American tax officials

Chapter 375 A Chokehold

"Saroyan is right. Great Britain is our best ally, and we cannot do anything that harms our ally!"

"Why has the United States become a global hegemon? It's because our allies share the spoils. If we start competing with our allies for those spoils, we will gradually lose our global influence!"

"And then there are Luxembourg and Monaco, which were also tax havens. If this bill is actually passed, they will definitely protest, so we have to consider their impact!"

Many of the members of parliament present were spokespeople for the three major corporations and conglomerates, so they naturally agreed with Sarooyan's words.

"hehe……"

Looking at these people, Church smiled contemptuously and replied, "I'll ask you this: which is more important, the interests of our allies or the interests of our own people?"

"Our finances are in such a mess right now; in other words, we can't even feed our own people, so how can we possibly care about others?"

"And those allies you mentioned, they're with us not just for the sake of eating meat."

"I think the most important point is their fear of our world-leading military strength. If our economy continues like this, cutting military spending is inevitable. Without increased investment in the military, our military strength will inevitably decline significantly!"

"This is why the Middle East dares to move away from US dollarization, and why the EU is starting to challenge our dominance—that's the fundamental reason!"

Clearly, he had anticipated that someone would use the issue of allies to refute the bill when he took the stage. Therefore, he had prepared his rebuttal beforehand.

"Congressman Church is right. Do you think our allies are just there to eat our meat? Without strong military support, who would follow you?"

"This bill must be passed because it will not only benefit our people, but also allow the country to invest more funds in military spending, maintaining our dominant position!"

"Support Congressman Church..."

Church's allies were not to be outdone and also voiced their support.

Moreover, it wasn't just them; many people watching the live stream also responded.

Of course, this is despite the support of allies and a large number of people.

But the lawmakers, led by Saroyan, showed no sign of giving up and continued to impeach the bill.

However, their impeachment is completely useless, at least for now.

This is because the bill has only just been put on the table in Congress and is seeking a legislative number.

So Church completely ignored them and handed the draft bill over to the Legislative Council, where it was then awaited approval.

Surprisingly, however, the bill had made no progress by the day after it was submitted.

Then came the second and third days, and still no news. The bill seemed to have vanished without a trace.

Church couldn't hold back any longer and immediately started using his connections to gather information everywhere.

Meanwhile, in the office of the Inspector General of the National Tax Service.

David sat down in the chair, looking a little tired, while across from him were the rest of the department staff.

"A few days ago, we had 213 votes. Thanks to your efforts over the past few days, Inspector General, we now have 228 votes, which is 10 votes more than the 218 needed for the bill to pass. It should be quite secure now!"

Listening to Munson's statistical report, David felt a sense of relief.

The reason he appeared so exhausted was entirely because he had spent countless hours in the past few days gathering dirt on those swing voters and then threatening them one by one to side with him.

But now it seems all those efforts were worthwhile; at least we have 228 votes now.

Even if some traitors turn against the bill at the last minute during the voting process, as long as the number of traitors does not exceed 10, the bill will definitely pass!

"What did Elvis say? Has the list been released yet?"

In addition to dealing with swing voters, David also had Elvis use the CIA's resources to monitor his own side and identify those who were less reliable.

To be on the safe side, if anyone dares to turn against us, we should nip it in the bud!

"Here you go, Chief Inspector. Please take a look."

Jerry placed a list in front of him. David picked it up and glanced at it. There were more than a dozen people on the list, which was quite a lot!

It seems that not only has he been busy these days, but the Freemasons have also been actively lobbying members of parliament to side with him.

No, as I just said, as long as no more than 10 people defect, the bill will pass without a doubt.

This list now contains more than a dozen members of parliament. Although it is not certain that all of them will defect, we still have to be on guard!

It seems we need to give these dozen or so people a good talking-to. Even if we can't make them all turn back from the brink, we should at least get most of them back to their own side.

"How's it going with Congress? What stage is our bill in progress?"

David has been busy dealing with those congressmen these days, so he only knows that the bill has been submitted to Congress, but he hasn't paid much attention to what stage it's at.

"Chief Inspector, that's exactly what I was going to tell you..."

"Giggle..."

Jerry was about to give his report when a knock on the door interrupted his thoughts.

"Come in!"

At David Yi's prompting, a staff member led Church in.

"Congressman Church, what's the matter?"

When David saw Church arrive in person, he guessed that something might have gone wrong.

"Inspector General David, there seems to be a problem with Congress!"

"Oh? What's the problem?"

"According to the bill submission process, a typical bill can get a legislative number in two days at most. However, for such an important bill as our off-site tax avoidance bill, it should theoretically only take one day to get the number, and then it will enter the committee hearings, improvement and other work."

"But it's been three days now, and there's still no progress whatsoever!"

"I just spoke with the committee members, and they made excuses like too many bills being submitted recently and insufficient coding. There's definitely something fishy going on here!"

Hearing Church's words, David's face darkened as he asked, "So, the committee might be deliberately trying to strangle us?"

"I think so. The excuse about insufficient legislative numbers and a full backlog is just that—an excuse. Inspector General David, this matter cannot be delayed any longer. The Freemasons' money-spraying tactics have been very effective in various states. The longer we are held up by them, the more disadvantageous it will be for us!"

Church's words brought David back to his senses.

Yes, the House of Representatives' move to block their bill is very likely a delaying tactic to allow the Freemasons' money-spending strategy to make better progress and win over more members of Congress.

In that case, we must solve this problem!

However, to resolve this issue, the matter of the list of councilors that Elvis gave him will have to be delayed.

Thinking of this, he felt a surge of anger, then looked at Church and asked, "Tell me, where or by whom is the problem mainly stemming?"

"In the House of Representatives, there are only four people who can block this bill like this: the committee chairman, the party whip, the majority leader, and finally, the speaker, Nancy."

"From what I've observed, this matter has nothing to do with the committee chairman, and the majority party whip doesn't seem to have given a direct order. As for the majority leader, he's a cunning old fox who hasn't commented since the bill was introduced. I personally think it's possible that Nancy gave the order herself!"

"Just now, I wanted to talk to her, but her office assistant kept making excuses!"

Church shared his guess.

"Nanxi!"

A shadow crossed David's eyes.

This old woman had come to him with ill intentions before, but he managed to drive her away.

In the period that followed, the old woman was quite pragmatic and did not directly oppose him, but unexpectedly, at this critical moment, she suddenly pulled this stunt.

However, to be fair, it is indeed difficult to deal with this woman jumping out at this time and doing this.

First of all, since the other party dared to do this, they must be certain that I am currently busy with the bill and will not dare to make a big move against them.

Secondly, this Nanxi is the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

She is the third most powerful person in the United States. If you really break ties with her and try to punish her, you will definitely encounter considerable resistance.

Even if David had gathered all the dirt on her, there's a rather unique legal provision in the United States for the Speaker of the House.

That is, according to the United States Constitution, except for the 14th Amendment which stipulates that the Speaker of the House can be removed from office if he commits treason.

The Speaker of the House of the United States can continue to serve even if he or she is criminally prosecuted or convicted.

According to the official rules of the U.S. House of Representatives, a speaker who is indicted can continue to participate in congressional proceedings.

If the Speaker commits a crime that could carry a sentence of two years or more in prison, she will be barred from participating in congressional or committee votes, according to House rules.

In other words, even if David gathers evidence and formally files charges against Nancy, she can still retain the power of the speaker and continue to manipulate Congress.

Under normal circumstances, David could certainly play along with Nancy, even if she were the powerful Speaker of the House; he was confident he could make her lose face.

But now he's eager to pass the bill.

If things continue like this, it's unclear how long it will take for him to completely complete all the procedures and limit Nancy's manipulation of Congress.

Who knows, the congressmen he managed to win over might be poached by the three major conglomerates and other capital groups. That would truly be a case of picking up a sesame seed and losing a watermelon.

This is tricky!

After a long pause, David, looking troubled, seemed to have thought of something and said, "You just said that there are only four people in the House of Representatives who can block a bill. Right now, Nancy has blocked this bill. If we find the other three people, could they help us get the legislative number?"

"Theoretically, it is possible, but Nancy is, after all, the head of the House of Representatives. If you want the entire committee to offend the Speaker, perhaps only one person can do it."

"Majority Whip!"

David read the name aloud.

"Yes, don't underestimate the Majority Whip just because he's only the third-ranking official in the House. He oversees disciplinary matters and is one of the most feared figures in the House. If we can get him on board and have him communicate with the committee members, they should be able to compromise!"

"Here's what you do: go talk to Josh and see what he's thinking. If he seems willing to talk, you can bring him to talk to me."

The House Whip is named Josh Rachel. Back when he was in California, this guy approached him once, asking for his help in pushing through a healthcare bill.

David had already investigated this person's background before pushing for the bill.

Interestingly, this guy had received donations from the Freemasons, campaign funds from the Onsa people, and also had the support of the Illuminati's propaganda channels. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call him a traitor who served three masters!

David wasn't particularly interested in such a cunning person, but since he could use him now, it was worth putting some effort into him.

"Looking for Josh... Okay, I'll go sound him out!"

……

The Capitol Building, Whip's Office.

Josh was working on a few documents when his secretary walked in and said, "Sir, Congressman Church wants to speak with you."

"Churchi?"

Josh was taken aback, but immediately shook his head and said, "Tell him I don't have time right now."

Church is currently in the spotlight, and he certainly doesn't want to get into any trouble because of this.

"OK."

After his assistant left, Josh resumed his work, but a few minutes later, a commotion suddenly broke out outside the door, and then the office door was suddenly pushed open.

The one who rushed in was none other than Church.

"I'm sorry, sir, Congressman Josh insisted on coming over, I...I..."

The assistant following behind looked aggrieved; she had clearly tried to stop him, but she was no match for Church, who forced his way in.

"You should go out first."

After dismissing his assistant, Josh frowned at Church and said unhappily, "I'll let it slide this time since we're both members of Congress, but let me tell you, this is a one-time exception!"

In reality, he wasn't saying it because the other person was a colleague. He just knew that Church had now become David's man, and he didn't want to get involved. That's why he said it was just a polite way of saying he wouldn't hold it against him and that it wouldn't happen again.

Otherwise, if it were an ordinary member of Congress, given his temper as the House Whip, he would have already lost his temper.

Church chuckled awkwardly and said, "Sorry, Whip Josh, I didn't mean to interrupt your work, but things are a bit urgent."

"Speak, what brings you here?"

"Josh said impatiently."

"It's like this, Whip Josh, you're probably aware that my bill isn't getting a legislative number. I was wondering if you could intervene and get the committee to issue the number?"

(End of this chapter)