Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

FBI, EPA, and Treasury told Citibank to freeze funds to claw back climate money

techcrunch.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 143 posts

Re: FBI, EPA, and Treasury told Citibank to freeze funds to claw back climate money

#21

Post by chaos_agent »

kayodelycaon wrote: post #12
Huntsecker wrote: post #7

daily stories coming from the US are pretty crazy, FBI being used as a tool to try and revert something from under the previous administration. Feels like whatever balances and checks that should be in place to stop an autocracy are missing

In theory, congress can remove a president. Start placing your bets! Does he get removed before he dissolves congress? :) I’m only partial joking. The check and balances in the country won’t work if half the population wants to replace democracy with theocracy.

[dead]

Re: FBI, EPA, and Treasury told Citibank to freeze funds to claw back climate money

#22

Post by cyberax »

Alupis wrote: post #20
MostlyStable wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Congress voluntarily giving up its powers to the executive branch [0] (unfortunately not new, but worsening), isn't exactly Democracy failing, but it's certainly a breakdown of the system of checks and balances upon which our Federal government was conceived, and is most definitely not "how things are supposed to work". [0] https://www.reuters.com/world/us/house-republicans-block-con...

Your particular article lays out exactly how Congress is approving (ie. balancing) the Executive branch's actions. Which means yes, working as intended. You just happen to disapprove. Majority of the other things people are freaking out about were done via Executive Order, and therefore can be undone by Executive Order. Smart people have been warning about that for nearly two decades. Now that some people happen to n…

The money were NOT allocated by an Executive Order. They were properly apportioned through Congress.

Re: FBI, EPA, and Treasury told Citibank to freeze funds to claw back climate money

#23

Post by crypto_is_king »

Terr_ wrote: post #9
Huntsecker wrote: post #7

daily stories coming from the US are pretty crazy, FBI being used as a tool to try and revert something from under the previous administration. Feels like whatever balances and checks that should be in place to stop an autocracy are missing

> to try and revert something from under the previous administration More-importantly, it's nowhere close to "normal" try-to-reverts, where one President tries to replace an equally "soft" policy put in place by another President. Here the newly-installed crooks are trying to deny a hard "money shall be spent on X" law passed by Congress , which is an unconstitutional attempt to seize the "power of the purse". Same l…

[flagged]

Re: FBI, EPA, and Treasury told Citibank to freeze funds to claw back climate money

#24

Post by crypto_is_king »

9283409232 wrote: post #13

Some information from the linked document about the non-profits that are being targeted. > 2. Conflicts of Interest and Political Favoritism > A $2 billion grant was awarded to Power Forward Communities, a new nonprofit with ties to Stacey Abrams, despite reporting only $100 in total revenue in 2023 > Young, Gifted & Green was awarded $20 million, even though its CEO applied for funding while serving on the White Hou…

[flagged]

Re: FBI, EPA, and Treasury told Citibank to freeze funds to claw back climate money

#25

Post by Alupis »

cyberax wrote: post #22
Alupis wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your particular article lays out exactly how Congress is approving (ie. balancing) the Executive branch's actions. Which means yes, working as intended. You just happen to disapprove. Majority of the other things people are freaking out about were done via Executive Order, and therefore can be undone by Executive Order. Smart people have been warning about that for nearly two decades. Now that some people happen to n…

The money were NOT allocated by an Executive Order. They were properly apportioned through Congress.

You can read the article - it literally lays out how Congress has approved these actions.

The story is written with a specific slant on purpose. "House Republicans Block..." then later admits Republicans control the House which means this is working exactly as intended. Again, you just aren't happy with the results.

Vote in the midterms if you're so upset. Otherwise, business as usual.

Re: FBI, EPA, and Treasury told Citibank to freeze funds to claw back climate money

#26

Post by accrual »

Huntsecker wrote: post #7

daily stories coming from the US are pretty crazy, FBI being used as a tool to try and revert something from under the previous administration. Feels like whatever balances and checks that should be in place to stop an autocracy are missing

I hope it leads to stronger checks and balances.

Re: FBI, EPA, and Treasury told Citibank to freeze funds to claw back climate money

#27

Post by tempodox »

pjc50 wrote: post #15
Terr_ wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> to try and revert something from under the previous administration More-importantly, it's nowhere close to "normal" try-to-reverts, where one President tries to replace an equally "soft" policy put in place by another President. Here the newly-installed crooks are trying to deny a hard "money shall be spent on X" law passed by Congress , which is an unconstitutional attempt to seize the "power of the purse". Same l…

> as if Trump declared people on his Friends List were exempt from taxes I'll pencil that in for April. After all, the president can direct who is and is not prosecuted..

I was about to say, “don't give him any ideas”, but it probably wouldn't have mattered anyway.

Re: FBI, EPA, and Treasury told Citibank to freeze funds to claw back climate money

#28

Post by MostlyStable »

Alupis wrote: post #20
MostlyStable wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Congress voluntarily giving up its powers to the executive branch [0] (unfortunately not new, but worsening), isn't exactly Democracy failing, but it's certainly a breakdown of the system of checks and balances upon which our Federal government was conceived, and is most definitely not "how things are supposed to work". [0] https://www.reuters.com/world/us/house-republicans-block-con...

Your particular article lays out exactly how Congress is approving (ie. balancing) the Executive branch's actions. Which means yes, working as intended. You just happen to disapprove. Majority of the other things people are freaking out about were done via Executive Order, and therefore can be undone by Executive Order. Smart people have been warning about that for nearly two decades. Now that some people happen to n…

I'm honestly not sure how you can read that article and see it as Congress balancing the executive branch. Blocking future ability to do something is not the same thing as "approving" or "balancing" executive power. The fact that Republicans are claiming that this is a good balance of power doesn't mean it is. This was a vote by congress, to restrict congress's ability to act in the future. That is not the way the system is designed to work.

Re: FBI, EPA, and Treasury told Citibank to freeze funds to claw back climate money

#29

Post by burkaman »

crypto_is_king wrote: post #23
Terr_ wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> to try and revert something from under the previous administration More-importantly, it's nowhere close to "normal" try-to-reverts, where one President tries to replace an equally "soft" policy put in place by another President. Here the newly-installed crooks are trying to deny a hard "money shall be spent on X" law passed by Congress , which is an unconstitutional attempt to seize the "power of the purse". Same l…

[flagged]

I searched for a while and haven't been able to figure out what you're referring to, can you explain?

Re: FBI, EPA, and Treasury told Citibank to freeze funds to claw back climate money

#30

Post by MostlyStable »

Alupis wrote: post #25
cyberax wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The money were NOT allocated by an Executive Order. They were properly apportioned through Congress.

You can read the article - it literally lays out how Congress has approved these actions. The story is written with a specific slant on purpose. "House Republicans Block..." then later admits Republicans control the House which means this is working exactly as intended. Again, you just aren't happy with the results. Vote in the midterms if you're so upset. Otherwise, business as usual.

Ok, so this comment makes it seem that you think it is not possible for Congress to undermine the system of checks and balances, since anything congress does, is, by definition, something that Congress has approved, and therefore, it's the system working as intended. That is a truly baffling view.
Post reply on HN