House GOP leaders invoked martial law earlier this month to fast-track a spending bill.

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Congress Declares Martial Law as Dollar Rapidly Collapses

TOPICS:Mac Slavo

October 9, 2015

By Mac Slavo

The debt ceiling issue is returning to the forefront in American politics, again threatening a government shutdown.

Last time, the shutdown resulted in sequester for many agencies that suspended work for many government employees; a great deal of political theater dominated the news cycle; but ultimately, things returned to a basic normalcy.

This time may be different, as a number of critical factors face Americans in 2015. Last week, Congress passed “procedural martial law” to address stop-gap spending as it faces the debt ceiling crisis again.

Meanwhile, this quietly announced martial law forced a vote on bills the same day, preventing members from even reading the legislation they were voting on, to avert an October 1 government shutdown. The move, which was done just a few weeks prior, shows how desperate things have become.


The Hill reported:

For the second time in a month, the House on Tuesday invoked “martial law” to allow more expeditious consideration of a stopgap spending bill to avoid a government shutdown on Oct. 1.

The use of martial law refers to bypassing the typical procedure that requires the House to wait a day after the Rules Committee produces a rule establishing floor debate parameters before voting.

[…]House GOP leaders invoked martial law earlier this month to fast-track a spending bill. But they ultimately never had to use it after the Senate opted to go first with the spending bill.

Crisis is averted – for now.

But the dollar is now an unwanted export commodity. As the U.S. rattles sabers with Russia in its proxy wars, the basis for American power overseas is rapidly collapsing.

China is ready to move forward with a “global reset” that would include the yuan in a global basket of currencies, and knock the dollar out of its reserve currency status.

Increasing troubles of U.S. and government financial institutions gives a sharp warning that things are coming to a head.

SGT Report issues a critical and under reported warning: “We are living in the last days of this Republic.”

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Administration sees crisis in Ukraine as opportunity to pass IMF reforms to impose sanctions on Russia. House Republicans do not approve

Enlarge Photo

Photo by: Marko Drobnjakovic

A woman walks past a local bank set on fire in Kiev's Independence Square, the epicenter of the country's unrest, in Ukraine on Feb. 25. The Obama administration is hoping the crisis in Ukraine will breathe new life into its stalled efforts to pass legislation reforming the International Monetary Fund in Congress this year. (associated press)

Administration sees crisis in Ukraine as opportunity to pass IMF reforms

By Patrice Hill-

The Washington Times

The crisis in Ukraine has unexpectedly breathed new life in the Obama administration’s stalled efforts to pass legislation reforming the International Monetary Fund in Congress this year.
Administration aides have seized on the crisis as an opportunity to piggyback the reforms to the global financing agency long sought by President Obama, which give a greater voting share on the IMF board to rising developing economies such as China and Brazil, onto a bill providing $1 billion in loan guarantees for Ukraine’s West-leaning government.
The aid package — and the IMF’s potential role in aiding the new government in Kiev — will likely come up when Mr. Obama meets for the first time with new Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk at the White House Wednesday.
Under the administration’s assistance plan, the IMF would lead Western efforts to provide Ukraine with as much as $35 billion in loans in exchange for Ukraine adopting much-needed reforms in its corruption-riddled economy. But the quick action that is needed to help Ukraine avert a default within months may be jeopardized if Congress continues to block the reform bill with its $63 billion increase in the IMF’s lending authority.
Moreover, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said the U.S. cannot take an aggressive leading role in addressing the crisis, as many in Congress demand, unless lawmakers acts on the reforms. The U.S. in the past has had effective veto power over IMF programs, but the administration’s failure to obtain additional lending power to the international agency from Capitol Hill has been eroding its influence there.
“It is imperative that we secure passage of IMF legislation now so we can show support for the IMF in this critical moment and preserve our leading influential voice in the institution,” Mr. Lew told the Senate Finance Committee, noting that many members of Congress have been “at the forefront of international calls in urging the Fund to play a central and active first-responder role in Ukraine.”
Credibility at stake
International finance analysts say the U.S. will lose credibility in the eyes of the world if it continues to call for action to help the new government in Kiev while holding back the IMF reforms that make that possible. In addition to the IMF receiving increased lending authority in the bill, Ukraine would get greater authority to borrow funds it needs from the IMF to stabilize its ailing economy.
“Since it was the U.S. that spearheaded the 2010 IMF reforms, the legitimacy of U.S. leadership is at stake,” said Jo Marie Griesgraber, executive director of New Rules for Global Finance. “Congressional approval is the only remaining impediment” preventing the reforms from taking effect, she said, as most of the IMF’s other 136 members have already approved them.
“We have heard the calls from Congress for stronger U.S. leadership on Ukraine. This would be an excellent time for Congress to approve the IMF reforms,” she said. “This is a win-win for members of Congress who wish to strengthen U.S. global leadership, specifically its position on Ukraine vis—vis Russia, without additional costs to U.S. taxpayers.”
The administration and IMF proponents argue that the increased IMF lending authority would do little to increase the budget deficit since it involves a reprogramming of funds already approved by Congress for emergency IMF loans during the 2009 financial crisis.
While Republican leaders earlier this year were willing to accept the reforms, they sought unsuccessfully for concessions from the administration in return. Some Republican members of Congress have balked at the legislation, contending that the $314 million on-budget cost is not negligible while the IMF lending programs leave U.S. taxpayers open to potentially large costs if borrowers do not repay their loans — something that has never happened in the IMF’s history.
“According to the Congressional Research Service, the U.S. has never lost money on quota commitments. In fact, there is some nominal interest earned on these commitments,” said Ms. Griesgraber.

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Bloomberg

Ukraine Aid Measure Approved With IMF Link House Opposes

By Derek Wallbank and David Lerman Mar 12, 2014 7:26 PM CT

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved an aid package for Ukraine that will face opposition from Republicans over changes in U.S. funding for the International Monetary Fund.
The Democratic-led panel voted 14-3 today for a bill that would give Ukraine $1 billion in loan guarantees it’s seeking as Russian forces occupy the Crimean peninsula. It also would authorize sanctions against Ukrainians and Russians deemed responsible for corruption and violence.
The measure, which had bipartisan support in the panel, “sends a message to Russia and the world that we support Ukraine,” said Democratic Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, the panel’s chairman.
U.S. House Speaker John Boehner earlier today rejected attempts by Democrats and the Obama administration to tie additional funds for the IMF to a Ukraine aid package.
“This IMF money isn’t necessary for dealing with this Ukraine crisis that we see today,” Boehner, an Ohio Republican, told reporters in Washington. House Republicans have resisted proposals to increase funds for the IMF for years.
The IMF overhaul is backed by the Obama administration, chief executive officers of major U.S. companies and Republican former secretaries of state Henry Kissinger and Condoleezza Rice, who have said funding the IMF would help Ukraine.

Senate Timing

Ukraine’s prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, went to the Capitol tonight after meetings in Washington with President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry. Speaking to reporters after he met in a closed-door session with Foreign Relations Committee members, Yatsenyuk said he wasn’t concerned about the time that it might take for Congress to approve the requested economic assistance.
“It always takes time to make good things,” he said.
He called the U.S. pledge of $1 billion in loan guarantees “the first real and concrete step how to stabilize the situation in my country, and we praise it.”
While Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters he hoped the measure approved today can be taken up by the full Senate tomorrow, Adam Jentleson, a spokesman for the Nevada Democrat, said the legislation may not be considered before members leave for a break until March 24. The Senate may depart as soon as tomorrow.
Three Republicans voted against the Senate measure in the committee: Senators James Risch of Idaho, John Barrasso of Wyoming and Rand Paul of Kentucky.

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ECONOMICS MARCH 13, 2014

If Ukraine Defaults, They Can Blame House Republicans

BY DANNY VINIK @dannyvinik

Ukraine needs loans to avoid a default and they need them fast. Last week, Secretary of State John Kerry pledged $1 billion to support Ukraine, but that money is now caught up in a political fight in Congress. Democrats want to include long-overdue reforms to the International Monetary Fund that would allow Ukraine to borrow more from the fund, but Republicans are opposed – unless, of course, Democrats will agree to a one-year delay of an IRS rule. “Let's make sure we all understand something: The IMF money has nothing to do with Ukraine," House Speaker John Boehner said on Thursday. But they do: They'd allow Ukraine to borrow 60 percent—around $600 million—more from the IMF.
In 2010, the G20 countries agreed to changes to the IMF that would transfer $63 billion from an emergency fund to the main fund and give emerging countries a larger representation on the board. For the U.S., the implications are minor. It does not increase our contributions to the fund and slightly reduces our voting power, but we retain veto power over major policy decisions. More than 130 countries have already approved of these reforms, but they cannot go into effect until Congress passes them.

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The New Zealand Herald

IMF team to remain in Ukraine

10:35 AM Friday Mar 14, 2014

WASHINGTON (AP) The head of the International Monetary Fund says an IMF fact-finding team in Ukraine will begin negotiations with authorities to develop an economic reform program that could lead to financial help from the lending organization.
Christine Lagarde said Thursday the team that went to Ukraine March 4 and normally would return to Washington to report to the IMF board will now remain until March 21.

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• U.S. bill on Ukraine delayed as Congress debates IMF, campaign finance
• If Ukraine Defaults, They Can Blame House Republicans
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• Ukraine aid package stalled in Congress
• US lawmakers split over IMF reforms in Ukraine aid plan
• UPDATE 1-US Senate Ukraine bill would impose sanctions on Russia - Reuters
• IMF team to remain in Ukraine

The 180-degree legal transformation of Barack Obama

Obama once disparaged presidents who use executive action to bypass Congress. How quickly things change...

By Tom Rogan January 28, 2013 

22

Then-Senator Barack Obama in March 2008: Trouble keeping his own promises? Win McNamee/Getty Images

"The biggest problems that we're facing right now have to do with George Bush trying to bring more and more power into the executive branch and not go through Congress at all. And that's what I intend to reverse when I'm president of the United States of America."
— Senator Barack Obama, March 31, 2008
Few politicians are disciples of truth. But when it comes to President Obama and executive power, the gap between rhetoric and reality is truly astonishing. The candidate who once promised a presidency of humility is long gone. Instead, this president has defined his administration by a naked and extreme exertion of executive power. And now he's been caught.
In its unanimous ruling late last week that the president's non-recess appointment of three officials to the National Labor Relations Board was unconstitutional, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals didn't pull any punches. Unfortunately, the court's ruling is a little late. For the past four years, Obama's executive authority has been restrained only by the limits of the president's imagination.
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Examiner.com

John Podesta: Obama 'warming up' to idea of ruling like dictator

Getty Images

Joe NewbyPolicy & Issues Examiner

January 28, 2014

While appearing on NPR Tuesday morning, White House adviser John Podesta said President Obama is "warming up" to the idea of unilaterally ruling by executive fiat, bypassing Congress whenever he can, CNS News reported.
"But he doesn't like to do this, does he?" the NPR host asked.
"Uh, I think he's warmed up to it," Podesta responded, laughing.
Podesta assured NPR that Obama would be using his executive authority to address a number of issues, including global warming.
"And I think you'll see that across a wide range of topics, including retirement security, moving forward on his climate change and energy transformation agenda," he added. "There's a lot that he has the authority to do that's vested in him under the laws of the United States and his constitutional powers, and I think that he's looking forward to a year of action, and I think he's looking forward to tonight as a breakthrough year where he can lay out some of these practical, concrete ideas that will get people on-board a stable economic footing and see their wages going up for the first time in a long time."

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Examiner.com

Expert to Congress: Obama's illegal behavior could spark armed revolt

CSPAN via Mediaite

Joe NewbySpokane Conservative Examiner

 

December 4, 2013

While testifying before a House panel Tuesday, Michael Cannon, director of the Cato Institute's Health Policy Studies, said Barack Obama's behavior -- specifically, his failure to adhere to the law -- could spark an armed revolt against the government, Mediaite reported.
“There is one last thing to which the people can resort if the government does not respect the restraints that the constitution places on the government,” he said. “Abraham Lincoln talked about our right to alter our government or our revolutionary right to overthrow it.”
“That is certainly something that no one wants to contemplate,” he added. “If the people come to believe that the government is no longer constrained by the laws then they will conclude that neither are they.”
“That is a very dangerous sort of thing for the president to do, to wantonly ignore the laws,” Cannon said, “to try to impose obligations upon people that the legislature did not approve.”
After the 2010 midterm elections, the liberal Center for American Progress advised Obama to use all of his executive power -- including his authority as commander-in-chief of the military -- to unilaterally push his agenda while bypassing Congress.
The result has been an unchecked executive branch issuing mandates through regulations and executive orders, sometimes ignoring established law.
In his written testimony, Cannon said that since signing the ACA into law, Obama has "failed to execute that law faithfully."
Obama, he said, "has unilaterally taken taxpayer dollars made available by the PPACA and diverted them from their congressionally authorized purposes toward purposes for which no Congress has ever appropriated funds."
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Valerie Jarrett claims , "Americans 'hungry' for Obama to act like an imperial president". Is that what Americans really want or what the Administration wants?

Examiner.com

Valerie Jarrett: Americans 'hungry' for Obama to act like an imperial president

Getty Images

January 28, 2014

On Tuesday, White House Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that Americans are "hungry" for Obama to take unilateral action, bypassing Congress wherever he can to get things done, CNS News reported.
"People around our country are hungry for action," she said. "And what you'll hear from the president tonight is going to be all about action -- creating opportunity -- and it's going to be a very optimistic speech."
According to Jarrett, Obama will "set forth very specific, concrete proposals that he thinks will move our country forward -- create opportunity for hard-working Americans who want to succeed."
Although Obama will prod Congress to act on his agenda, Jarrett said Obama "will make clear tonight that he will take action on his own," bypassing Congress when he sees fit.
"We're going to do what we can, within the president's own executive power, and working throughout the country with those who want to move our country forward," she added. "And it is a lot of potential there. And I think the optimism that the president has comes from the grit and determination of the American people, our businesses, many of who (sic) are bringing jobs back to America, so we have some momentum going, and we just need to call on everybody to work together, and that's what the president will do this evening."

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MSN News

Obama hiking minimum wage for new federal contracts

AP Photo: Jacquelyn Martin

President Barack Obama signs the $1.1 trillion spending bill that funds the federal government through the end of September, in Washington, Friday, Jan. 17, 2014 at Jackson Place, a conference center near the White House.

  By Jim Kuhnhenn of Associated Press

The increase, by President Obama's executive order, would benefit workers like army base employees and federally contracted janitors and construction workers.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama will sign an executive order setting the minimum wage for workers under new federal contracts at $10.10 an hour, the White House said Tuesday. The president will announce the increase during his State of the Union address.
The increase from a national minimum wage of $7.25 an hour will not affect existing federal contracts, only new ones. Moreover, contract renewals will not be affected unless other terms of the agreement change.
The order would be one of the biggest examples in the State of the Union of Obama's vow to use presidential authority to push for policies by circumventing Congress.
Obama has been under pressure from liberal groups and employee advocates to use his executive authority to raise the minimum pay for federal contractors. By limiting the increase to new contracts, the order would affect far fewer employees than if it applied to all government contractors.

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Related: White House warns Obama could go around Congress

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Liberals: Obama alone could raise minimum wage for many

By Jeanne Sahadi  @CNNMoney January 24, 2014: 4:15 AM ET

President Obama has said he will use whatever executive authority he has to help the middle class and the economy. Liberals say he should do so to raise the minimum wage for federal contract workers.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Just do it, Mr. President.

If Congress won't raise the federal minimum wage, you can. At least for people who work for companies that get federal contracts, subcontracts and grants.

So says a group of liberals in the House and Senate who want President Obama to sign an executive order requiring federal agencies to give preference in awarding contracts to companies that pay workers no less than $10.10 an hour.
Currently the federal minimum wage is $7.25. And there's been a push by Democrats to raise it to $10.10 -- an idea that Obama supports.
Doing so directly and indirectly could raise pay for up to 28 million workers, according to estimates from the liberal Economic Policy Institute.
But there's not a high chance Congress will pass that proposal anytime soon.
That's why 15 senators, led by Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and 17 members of the House, led by Keith Ellison of Minnesota, sent letters to the president urging him to exercise his executive authority.
"Profitable corporations that receive lucrative contracts from the federal government should pay all of their workers a decent wage," the senators wrote in their letter.
Demos, a liberal think tank, estimates such a move -- depending on how broadly it's structured -- could improve wages for up to nearly 2 million low-paid workers.

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Related: State with highest minimum wage may hike it again

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Bloomberg Business Week

Obama Won't `Simply Wait' for Congress: Jarrett

Jan. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to President Barack Obama, talks about the president's State of the Union address tonight and his plan to raise the minimum wage for federal contractors. Jarrett speaks with Tom Keene on Bloomberg Television's "Surveillance." (Source: Bloomberg)
Watch Video Here
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IRS Union Employees are not happy that HR 1780 would require ALL Federal employees to participate in the Obamacare program they will be enforcing. They want to be exempt.

CNS NEWS .com

IRS Employees' Union Urges Members to Oppose Obamacare--For Themselves

July 26, 2013 - 1:12 PM

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By Ryan Kierman

Subscribe to Ryan Kierman RSS

NTEU members (AP photo)

(CNSNews.com) – The National Treasury Employees Union, which represents Internal Revenue Service employees, is urging its members to oppose legislation that would force federal employees off their government healthcare plans and onto the state and national healthcare exchanges established under Obamacare.
Members of Congress and their staffers are already required to participate in the exchanges, which will go into effect next October 1st under the Affordable Care Act.
However, a bill (HR 1780) introduced in April by Rep. David Camp (R–Mich.) would extend that requirement to all federal employees, an idea that does not sit well with the union.
So NTEU is strongly urging its members –  including the Internal Revenue Service agents tasked with implementing Obamacare – to oppose Camp’s legislation, which would compel them to personally participate in the same healthcare program they will be enforcing.
On the NTEU website, union members are urged to email their congressman and senators, asking them to oppose H.R.1780. NTEU provides a sample letter that members can simply sign and send, or rewrite it as they wish:


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Sen. Sessions: We Should Do Everything We Can to Undo Obamacare

July 26, 2013 - 10:23 AM

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By Curtis Houck

Subscribe to Curtis Houck RSS

(CNSNews.com) - Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) said that members of Congress must do everything in their power to block the individual mandate in President Obama's signature health care law from going into effect in 2014.
On Capitol Hill Wednesday, CNSNews.com asked Sessions: "Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) wants the upcoming continuing resolution (CR)  to include language that prohibits funding for the individual mandate in Obamacare because the [similar] mandate for big corporations has already been postponed. Do you agree with Senator Lee and do you think funding for the individual mandate should be halted?"
"We should do everything that we can to block that... (to) undo Obamacare,” Sessions responded.
Lee has spent the last two weeks stating that he will refuse to vote for any continuing resolution that continues to fund the federal government past September 30th if it includes funding for the individual mandate component of Obamacare.
“The remedy is for Congress to refuse to fund the implementation of the program that the president insists is not ready to be implemented,” said Lee in an interview with CNSNews.com on July 11.
On July 2, the Obama administration announced that the section of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that requires employers to provide health insurance to employees would be postponed a year until 2015.  But the individual mandate is still slated to go into effect in 2014.
“Right now, this is the last stop before Obamacare fully kicks in on Jan. 1 of next year, for us to refuse to fund it." Lee told FOX News Monday.


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U.S. seeks to buy into Israeli missile programs

by Staff Writers

Tel Aviv, Israel (UPI) Jun 23, 2013

disclaimer: image is for illustration purposes only

The U.S. Congress is pushing for U.S. participation in developing Israel's Iron Dome counter-missile system, which would make the Americans partners to some degree in all the systems constituting the Jewish state's unique missile defense shield.
The U.S. House of Representatives this month tripled President Barack Obama's request for boosting U.S. funding of Israeli missile defense systems from $96 million to $284 million. This followed earlier increases in U.S. support for the Israeli missile programs.
U.S. financial backing for the missile defense systems began in the 1980s with the high-altitude Arrow program for which the Americans have paid the lion's share of the $1 billion development costs.
All this is separate from the $3 billion in military aid Israel receives from the United States every year.
The House Armed Services Committee approved the $284 million funding hike June 6. That includes an additional $15 million in funding for the Iron Dome system developed by Israel's Rafael Advanced Defense Systems of Haifa.
It's the only one of Israel's anti-missile weapons that's been tested in combat, with a claimed kill rate of 85 percent. It's also the only one of those programs in which U.S. defense companies have not participated, and thus had no access to the advanced technology involved.
Iron Dome, the bottom tier of the Israeli anti-missile shield, is designed to intercept short-range missiles and rockets, the only such system in service in the world.
Its unique feature is its computerized fire-control system, which can determine the trajectories of hostile missiles. It only engages those that will hit populated areas and ignores those that won't.
U.S. defense contractors, and members of Congress, have been seeking for some time to participate in Iron Dome.
The House committee's funding increase stipulated, in an amendment proposed by Rep. Joe Heck, R-Nev., that "it may be obligated or expended for enhancing the capability of producing the Iron Dome system program in the United States, including for infrastructure, tooling, transferring data, special test equipment and related components."
In March, the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency for the first time included in its annual budget $220 million for Israel to buy more Iron Dome batteries in fiscal 2014. That was the first time the agency has specifically sought money for Iron Dome, underlining the U.S. Defense Department's effort to maintain military aid for Israel despite major cutbacks in defense spending.



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