...!

[johnthewoodworker]

15. The fact that republicans are still interested in government means there's still shit to steal.

[ffr]

17. Schumer should have then insisted on double the funding for HRC to profit from it.

Using the same wording the Russians inserted into the bill to help tRump.

Doubt they would have noticed and doubt HRC would attempt to profit. But the optics of that would slam the HRC doubters once and for all, that she is one of the, if not, THE greatest public servants there ever was. America missed out on a great leader at a critical juncture in our nation's history.

My $0.02.

[Laelth]

36. +1 n/t

-Laelth

[Vinca]

20. I'm surprised Mitch didn't try to add in the cost of armored vehicles delivering gold bars from

Fort Knox to Mar-a-Lago. Don's style has really been crimped. He can't even gouge us for golf cars while acting the part of "war president."

[Hortensis]

21. McConnell et al were able to tell Trump they tried their best.

I'm sure Schumer completely understood their desire to be able to say that. And that searching for clerical errors in "final" versions is SOP.

[Pillow talk]

22. how messed up is the republican pov that extra protections are needed

from something that's already law.

[nuxvomica]

23. If, hopefully, McConnell loses in November he should be investigated

He may not be criminally liable for this, covered as it is under "official duties blah blah blah", but he exhibits a real pattern of corruption and is probably criminally liable for a lot of things we don't even know about yet.

[coeur_de_lion]

24. The whole fucking lot of them

All as crooked as a dog's hind leg.

The list is so long by now.
Trump & family
McConnell
Kushner
Meadows
Gaetz
Burr
Loeffler

I'm sure members of DU could make this list as long as my arm.

[sabbat hunter]

28. accidentally

My ass!

[rustysgurl]

32. Of course he did ...

reprehensible bucket of scum (and that's an insult to scum everywhere).

[mikewv]

35. I don't wish bad on anyone, but I would not shed a tear for him (nm)

[H2O Man]

38. Recommended.

Way recommended, at that.

The republicans have no shame.

[ck4829]

45. "Accidentally"