Putting the legislative package together is the obvious intention of Senate Republican leadership traveling to Mar-a-Lago to discuss the best process for the Border Security, Tax and Energy proposals.
President Trump initially wanted one big legislative package under reconciliation rules that permits Republicans to pass the legislation without Democrat party input. House Speaker Mike Johnson supported the same approach. However, the Senate republicans are worried they would have a harder time getting their personal indulgences in one bill.
Their Senate bribery system, their personal payment process through lobbyists, actually works better if they can negotiate each legislative proposal separately. Breaking the legislation into separate bills, especially the tax stuff, makes the payments from lobbyists much more targeted and lucrative.
WASHINGTON DC – Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) told reporters earlier Monday that Senate Republicans would soon be meeting with Trump “and talk about what he’d like to have done.”
“We’re all heading in exactly the same direction where we want to get to,” Barrasso told reporters, though he declined to discuss any details of the planned meeting.
Various House Republicans are expected to go down to Mar-a-Lago for meetings on reconciliation priorities throughout the weekend.
Trump endorsed the one-bill strategy for the tax, border and energy package on Sunday night on Truth Social. But he indicated he was still open to a two-track strategy in public comments on Monday.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune has backed a two-bill strategy, though he was careful not to emphasize that position Monday after Trump’s comments. But Ways & Means Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.) has pushed to put everything in one large bill, a strategy that has support from Speaker Mike Johnson. (read more)
Technically, corporations (special interest group) write the legislation that is being discussed here. Lobbyists then take the specific elements of the law they need adjustment and go find politician(s) to support it. Politicians get support from their peers using tenure and status etc. Eventually, if things go according to norm, the legislation gets a vote.
Within every step of the process there are expense account lunches, dinners, trips, venue tickets and a host of other customary financial way-points to generate/leverage a successful outcome. The amount of money spent is proportional to the benefit derived from the outcome.
The important part to remember is that the origination of the entire process is EXTERNAL to congress.
Regardless of how much they frame their authorship, congress does not write the laws or legislation, special interest groups do. Lobbyists are paid, some very well paid, to get politicians to go along with the need of the legislative group.
When you are voting for a Congressional Rep or a U.S. Senator you are not voting for a person who will write laws. Your rep only votes on legislation to approve or disapprove of constructs that are written by outside groups and sold to them through lobbyists who work for those outside groups.
While all of this is happening the same outside groups who write the laws are providing money for the campaigns of the politicians they need to pass them. This construct sets up the quid-pro-quo of influence, although much of it is fraught with plausible deniability.
This is the way legislation is created.
If your frame of reference is not established in this basic understanding you can often fall into the trap of viewing a politician, or political vote, through a false prism. The modern origin of all legislative constructs is not within congress.
“we’ll have to pass the bill to, well, find out what is in the bill” etc. ~ Nancy Pelosi 2009
“We rely upon the stupidity of the American voter” ~ Johnathan Gruber 2011, 2012.
Once you understand this process you can understand how politicians get rich.
When a House or Senate member becomes educated on the intent of the legislation, they have attended the sales pitch; and when they find out the likelihood of support for that legislation; they can then position their own (or their families) financial interests to benefit from the consequence of passage. It is a process similar to insider trading on Wall Street, except the trading is based on knowing who will benefit from a legislative passage.
The legislative construct passes from K-Street into the halls of congress through congressional committees. The law originates from the committee to the full House or Senate. Committee seats which vote on these bills are therefore more valuable to the lobbyists. Chairs of these committees are exponentially more valuable.
Now, think about this reality against the backdrop of the both the 2016 and 2024 Presidential Election. Border security, tax and energy policy legislation is passed based on ideology. In the aftermath of the 2016 election the system within DC was never structurally set-up to receive a Donald Trump “American Interests First” presidency.
If Hillary Clinton or Kamala Harris had won the election, their Oval Office desk would be filled with legislation passed by congress which they would have been signing. Heck, they’d have writer’s cramp from all of the special interest legislation, driven by special interest groups that supported their campaign, that would be flowing to their desk.
Why?
Simply because the authors of the legislation, the originating special interest and lobbying groups, were spending millions to fund the Clinton and Harris campaign. Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris would be signing K-Street constructed special interest legislation to repay all of those donors/investors. Meanwhile, congress would be fast-tracking the passage because the same interest groups also fund the members of congress.
President Donald Trump winning the election threw a monkey wrench into the entire DC system…. In early 2017 the modern legislative machine was frozen in place.
The “America First” policies represented by candidate Donald Trump were not within the legislative constructs coming from the K-Street authors of the legislation. There were no MAGA lobbyists waiting on Trump ideology to advance legislation based on America First objectives.
As a result of an empty feeder system, in early 2017 congress had no bills to advance because all of the myriads of bills and briefs written were not in line with President Trump policy. There was simply no entity within DC writing legislation that was in-line with President Trump’s America-First’ economic and foreign policy agenda.
Exactly the opposite was true. All of the DC legislative briefs and constructs were/are antithetical to Trump policy. There were hundreds of file boxes filled with thousands of legislative constructs that became worthless when Donald Trump won the election.
Those legislative constructs (briefs) representing tens of millions of dollars’ worth of time and influence were just sitting there piled up in boxes under desks and in closets amid K-Street and the congressional offices. Legislation needed to be in-line with an entire new political perspective, and there was no-one, no special interest or lobbying group, currently occupying DC office space with any interest in synergy with Trump policy.
Think about the larger ramifications within that truism. That is also why there was/is so much opposition.
No legislation provided by outside interests means no work for lobbyists who sell it. No work means no money. No money means no expense accounts. No expenses mean politicians paying for their own indulgences etc.
Politicians were not happy without their indulgences, but the issue was actually bigger. No K-Street expenditures also means no personal benefit; and no opportunity to advance financial benefit from the insider trading system.
Without the ability to position personal wealth for benefit, why would a politician stay in office? The income of many long-term politicians on both Republican and Democrat sides of the aisle was completely disrupted by President Trump winning the election. That is one of the key reasons why so many politicians retired immediately thereafter.
When we understand the business of DC, we understand the difference between legislation with a traditional purpose and modern legislation with a financial and political agenda.
For 2024, the Trump team has pre-organized legislative proposals that fulfill the policy goals made during the campaign. The border security bill, the energy proposals and the tax proposals are all legislative constructs created independent of congress by allies of President Trump 2.0
The debate now is how do the Senators get paid by lobbyists when the lobbyists have not had control of the language within the legislative policy?
Thus, a meeting to Mar-a-Lago is needed to work out how the Senators can get paid, and what elements of the special interests will be included in the legislation. The tax policy is the trickiest, because the corporations need control over their specific loopholes.
There are trillions at stake.
I appreciate this clarity on the ugliness of DC corruption.
How about, there will not be any payments to Senators from lobbyists… ?!
Do your job. Quit with the BS.
In his first term, President Trump DONATED his salary.
FUBAR!!
If I were in Trump’s position, I would do another CR and end it on June 1, 2025. On June 1, the budget and debt ceiling are due. If Republicans don’t pass the reconciliation bill, the government shuts down and we default on our debt. I would like to see if McConnell, Murkowski, Collins and Curtis would be willing to shut down down the government and default on our debt. They won’t. They love the government as much as the Democrats. Trump needs maximum leverage to pass his agenda. Don’t trust Senate Republicans. Always remember what McCain did on Obamacare. One big beautiful reconciliation bill is the safest path.
As a Utahn, there wasn’t a viable alternative to John Curtis as candidate for the Senate. But we really do not need Mitt Romney 2.0 as one of our Senators.
Whether or not you agree with the details of this topic, the fact that we are discussing a meeting such as this is quite refreshing, compared to the Biden/Harris regime.
What you describe is truly disgusting. It may be reality but it stinks.
Politics isn’t about the power you acquire to try pass legislation containing your own preferences. It is about who gets to go to Washington and make money deals with well financed lobbyists, who are working on behalf of their Corporate sponsors. It is like a high powered money exchange of cash for votes.
This happens on the streets of every city in the country once the ballots get distributed. If we let election processes be controlled by these people, they will fix the outcomes in exchange for big money donations, which they also do. This is why they all go crazy when any subset of the political gang is accused of trying to rig an election.
Elections have also been corrupted by the 100 year old project of weakening the controls over the election process. In the current version of this project, we are being inundated with illegal ballots going out to illegal entrants to our country. Next, will be the reduction of the voting age to 12 years old because they are old enough to make transgender decisions on their own, the giving of money to all illegal immigrants and of ballots for them to vote, providing voting precincts to penitentiaries so all convicted felons can vote in all elections, and on and on.
This is how elections get rigged by the wealthiest of the Globalist/Totalitarian Oligarchs and how politicians get big campaign donations from them. It has been going on under our noses long enough to be a running joke in the bars and restaurants in the trendy areas of the DC Political Swamp. Most of the State Houses also operate this way.
When I read Sundance’s critical review of what our government has evolved into, I can’t help but not think of the sacrifices of the freezing men at Valley Forge, or the sweltering Marines on Guadalcanal, or the frozen soldiers at Bastogne. For what did they suffer? For this?
Hear! Hear!
Exactly – time for Trump to find a way to stop this.
Even then, the oligarchs and banksters were funding both sides of that war. People just didn’t know it.
Now we do.
Its the same ole, same ole….
OK but when and where do you think this legislature of totally disinterested persons, just trying to do what’s right, existed? Heck, even the Apostles were jockeying for position on Christ’s right.
Great point of fact. Why must the willing and BRAVE (when it was most demanded of them!), sacrifice lives and limbs for the corrupt, the deceitful, the decadent? I once heard in my youth: “the Rich declare the wars, they send the Poor to fight them.” Maybe so – but I’d rather be among the willing and brave than share wealth among the corrupt and decadent.
From thousandaires to millionaires. A license to print $$$
A primary example of why we need term limits.
How about we go back to the old paths, where individual representatives of the people go forward into D.C. to represent the people or the states, taking the basic income offered, do their two terms of 4 or 12 years and then move on?
The system we have now, these representatives and Senators are only serving themselves. Most of them don’t even live in the areas they represent. Then they allow other entities to write and AMPLIFY national news articles about how the people are greedy for wanting a pension (from a life of jobs that paid none) through Social Security and military veterans compensation for injuries incurred in the endless wars, all the while raking in millions and millions of taxpayer dollars for themselves through “foreign aid” they pass through in the billions and billions of dollars. Taking stock tips on companies they are legislating on, using info which none of us are privy to, and enriching themselves and creating “bubbles” which burst and leave IRA accounts and pension funds bankrupt “for the people.”
If this graft by our own congress members is allowed to happen, I say it’s well past time that we, the people start yelling about it- in their faces, wherever they go. They are no better than a common criminal off the streets, except that the common criminal may have to pay for his crime – congress never does.
“Breaking the legislation into separate bills, especially the tax stuff, makes the payments from lobbyists much more targeted and lucrative.”
Seeing the explanations of the strategic as well as tactical might not make it more palatable to Americans who have, for years, asked for small individual bills, correctly titled, and easily readable. Many MAGA supporters were mistakenly thinking that they’d see this when now comes the notion of a giant ball of tinfoil, inside which are the litany of goals. “But it’s ok, ’cause MAGA & stuff.”
I don’t remember President Trump campaigning on smaller individual bills, correctly titled, and easily readable. He campaigned on tax cuts, deregulation, energy dominance, mass deportations and border security.
….sigh….if only Trump would explain this with the clarity of Sundance just how our ‘elected’ bullshit artists actually work within the swamp and expose them to the throngs of supports who will be watching his Victory rally on the 19th, the longevity of America’s republic might be extended more than the 4 years of Trumps last term. We know how we hate these politicians, but this explanation to the citizens would cement WHY we loathe them as much as we do.
The other wrinkle here is that only one of the senators on the Senate Republican Whip team (the group responsible for ensuring enough Republican votes to enact legislation to more Trump efforts forward) has an ‘A’ rating from Conservative Review. That Senator is Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee. All the others have no better than a ‘C’ rating and most rate ‘D’ and ‘F’. That means that this ‘get out the senate vote’ team is certainly not conservative; they are very much part of the RINO uni-party and cannot be trusted to enthusiastically support a Trump agenda.
An A for MB? She’s a rino thru and thru. She road in on Trump’s coat tails last time and then stabbed him in the back.
It is sobering to examine the entire filthy process in simple terms. Nice work, SD.
The big topic will be how to serve a slightly less smelly shit sandwich to the American people than Biden did for four years.
At least we’ll be able to afford sandwiches under President Trump.
It won’t be perfect, but it will be very very good. The economy will ROAR, the border will close, and millions will absolutely be deported making our streets safer.
Americans can and will do a helluva lot more fighting when they can afford to raise and protect their families.
Out of all the policy PDJT is going to enact, deportation will be the most interesting one.
I can say, without question, there is going to be violence. There will have to be, when it comes to the gangs. They aren’t just going to play dead. That is a whole lot of people, all in all, to be rounded up and moved out. I cannot see how ICE and Border cops do this alone. Without more manpower and firepower if need be.
Should be entertaining, anyways… 😉
In olden days, a politician called to ask for votes. Today its for money. If nothing the voter wants is absolute substantial, why are they needing money from them? OK, I guess I get it. Voters pay for them to run so they can get paid by the influential’ that goes into the pockets. Thanks Sundance.
Could any one Senator or House member actually write a Bill by themselves?
Every time I read in depth about Crap Weasel Congresscritters, I feel like I need a bath.
Want to end this BS, have Musk and his team expose every single DC politician about how rich they have become while in DC. And pound that fact 24/7/365. Show the people of the USA and the world how corrupt these scumbags are.
Are these comments forwarded to each and every member of congress and the Senate? They need to know that we understand their corruption.
No need to forward. The govt knows everything we say about them online.
I do not support and will not back any kind of Unity approach. We supported President Trump to drain the swamp, not unify the swamp critters behind our objectives.
Repeal the 17th Amendment. It’s the only solution I see to possibly ending this.
Thanks for the excellent write-up SD. It’s why I hang around.
” Senate republicans are worried they would have a harder time getting their personal indulgences in one bill.”
They can pound sand
As Trump used to say and is appropriate now – GETTEMOUTTAHERE. We don’t need no stinkin corrupt congressmen and women to make this country run. Any American off the street would better than these clowns.
Let me repeat myself. Its easy to fix. You can’t change the system so you must work within it.
You create a lobbyist group called We the People. 30 million people contribute 10 dollars a month to create a multi billion dollar lobbyist group. WE write the bills. WE payoff the senators. Then we become the largest lobbyist group in Washington and WE get what we want in the bills and get them passed.
The broken system is not going to get fixed. It will never work for us. Therefore we must become a lobbyist group with billions of dollars behind us
WoW!!! 1,000 upvotes!! Where can we start? Truly thinking outside the box!
I like your thinking.
Excellent job!
This is truly something to consider. If you cant beat them, join them, but as honest brokers. Getting what you want, because it makes sense.
Trump knows the system. He would benefit everyone of us if he exposed each legislator for what they have to gain by passing any bill.
Let’s see how Thune does on passing Trump’s cabinet nominees. I wouldn’t commit to anything with these backstabbing Senators without seeing them perform first.
We hire them but they don’t work for us. Insane. Yet we keep repeating the charade over & over expecting a different outcome. 😵💫
One of the best examples of this was the repeal Obamacare propaganda back in 2015-2016. It morphed into repeal/replace but the messaging was basically the same; “vote for us and we’ll get it done, by golly!” However, the unanticipated surprise happened, Donald Trump actually beat Hillary Clinton. Then, like clockwork, the loud calls to repeal/replace just dissipated and were gone, like an echo in a canyon. Fancy that?
How about we stop making new laws until the People ask for a new law to be created?
How about all D.C. politicians earn a basic salary that rises in proportion to the rise in the working class wealth increases, and never exceeds the salary of the working class (who, unlike politicians, actually work for a living).
We need special prisons just for politicians who work against the will of the people they swore an oath to serve.
They are SERVANTS and not our masters.
Saw a video. For the bottom 80%, a bill has a 30% chance of passing regardless of how many want it 0 to 100%. For the top 20% the bills likelihood to pass is pretty much equivalent to the % of them who want it passed.
How about we stop creating legislation and regulations, and start killing them?
Of course Congress would never do this, but what needs to be done is to outlaw all lobbyists. Outlaw all NGO’s. Make it impossible for any group or any corporation, or any individual to give more than a set amount ($2000 or so) or the equivalent in goods or services. Outlaw any stock trades by any member or by members of his family or by someone on behalf of the Congressman. Make it illegal for anyone who has served in government to sit on the boards of any corporation or as consultants to that corporation or be hired by media following his time in office.
That would insure that the members of Congress are responsive to the people, not the special interests. It would mean that Congressmen could not become rich in office. It would promote them doing their duty to people while in office and after they are in office.
1000 up votes Need to outlaw lobbyists and NGOS.only 10 year post out of office should the politicians sit in any boards.
I think that all politicians should be required to submit to an audit every year in which every penny that was spent by them either personally or by family is accounted for. Their “books” would have to match the payments made to them exactly or they would be subject to expulsion from the office they hold. If you want to be a “public servant”, you forfeit all privacy of your monies and their distribution….take it or go somewhere else. I one asked a group of senators and congress members the question, “How does a person elected to office, paid 175K a year, retire after 20 years or so with a net worth of 50-100 million?” One of the senators answered, “that’s PROBABLY something we should look into.” He’s still a sitting senator!
Many sage observers state the renewal of TCJA before July 2025, is critical to Republicans maintaining a majority in the House in the midterm election. Senators have 6 year terms and don’t have the same pressures. “One Big Beautiful Bill” is considered the surest way to get PDJT’s agenda implemented. I pray he persuades these Senators.
So based on the analysis above PDJT should be hosting lobbyists not Senators/S enate Leadership. Or, maybe one meeting for lobbyists and one meeting for Senators. Either way the President has to get inside this “lobbyist bill writing to Senator payoff” process and bend the current under-the-table payment mechanisms to work for his legislative agenda and critical tax/energy/national security issues. If he is successful in this endeavor he will hurt the feelings of a bunch of facile and preening senators who think they are entitled to these under the table payments for votes. I for one hope he puts all these senators in their place and shatters their corrupt world of financial largesse.
Burn it all down – how can we be a legitimate honest country with all this graft going on? We can’t – can’t President Trump stop all of it?
State legislation works this way, too. Each state agency (school districts, colleges, various departments) and special interest group have consultants who write legislation to benefit them, then find a legislator to carry the bill through the process until it becomes law. Senators and Representatives don’t author legislation – they are too busy raising money for their next election. This is why (at least in the state of CA) hundreds of laws are passed each year and most people have no clue what they contain.
With the people’s support, Trump is trying to get the Executive branch cleaned up, including the DOD. At some point, the collective US citizenry may have to deauthorize the legislative and judicial branches (maybe executive too), removing conflicted, corrupted and blackmailed members until new representatives and adjudicators can be elected and appointed.
Yes, our legislators got to the federal or state capitols nd get RICH! I bet 75%+ of the American voters do not know their representatives do not write the bills. Start calling and going into your reps home offices every day until they stand with Trump! They will have to take a cut in their “special interest $$$$$ or they will get primaried in 2026! Make noise people! Hold them accountable!
This is BS our politicians are mental midgets. When was the last time they wrote a bill that benefited the American people? Oh nevr in recent times. He’ll have AI write it and it will be under 100 pages and easy to read.