House votes to derail Obamacare, fund government

King 5  .com

Credit: TIM SLOAN/AFP/Getty Images

View taken on November 20, 2009 shows the US Senate and Capitol Dome.

 

by ANDREW TAYLOR / Associated Press

Posted on September 20, 2013 at 8:40 AM

Updated today at 8:41 AM

 

WASHINGTON — The GOP-controlled House voted Friday to cripple President Barack Obama’s health care law as part of a risky ploy that threatens a government shutdown in a week and a half.

The fight is coming on a stopgap funding measure required to keep the government fully running after the Oct. 1 start of the new budget year. Typically, such measures advance with sweeping bipartisan support, but tea party activists forced GOP leaders — against their better judgment — to add a provision to cripple the health care law that’s the signature accomplishment of Obama’s first term.

The 230-189 vote sets the stage for a confrontation with the Democratic-led Senate, which promises to strip the health care provision from the bill next week and challenge the House to pass it as a simple, straightforward funding bill that President Barack Obama will sign.

The top Senate Democrat has pronounced the bill dead and calls the House exercise a “waste of time.” The White House promises Obama will veto the measure in the unlikely event it reaches his desk.

The temporary funding bill is needed because Washington’s longstanding budget stalemate has derailed the annual appropriations bills required to fund federal agency operations.

The fight over the must-do funding bill comes as Washington is bracing for an even bigger battle over increasing the government’s borrowing cap to make sure the government can pay its bills. Democrats say they won’t be held hostage and allow Republicans to use the must-pass measures as leverage to win legislative victories that they otherwise couldn’t.

The No. 2 House Democrat, Steny Hoyer of Maryland said the GOP ploy is a “blatant act of hostage-taking” fueled by Republicans’ “destructive obsession with the repeal of the Affordable Care Act and its unrestrained hostility towards government.”

Republicans countered that the measure is required to prevent a government shutdown that would delay pay for federal workers, send non-essential federal workers home, close national parks and shutter passport offices. Essential programs like air traffic control, food inspection and the Border Patrol would keep running and Social Security benefits, Medicare and most elements of the new health care law would continue.

Read More Here

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Senate Passes Comprehensive Immigration Reform that will help gain Citizenship for 11 million. Republican controlled House is expected to block it.

 

Image Source

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US Senate passes sweeping immigration reform

In a vote hailed by US President Barack Obama, the Senate passed a comprehensive immigration reform on Thursday that would help 11 million people gain citizenship, but is expected to be blocked by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

By Halla Mohieddeen (video)
News Wires (text)

The U.S. Senate approved a landmark immigration bill on Thursday that would provide millions of undocumented immigrants a chance to become citizens, but the leader of the House of Representatives said the measure was dead on arrival in the House.

In a rare show of bipartisanship, the Democratic-controlled Senate passed the bill by a vote of 68-32, with 14 of the Senate’s 46 Republicans joining all 52 Democrats and two independents in support of the bill.

But any air of celebration was tempered by House Speaker John Boehner, who hours before the vote emphasized that Republicans would “do our own bill,” one that “reflects the will of our majority,” many of whom oppose citizenship for immigrants who are in the United States illegally.

Any bill in the Republican-controlled House is expected to focus heavily on border security and finding immigrants who have overstayed their visas.

“Immigration reform has to be grounded in real border security,” Boehner said.

Republican divisions over immigration were evident throughout the U.S. Capitol. While Boehner was putting the brakes on the Senate bill, Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, a possible 2016 presidential candidate, delivered a passionate speech urging passage of the measure that he helped write.

After recounting his parents’ difficult lives in Cuba and their struggles after immigrating to the United States, Rubio said: “For over 200 years now, they (immigrants) have come; in search of liberty and freedom, for sure. But often simply looking for jobs to feed their kids and the chance of a better life.”

At the end of the Senate debate, a packed gallery of supporters, who have labored decades for such a moment, witnessed the vote that came after three weeks of sometimes heated discussion. More than 100 children of illegal immigrants who were brought to the United States by their parents hugged each other when the bill passed.

President Barack Obama, praising the bill, said it contained tough border security requirements and “earned citizenship” for about 11 million undocumented residents.

“Today, the Senate did its job. It’s now up to the House to do the same,” Obama said in a statement.

Mexico’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the Senate bill “has the potential to improve the lives of millions of Mexicans living in the United States today.”

The Senate vote came after several unsuccessful attempts in the past decade or so to overhaul a U.S. immigration law enacted in 1986. The goal has been to improve an outdated visa system and help U.S. firms get easier access to foreign labor ranging from farm and construction workers to high-skilled employees.

Business and labor groups reached a deal on the new visa system, which is part of the Senate bill. But controversy raged over how much new border security was needed and how long the 11 million should wait before becoming legal residents and then citizens.

 

Read More Here

 

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CBS PHILLY

Local Advocates Watch Cautiously As Immigration Reform Heads To The US House

June 28, 2013 6:52 AM

 

SEIU members rally for immigration reform at LOVE Park (Credit: Molly Daly)

Reporting Cherri Gregg

By Cherri Gregg

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – The immigration reform bill sailed through the United States Senate yesterday, offering hope of citizenship to millions of undocumented immigrants across the country (see related story). Local advocates are a little nervous as the bill gears up to move into the House.

“It’s a little bit of a bitter sweet pill I think right now,” says Erika Almiron, executive director of Juntos. She says the community is happy the bill is moving forward, but afraid that if it ever passes the United States House it won’t resemble the Gang of 8 proposal originally lauded by immigration reform advocates.

“We see these concessions happening around this bill, so it just raises our concern as we move into the House,” she says.

Concessions like adding tens of billions of dollars for stepped up border security and adding more red tape to the path to citizenship. Natasha Kelemen of the Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition says the only recourse is to continue to push lawmakers.

 

Read More  Here

 

 

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GOA: Harry Reid Buys Anti-gun Votes from his “Secret Room”

Sen. Reid said a core group of 20 senators had been working feverishly to complete it. | AP Photo

Reblogged  from :   Freedom Is Just Another Word…

 

Harry Reid Buys Anti-gun Votes from his
“Secret Room”

This battle is ObamaCare II 

“The most annoying thing is the phone calls.” – a Senior Senate Staffer commenting on the effectiveness of thousands of phone calls pouring into their offices (June 21, 2013)

URGENT ACTION:  A key vote in the Senate will be occurring later today or tomorrow morning.  Please call your Senators at 202-224-3121 to register your opinion, and if you live in a state with two anti-gun Senators, then use the contact list below to call Senators who are on the fence. Urge your pro-gun friends and family to do the same.

Making them “An offer they can’t refuse.”

Thursday night last week was like a scene from the Godfather.One by one, senators shuffled into Harry Reid’s “secret room” in the Capitol, and each one (figuratively) kissed his ring and (again, figuratively) received his payment from Reid’s stack of bills.

And, by the end of the night, Reid had presumably bought enough votes to pass his anti-gun immigration amnesty bill.

Things haven’t changed a bit from ObamaCare.  Same secret room.  Same procession of supplicants.  Same massive secret bill, revealed at the very same moment Reid filed his motion to cut off debate.  Same morally challenged senators who were more than willing to have their votes bought.

Either later today or tomorrow morning, the Senate will vote on whether to cut off all debate on the massive amendment which didn’t exist until Friday morning.

There are two things to remember:  The liberal (and demonstrably partisan) Congressional Budget Office looked at the long fences, copious border agents, and Orwellian E-Verify in the base bill — and decided it would have little impact on illegal immigration, reducing it by only 25%.  This, in exchange for 8,000,000 new, largely anti-gun voters.

If Hoeven, Corker, and Schumer claim that their “super-secret probation” amendment (fences, agents, e-verify) will have any more of an impact, let’s get a CBO estimate of that.

Second, the one thing Schumer has consistently refused to do is to condition his 8,000,000 new Democratic voters on the statistically demonstrable success of border security.  What does that tell you?

It says this bill is more about turning this country blue than it is about securing the border.

ACTION:  Call your Senators at 202-224-3121, especially if they are listed below.  Tell them to vote against cloture on Harry Reid’s “Godfather amendment.”

NOTE:  For those of you who live in California, New York (and other states with two anti-gun Senators), you could use this opportunity to call some of the Senators on the Target List below.

Senators Up for Grabs.  According to media reports (and Senate intelligence), the following Senators are either on the fence or are leaning towards voting “yes” on the Hoeven amendment:

Read More  Here

Monsanto Wins Fight to Take Away State Food Labeling Rights

TheYoungTurks

Published on May 26, 2013

“Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on Wednesday offered an amendment to the Senate’s major farm bill that would allow states to require labels on genetically engineered foods.

“Today we have an opportunity with this amendment to affirm once and for all that states do have the right to label food that contains genetically engineered ingredients,” he said on the Senate floor.”*

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) fought hard to give his state and others the right to label GMO foods, but faced non-sensical opposition from Monsanto-bought Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.). Did reason win? Cenk Uygur breaks it down.

 

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Monsanto: Profits Above Human Health

Dees Illustration

Stephen Lendman
Activist Post

On May 25, tens of thousands of people marched against Monsanto. They did so in dozens of countries worldwide. They had good reason.

They want consumer protections enacted. They want safe food to eat. They want governments assuring it. They want GMO foods and ingredients labeled.

“March Against Monsanto” (MAM) headlined “Why Do We March?”

Independent research shows GMO foods and ingredients cause “serious health conditions such as the development of cancer tumors, infertility and birth defects.”

Former Monsanto executives run the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). An obvious conflict of interest exists.

Provisions of the March 2013 Monsanto Protection Act include “ban(ning) courts from halting the sale of Monsanto’s genetically-modified seeds.”

For too long, Monsanto has been the benefactor of corporate subsidies and political favoritism.

Organic and small farmers suffer losses while Monsanto continues to forge its monopoly over the world’s food supply, including exclusive patenting rights over seeds and genetic makeup.

Monsanto’s GM seeds are harmful to the environment; for example, scientists have indicated they have contributed to Colony Collapse Disorder among the world’s bee population.

MAM advocates:

• buying organic foods;
• boycotting Monsanto-owned companies;
• repealing Monsanto Protection Act harmful provisions;
• more independent research on the effects of GMOs on human health;
• holding Monsanto officials and complicit politicians accountable;
• informing the public about “Monsanto’s secrets;” and
• “taking to the streets to show the world and Monsanto that we won’t take these injustices quietly.”
• “We will not stand for cronyism. We will not stand for poison. That’s why we March Against Monsanto.”

In 1906, Upton Sinclair’s muckraking novel The Jungle aroused the public. It exposed monopoly capitalist excesses, worker exploitation, and unsanitary practices in slaughterhouses and meatpacking plants.

Food hazardous to human health was produced. Nothing was done to stop it. Unsuspecting consumers ate it.

Jack London said Sinclair’s book “depict(ed) what our country really is, the home of oppression and injustice, a nightmare of misery, an inferno of suffering, a human hell, a jungle of wild beasts.”

Theodore Roosevelt was president. Public outcry got results. The 1906 Pure Food Food and Drug Act became law. It fell short of full protection. It helped by prohibiting some of the worst abuses.

Yesteryear’s reforms are gone. They no longer exist. Deregulation ended them. Profits alone matter. What corporate America wants it gets. It runs the country. Agribusiness and other industry sectors occupy Washington.

They decide policy. They write laws Congress passes. Ordinary people have no say. Politicians are bought like toothpaste. Public health and environmental sanity are ignored. Corporate greed alone matters.

Business officials run the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Department of Health and Human Services (DHS), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and other government agencies.

America’s food supply suffers. Genetically modified ones proliferate. They’re unsafe to eat. They’re hazardous to human health. Independent studies prove it.

Monsanto’s the world’s leading GMO seed producer. It’s profiting at the expense of human health. It wants all animal and vegetable life forms patented. It wants global food control.

It wants labeling prohibited. It wants reliable science buried. It wants issues of food safety ignored. It wants consumers to have no say.

It wants critics silenced. It wants them discredited. It has enormous influence in Washington. It gets its own way. It’s long past time that ended. Ordinary people must demand it. Food safety is too vital to ignore.

The World According to Monsanto chronicles its controversial history. It’s a powerful film. It explains some of the most toxic products ever sold.

Monsanto deception, pressure, collusion and bribery are standard tactics to do so.

Secret documents are exposed. Firsthand accounts are presented. Victims, scientists, politicians and others tell their own stories.

 

Read Full Article Here

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Monsanto Protection Act May Soon Be Repealed Thanks to Activism

 

by Anthony Gucciardi
May 19th, 2013
Updated 05/19/2013 at 12:14 am

 

The so-called Monsanto Protection Act signed into law earlier this year caused such an outrage that people around the world are planning to protest the biotech company later this month. Now a United States Senator is expected to try and repeal that law after mounting pressure.

The notorious ‘Monsanto Protection Act’ rider stuffed into the non-related Senate spending bill may soon be repealed thanks to the massive amounts of activism and outrage that have now amounted into a legislative charge towards action. Action that has turned into legislation progress through Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon, who has announced an amendment that would remove Section 735 (the Monsanto Protection Act as its known) from the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act of 2013 Senate spending bill.

The rider, which almost managed to slip incognito and pass by the alarm system of the alternative media, grants GMO juggernaut Monsanto full immunity from federal courts in the event that one of its genetically modified creations is found to be causing damage to health or the environment. Essentially, it grants Monsanto power over the United States federal government. Thankfully, I was able to get on the subject through news tips and covered the Monsanto Protection Act all the way up until the bill containing it was signed into law by Obama.

Ultimately, as the Monsanto Protection Act became more a hot issue, we had an increasing amount of publicity — but the Senate vote came just too quickly for the attention to put a halt on the rider. But even after its passing, sources like Russia Today, NaturalNews, Infowars, and myself here at NaturalSociety were sounding the alarm big time. Enough so that it even led to an apology from the top Senator who actually ended up approving the bill containing the rider.

 

Read Full Article Here

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Senate passes internet sales tax bill by 70 votes to 24 but faces a second test in the House of Representatives

Senate passes internet sales tax bill amid opposition from conservatives

Bill to overturn 1992 court decision has support of Obama, Amazon and Walmart – but its future in the House is uncertain

• Dominic Rushe in New York
• guardian.co.uk, Monday 6 May 2013 18.22 EDT

A 1992 supreme court ruling that said a state could not force a retailer to collect sales tax unless the retailer had a physical presence in the state. Photo: Scott Sady/AP

The US Senate on Monday passed a bill aimed at ending tax-free shopping on the internet but the move looks set to face fierce opposition before it becomes law.

The Marketplace Fairness Act, which has cross-party supporter and the backing of powerful retailers, would give states the power to require retailers with sales over $1m to collect state and local sales taxes for online purchases.

The bill has the support of president Barack Obama the majority of senators including Republican John McCain but Marco Rubio, seen a potential Republican presidential hopeful, and Rand Paul both voted against the bill.

The bill passed the Senate by 70 votes to 24 but faces a second test in the House of Representatives where internet retailers and conservatives are already lobbying against the tax. House leaders have yet to schedule hearings or votes on their version of the measure.

The legislation would overturn a 1992 supreme court ruling that said a state could not force a retailer to collect sales tax unless the retailer had a physical presence in the state.

Read Full Article Here

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Senate passes Internet sales tax bill; House fate uncertain

By Jim Puzzanghera

May 6, 2013, 4:49 p.m.

WASHINGTON — The Senate voted 69-27 Monday to approve legislation that would allow states to force larger online retailers to collect sales taxes.

But the bill faces an uncertain future in the House as lawmakers, particularly Republicans, wrestle with whether the Marketplace Fairness Act amounts to a tax increase.

The Market Place Fairness Act would give states the authority to force larger retailers to collect sales taxes that residents already are obligated to pay. But with most consumers dodging those taxes for years, the result will be that people will pay more in taxes.

For influential activist Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform, which asks lawmakers to sign a no-new-tax pledge, the so-called Marketplace Fairness Act is, in effect, a tax increase.

And his group, along with some other conservative activists, is pushing House members to reject it.

Quiz: How much do you know about Internet sales taxes?

But some Republicans have pushed back, saying the bill raises no new taxes and just helps level the playing field between online and traditional bricks-and-mortar retailers.

Two of the leading Senate supporters were Repubilcans — Mike Enzi of Wyoming and Lamar Alexander of Tennesssee. And the bill passed the Senate with strong bipartisan support.

Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.) is the main House sponsor and is hopeful the chamber will pass the bill.

But House leaders have not committed to taking up the legislation, saying it would first go to the House Judiciary Committee.

Read Full Article  Here

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House approves CISPA over privacy objections

CISPA is a bill designed to protect the United States from cyber attacks. Opponents say it could also compromise Americans’ online privacy. (Crowther & Crowther/Stone/Getty Images)

The bill still needs to pass the Senate and get Obama’s signature before becoming law

By Grant Gross, IDG News Service
April 18, 2013 02:30 PM ET

inShare0

IDG News Service – The U.S. House of Representatives has voted to approve a controversial cyberthreat information-sharing bill, despite opposition from the White House and several privacy and digital rights groups.

The House on Thursday voted 288-127 to approve the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), a bill that would allow U.S. intelligence agencies to share cyberthreat information with private companies. It would also shield private companies that voluntarily share cyberthreat information with each other and with government agencies from privacy lawsuits brought by customers.

[ BACKGROUND: Reddit co-founder calls out Google, Twitter, Facebook over CISPA ]

The bill would still need to be passed by the U.S. Senate before heading to President Barack Obama for his signature. The Senate declined to act on another version of CISPA during the last session of Congress, and earlier this week, Obama’s advisors threatened a veto, although that was before the House approved a handful of amendments intended to address privacy concerns.

CISPA would allow private companies to share a broad range of customer data with each other and with government agencies, privacy groups have complained.

Supporters, however, argued the legislation is needed to encourage better information sharing about active cyberattacks, resulting in better defense of U.S. networks. Federal law now prohibits intelligence agencies from sharing classified cyberthreat information with private companies.

The bill will help protect the U.S. against cyberattacks from China, Iran and other countries, supporters said. Cyberespionage has cost the U.S. tens of thousands of jobs, as foreign companies steal the blueprints of U.S. products, said Representative Mike Rogers, a Michigan Republican and primary sponsor of CISPA.

“If you want to take a shot across China’s bow, this is the answer,” he said to applause on the House floor.

The bill correctly balances privacy concerns with the need for security, added Representative Dan Maffei, a New York Democrat. Rogue nations and “even independent groups like WikiLeaks” are taking aggressive measures to attack the U.S. power grid, air-traffic control systems and customer financial data, he said.

“Every day, international agents, terrorists and criminal organizations attack the public and private networks of the United States,” he said. “While I do always have some concern that the U.S. government may access our private information in the cyber sphere, I am more concerned that the Chinese government will access our private information.”

The House on Thursday voted for a handful of amendments to the bill intended to improve privacy protections in the bill. Lawmakers approved an amendment designating the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Department of Justice as the primary repositories of cybertheat information shared by private companies, addressing a concern by several privacy groups that CISPA would give the U.S. National Security Agency unfettered access to customer data.

 

Read Full Article Here

 

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04/02/2013

CISPA Explainer

CISPA Explainer #1: What Information Can Be Shared?

By Michelle Richardson, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 10:05am

We’ve written extensively about CISPA over the last year, but since the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence is set to mark the bill up next week, and the full House to vote on it the week after that, we’re posting in more depth about its shortcomings. Information sharing isn’t offensive per se; it’s really a question of what can be shared, with whom, and what corporations and government agencies can do with it. First up:

What information does CISPA allow companies to share?

The short answer: any information that “pertains” to cybersecurity, broadly defined to include vulnerabilities, threat information, efforts to degrade systems, attempts at unauthorized access, and more. You can see the full list on page 20 of the bill. You’ll see that it’s not tied to the criminal definition of hacking but instead forges new ground.

The bill sponsors will tell you that CISPA is only about the “ones and zeroes,” but it certainly isn’t drafted that way. There’s nothing limiting CISPA in that manner and personally identifiable information (PII) could be shared right along with some inconsequential code that doesn’t impact privacy at all. So, if your communications or records are somehow caught up in a cybersecurity data dump, they might possibly include information that identifies the real-world you, even if that information is not necessary to combat a cyber threat. Under CISPA, you’ll just have to trust that the corporations holding your very personal information do what’s best. Good luck with that.

 

Read Full Article Here

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Dan Bongino @ Guns Across America Rally in Annapolis, MD

Published on Jan 20, 2013

Dan Bongino, former US Secret Service Officer and former US Senate Candidate speaks at the Annapolis, MD Guns Across America Rally. Jan 19th, 2013.

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Senate renews government surveillance measure. Two amendments that would have provided basic oversight for US government’s warrantless surveillance program voted down.

Activists voice dismay as Senate renews government surveillance measure

Two amendments that would have provided basic oversight for US government’s warrantless surveillance program

• Tom McCarthy
• guardian.co.uk, 

An amendment by Ron Wyden (above) would have required the government to estimate the number of US citizens it had spied on. Photo: Joshua Roberts/Reuters

Civil rights campaigners voiced dismay on Friday over the US Senate‘s re-authorization of the government’s warrantless surveillance program, and the defeat of two amendments that would have provided for basic oversight of the eavesdropping.

The Senate voted 73-23 to extend the law, called the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Amendments Act, for five years. The House of Representatives has already passed the measure, which President Obama has said he will sign.

But while the program was extended as expected, campaigners saw a silver lining in that the vote was closer than when the legislation was first introduced in 2008.

“We’re incredibly disappointed, not just that it passed, but that they rejected some very moderate amendments that wouldn’t have interfered with the collection of intelligence,” said Michelle Richardson, an ACLU expert on surveillance issues.

An amendment by senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon would have required the secret court that oversees surveillance requests to disclose “important rulings of law.” It failed 37-54. An amendment by Merkley’s fellow Oregon Democrat Ron Wyden would have required the government to estimate the number of US citizens it had spied on. It fell by a narrower margin, 43-52.

 

Read Full Article Here

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Chief executive ‘profoundly sorry’ as bank prepares to pay $1.9bn (£1.2bn) over claims it moved money for drug lords

HSBC pays record fine to settle US money-laundering accusations

• Jill Treanor
• guardian.co.uk,

HSBC’s penalty includes a five-year agreement under which the bank will install an independent monitor. Photograph: Stefan Wermuth/Reuters

HSBC is to pay a record $1.9bn (£1.2bn) to settle allegations it laundered money for drug cartels and broke sanctions in the US to allow terrorists to move money around the financial system, in the latest embarrassment for Britain’s banks.

The bank’s chief executive, Stuart Gulliver, said he was “profoundly sorry” as he confirmed the scale of the fine – the largest for such an offence and even greater than the £940m the bank had feared it faced after the allegations first surfaced in the summer.

“We accept responsibility for our past mistakes. We have said we are profoundly sorry for them, and we do so again,” he said, insisting Britain’s biggest bank was “a fundamentally different organisation” now.

He took the helm two years ago during a management reshuffle caused by the decision by Stephen Green, the chairman, to quit to join the government as a trade minister. David Bagley, the bank’s head of compliance, dramatically quit before the US Senate committee hearing into the case in July and on Monday HSBC named a former US official – Bob Werner – as head of group financial crime compliance, a newly created role, as the bank prepared for the fine related to drug allegations.

 

 

Read Full Article Here

 

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• HSBC to Pay $1.92 Billion to Settle Money-Laundering Probes – Bloomberg (bloomberg.com)
• UK News: HSBC agrees £1.2bn launder payout (walesonline.co.uk)
• HSBC to pay $1.9B to settle money-laundering case (news.yahoo.com)
• HSBC to pay £1.2billion over US money laundering (metro.co.uk)