Chapter 604: Bill Passed

At the moment Mr. Selei and his family left Jinzhou with dark faces, the Speaker of the House glanced at the materials in his hand and stood up slowly under the limited flash of the camera.

"The voting result is that except for one abstention and two votes against, the rest are all in favor. The *Federal International Security Act* was passed with an absolute advantage."

This news spread to the entire Federation like a huge earthquake. At the Congressional press conference half an hour later.

The Majority Leader and the Speaker appeared at the press conference at the same time. This situation is actually rare, because they represent the highest level of power in the parliament.

Many times, as long as one of them appears, it is enough to deal with various situations, but today, they appeared together.

Although people already knew that something was a bit wrong, they still felt unbelievable when they saw the two appear together.

Everyone knows that this will be a very special press conference concerning the future destiny of the Federation.

The scene was very quiet, and the reporters were also very orderly. It's not that they didn't want to be orderly, but they didn't dare not to be.

If they were hated by these two big figures, they might be blocked by the entire industry, and might even be so miserable that they couldn't find a job to support themselves, and could only go to the countryside to farm.

In external propaganda, people always say that if necessary, the President will also be required to stand in the defendant's seat.

But in reality, if this is not a political show, then it is the result of political squeezing.

As for whether it is possible that the President is really just simply required to stand in the defendant's seat?

Come on, as a person who can sign presidential orders to change the candidates for Supreme Court justices, a person who can pardon himself at any time, when he is unwilling to stand in that position, no one can force him to do so.

The President can ignore the law and refuse to appear in the defendant's seat, let alone the Speaker or the Majority Leader.

All those who can judge them are their subordinates. How can this be judged?

After the two sat down, the reporters began to raise their hands in an orderly manner.

The Speaker pointed to a reporter from *The Federal Daily* at random. The reporter first thanked the two gentlemen, and then asked his question, "Why did the Federal Congress pass such a sensitive proposal during this time period?"

"We know that the war on the Tanfeite Continent is constantly escalating. I noticed that there are multiple clauses in the *International Security Act* that allow for war measures to be taken before the Congress passes them."

"Will this become the fuse for the Federation to join the battlefield?"

Here, we must mention the war issue of the Federation. The President can only launch military actions, and the time cannot exceed three months.

At the same time, he cannot launch large-scale military actions, and the scale is limited to a certain range.

This led to the fact that if a military conflict really broke out, whether to fight or not still needs to be voted on and passed by Congress, and then authorized to the President and the military.

Only then do they have the qualification and power to start a war. Otherwise, after the other party ceases fire, they must also immediately cease fire and let Congress vote to decide how to proceed.

Now the *International Security Act* grants the President the qualification to directly launch a war in a state of military friction.

This means that war may break out at any time because of the mutual shooting of two soldiers!

From an objective and rational point of view, the *International Security Act* is obviously irrational. It will turn some military actions that might only be deterrents into a war directly.

For example, common ones, firing shells into the other party's waters. These shells do not intend to hit anything, just to deter the other party, tell the other party not to approach, or not to have any bad ideas.

But now, as long as the President thinks they are attacking, he can order the Navy to go out in full force!

The reporter's question left only countless eyes looking at the two gentlemen on the stage, and the constantly flashing camera lights.

The Speaker shook his head, "This is a good question, but we cannot see this problem too easily."

"The Prime Minister of the Dantela Republic has issued a statement to us, demanding that we immediately stop all trade activities with the Tanfeite Continent, otherwise we will be regarded as a war opponent."

"Ladies and gentlemen, the current economy of the Federation has declined very severely due to some reasons."

"If we lose those orders and customers on the Tanfeite Continent, this will be a heavy blow to the factory owners who are having difficulty operating domestically."

"According to the results we counted last year, nearly 70% of the export goods of the Federation have their final destinations in countries and regions on the Tanfeite Continent."

"We have already lost part of the orders. If we lose all of them, I cannot imagine how bad the domestic economy will become."

"The Dantela Republic may attack our merchant ships because of this, and even attack our ports and warehouses."

"In order to deal with the crazy Dantela people, it is very necessary to ensure military immediate response. Once they attack us without declaring war, at least we will not waste precious time because we need to go through the process, letting the public suffer more losses."

"If they do not try to interfere in the internal affairs of the Federation through force, then the *International Security Act* will not be activated."

"We are not keen on war, but we must also have the courage to punch toward war!"

Everyone nodded one after another. At the scene, except for the sound of the magnesium light bursting, only the rustling sound of the pen recording on the notebook remained.

A very good answer. The reporter from *The Federal Daily* sat back, and then the reporter from *The Federal Post* was also named and stood up.

These traditional heavy-weight newspapers and magazines have good prestige here. Coupled with the political stance behind them and the review system with political stance, no matter what material they interviewed, the final presentation to the audience is what the political arena allows them to present. The reporter from *The Post* is a bit old and looks like he is doing serious news, "Speaker,... sir (Majority Leader), good afternoon."

"If the Dantela Republic rashly launches a war against us first, will we intervene in the main frontal battlefield, or will we just circle around with them on the East Ocean?"

"In the overall war, what kind of role will we play, and what benefits are expected to be obtained from the war?"

A very naked question, which also represents the "correct answer", which is also a kind of process.

This time, the Majority Leader answered, "I will answer this question."

"In fact, since the end of last year, we have been considering these issues."

"At that time, the Dantela Republic occupied the wealth of federal merchants, and killed, injured, and expelled them, and also looted some of our free trade cargo ships, causing our citizens to suffer huge economic losses."

"We have been worried about the escalation of friction and have actively communicated diplomatically, but the effect is not good."

"So you should have seen it too. We have plans to station troops in New Jincheng, just to maintain our legitimate interests in the international arena."

"It's just that considering international friendship, we have never implemented it."

【Note: This line is a garbled placeholder in the source text.】

"But with the pressure of the Dantela Republic, we have to respond."

"If we join the war, we will take on the role we need to play in this war."

"We are not troublemakers, we are not speculators, we are partners of justice. All our purposes and behaviors are to protect the property safety and personal safety of our citizens overseas."

"The Federal Government is a responsible government. With the emergence of great internationalism and the thickening of the atmosphere, we will be more active in the international community in the future and become the focus of people."

"If this war really breaks out, we will definitely go deep into the main frontal battlefield, assist other allied forces, and crush the crazy thoughts of the Prime Minister of the Dantela Republic on the battlefield together."

"After the war, we will demand that the President of the Dantela Republic and the ruling party apologize for the war crimes they committed, apologize to those federal citizens who have been hurt by their greed and crazy desires, and pursue all the losses suffered by citizens in the Dantela Republic..."

The entire press conference lasted for more than two hours, including many details after the war "if" it broke out.

These contents were published in detail. Lanse got the supplement of *The Federal Daily* in the evening.

The entire supplement is about the content of this news. At the same time, he noticed a very interesting thing.

In the recently passed proposal, the tax reform plan was mentioned. According to the regulations of the Federal Government, federal citizens with an income of less than 100 dollars a month can not pay taxes.

But now it has changed.

After the tax law was amended, as long as there is income, you must pay taxes.

It's just that their tax payment amount will not be particularly high. The overall calculation method is ladder-like, with the highest tax rate being 45%.

In addition, some special circumstances were introduced, such as during the war, the country needs a large amount of funds to be invested in the war.

In order to obtain this part of the funds, the country will promote a "wartime unified tax rate", that is, no matter if the citizen's income is one dollar or one million, they enjoy the same tax rate.

This tax rate starts at a minimum of 55% and a maximum of 100%, which is decided by the Congress after discussion and passage.

At the same time, in order to ensure the interests of citizens, the Federal Government will issue war bonds at the beginning of the war.

Buying war bonds can offset taxes, but cannot offset the entire tax amount...

In short, this is a set of bills that makes people feel a bit headache just looking at it. Its core is only one point—

Once the war breaks out, not only must you pay taxes, but you must also softly apportion bonds.

That night, the Dantela Republic knew the decision of the Federation. Instead of clamoring that as long as the Federation stationed troops, they would immediately start a war as before.

Instead, it was as if they didn't know yet.

They now have to think, also have to respond, also have to consider if the war really breaks out, whether they can take care of it.

In such a suddenly calm time, more refugees began to pour into the Federation...

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 605 =====