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UpInArms

(51,252 posts)
Tue Nov 12, 2019, 09:52 AM Nov 2019

Federal health contract funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars to Trump allies

Source: Politico

At least eight former White House, presidential transition and campaign officials for President Donald Trump were hired as outside contractors to the federal health department at the cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars per year, according to documents newly obtained by POLITICO.

They were among at least 40 consultants who worked on a one-year, $2.25 million contract directed by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma. The contractors were hired to burnish Verma’s personal brand and provide “strategic communications” support. They charged up to $380 per hour for work traditionally handled by dozens of career civil servants in CMS's communications department.

The arrangement allowed the Trump allies to cycle through the federal government's opaque contracting system, charging hefty fees with little public oversight or accountability.

Over a four-and-a-half month stretch from September 2018 to January, the contractors collectively billed at least $744,000. The Department of Health and Human Services halted the contract in April in the face of widespread criticism after POLITICO reported on Verma's extensive use of communications consultants.

But under the terms hammered out last year, revealed for the first time, CMS agreed to allow at least four consultants to bill up to $204,000 over the length of the contract. That included one longtime Verma ally — Marcus Barlow, her spokesperson while she was an Indiana-based consultant to then-Gov. Mike Pence — who was greenlighted to bill as much as $425,000 for about a year’s worth of work.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/amp/news/2019/11/12/federal-health-funneled-dollars-trump-allies-069638



Your government under siege....

I hate these people
27 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Federal health contract funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars to Trump allies (Original Post) UpInArms Nov 2019 OP
These fucken people are trash!!! n/t RKP5637 Nov 2019 #1
Get rid of all the graft in government.. Maxheader Nov 2019 #2
Deep Grift replaces Deep State OhNo-Really Nov 2019 #3
Oh, he's draining the swamp, alright. By diverting it. tanyev Nov 2019 #4
i have struggled to decide how much he is a puppet, and how much a villian. mopinko Nov 2019 #5
Can't the puppet of a villain also be a villain ? I vote for 100% of each. nt eppur_se_muova Nov 2019 #19
pales in comparision with how much Govt been forced to spend on trump properties beachbumbob Nov 2019 #6
Grifters Inc. MFGsunny Nov 2019 #7
All the while ... TAX CUTS for the wealthy KPN Nov 2019 #16
Eggs-actly! MFGsunny Nov 2019 #20
Another soulless greedy creature in the swamp dalton99a Nov 2019 #8
the worst people in America are in charge of America. mountain grammy Nov 2019 #9
They really are ck4829 Nov 2019 #25
Kick democrank Nov 2019 #10
He gets his stench on everything he touches. If it isn't nailed down, repugs will steal it. Mc Mike Nov 2019 #11
Some of these plans had to Scarsdale Nov 2019 #12
The criminal behavior by this despicable administration is over the top gademocrat7 Nov 2019 #13
Drain the swamp! FakeNoose Nov 2019 #14
Yep ck4829 Nov 2019 #24
K & R...for visibility...nt Wounded Bear Nov 2019 #15
My blood is boiling. Fuck them all! I want KPN Nov 2019 #17
Associates of MIKE PENCE were involved in multimillion-dollar graft ? How much did MIKE PENCE know ? eppur_se_muova Nov 2019 #18
Don't you know that ... aggiesal Nov 2019 #21
+1 ck4829 Nov 2019 #23
K&R ck4829 Nov 2019 #22
Your government run like a corporation. Farmer-Rick Nov 2019 #26
DAMN Trump--this money would have been used for direct care of the sick. riversedge Nov 2019 #27

Maxheader

(4,366 posts)
2. Get rid of all the graft in government..
Tue Nov 12, 2019, 10:05 AM
Nov 2019

and we could fund healthcare for everyone...


Graft, as understood in American English, is a form of political corruption, being the unscrupulous use of a politician's authority for personal gain. Similarly, political graft occurs when funds intended for public projects are intentionally misdirected in order to maximize the benefits to private interests.
....

OhNo-Really

(3,985 posts)
3. Deep Grift replaces Deep State
Tue Nov 12, 2019, 10:05 AM
Nov 2019

You can almost hear their giggling as they line up to steal our tax dollars

Grifters On Parade. GOP

mopinko

(69,806 posts)
5. i have struggled to decide how much he is a puppet, and how much a villian.
Tue Nov 12, 2019, 10:09 AM
Nov 2019

so many toadies from the st ronnie years, and the depths of his stupidity lead me to believe that he is mostly puppet.
it's the only way someone that abjectly stupid rises to these heights.
and the only way an administration shows up at the wh ready to plunder and destroy the targets of their pet hates.

the only question now is who pulls the strings. or should i say- how many get a turn to pull the strings?

MFGsunny

(2,356 posts)
7. Grifters Inc.
Tue Nov 12, 2019, 10:26 AM
Nov 2019

THIS is the type of grifting we taxpayers are funding - and contributing to the federal debt as far as our eyes can see. Stealing us blind !!!

BRIBERY

EXTORTION

EMBEZZLEMENT

KPN

(15,586 posts)
16. All the while ... TAX CUTS for the wealthy
Tue Nov 12, 2019, 12:09 PM
Nov 2019

to drive up the deficit, to blame the Democrats for, to make it absolutely necessary to cut Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare and maybe even kill them.

dalton99a

(81,065 posts)
8. Another soulless greedy creature in the swamp
Tue Nov 12, 2019, 10:31 AM
Nov 2019

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma

Mc Mike

(9,106 posts)
11. He gets his stench on everything he touches. If it isn't nailed down, repugs will steal it.
Tue Nov 12, 2019, 10:58 AM
Nov 2019

They're very lazy, but they brought pry bars.

Scarsdale

(9,426 posts)
12. Some of these plans had to
Tue Nov 12, 2019, 11:17 AM
Nov 2019

have been in the works BEFORE orange anus was installed in the WH. Devious people. Certainly NOT working for the good of citizens, just their own bank accounts. Pence is as vile as tRump, just puts a pious face on his corruption. It will be ironic if after all their dirty deeds to install tRump, he takes every last one of them down with him. We can hope, can't we?

gademocrat7

(10,623 posts)
13. The criminal behavior by this despicable administration is over the top
Tue Nov 12, 2019, 11:40 AM
Nov 2019

Never has there been so much looting and pillaging of our tax dollars.

FakeNoose

(32,340 posts)
14. Drain the swamp!
Tue Nov 12, 2019, 12:06 PM
Nov 2019

Remove all swamp critters, including all former Trump campaign workers and WH employees currently serving in US government and federal contract suppliers.


KPN

(15,586 posts)
17. My blood is boiling. Fuck them all! I want
Tue Nov 12, 2019, 12:17 PM
Nov 2019

revenge big time against tRump and every one of these corrupt MFers!

eppur_se_muova

(36,227 posts)
18. Associates of MIKE PENCE were involved in multimillion-dollar graft ? How much did MIKE PENCE know ?
Tue Nov 12, 2019, 12:22 PM
Nov 2019

It would be a real shame if this story connected to MIKE PENCE got widely circulated, especially if people got the idea that this was really a story about MIKE PENCE rather than a story about massive corruption involving associates of MIKE PENCE. People might very well ask, "How much did MIKE PENCE know, and when did he know it?" which seems a little unfair to MIKE PENCE. Perhaps if you happen to pass this story on to others, as if you would, be sure to take the reasonable approach -- let your MAGAt correspondents know that instead of treating this as a story about MIKE PENCE, or a story about massive corruption, you take the reasonable, compromise position and say "well, as often happens, perhaps the truth lies somewhere in between".

I'd really like to know what MIKE PENCE has to say about this. Perhaps a reporter with a backbone could ask MIKE PENCE about this the next time he is sighted, if MIKE PENCE doesn't run fast enough.

aggiesal

(8,864 posts)
21. Don't you know that ...
Tue Nov 12, 2019, 01:06 PM
Nov 2019

they all belong to the US Department of Grifting?

Wake up and smell the coffee!
Oh, wait. We can't afford coffee!

Farmer-Rick

(10,072 posts)
26. Your government run like a corporation.
Mon Nov 25, 2019, 09:33 AM
Nov 2019

Thank capitalism. Corruption is a major feature of Capitalism. What do you expect when you promote greed as a bases for an economic system? It is a major feature of shorty Putin's Russua too. Capitalism promotes the worst of human traits. It was a stop gap system to free the serfs in feudalism but it turned into an economic system promoted by the rich. We need to evolve out of it.

Without the American filthy rich capitalist supporting Traitor Trump, and his Slovenian sex worker, they would not be in our white house.

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