[Danzig]

arguably the two worst things included in the budget bill just passed, because...hey, we don't want the govt to shutdown right? that would be horrible. so they voted to pass, even tho these garbage pieces were included:




#2) MAKE TAXPAYERS BAIL OUT BIG BANKS...AGAIN

After the 2008 financial crisis, a lot of people were understandably upset about derivatives -- a financial instrument that led to the crisis and taxpayer bailout of banks and insurance companies.

As Ben Protess of the New York Times explains, Congress used the 2010 Dodd-Frank law to create "a requirement that banks "push out" some derivatives trading into separate units that are not backed by the government's deposit insurance fund. The proponents of the push-out rule argued that it would isolate risky trading from parts of a bank eligible for a government bailout."

Since everyone from the Tea Party to Occupy Wall Street was infuriated by the big bank bailouts, you'd think Congress would be proud of a measure that makes bailouts less likely. Instead, they're using the omnibus bill to sneakily kill it.

The current budget deal includes a repeal of the Dodd-Frank derivatives rule that was literally written by big bank lobbyists -- A leaked document obtained by the New York Times revealed that 70 of the 85 lines of derivatives language reflect recommendations made in a piece of model legislation drafted by lobbyists for Citigroup, another bank that played a major role in the 2008 crisis and also received billions of federal stimulus dollars.

If all of this sounds familiar, it's because the House passed the exact same CitiGroup-written law last year, but it died after resistance from the Senate and Treasury Department. Now, Wall Street's allies in Congress have effectively copy-pasted the CitiGroup-approved language out of the old bill and into the current budget deal, which is much less susceptible to a veto threat since a veto would shut down the government.

As an aside, did you know Wall Street spends $1.5 million per day to buy influence in Washington? Looks like their investment is continuing to pay off.

#1) MORE BIG MONEY IN POLITICAL ELECTIONS

So, by now you've probably noticed a theme developing here. Everything on this list is a direct result of money pouring into our political system. That brings us to our #1: the huge political money loophole that Congress snuck into the budget deal.

In a provision conveniently located on page 1,599 of a 1,603 page document, Congress allows individuals to give more than $300,000 directly to political parties every year. According to the Washington Post's Matea Gold, under the new rules, one couple could legally funnel nearly $1.3 million to a party's various accounts. Check out this great breakdown from Jay Riestenberg for the full ins and outs of the new rule.

As the public debate over the budget bill devolves into partisan finger-pointing, it's especially important that we don't lose site of this critical fact: Both major parties had a chance to stop this new political money loophole, and neither of them did. NPR's Peter Overby reports that "the changes in campaign finance law surfaced without fanfare during negotiations when either Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid or Minority Leader Mitch McConnell could have vetoed them."

When we say that money has corrupted American government, this is exactly what we're talking about. Special interests pour money into our political system, and our government doles out favors in return, will of the people be damned. Until we put an end to this kind of corruption, all of us will continue to get screwed over by budget deals exactly like this one.