Multiple layers of deceit, deception and manipulation lay within this story.  In addition, the fundamental principles of the Decepticons in the Senate surface with increased clarity.

The underlying issue is the Federal Surface Transportation Program commonly called “the Highway Bill”.  The Highway Bill is technically supposed to be a legislative tool to set priorities for the expenditure of tax revenue coming from federal gasoline taxes; roads, bridges, transportation systems – building and repairing as such.

However, as with all ‘revenue spending bills’, you find a bastardized special-interest process where more legislatures want spending on “their pet projects” than is available from the revenue raised within the tax collection.   Ergo immediately you can see the ingredients for corruption or what DC calls “sausage-making”.

Backroom deals, bribes, quid-pro-quo, lobbying schemes, booze – sex – blackmail and leverage, yep, back rubbing DC at it’s more traditional level.   Ultimately ending in more spending embedded in the authorizations than revenue raised by the taxes.  Yes, more, even more, deficit spending. (more…)

As we have continued to outline, it is important to understand the interests of the CoC.  The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the Wall Street construct to look out for the best interests of stock valuations.  The CoC then pays lobbyists to bribe Senators for support for Wall Street’s best interests.

Peel all the skin off the onion, get to the rotten political core, and this is ultimately the source and origin of the GOPe angst against Main Street via attacking Donald Trump.

(Via Reuters) Washington lobbying by companies and groups involved in global trade boomed in the past nine months, records show, as Congress debated a landmark trade pact proposed by President Barack Obama, the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

Lobbying expenditures by members of a pro-TPP coalition increased to $135 million in the second quarter of 2015, up from $126 million in the first quarter and $118 million in the fourth quarter of 2014, according to Senate Office of Public Records reports reviewed by Reuters. (more…)

WASHINGTON – A key part of President Obama’s legacy will be the fed’s unprecedented collection of sensitive data on Americans by race. The government is prying into our most personal information at the most local levels, all for the purpose of “racial and economic justice.”

Unbeknown to most Americans, Obama’s racial bean counters are furiously mining data on their health, home loans, credit cards, places of work, neighborhoods, even how their kids are disciplined in school — all to document “inequalities” between minorities and whites.

This Orwellian-style stockpile of statistics includes a vast and permanent network of discrimination databases, which Obama already is using to make “disparate impact” cases against: banks that don’t make enough prime loans to minorities; schools that suspend too many blacks; cities that don’t offer enough Section 8 and other low-income housing for minorities; and employers who turn down African-Americans for jobs due to criminal backgrounds. (more…)

A ruling this morning from the Wisconsin Supreme Court (read here), rendered official what observers have long known for a long time:

Wisconsin Democrats did, in fact, launch a massive, multi-county “John Doe” investigation of the state’s conservatives, featuring extraordinarily broad subpoenas and coordinated “paramilitary” raids of private homes; the “crimes” that provided the investigation’s pretext were not crimes at all, but First Amendment-protected speech; and the legal theory underpinning the investigation was bunk, “unsupported in either reason or law,” as the court put it.

[…] On October 3, 2013, multiple Wisconsin conservatives were awakened by a persistent pounding on the door, their houses were illuminated by floodlights, and police — sometimes with guns drawn — poured into their homes. Once inside, the investigators turned the private residences of these innocent conservative citizens “upside down,” seeking an extraordinarily broad range of documents and information. These raids were supplemented by subpoenas that secured for investigators massive amounts of electronic information.

The court was obviously disturbed: (more…)

The vote was 218-208. Backing the bill were 190 Republicans and 28 Democrats; 50 Republicans and 158 Democrats voted against it. Eight members did not vote.

Neither Wall Street nor their 24/7/365 lobbying group, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, care about U.S. jobs.  Their collective stakes are based on business financial statements which can be improved if expenses are reduced and labor costs are outsourced.

Tom Donohue, CoC President, controls the congressional reelection purse strings.  Both John Boehner and Mitch McConnell are beholden to Tom Donohue; that’s why both are working earnestly to deliver something vital to the CoC and President Obama.

Well written article -> (Via Politico) […]  It’s the second time in two weeks that Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) chamber voted to approve the legislation. The legislation was halted last week by House Democrats, who voted against an aid package for workers in an attempt to scuttle the larger trade agenda. This time, Boehner and McConnell devised a complicated process that could deliver Obama his biggest legislative achievement in years.

The legislative maneuvering, on which Boehner and McConnell consulted with Obama during a conference call this week, could result in Obama approving the trade package before the July 4 recess — and eventually usher in a trade deal that would touch 40 percent of the global economy. The fast-track authority is essential, proponents say, because it would bar Congress from making any changes to the Trans-Pacific Partnership after a deal is reached between the U.S. and other negotiating countries. Lawmakers would get only an up-or-down vote on the pact. (more…)

TAA or “Trade Adjustment Assistance” was a legislative package attached to the “fast track” portion of legislation for President Obama’s Trans-Pacific Trade Agreement Authority.

In essence, TAA was a provision to provide financial assistance for any displaced U.S. workers who were negatively affected by any trade agreement. TAA was attached to the Senate’s bill for “fast track trade authority” which lowers the threshold for Senatorial Consent on any Obama trade deal. TAA was basically attached to, packaged with, TPA to get more support the fast track measure.

However, TAA failed to pass (126-yea, 302-nay):

WASHINGTON […] Only 40 Democrats backed TAA while 144 voted against it. On the GOP side, 158 Republicans voted “no” while 86 Republicans voted “yes.”

The vote against TAA is a humiliating defeat for Obama, who had spent weeks lobbying House Democrats to support his trade agenda in the face of overwhelming opposition from liberal groups and organized labor.

(more…)