Good morning — and happy National Tango Day to our friends in Argentina! 

On this date in 1981, US-trained troops of the Salvadoran army killed at least 794 civilians in what came to be known as the El Mozote Massacre. The Reagan administration vociferously denied the reports, and conservatives, led by The Wall Street Journal attacked the reporters who broke the story. Accuracy in Media, a conservative “media watchdog,” charged that New York Times reporter Raymond Bonner had been “worth a division to the communists in Central America.”

Legal corruption: On Monday, we mentioned that lobbyists were salivating over a $1 trillion spending bill moving through Congress this week. According to Rep. Louise Slaughter of New York, the top Dem on the House Rules Committee, the bill that the House is expected to vote on today “is 1,600 pages, was released in the middle of the night, and not one member of this committee has been able to read all the way through it. There has been no opportunity for public input, no mark ups, no hearings.”

Here’s what we’re learning has been snuck into the must-pass bill…

• Ben Protess reports for the NYT that the bill includes language “essentially written by lobbyists for Citigroup” that would gut a key Dodd-Frank reform requiring banks to segregate some of their riskiest gambles in funds that aren’t insured by taxpayers — i.e., derivatives. Protess calls this “a textbook Washington play: use a must-pass bill, on the eve of the holidays, as a vehicle for changing unrelated policies.” ALSO: Simon Johnson at The Baseline Scenario writes, “Democrats and Republicans should refuse to vote for the spending bill as long as it contains this requirement” and quotes Thomas Hoenig, appointed by Republicans to be vice chair of the FDIC: “In 2008 we learned the economic consequences of conducting derivatives trading in taxpayer-insured banks,” Hoenig says, warning that repeal is “illogical.”
• Greg Sargent reports for WaPo that it includes “a measure tucked into the bill that would allow rich donors to shovel up to nearly 10 times as much in campaign cash into the coffers of party committees.” He adds: “In a little detail that doesn’t reflect particularly well on Congress, no one knows how this measure got into the bill.”
• Bloomberg Businessweek’s Heidi Przybyla and Erik Wasson report that another amendment would “allow exceptions to clean-water laws for agricultural refuse, and block the District of Columbia from spending money to legalize marijuana following a voter-approved measure allowing possession of as much as 2 ounces for personal use.” It would also “roll back safety rules aimed at ensuring truck drivers get enough rest, ignoring the pleas of consumer activists.” If passed, truckers could drive for up to 82 hours a week.
• There are budget cuts for the ACA, EPA and IRS. Ed O’Keefe has this and other details at WaPo.
• There are silly, partisan provisions like a ban on funding ACORN, the community organization that was disbanded four years ago. At HuffPo, Zach Carter has that story, as he has had every time they pass such a measure.
• In an article about how Sen. Elizabeth Warren and other progressive in Congress are fuming over the deal, The Hill’s Peter Schroeder writes: “‘The regulatory reforms in the cromnibus are the first cracks in the Dodd-Frank armor,’ said one senior GOP Senate aide… ‘If liberal Democrats vote for this package it shows that conservatives can use must-pass legislation to repeal the regulatory state.'”
• Isaiah Poole writes at CAF that several groups are calling for people to get in touch with their representatives — IMMEDIATELY — to stop Congress’ “backroom deal.”

“The CIA is lying” –> That’s what outgoing US Senator Mark Udall of Colorado declared in a fiery floor speech on Wednesday. “Director Brennan and the CIA today are continuing to willfully provide inaccurate information and misrepresent the efficacy of torture,” Udall said. Lauren Fox and Dustin Volz have more at National Journal. AND: Dick Cheney says the Senate report is “full of crap,” and also insisted that George W. Bush was fully aware of what the CIA was doing. Devin Dwyer reports for ABC. ALSO: Peter Baker reports for the NYT that Obama is “caught in the middle of a collision between the Central Intelligence Agency and his own Democratic allies, who accused the White House of helping to cover up a legacy of torture and put the president on the defensive over an interrogation program he never supported.”

Millionaires’ poll –> Thirty-one percent of 500 millionaires polled by CNBC said Hillary Clinton was their top choice to become the next president. Jeb Bush was the runner up with the support of 18 percent of the respondents.

Backflip –> At MoJo, James West reports that Australia, which has a government that’s openly hostile toward climatologists and which trails only Saudi Arabia in taking action to mitigate global warming, reversed its previous position and announced that it will contribute to a UN fund set up to help countries transition to cleaner energy.

Time to get paid –> Anna Palmer and Burgess Everett report for Politico that Louisiana’s departing US Sen. Mary Landrieu, long a friend of Big Oil and other business interests, “is a hot commodity on K Street.”

Good cop –> Richmond, California, Chief of Police Chris Magnus “has drawn acclaim for his community-policing approach and helping drive down both crime and use of force by his officers in recent years,” according to Roger Roberts of the Contra Costa Times. On Tuesday, Magnus held a sign reading “Black Lives Matter” as he led a demonstration against police violence.

Moving backwards –> The Fayetteville, Arkansas, city council passed an ordinance in August that barred discrimination on the basis of sexual preference or gender identity. A group of social conservatives organized and got the law repealed in a referendum on Tuesday. Via: KFSM News.

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