Shadow Empire

Chapter 600 Bill passed
At the moment when Mr. Serre, with a sullen face, and his family left the Golden State, the Speaker of the House glanced at the materials in his hand, and slowly stood up under the limited flash light.

"Except for one abstention and two votes against, all others voted in favor, and the Federal International Security Act was passed with an absolute majority."

This news spread throughout the federation at an extremely fast speed like a huge earthquake, at a congressional press conference half an hour later.

It is actually rare for the Majority Leader and the Speaker to appear at a press conference at the same time, because they both represent the top power in Parliament.

Many times, the presence of just one of them would be enough to handle various situations, but today, two of them appeared together.

Although people already knew that something was wrong, they still felt incredible when they saw two people appear at the same time.

Everyone knows that this will be a very special press conference that concerns the future fate of the federation.

The scene was very quiet and the reporters also abided by the rules. It was not that they did not want to abide by the rules, but that they did not dare not to.

If they are hated by these two big men, they will most likely be banned from the entire industry, and may even be so miserable that they cannot find a job to support themselves and have to go to the countryside to farm.

In external propaganda, people always say that if necessary, the president will be asked to stand in the dock.

But in reality, if this is not a political show, then it is the result of political infighting.

As for whether it is possible that the president was simply asked to stand in the dock?
Please, as someone who can sign a presidential order to change the Supreme Court justice, someone who can pardon himself anytime and anywhere, if he doesn't want to be in that position, no one can force him to do so.

The president can ignore the law and refuse to appear in the dock, let alone the speaker or majority leader.

All who can judge them are their subordinates. How can they be tried?
After the two sat down, reporters began to raise their hands in an orderly manner.

The speaker casually pointed to a reporter from the Federal Daily News, who thanked the two gentlemen and then asked his own question, "Why would the Federal Congress pass such a sensitive bill at this time?"

"We know that the war on the Tanfit Road is still escalating. I noticed that there are several provisions in the International Security Act that allow for war measures to be taken before Congress passes them."

"Will this be the trigger for the Federation to join the battlefield?"

Here we have to mention the issue of federal war. The President can only launch military operations, and the duration cannot exceed three months.

At the same time, he could not launch large-scale military operations, and the scale was limited to a certain range.

This means that if a military conflict really breaks out, whether to fight still needs to be voted on by Congress and then authorized to the president and the military.

They have the qualifications and power to start a war. Otherwise, after the other side ceases fire, they must also immediately cease fire and allow Congress to vote to decide what to do next.

Now the International Security Act gives the President the authority to directly launch a war in the event of military friction.

This means that war could break out at any time and anywhere just because two soldiers shoot at each other!
From an objective and rational point of view, the International Security Act is clearly an irrational bill. It will cause some military actions that were originally intended to be just deterrents to directly evolve into a war.

For example, it is common to fire artillery shells into the enemy's waters. These shells are not intended to hit anything, but only to deter the enemy and tell them not to get close or have any bad ideas.

But now, as long as the president thinks they are attacking, he can order the entire navy to attack!
The reporters' questions left the audience with only countless pairs of eyes looking at the two gentlemen on the stage and the constantly flashing cameras.

The Speaker shook his head. “This is a good question, but we cannot take it too lightly.”

"The Prime Minister of the Dantra Republic has issued a statement to us, demanding that we immediately stop all trade with the Tanfit Continent, otherwise they will regard us as a war opponent."

"Ladies and gentlemen, the federal economy has been in severe decline for a number of reasons."

“If we lose those orders and customers from Tenfit Continental, it will be a heavy blow to domestic factory owners who are struggling to operate.”

"According to our statistics last year, nearly 70 percent of the Federation's exports were destined for countries and regions on the Tanfit continent."

"We have already lost some of our orders. If we lose all of them, I can't imagine how bad the domestic economy will become."

"The Dantra Republic may attack our merchant ships, or even our ports and warehouses."

"In order to deal with the crazy Dantra people, it is very necessary to ensure an immediate military response. Once they declare war on us without declaring war, at least we will not waste precious time because of the need to go through the process, causing the people to suffer more losses."

“If they do not try to interfere in the internal affairs of the federation by force, then the International Security Act will not be activated.”

"We are not keen on war, but we must also have the courage to fight it!"

Everyone nodded, and the only sound at the scene besides the sound of the flash lights exploding was the rustling sound of noses recording on notebooks.

A very good answer. The reporter from the Federal Daily sat back down, and then the reporter from the Federal Post was called to stand up.

These traditional heavyweight newspapers and magazines have a good reputation here, and with the political stance and political review system behind them, no matter what material they interview, what they finally present to the audience is what the political arena allows them to present. The reporter of the Post is a little older and seems to be doing serious news. "Speaker, Mr. ... (Majority Leader), good afternoon."

"If the Dantra Republic rashly launches a war against us first, will we intervene in the main frontal battlefield, or will we only deal with them in the Eastern Ocean?"

"What role will we play in the overall war, and what benefits can we expect to gain from the war?"

A very naked question, but it also represents the "correct answer", which is also a process.

This time it was the majority leader who responded, “Let me answer that question.”

"We have been considering these issues since the end of last year."

"At that time, the Dantra Republic seized the wealth of federal merchants and killed, injured, and expelled them. It also looted some of our free trade cargo ships, causing our citizens to suffer huge economic losses."

"We have been concerned about the escalation of friction and have been actively communicating diplomatically, but the results have not been good."

"So you should have seen that our plan to station troops in Jingang City is to safeguard our legitimate international interests."

“It’s just that we never implemented it considering international friendship.”

"But as the Dantra Republic presses on, we have no choice but to respond."

"If we join the war, we will take on the role we need to play in that war."

"We are not troublemakers, nor are we speculators. We are partners in justice. All our goals and actions are to protect the property and personal safety of our citizens overseas."

"The federal government is a responsible government. With the emergence of great internationalism and the growing atmosphere, we will be more active in the international community and become the focus of people in the future."

"If this war really breaks out, we will definitely go deep into the main battlefield and assist other allied forces to crush the crazy idea of ​​the Prime Minister of the Dantra Republic on the battlefield."

"After the war, we will demand that the president of the Dantra Republic and the ruling party apologize for the war crimes they committed, apologize to the federal citizens who were harmed by their greed and crazy desires, and recover the losses suffered by all citizens in the Dantra Republic..."

The entire press conference lasted more than two hours and included many details about what would happen if war broke out.

These contents were published in great detail, and Lance got the supplement of the Federal Daily in the evening.

The entire supplement was devoted to this news, and he noticed something very interesting.

In the proposal passed recently, a tax law reform plan was mentioned. According to the federal government's regulations, federal citizens who earned less than $100 a month were exempt from paying taxes.

But now it's changed.

After the tax law was amended, anyone who has income must pay taxes.

It’s just that the amount of tax they pay won’t be particularly high. The overall calculation method is step-by-step, with the highest tax rate being 45 percent.

In addition, some special situations are introduced, such as during war, the country needs a large amount of funds to invest in the war.

In order to obtain this part of the funds, the country will implement a "wartime uniform tax rate", that is, no matter whether a citizen's income is one dollar or one million, they will enjoy the same tax rate.

The tax rate starts at a minimum of 55 percent and goes up to 100 percent, and is determined by discussion and approval by Congress.

At the same time, in order to protect the interests of citizens, the federal government will issue war bonds when the war begins.

War bonds can be used to deduct taxes, but they cannot deduct the entire tax amount...

In short, this is a set of bills that are a bit of a headache to look at. Its core is only one point -

Once a war breaks out, not only will taxes be paid, but soft bonds will also be levied.

That evening, the Dantra Republic learned of the Federation's decision, but unlike before, they did not threaten to go to war as soon as federal troops were stationed there.

But it’s as if I don’t know yet.

They now have to think and respond, and also consider whether they can take care of everything if a war really breaks out.

During this sudden calm, more refugees began to pour into the Federation...

(End of this chapter)