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To: Ol' Dan Tucker

“This video was created by the Bush administration itself (read: Karl Rove) as a form of damage control in an attempt to deflect blame for the economic meltdown off Bush and onto the Democrats.”

But wouldn’t you agree that the Democrats where in part responsible? I can’t help but think of Barney Franks getting caught with his pants down on O’Reilly saying that everything is fine with FM & FM. Democrats had the majority since 06 and it seems you can’t exclude them. I also say this because the I also saw another video tracing the problem all the way back to Carter. It seems like it was evolving over time with everybody contributing.


66 posted on 04/05/2011 3:27:33 PM PDT by Blind Eye Jones
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To: Blind Eye Jones
Democrats had the majority since 06 and it seems you can’t exclude them.

Had you actually spent the time reading either the material I posted on this thread or on my FR home page, you would know why the Demo majority in Congress since 2006 is irrelevant to this discussion.

Bush's damage was done during his first term between 2000 and 2004 when the Republicans controlled both the Legislative and Executive branches of government.

The reason why the Republicans lost control of Congress in the 2006 mid-term elections was because they spent more money than had the Democrats before them.

The Partnership for Prosperity Agreement (with Mexico) was signed in 2001 solely by the Executive branch and had nothing to do with the Legislative branch.

The New Alliance Task Force was put together in 2003 solely by the Executive branch. The Legislative branch had no say in the matter.

The Social Security Totalization Agreement with Mexico (which would have allowed Mexican illegal aliens access to the US Social Security system) was signed on June 29, 2004.

Attached to the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 was the provision that made it legal for the banks to accept the Mexican Matricula Consular card as ID. Congress sent a request for opinion to Bush's Treasury Dept. (Executive branch, again) about 326(b). Bush's Treasury responded:

“The proposed rules set forth the requirement that financial institutions would have to establish a customer identification and verification program applicable to all new accounts that are opened, regardless of whether the customer is a U.S. citizen or a foreign national. While the proposed rules prescribe minimum standards for such programs, they leave sufficient flexibility to permit financial institutions to tailor their program to fit their business operations. The customer identification program would have to contain reasonable procedures for identifying any person, including a business, that opens an account, setting forth the type of identifying information that the financial institution will require. At a minimum, for U.S. persons the proposed rules would require financial institutions to obtain the following information: name, address, taxpayer identification number, and, for individuals, date of birth. While a taxpayer identification number is not required for non-U.S. persons, a financial institution must describe what type of information it will require of a non-U.S. person in place of a taxpayer identification number. The regulations state that financial institutions may accept one or more of the following: a U.S. taxpayer identification number; a passport number and country of issuance; an alien identification card number, or the number and country of issuance of any other government-issued document evidencing nationality or residence and bearing a photograph or similar safeguard.”

This also contained a footnote (17):

“Thus, the proposed regulations do not discourage bank acceptance of the ‘matricula consular’ identity card that is being issued by the Mexican government to immigrants.” (See: Treasury Department Issues USA PATRIOT Act Report to Congress)

I also say this because the I also saw another video tracing the problem all the way back to Carter. It seems like it was evolving over time with everybody contributing.

Another video produced by the Bush administration (read: Karl Rove) designed to dupe people like you who only skim the material and take away sound bites instead of substantive details about what really happened that put this country into the situation it's facing.

Yes, the ITIN was created under Carter. But between the time it was created in 1976 and 2001, it could only be used by foreign nationals who were in the country legally.

Yes, the CRA was Clinton's creation. But, again, it could only be applied to US citizens.

It was under Bush's watch that the banking laws were changed to allow illegal aliens access to the US banking system. And, this was done by Bush to benefit his true constituents, the Wall Street bankers because they wanted to tap into the large and growing illegal alien segment occupying US society.

But, the gambit would not have paid off for Bush's banker buddies had their customers been deported. So, using his executive powers, Bush hobbled border and interior immigration enforcement.

Believe it or not, lefty-liberal Clinton had a better immigration enforcement record than so-called conservative Bush.

Worksite arrests of illegal aliens fell some 97 percent, from 2,859 in 1999 to 159 in 2004. Investigations targeting employers of illegal immigrants fell more than 70 percent, from 7,637 in 1997 to 2,194 in 2003. Arrests on job sites fell—precipitously, from 17,554 in 1997 to 445 in 2003. Fines levied for immigration-law violations fell from 778 in 1997 to 124 in 2003. Notices of intent to fine employers fell from 865 in 1997 to just 3 in 2004.

Keep in mind that Barney Frank is not Omnipotent. He's had plenty of Republicans helping him in Congress.

When the USA PATRIOT Act came up for renewal in 2004, some republicans wanted to remove the provision that allowed banks to accept Matricula Consular ID as the consular ID is unreliable.

Barney Frank (D-MA) and some of his Republican and Democrat friends swung into action to protect it:

Anti-matrícula proposal defeated; financial institutions can continue accepting consular ID's:

In a vote of 222 to 177, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bipartisan amendment, H.Amdt. 754, introduced by Reps. Michael Oxley (R-OH), Barney Frank (D-MA), Jim Kolbe (R-AZ), Ed Pastor (D-AZ), and Rubén Hinojosa (D-TX) to strike the so-called Culberson amendment that would have prohibited the Treasury Dept. from implementing regulations that allow financial institutions to accept matrícula consular identification cards as part of a valid customer identification program under the USA PATRIOT Act... In countering Culberson’s allegations that the FBI and the Justice Dept. were opposed to the bipartisan amendment to preserve the use of matrícula consular cards, Bachus presented a letter for the record written by Deputy Atty. Gen. James B. Comey and addressed to Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert. The letter, dated Sept. 14, 2004, stated: The Department of Justice fully supports the Administration’s current policy under the USA PATRIOT Act that requires banks and other financial institutions to establish reasonable procedures for the identification and verification of new account holders, which is set forth in regulations of the Department of the Treasury. Therefore the [Justice] Department supports the Oxley-Frank-Kolbe amendment to H.R. 5025 that preserves these regulations. . . . The Department of Justice, including the FBI, continue[s] to work closely with the Treasury Department on this and other issues related to halting all financing of terrorists.

In the final roll call vote, 49 Republicans supported the Oxley-Frank-Kolbe-Pastor-Hinojosa amendment and 16 Democrats opposed it. This legislative victory was a joint effort by financial institutions, immigrants’ rights groups, consumer groups, and many others who worked in coalition to defeat, once again, efforts to limit the acceptance of consular ID cards by banks, credit unions, thrifts, and other financial entities.

So, as you can see, all the real damage to the US economy was done during Bush's first term and he had a lot of Republican Congressional help.

His second term was all about trying to keep it from spinning out of control long enough so that he could escape untainted.

67 posted on 04/05/2011 8:17:45 PM PDT by Ol' Dan Tucker (People should not be afraid of the government. Governement should be afraid of the people)
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