(1) For payment to Ashley Paige Turner, heir
of Sylvester Turner, late a Representative from the
State of Texas, $174,000.
(2) For payment to Ramona Grijalva, widow of
Rau ´l M. Grijalva, late a Representative from the
State of Arizona, $174,000.
(3) For payment to Catherine M. Smith, widow
of Gerald E. Connolly, late a Representative from
the Commonwealth of Virginia, $174,000.
SEC. 159. The fifth and sixth provisos under the
heading ‘‘Millennium Challenge Corporation’’ in title III
of division F of Public Law 118–47 shall be amended by
striking ‘‘December 31, 2024’’ and inserting ‘‘December
31, 2026’’ each place it appears.
SEC. 160. Section 562(c) of the European Bank for
Reconstruction and Development Act, as amended (22
U.S.C. 290l et seq.), is further amended by adding the
following new paragraph at the end:
‘‘(13) CAPITAL INCREASE.—
‘‘(A) SUBSCRIPTION AUTHORIZED.—
‘‘(i) The United States Governor of
the Bank may subscribe on behalf of the
United States up to 40,000 additional
shares of the paid-in capital stock of the
Bank.
‘‘(ii) Any subscription by the United
States to additional paid-in capital stock of
the Bank shall be effective only to such ex
tent and in such amounts as are provided
in advance in appropriations Acts.
‘‘(B) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA
TIONS.—In order to pay for the increase in the
United States subscription to the Bank under
paragraph (A), there are authorized to be ap
propriated, without fiscal year limitation,
$437,457,804, for payment by the Secretary of
the Treasury.’’.
https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/continuing_appropriations_act_2026_bill_text.pdf
Why on earth is anything paid to widows of congressmen by the taxpayers? Surely the reps had life insurance benefits as a member of the House. $174,000 is their annual salary, is it not?
For fun - find and read: The Zero Game by Brad Meltzer. Congressional staff who work in APPROPRIATIONS, inserting projects into bills that are never read and passed and staff betting/gambling if the erroneous inserts will be noticed...
Only a few staff members know WHO the other members are in the game and they get pages to deliver the anonymous notes/bets to certain offices. The notes are all in code so each member knows the code and no one will know they are actually the $$$ that are bet. Intriguing!!
Kind of confusing but I THINK that’s the gist of the plot. Just started reading it and not hard to believe it could be real life!