Washington is a city that thrives on secrets. That is a good thing over at the CIA but it is a very bad thing when Congressional politics are practiced in the dark, far from public scrutiny and for purposes that could unravel our nation's democracy.
No surprise then that published reports reveal seething lawmaker anger over the closed door deal cut between Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer and Senator Joseph Manchin that will allow the White House to acquire and dispense some $700 billion dollars as it sees fit through the so-called "Inflation Reduction Act of 2022."
"We don't know what [the substance of their deal]... is. They haven't released the text, they don't give us the detailed explanation," Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) was quoted in the Washington insider publication, The Hill.
The Senator continued, "So, I don't know how you could ask people to vote for something they don't know what it is."
What we do know is that the Biden Administration will be offered the opportunity to channel money – huge amounts of money – to selected programs, agencies, and election districts throughout the nation at a time when Congressional campaigning is reaching its peak.
Some would wonder if Facebook multi-billionaire Mark Zuckerberg could spend close to a half billion dollars to boost Democratic candidates during the Trump-Biden race just imagine what $700 billion in taxpayer monies could accomplish in the hands of the White House.
The idea that spending nearly three quarters of a trillion dollars will "combat inflation" is absurd on its face. That amount simply pushes America past an unsustainable debt of $30 trillion dollars and rising. By offering up his vote to Schumer in a secret deal that hands the White House a blank check, Manchin needs to look long and hard at the oath he uttered when he assumed that office and ask whether he has remained true to instructions:
I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.
Given what Schumer and Manchin have agreed to in their backroom deal, the Lord may be beyond helping us. It will be up to an informed, educated, focused, and angry American citizen to right this ship.
Lawrence Kadish serves on the Board of Governors of Gatestone Institute.
Allan Dobzyniak, M. D.