I am incedulous that this activity has not received more attention!

From the Washington Post today(Link). This is an op-ed piece from Nicholas Quinn Rosencranz regarding the Justice Department's settlement with various large banks which included the requirement for donations to various community development groups.

What is less well known is that some of this money — amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars — is designated for “donation” to various “community development” organizations that were neither parties to the case nor victims of the alleged wrongdoing. Investor’s Business Daily has characterized these payments as “political payoffs to Obama constituency groups,” and Congress is now considering banning this practice with the Stop Settlement Slush Funds Act of 2016.

How bizarre!  The constitutional issue is obvious. The settlement represents money paid to the Federal government which is then appropriated to pay another party, without any Congressional approval. What we are seeing as the discretionary portion of the Federal budget essentially disappears is the use of DOJ shakedowns of private entities for cash then used to repay politically connected.