Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolution

Floor Speech

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Mr. TUBERVILLE. Mr. President, today, I want to discuss an issue that many folks may not be familiar with, but they should be. After today, they will be. When I first heard about this, I couldn't believe it was true, but I have learned up here that just when you think you have seen or heard the worst, the swamp will always surprise you.

One of the many important roles of the Department of Justice is to represent the United States in civil and criminal trials. Sometimes the DOJ decides that a pretrial monetary settlement for a lawsuit is the best route to take. The DOJ directs the money from the settlement to the victims or to the Treasury. That is the way our system is supposed to work.

But during the Obama administration, the DOJ took a different course. Rather than direct settlement money to victims, the DOJ pushed the defendants to give money instead to third-party organizations favored by the Department. This was a slush fund for groups chosen by the DOJ. What is more, the DOJ would count the dollar amount of any donation as double toward the settlement. Money paid to the victims or the Treasury would only count dollar for dollar. So it was a huge incentive for these defendants to pay a third party, and these third parties often had nothing to do with the lawsuit.

When companies like JPMorgan, Bank of America, or Citigroup had to pay settlements based on mortgage lending practices, the DOJ intentionally directed millions of dollars to liberal activist groups. You don't have to take my word for it; here is an email from the Office of the Associate Attorney General in 2013 talking about the DOJ settlement with JPMorgan:

Can you explain to Tony the best way to allocate some money toward an organization of our choosing?

Those are the key words there: ``of our choosing.''

Let me continue to quote: We have been discussing having the agreement provide that JPM agreed to pay $9 billion but that, if, by the time we sign the settlement agreement, JPM has given $60 million to X, they will have to pay only 8 billion.

I think that is OK. We understand that we would not have control over what X organization does with the money.

The ``Tony'' referred to there is Tony West, an Associate Attorney General, who was at that time No. 3 in the Department of Justice.

Two days later, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights wrote to the Office of the Associate Attorney General to lobby on behalf of a group called VOICE. The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights includes the biggest activist arms of the political left, including the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, Big Labor's AFL-CIO, and the teachers unions.

On No. 3 here, but when the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights contacted the DOJ, it was because VOICE wanted funds from the JPMorgan settlement. Not surprisingly, VOICE ended up receiving $1 million from JPMorgan.

They had a listening ear in the Obama administration. This is what he wrote to Tony about the settlement with Citigroup. Chart 4.

They were concerned with the possibility of Citi picking a group like, ``The Pacific Legal Foundation does conservative property rights free legal services.'' The DOJ was clear: Conservative groups couldn't have the access to the same funds that liberal groups could. It was obvious.

Here was the result, chart No. 5.

From Bank of America alone, the National Council of La Raza, now known as UnidosUS, received $1.5 million. The National Urban League received $1.2 million. VOICE got another million dollars, on top of the first million.

This won't shock you, but both La Raza and the Urban League were big supporters of President Obama's agenda. They are also both members of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights today. La Raza consistently lobbied Congress to pass President Obama's misguided immigration reform bill. Urban League was a routine cheerleader of the Obama administration's Big Government approach to public housing. They were rewarded for their advocacy with millions of dollars from the DOJ.

In total across the Federal Government, the money directed to third parties added up to a total of $668 million, according to the nonpartisan Regulatory Transparency Project.

On chart No. 6, out of the $668 million, at the end of the day, they could only locate $9.5 million, which is 1.4 percent of the total money given. We don't even know exactly where or how the rest of the money was spent.

Folks, I have one word for you on this. This is called corruption. This is the swamp. The fact that this practice ever existed should make Americans' blood boil. Political appointees at one of the most powerful Departments in the country used their position of power to extract money from companies, and then they gave that money to their like- minded friends. That is what is wrong with Washington, DC.

We have grown used to hearing about this type of behavior from dictatorships around the world, like Russia or Venezuela. We should not, we cannot accept this type of behavior here in the United States of America.

Well, President Trump didn't. His administration, very early in his tenure, put a stop to this practice. They were right to do so. It should never have happened in the first place. But now, with a new President in office and with so many high-profile Obama administration retreads throughout the administration and in the White House, this corrupt practice could and probably will return. Congress cannot allow this to happen. I don't care if it is a Republican or a Democrat or an Independent in the White House; the power of the purse lies with us, the folks in this building. It is called the 117th U.S. Congress-- elected officials, not bureaucrats.

We need a permanent fix. If the Federal Government is diverting settlement funds away from victims into politically connected groups, they are undermining Congress's role. There is a way to stop this. Earlier today, I introduced the Stop Settlement Slush Funds Act. This bill would ensure that all settlement funds would go first to the victims and then to the Treasury--no third party. No administration should be allowed to force donations to politically connected groups at the direct expense of victims.

I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this commonsense solution. Let's ensure our Federal Government works on behalf of all of its citizens, not just the ones with connections to people in power. ______

By Mr. DURBIN (for himself, Mrs. Capito, Ms. Duckworth, and Ms. Murkowski):

S. 2086. A bill to improve the identification and support of children and families who experience trauma; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

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