Chapter 743: Chapter 372: Strangled_2
Jerry was about to report when a knock on the door outside interrupted his train of thought.
“Come in!”
At David Yi’s prompt, a staff member walked in with Church.
“Senator Church, what’s the matter?”
Seeing Church in person, David guessed that there might be a problem.
...
“Chief Inspector David, there seems to be a problem at the Parliament!”
“Oh? What kind of problem?”
“According to the legislative bill submission process, most bills can get a legislative number within two days, and for a major bill like our offshore tax avoidance bill, it should only take a day to get the number and then enter the committee for hearings, improvements, and so forth.”
“But now it’s been three days without any progress!”
“I just went to speak to the committee, and they used the excuse of too many bills being submitted recently and a lack of codes to handle them. There’s definitely something fishy going on!”
Hearing Church’s words, David’s face darkened and he asked, “So you’re saying that the committee might be deliberately choking us?”
“I think so. This business of insufficient legislative numbers and being fully booked is just an excuse. Chief Inspector David, we can’t let this drag on. Freemasonry’s monetary tactics have had good results in various states, and the longer they block us, the more disadvantageous it is for us!”
Church’s words brought David back to reality.
Right, the House of Congressman stalling their bill was very likely a tactic to delay time, allowing Freemasonry’s monetary tactics to make better progress and win over more Congressmen.
In that case, they must resolve this problem!
However, to resolve this issue would mean that the list of Congressmen Elvis had given to him would have to be postponed.
Thinking of this, he felt a surge of annoyance and then looked at Church and asked, “What do you think is the main problem, or who is responsible?”
“In the House, there are only four people who could stall this bill: one is the committee chair, one is the Party Whip, another is the majority party leader, and the last is Speaker of the House Nancy.”
“From my observations, it seems unrelated to the committee chair, and the majority party Party Whip doesn’t appear to have given a direct order. As for the majority party leader, he’s an old fox and has not made a stand since the launch of the bill. Personally, I think it’s likely an order from Nancy herself!”
“Because just now, when I tried to speak to her, her office assistant kept making excuses to put me off!”
Church shared his suspicions.
“Nancy!”
A shadow flashed through David’s eyes.
That old lady had come to him with ill intent once before, but he had managed to fend her off.
Since then, she had been sensible enough, not openly opposing him, but unexpectedly, she pulled such a move at this crucial junction.
But then again, her making this move at such a time was indeed problematic.
First, since she dared to do this, she must be confident that he’s currently preoccupied with legislation and wouldn’t dare come at her in full force.
Secondly, Nancy is the Speaker of the House.
She’s the third-ranking person in America; trying to tackle her head-on would definitely meet with significant resistance.
Even if David had collected dirt on her, there’s a particular legal provision in America regarding the Speaker of the House.
According to the U.S. Constitution, except for the provision of the 14th Amendment where the Speaker can be dismissed for committing treason,
the Speaker of the House in America may continue to serve even when criminally prosecuted or convicted.
And as per the formal rules of the U.S. House of Congressman, an indicted Speaker may continue to participate in parliamentary procedures.
If the Speaker commits a crime that could result in a prison sentence of two years or more, then, according to the rules of the House, she’ll be barred from participating in the House votes or committee votes.
In other words, even if David gathers evidence and formally charges Nancy, she can still maintain her power as the Speaker and continue to manipulate Congress.
If it were a normal time, David would certainly be able to slowly toy with Nancy, even if she was the powerful Speaker of the House, he was confident that he could put her in an awkward position.
But he was in a hurry to get the bill passed.
At this rate, by the time he had completed all the procedures and restricted Nancy’s manipulation of Congress, who knows how much time it would consume.
By then, the Congressmen that he had managed to secure could have been swayed by The Big Three Groups and other capital conglomerates, truly a case of gaining a little only to lose a lot.
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What a tough situation!
After a while, David, with a frown on his face, seemed to think of something and said, “You just mentioned that there are only four people in the House of Congressman who can hold up a bill. Now it’s Nancy holding up this one. What if we reach out to the other three individuals, could they help us obtain a legislative number?”
“In theory, yes, but Nancy is after all the big boss of the House. If you want the whole committee to snub the Speaker of the House, perhaps only one person could accomplish that.”
“The House Whip of the majority party!”
David immediately voiced the name.
“Yes, don’t look now, but the Party Whip of the majority party may only be number three in the House, but he controls discipline issues, which makes him the most dreaded figure among the Congressmen. If we can get him on side to talk to the committee, they should be willing to compromise!”
“In that case, go talk to Josh, test the waters first. If he seems open, bring him to talk to me.”
The House Whip was named Josh Rachel. When he was in California, Josh had come to see him once, wanting his help to push a medical bill.
David had already investigated this person’s background before pushing the bill.
Interestingly, this guy had once received donations from Freemasonry, also accepted campaign funds from the Angsa people, and had also enjoyed the propaganda channels of the Illuminati. It was not an exaggeration to call him a servant of three masters!
Ordinarily, David was not too interested in such slick operators, but now that he needed him, it was worth spending a little time on him.
“Find Josh… Okay, I’ll see what he has to say!”
…
Parliament House, Office of the Party Whip.
Josh was dealing with several documents when his secretary walked in and said, “Sir, Senator Church wants to have a word with you.”
“Church?”
Josh frowned in surprise, but immediately shook his head and said, “Tell him I don’t have time right now.”
Church was currently a controversial figure, and of course, Josh didn’t want to get involved in any trouble over this.
“Understood.”
After the assistant left, Josh went back to working intently, but a few minutes later, a commotion erupted outside his door, swiftly followed by the office door being pushed open.
The intruder was none other than Church.
“Sorry sir, Congressman Josh… he insisted on coming through, I… I…”
The trailing assistant appeared aggrieved, clearly having tried to stop him, but Church had forced his way in anyway.
“You may go.”
After sending the assistant away, Josh looked at Church with a furrowed brow and unhappily said, “Since we’re all Congressmen, I’ll let this slide, but don’t let it happen again!”
In truth, it wasn’t because they were colleagues that he refrained from taking issue, but rather because he knew Church was now David’s man; he didn’t want any fuss, merely mouthing the platitudes of tolerance for this once.
Otherwise, if it were any other Congressman, with his proud disposition as the Party Whip of the House, he would have lost his temper by now.
Church chuckled sheepishly, saying, “Sorry, House Whip Josh, I didn’t mean to disturb your work, but you see, the situation is quite urgent.”
“Out with it, what brings you to me?”
Josh asked impatiently.
“Well, House Whip Josh, as you may be aware, my bill can’t get a legislative number, and I was wondering if you could mediate, get the committee to issue one?”