Page #7 from the DHS budget for Customs and Border Patrol shows a staggering cut in infrastructure spending on the U.S-Mexico border.

In total the budget is cut from over $1.5 Billion to less than $55 Million.  The border wall spending is cut from $1.3 billion to ZERO.

[Source pdf – Biden DHS Budget]

For an administration that keeps hyping the need for infrastructure spending, it would appear some infrastructure is more important than others.  National security infrastructure to secure the border is virtually eliminated.

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When Democrats want to pass legislation they will use any method available, including budgetary reconciliation to avoid the legislative threshold.  In an almost identical manner to the creation of Obamacare, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer once again used the ‘reconciliation process’ to initiate another massive expansion of government.

Meanwhile, Mitch McConnell pretends to gnash his teeth…

WASHINGTON – “[…] The Senate bill includes several changes from the version passed by the House last week. The House’s legislation would have increased the minimum wage to $15 an hour, which the Senate parliamentarian determined violated Senate rules. While Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) sought to overrule the parliamentarian and pass the minimum wage hike as an amendment to the package Friday, eight Senate Democrats joined Republicans in voting against it, a sign that it had no chance of passing.

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Sunday night President Trump signs HR 133 the $900 billion COVID-19 relief bill and Omnibus spending bill to fund government through September 2021.

According to released press reports, President Trump is signing the bill with rescission requests demanding that portions of the bill be struck from final implementation by the Senate. The President is redlining the bill and providing line-by-line instructions to congress on the provisions within the bill that need to be modified and removed.

The signing of the bill carries a statement from President Trump: ““As President, I have told Congress that I want far less wasteful spending and more money going to the American people in the form of $2,000 checks per adult and $600 per child.”

The statement continues: “The senate will start the process for a vote that will increase checks to $2,000, repeals Section 230, and starts and investigation into voter fraud.”

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There has been a great deal of political narrative engineering/fabrication surrounding President Trump’s admonitions to congress about a pork-filled COVID relief package.  With a budgetary “shut-down” date looming on Monday, let’s look at the issues.

First, there’s no such thing as a federal government “shut-down”; the only thing that happens if with a budgetary date exceeded is “non essential” government employees told to stay home (reference the prior “sequestration” nonsense).

Second, the jaw-droppingly tone-deaf and pork-filled scheme of spending within the $900 billion COVID relief package is disconnected from the Omnibus spending bill ($1.5 trillion) that was combined into a single legislative construct for convenience only.

The Omnibus bill (non budget spending/allocation) and the COVID bill can be separated, because they are technically separate bills.

President Trump wants congress to re-write the $900 billion COVID bill to provide $2,000 per person instead of $600 per person.  In essence Trump is asking for a stand alone COVID relief bill for $2k/person, then drop the $600/person payment out of the pork-laden COVID relief bill and start that economic relief bill over.

This is not a hard issue to resolve.  The only reason UniParty congress is fighting Trump is because their lobbyist and foreign government bribes are part of the $900 billion and will not pass the scrutiny of public opinion if standing alone.

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Good grief the UniParty is in full swing and they don’t even care what our opinion is about this massive $2.5 TRILLION (approximated because it hasn’t been scored) COVID/Omnibus spending bill that totals over 5,600 pages.  [LINK TO BILL]

The actual 5,600 page bill wasn’t populated for public review until shortly after noon this afternoon and staff had an issue putting it on-line.  Incredibly, and in keeping with the previous approach preferred by congress, the House plans on voting on this bill today; and Mitch McConnell wants the Senate to pass it by unanimous consent (no recorded votes).

My rough review shows an approximately 70/30 split on the $900+ billion COVID package.  Approximately 30 percent +/- of the bill will actually help working class families and businesses on Main Street.  Approximately 70 percent of the bill will go to political donors, special interests, environmental lobbyists, K-Street groups who wrote the bill, foreign interests, Wall Street and corporate beneficiaries.  [Scour the Bill Here]

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Sweet baby Jesus – it’s flipping dejá vu all over again !!

CTH knew Pelosi and UniParty leadership were going to use the 2008/2009 TARP approach to construct the scale of their COVID bail-out package, but we had no idea they were going to use the EXACT SAME amount…  The UniParty is flying high tonight.

According to recent reports (which seem accurate) congress has just agreed to the largest bailout and budget combined spending bill in history.  The seriously sketchy COVID “relief” (insert term “bailout”) package is $900 billion, and they are throwing in a $1.4 Trillion omnibus spending bill… This is literally identical to what Pelosi and crew did when Obama was coming into office in 2007.

~ The total combined package is over $2.3 TRILLION ~

(Via Politico) […] House and Senate are now on a glide path to approve the aid package and its partner, a $1.4 trillion bill funding the government through September.

Though the Fed feud dominated the past 48 hours, the crux of the package remains the same: a $300 boost in weekly unemployment benefits, $600 relief checks for adultsand children, more than $300 billion for small business aid and huge pots of money for schools, hospitals and vaccine distribution. (read more)

Butter my buns and call me a biscuit, how can people not see what is going on here?  2020 is an exact replica of 2007 with COVID taking the place of TARP.  And… to top it all off, we have omnibus spending bills replacing the federal budgetary process all over again. FML.

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Secretary of Treasury Steven Mnuchin appears on Fox News Sunday to talk about negotiations with Speaker Pelosi for a funding mechanism for government.  Mnuchin outlines another “CR” (“Continuing Resolution”) that will extend funding through December 2020.

Additionally, Mnuchin discusses a “very targeted” COVID-19 support bill for those sectors, industries, companies and small businesses feeling the strongest impact. As the treasury secretary outlines, the administration is seeking optimal solutions for the current status.

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A contrast in interviews between the obtuse Jake Tapper and Maria Bartiromo discussing the Trump administration efforts to reopen the economy.  While Bartiromo still leans toward policy initiatives to bail out her Wall Street allies, the doomsayers who never focus on solutions. The previous economic package is working and delivering positive results.

As White House economist Kevin Hassett noted yesterday, any phase-4 relief package would be very specifically targeted -as tax incentives, not spending- toward only those companies and industries that are negatively impacted during earnest efforts to reestablish their footing.

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Though the U.S. and Canada are not part of the “OPEC Plus” group, President Trump has  been leading negotiations between Saudi Arabia and Russia to broker a deal and stop their price war.  Today President Trump announces an agreement between the major petroleum exporting countries to curb oil production by approximately 10 million barrels per day:

Additionally, there was a loggerhead within the negotiations as Mexico did not want to cut their production by the requested amount of 400,000 barrels daily.  Mexico relies on oil as a large part of their economy. AMLO stated his economy could not withstand such a significant drop in state revenue.  Economic security is, after all, national security.

President Trump broke the OPEC+ stalemate by agreeing to decrease U.S. production by 300k/barrels allowing Mexico to drop a more manageable 100k/barrels.  Trump and AMLO reached an undisclosed agreement where Mexico will reimburse the U.S. later on.

I suspect the “reimbursement” will be more, well, strategically geopolitical than financial.  [*nudge-nudge*, *wink-wink*, *say-no-more/say-no-more*]  President Trump has an uncanny knack of collecting leverage for later, more strategic, purposes.  Just sayin’.

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U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin calls-in to Maria Bartiromo to discuss some of the details within the coronavirus relief bill, including the ‘when’ and ‘how’ funds will be distributed.

On the business side Secretary Mnuchin is standing up a new funding mechanism for small businesses within the Small Business Administration (SBA).  The treasury is using the architecture of the ¹FDIC to be the point of contact for businesses who need short-term bridge funds to help carry them.  On the worker side the direct payments to middle-class workers should arrive in two to three weeks.  Excellent Interview:

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¹That is really smart.  All FDIC insured lenders can operate as point of contact lenders for small businesses that need emergency funding.  That means instead of navigating the matrix of big government, a business owner can just go to their local bank and get the funds.  The FDIC, already in a relationship with the bank, back-stops the funding while treasury underwrites the lending (a loan without payback).  Brilliant approach.

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