Column: Trump blocks coronavirus bailout oversight even before it can start

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Even faster than Congress came together to pass its $2-trillion coronavirus bailout bill, President Trump signaled his intention to interfere with one of its most important provisions — public oversight of how the money gets doled out to big business.

In signing the bill late Friday, Trump stated that he considered several oversight provisions of the bill to exceed congressional authority — in fact, to represent "impermissible...congressional aggrandizement."

They include provisions requiring that the chief bailout overseer, the special inspector general for pandemic recovery, or SIGPR, inform Congress "without delay" if executive branch departments "unreasonably" refuse the overseer's request for information.

With $2 trillion in federal spending, oversight is not an elective; it’s an imperative.

Rep. Katie Porter, D-Irvine

"My administration," Trump wrote in a signing statement issued after he ceremonially signed the bill, "will not treat ... this provision as permitting the SIGPR to issue reports to the Congress" without presidential approval.

Trump's statement thus signals that he'll feel free to order executive branch departments not to cooperate with the inspector general.

https://news.yahoo.com/column-trump-blocks-coronavirus-bailout-163113509.html

[Celerity]

1. I said this within an hour of his signing statement, and was told that the Congress would overcome.

I still maintain it will not. Trump has too much blockage power as long as the Moscow Mitch Senate and the courts are stacked in his favour. Aslo, he will just ignore subpoenas and court decisions he doesn't like. He, at this point, is unaccountable until January 20, 2021, and if he win reelection, more than likely will never be checked until he drops dead or his term runs out (and I see the latter being a huge issue come 2024, especially with almost 5 more years of court stacking, including the SCOTUS at that point.)

[dustyscamp]

3. I'm hoping for a miracle that will get rid of these corrupt fools

[Igel]

2. That part of the signing statement came off differently

in the original.

In the retelling it's a bit different. Think of it as "adapted for the studio audience."

There were two points.

1. Trump disputed the authority of Congress in imposing the requirement, and said he considered that part void.

2. Trump also said he suspected that what Congress demanded the special inspector general would do anyway, since permission was granted. But it wasn't guaranteed because there were things that could be more important than informing Congress "without delay."


It's mosstly like saying, "Son, stop right there--you can't use my car without permission. Oh, and you have my permission."

There was another provision that was less amenable, but also less inflammatory. Forget what it was, then again it's late and it's bedtime.