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Each morning, Bill Scher and Terrance Heath serve up what progressives need to affect change on the kitchen-table issues families face: jobs, health care, green energy, financial reform, affordable education and retirement security.

MORNING MESSAGE: Fiscal Cliff Follows Shock Doctrine Script

OurFuture.org's Dave Johnson: "Anyone who has read The Shock Doctrine understands exactly what this 'Fiscal Cliff' scare is … The 'Fiscal Cliff' is not a cliff and the language itself is intended to scare people. The name itself is designed to create panic, evoking disaster imagery of people and the economy falling off a cliff. It is the latest manufactured 'crisis' and we are all supposed to be terrified and demand immediate and extreme solutions."

President To Meet With Labor, CEOs

Obama meets with labor and progressive leaders today about deficit deal. Politico: "A White House official has … sent over the list of union and progressive leaders who will sit down with him Tuesday: Mary Kay Henry, SEIU; Lee Saunders, AFSCME; Dennis Van Roekel, NEA; Rich Trumka, AFL-CIO; Neera Tanden, Center for American Progress; John Podesta, Center for American Progress; Bob Greenstein, Center for Budget and Policy Priorities; Laura Burton Capps, Common Purpose Project; Max Richtman, National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare; Justin Ruben, MoveOn; Deepak Bhargava, Center for Community Change. This list hits many of the major unions and liberal organizations that are urging the president to hold firm on his commitment to end tax cuts for wealthier families and to protect major entitlement programs."

Then meets with CEOs tomorrow. WSJ: "The cadre of business leaders includes official who have backed bipartisan plans to reduce the deficit, such as Honeywell International Inc. Chief Executive David Cote and General Electric Co. Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt. But it also includes some chief executives who can’t be counted among the Obama administration’s top supporters, including Michael Duke, chief executive of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., who openly backed Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney during last week’s election. Many of the CEOs attending the meeting are part of a group called 'Fix the Debt,' which has supported the 2010 deficit-reduction package designed by Republican Alan Simpson and Democrat Erskine Bowles…"

"Liberal groups mobilize for ‘fiscal cliff’ fight over Social Security, Medicare" reports W. Post: "… Obama has not made clear precisely how far he would go on entitlements. But people close to the White House say officials believe the election strengthened their hand and reduced the need to make concessions. The extent of any entitlement changes may depend on how much new tax revenue Republicans are willing to accept. … liberals say they will fight against any entitlement beneficiary cuts. The AFL-CIO kept its field organizers active for a week after the election to lobby lawmakers against entitlement cuts, while MoveOn.org is using its e-mail list of 7 million people to mobilize."

Grover Loses House

Grover Norquist loses his majority. The Hill: "About a dozen newly elected House Republicans refused to sign the anti-tax pledge during their campaigns, and another handful of returning Republicans have disavowed their allegiance to the written commitment. With Democrats picking up seven or eight seats, that means the pledge guides fewer than the 218 members needed for a majority. In the Senate, where Republicans lost two seats, just 39 members of the chamber are pledge-signers…"

Dems warming to Romney proposal for cap on tax deductions. NYT: "The cap — never fully detailed by Mr. Romney — is similar to a longstanding proposal by Mr. Obama to limit income tax deductions to 28 percent, even for affluent households that pay a 35 percent rate. But a firm cap of around $35,000 would hit the affluent even harder than Mr. Obama’s proposal, which has previously gotten nowhere in Congress. 'Let’s just say there’s a renewed interest,' said Senator Kent Conrad, Democrat of North Dakota…"

Oil tax breaks may be sacrificed in deficit deal. The Hill: "The Speaker is seeking a deal with the White House that would include new tax revenues without raising rates, a stance that has shifted the focus to the deductions and loopholes in the IRS code. The American Petroleum Institute (API), the industry’s biggest lobbying group, is bracing for fresh attacks against incentives that oil companies say are nourishing the nation’s oil-and-gas production boom."

Dems don't have votes yet for filibuster reform. The Hill: "'I haven’t counted 51 just yet, but we’re working,' said Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.), a leading proponent of the so-called constitutional or 'nuclear' option, in which Senate rules could be changed by a majority vote … His hope is that he can convince Republicans to approve of some filibuster reforms that the entire Senate could agree to without the use of a nuclear option."

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