Chapter 651 - 302: A Future of Forced Submission

"He’s the Governor, the head of the executive branch."

"The executive power is in our hands."

Kaufman frowned. "So what? Once a bill passes, it’s the law. You have to execute it, you have to allocate the funds. Otherwise, it’s dereliction of duty."

"Execute it?"

Leo laughed.

"Mr. Speaker, you’ve been in Harrisburg for so long. You should understand the art of administrative procedure better than I do."

"Execution can have... different speeds."

"If I don’t want to spend this money, I have countless legal ways to let it rot in the account."

Leo began to list the weapons in his arsenal.

"Let’s say you pass the infrastructure bill but veto the medical bill."

"The very next day, in my capacity as Alliance Leader, I will announce a supplementary environmental impact assessment for all upcoming infrastructure projects. The reason? Recent air quality data has been anomalous, and we need to re-verify the emissions standards of every single excavator."

"This assessment period will be tentatively set for six months."

The color drained from Kaufman’s face.

"Or, I could have Governor William sign an executive order requiring a compliance review of labor rights protections for all contractors. We need to ensure every worker is being treated fairly. During the review, all funding will be frozen."

"That review period? Another six months."

Leo’s tone was casual.

"Or, I could have the planning bureau ’discover’ a few century-old maps, claiming that the construction sites might be sitting on top of Indian artifacts. Or perhaps the habitat of some endangered beetle."

"Any reason at all."

"As long as I want to."

"That ten billion dollars will be frozen in a dedicated state treasury account. It’ll be right there—visible, but untouchable."

"Not a single penny will flow out."

Leo looked at Kaufman, his gaze turning utterly ruthless.

"Now, I want you to imagine the consequences."

"Hundreds of contractors across the state have already taken my letters of intent to the banks for bridge loans. They’ve already bought equipment, hired workers, and even started work using their own capital."

"Their capital chains are stretched to the breaking point."

"They’re counting on that first disbursement to arrive immediately after the bill passes. It’s their lifeline."

"If I announce a freeze on the funds..."

"If the money doesn’t come through within three months..."

"What do you think will happen?"

Leo moved closer to Kaufman.

"Mass defaults."

"The banks will call in their loans and seize their assets. Construction companies will go bankrupt, leaving a trail of unfinished buildings. Tens of thousands of newly employed workers will be jobless again, and this time, they won’t get any severance pay."

"It will be a financial tsunami."

"And that’s not even the best part."

Leo straightened his cuffs.

"The best part is, I will hold a press conference."

"I will stand in front of those idle excavators, facing all the state’s media, facing those furious bankrupt owners and unemployed workers."

"And I will tell them the truth."

"I will say: The money is there. Ten billion dollars, every last cent. I want to give it to you. I want everyone to have a good life."

"’But I can’t.’"

"’Because Speaker Kaufman, in order to protect a few greedy insurance companies, refused to pass the corresponding fiscal balance bill. If we spend this money now, the State Government will go bankrupt.’"

Leo stared at Kaufman’s face.

"What do you think? Those contractors holding worthless IOUs, those workers whose families are waiting to put food on the table."

"Who will they believe?"

"Will they come after me?"

"No."

"They’ll come after you."

"They will surround the State Assembly, storm your office, the bankers will blow up your phone, and your colleagues in the party will abandon you to save themselves."

"You will become the greatest villain in the history of Pennsylvania."

"You will have personally engineered a statewide Great Depression."

Leo’s young face was now just inches from Kaufman’s.

"Mr. Speaker."

"Can you bear that responsibility?"

"For the profits of a few pharmaceutical companies, are you really prepared to drag all of Pennsylvania down with you?"

The only sound in the room was Kaufman’s ragged breathing.

The receiver slipped from his hand, CLATTERING onto the desk.

He had always believed that legislative power was supreme, that controlling the assembly meant controlling the law.

But he had forgotten that laws need people to enforce them.

And in Pennsylvania, the executive power was in the hands of this madman.

Leo couldn’t just get laws passed; he could also turn them into worthless paper.

He could not only pass a bill, but he could also decide when it took effect—or if it ever would.

"You..."

Kaufman’s voice trembled. He looked at Leo as if he were looking at a Demon from hell.

"You’ll destroy the system in this state."

"The system?"

Leo straightened up, looking down at the old man condescendingly.

"The system is meant to serve the living."

"If the system makes medicine unaffordable for my citizens, then I’ll smash the system."

"If the system leaves my workers jobless, then I’ll rebuild the system."

"Now, stop thinking about clever little tricks."

Leo pointed at the documents on the table.

"Don’t think about splitting them up. Don’t think about pulling any fast ones."

"Either both pass, and we all get rich together."

"Or both die, and we all go down in flames."

"I won’t say any more. There’s nothing more to say."

With that, Leo walked straight out of the office, leaving Kaufman stunned in his chair.

"Your maturity is astonishing, Leo."

Roosevelt’s voice echoed in the depths of his mind.

"You calculated and blocked off every single one of Kaufman’s escape routes, from judicial review to executive authority. You didn’t leave him a single inch of breathing room."

"You are moving beyond the scope of a manager and entering the realm of a true Politician."

Roosevelt’s tone grew mysterious.

"In this circle, mediocre people only care about the current ledger."

"They spend their days haggling over stacks of yellowed reports, trying to maintain a false balance within the established rules. People like that can, at best, be called stewards."

"But a top-tier Politician shapes the future, creating something from nothing."

"Your job is never about distributing existing resources. It’s about managing people’s expectations."

"You have to promise everyone a future so grand they can’t see the edges, a future filled with money and power. Then, using that as a pretext, you unite the scattered hearts and minds of the present."

"When tens of thousands of people—be they bankers, workers, or speculators—begin to frantically invest their money, power, and emotions into the future you’ve described, that once illusory future gains a tangible gravity."

"It becomes an unstoppable tide, washing away everything that stands in its path."

"What you just did was drop that gravity directly onto Kaufman’s spine."

"You made him see an inevitable collapse, a future debt he could never bear alone. By leveraging the future, you forcibly twisted the present situation."

"You made him understand that rejecting you isn’t just rejecting a bill—it’s rejecting an era that has already arrived."

’Yes, Mr. President,’ Leo answered silently in his mind. ’If the future can be bought with calculations and intimidation, then I’ll buy it in advance. Even if that debt has to be paid back with the next fifty years of this city’s future, I need to see the results today.’

"Remember this feeling, Leo."

Roosevelt let out a light laugh.

"Politics is a form of alchemy centered on credit."

"As long as you dare to borrow against the future, the future will be forced to bow to you."