We are back with another episode of “What’s in the Build Back Better Act — Part 3.” We continue our dive into the massive 2,468 page monster. As of today, the bill is still under review in the Senate.
Democratic Senator Joe Manchin doubts that the bill will pass by Christmas and apparently has budget concerns — he thinks budget gimmicks hide the true cost of the bill and he's pushing for a $1.75 trillion cap. Manchin says,
"Debt and inflation are a big concern for me. Basically we should pay for what we're doing."
Now there’s a novel idea! Ya think!?
The entire House bill, also known as H.R. 5376, can be read in full here.
See here for Part 1 of the Monetary Current review where we looked into Titles I and II. See here for Part 2 of the review in which we review Title III. Now we’ll look into Titles IV thru XII. Let’s do it.
TITLE IV—COMMITTEE ON FINANCIAL SERVICES
In Title IV, there is ~$300 billion allocated for public housing “investment” and “accessible” home ownership. Within 146 pages, I see a sprinkle of words like, “fair,” “equitable,” “affordable,” “minority,” “loans,” etc. The concept here is not new. The government has been in the business of public housing for decades and has failed to improve the lot of those that these “investments” are purported to serve. As Ron Paul stated on the floor of the House in 1997,
“Public housing started in 1937 with the U.S. Housing Act, and we have been living with public housing ever since. In 1965 HUD was created, and since that time, we have spent literally hundreds of billions of dollars. We have no evidence of any sort to show that public housing is a good idea. It causes a great deal of problems and actually takes housing away from many, many poor people. But it costs a lot of money and costs a lot of hardship to a lot of people. The principle of public housing is what needs to be debated. … Since we have had 30 years of experience and there is proof now that it leads to corruption and drug-ridden public housing projects that do not last very long and it costs too much money, we ourselves who present the market view have not done a good job, emphasizing lower tax, less regulation and growth economy, sound monetary policy, low interest rates; this is what will eventually give housing to the poor people.”
Well, banks are certainly smiling at the prospect of this new money trough. And landlords that have failed to maintain their properties will be rewarded for their neglect. What’s better than a sure-fire way to get rich off of government-backed loans? For example, in SEC. 40007 REVITALIZATION OF DISTRESSED MULTI-FAMILY PROPERTIES, we see money appropriated for —
“providing direct loans, which may be forgivable, to owners of distressed properties for the purpose of making necessary physical improvements, including to subsidize gross obligations for the principal amount of direct loans …”
No risk, only reward. With these loan types, the bank’s profits are privatized and the losses are subsidized. What is the point of a loan that is defined as forgivable from the onset? When that much guaranteed money is being thrown around, the banking piranhas and the crappy landlords will swarm in to get a piece. Those that truly need help will simply be treated as tokens for subsidies with no real concern of their livelihood.
TITLE V—COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY
In Title V we see a total of roughly $860 million “in addition to amounts otherwise made available” to expand the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). The money is appropriated for development and expansion of some things that I had never heard of but certainly sparked my curiosity, including:
a “cyber range,”
the “Crossfeed and CyberSentry” programs,
and “the economy plan” required under the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)
A cyber range is an interactive, simulated platform and representation of networks, systems, tools, and applications, etc. It is essentially a simulation playground in the cyber-sphere for practicing the skills of hacker warfare.
Crossfeed is a data-collection program purportedly to provide a “comprehensive picture of organizations’ posture and exposure along with a snapshot of their assets from an attacker’s perspective.” CyberSentry is a program that leverages commercial off-the-shelf technologies, such as network intrusion detection tools, to identify malicious activity in critical infrastructure, industrial control systems, and corporate networks. It purportedly provides the capability to detect nation-state adversaries.
The data-collection of these two programs supposedly enables the CISA to better fulfill its existing vulnerability management requirements. Of course, those of us who are just a tad bit skeptical see this as simply an increase in the federal spying apparatus.
Lastly, “the economy plan” is a most curious thing. From the NDAA legislation, the “economy plan” is defined in SEC. 1086 —
“The President shall develop and maintain a plan to maintain and restore the economy of the United States in response to a significant event.”
As we’ve seen with governmental actions of Covid-mania, this gives the Executive branch tremendous power to centrally plan the economy when a “significant event” occurs. Unfortunately, the definition of “significant event” is whatever the President wants it to be.
Beware. In Australia, their government has setup an internment camp used to quarantine Australians for Covid. Apparently, 3 teenagers managed to escape in the wee hours of the morning setting off a police manhunt. They were all caught and now face fines up to $5,024. The fact that each of the escapees tested negative for Covid, illustrates the absurdity of the whole thing.
TITLE VI—COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
Subtitle A—Immigration 12 Provisions
This subtitle sets out all sorts of criteria to give the Secretary of Homeland Security power to adjust the status of “certain entrants” into the country. The eligibility criteria is quite extensive and you almost need a lawyer to read through to make sense of it.
Subtitle B—Community Violence Prevention
$2.5 billion is allocated to fund —
“training, technical assistance, research, evaluation, and data collection on strategies to effectively reduce community violence and ensure public safety; and …. evaluation, and data collection on the differing impact of community violence on demographic categories.”
I expect this seemingly tame program will be used against political enemies, like parents of school children.
TITLE VII—COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES
I noticed in part 1 of the Monetary Current review of this bill that a Civilian Climate Corps was to be established. This title authorizes $3.5 billion for various Civilian Climate Corps programs.
There is more money associated with other programs identified for public land management, “renewable” energy projects (e.g., solar power), and collaboration with tribal governments.
Subtitle G—Insular Affairs
This one is interesting: SEC. 70703 SETTLEMENT OF CLAIMS AGAINST THE UNITED STATES FOR CERTAIN RESIDENTS OF THE ISLAND OF VIEQUES, PUERTO RICO.
This section designates $300 million to compensate —
“the municipality of Vieques, and an individual claimant who is or was a resident, the child of a resident, or an immediate heir … of a deceased claimant who was a resident on the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico, in the period or after the United States Government used the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico, for military readiness.”
I don’t know much about what happened at Vieques, but apparently the US Navy has been using the island for target practice since the mid-1970s, including the use of napalm and depleted uranium after years of vehement denial.
So keep this in mind when the government preaches about climate change responsibility. Do you really think the government cares about the climate? Of course not.
Subtitle H—Energy and Mineral Resources
The oil and gas industry does not look like it is getting any love from this bill. Instead it appears to get a beating, including repeal of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Oil and Gas Program, reducing available oil & gas leasing offshore, increasing oil & gas royalty rates by 60%, reducing lease term durations by half, introducing a “fee for expression of interest” in oil & gas exploration among various other fees, doubling civil and criminal penalties for violation of the Mineral Leasing Act, and more.
TITLE VIII—COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND REFORM
Over $15 billion is allocated to transform the full Federal fleet of vehicles into electric vehicles, including that of the United States Postal Service. Sounds like a racket to me.
Just because an electric vehicle doesn’t have an exhaust pipe, doesn’t mean it’s “green.” Batteries are not magically clean.
TITLE IX—COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY
This title is 1,049 pages of various science projects with billions doled out to who knows who and what. Most of the science projects are funded under the guise of studying climate change. There’s even money in there to expand on an existing Trump-era program to study the weather in space — Promoting Research and Observations of Space Weather to Improve the Forecasting of Tomorrow (PROSWIFT).
Interestingly, this Title ends with the following statement,
“None of the funds provided in this title may be used in awarding a contract, subcontract, grant, or loan to an entity that is listed pursuant to section 9(b)(3) of the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020 (Public Law 116–145).”
I guess China-affiliated entities are out of the question.
TITLE X—COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS
This section includes increasing federal contracting opportunities for small businesses. The government tends to favor large corporations over the little guys, but guess what? Now you, too, can become an agent of the State!
Oh but wait, the free money is not just for anyone. Eligible entities have to satisfy a certain criteria (my comments in bold):
a historically black college or university
an institution of higher education, which primarily educates students who are Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, American Indian, Alaska Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian, or other Pacific Islander; or
a historically underutilized business, aka a HUBZone
a member of an Indian or Alaska Native tribe, band, nation, pueblo, village, etc.
an individual with a disability
a veteran
an individual who completed a term of imprisonment. [Well, nothing rewards crime like government subsidies, am I right?]
an Afghan refugee
an individual otherwise identified by the Director of the Minority Business Development Agency. [So the Director’s friends and family are a shoo-in.]
TITLE XI—COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE
~$10 billion is appropriated for an affordable housing access program. That doesn’t sound very affordable. Well, to be cleat, that money doesn’t actually provide affordable housing directly. It simply provides grants “to support access to affordable housing.” Eligible activities include,
“construction of a bus rapid transit project … that utilizes zero-emission vehicles …”
“the establishment or expansion of high-frequency bus service that utilizes zero-emission buses …”
That sounds affordable, right?
Interestingly, this Title ends with the following statement,
“… funds made available by this title should not be used to purchase products produced whole or in part through the use of child labor …”
Presumably, you can still use Uyghur labor. It seems the Uyghur’s only got protection from Title IX, above. This poses another question: does this mean you can use child labor for programs identified within all other Titles? Hmmm.
TITLE XII—COMMITTEE ON VETERANS AFFAIRS
We’ll end this episode of the bill review on Title XII. ~$15 billion is allocated to the Department of Veteran Affairs to carry out infrastructure improvements while “taking into consideration the integration of climate resiliency…”
$375 million is allocated to hire “not more than 700” health profession residency positions at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
You think the VA has its priorities straight? ~$15 billion for climate resiliency vs. $375 million for healthcare workers. I don’t think so. This is like rewarding a system that continuously fails. The VA has proven to be an inept and bloated mess, plagued with scandal. Subjecting veterans to the VA medical system is like kicking a man when he is down.
I’ll leave you with the story of Charles Richard Ingram III, a veteran who set himself on fire outside of his VA clinic in a last moment of desperation, highlighting the absolute failures of the system.
And that’s a wrap for today’s review of Titles IV thru XII. But there’s one more Title left, and it’s a beast (TITLE XIII—COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS). It’s so long that I’m splitting it up into two parts. Tune in next time for Part 4 of the Monetary Current review of Build Back Better.