Political Quotes

“My amendment prevents the Department of Justice from requiring mandatory donations as part of settlement agreements. The Department of Justice is systematically subverting Congress' budget authority by using settlements to funnel money to third-party groups. An investigation by the House Judiciary and Financial Services Committees reveals that, in just the last 10 months, the Department of Justice has used mandatory donations to direct as much as half a billion dollars to activist groups. These payments occur entirely outside of the congressional appropriations and oversight process. In some cases, the Department of Justice is using mandatory donations to restore funding that Congress specifically cut. This is money that could otherwise be going directly to victims. The Department of Justice continues to resist document requests, but what little has been provided confirms that activist groups which stood to gain from mandatory donation provisions were involved in placing those provisions in the settlements. The committees raised concerns with the Department of Justice in 2014, but instead of suspending the practice, the Department of Justice has doubled down. It recently entered into an over $50 million settlement relating to robo-signing; $7.5 million of that did not make it to victims. {time} 2250 Instead, it went to a third party.…”