MORNING MESSAGE: Who Stands With The Middle Class?
OurFuture.org's Robert Borosage: "...the members of the House of Representatives will choose. At a time of mass unemployment and slow growth, they will vote for more austerity or for more jobs ... These choices will be made in votes on two budget plans: Rep. Paul Ryan’s House Republican budget and the Congressional Progressive Caucus 'Back to Work' Budget ... The Middle Class Scorecard of the Campaign for America’s Future will score these votes. A vote FOR Paul Ryan’s 'Path to Prosperity' is a vote AGAINST the middle class. A vote FOR the Congressional Progressive Caucus 'Back to Work Budget' is a vote FOR the middle class. These scores will be part of the Middle Class Scorecard that CAF and its allies will take into congressional districts across the country in 2014, making certain that voters know who stood with the middle class and who stood in its way."
Shutdown Threat Subsides With Sequester Still On
Bill to keep government open could pass this week. CNN: "If all goes according to plan, the Democratic-controlled Senate will pass a spending resolution early in the week that also will ease the impact of the sequester cuts. The GOP-run House of Representatives will then back the measure on Thursday, sending it to President Barack Obama to be signed into law. The Senate proposal cleared an important procedural hurdle on Monday, setting up a path for a final vote. It still was unclear whether the chamber would ultimately consider any amendments."
Pentagon reviewing strategy in light of sequester. W. Post: "Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has ordered the Pentagon to reconsider a sweeping military strategy that the Obama administration unveiled just last year to determine whether it is still affordable ... the armed services are bracing for cutbacks that could shrink parts of the military to levels last seen before the massive buildup that followed the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks ... Army planners, for example, are considering the possibility that they will have to further reduce the size of their force to approximately 440,000 active-duty soldiers — about 50,000 fewer than the Pentagon projected last year. The Army now has about 540,000 soldiers."
Corporate lobby to make push for big tax cut. The Hill: "[Business Roundtable] is launching a campaign to build public support for reducing the corporate rate to 25 percent and limiting the taxation of offshore income ..."
GOP Attacks Labor Nominee Perez, Civil Rights
GOP prepares to fight nominee for Labor Secretary. McClatchy: "Seen as an unabashed advocate for immigrant rights and other liberal causes, [Thomas] Perez is expected to play a leading role in Obama’s efforts to overhaul immigration laws and raise the minimum wage. Opponents are planning to block his nomination by painting him as a poster boy for big government ... he’ll be asked about his opposition to voter ID laws in South Carolina – which the courts upheld, but only with certain changes – and in Texas, which the court blocked, saying the law would hurt minority voting and place a burden on the poor ... Perez’s division also sued popular pro-immigration enforcement sheriffs such as Joe Arpaio of Arizona’s Maricopa County and Terry Johnson of North Carolina’s Alamance County, accusing them of racially profiling Latinos."
Attacking Perez threatens Republican effort to reach out to minorities. Roll Call: "If Republicans block Perez, they risk undercutting the Republican National Committee’s brand-new diversity push and getting mired in fights over voting rights and immigration. But if they allow his nomination to go through, they risk blowback from their base. Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh likened Perez to Hugo Chavez after Obama nominated him Monday."
Conservatives Embrace Path To Citizenship
Sen. Paul backs path to citizenship. AP: "Paul's move also comes as a bipartisan group of senators is nearing agreement on sweeping legislation to overhaul the nation's immigration laws, an effort that could get a boost from Paul's stance. In an interview, Paul said he could foresee backing the Senate group's emerging bill, although he plans to try to amend it on the floor with some of his own ideas ... Like the Senate group, Paul would aim to secure the border before illegal immigrants could begin taking steps toward citizenship, and he emphasizes this as a necessary first step to get support from conservatives. He doesn't specify how the border would be made more secure but says the Border Patrol and an inspector general would have to sign off. Congress would also have to agree annually for five years that border security was progressing in order for the other reforms Paul envisions to keep moving forward."
As does evangelical coalition. NYT: "The group, the Evangelical Immigration Table, issued a statement of principles calling for an eventual path to citizenship for immigrants who would gain legal status under proposals that lawmakers in both houses of Congress are considering. 'This call is rooted in our biblically informed commitment to human freedom and dignity,' the group said.
Cyprus Expected To Oppose Bailout Terms
"Cyprus Set to Reject Tax on Bank Deposits" reports Reuters: "Cyprus’s Parliament was set to reject a divisive tax on bank deposits in a vote scheduled for Tuesday, a government spokesman said, a move that would push the island closer to a default and banking collapse ... Hundreds of protesters rallied outside Parliament on Monday, honking horns and holding banners saying 'We are not your guinea pigs!'"
NYT's Andrew Sorkin argues against panic: "Cyprus is unique. Besides being tiny, its banking system looks different from those in most other countries. Much of the big money deposited in its banks is from foreign investors, including Russians who have long been suspected of money laundering ... Given the brutal history between Russia and so much of Europe — and speculation that so much of the money is ill gotten — it is clear why it would be so politically unpalatable to countries in the euro zone, Germany in particular, to bail out Russian depositors. And even if the move were to create a run on the banks in Cyprus, the contagion would be limited."
Reuters' Felix Salmon finds a simpler alternative: "Sorkin doesn’t attempt to defend the most indefensible part of the plan — the confiscation of wealth from depositors with sovereign deposit guarantees ... here is an alternative ... authored by [Lee] Buchheit and his frequent collaborator, Mitu Gulati of Duke University. Their plan is simple: First, leave all deposits under €100,000 untouched. Hitting those deposits was by far the biggest mistake of the Cyprus plan as originally envisaged ... Second, term out everybody else by five years, or ten if they prefer ... Do that, say Buchheit and Gulati, and you manage to reduce the size of the needed bailout by more than the €5.8 billion that Cyprus is currently planning to raise with its tax on bank deposits — and you don’t touch anybody’s principal at all."
Breakfast Sides
Britain's austerity government throws working parents a bone. Reuters: "Prime Minister David Cameron will unveil a new tax break on Tuesday to help working parents with their childcare costs from 2015 ... The announcement comes a day before Chancellor George Osborne is due to reject calls to abandon the coalition government's deficit reduction programme when he delivers his budget statement to parliament."
The retirement crisis is a private pension crisis. WSJ: "Fifty-seven percent of U.S. workers surveyed reported less than $25,000 in total household savings and investments excluding their homes ... While Americans are living longer, the extended life spans will make it tougher for workers trying to stretch retirement savings and put additional strains on pension plans."
NY State to raise min wage to $9. NYT: "Increasing the wage to $9 would match the level to which President Obama has proposed raising the federal minimum wage. If the wage increase is approved by the Legislature, as expected, New York would join 18 other states with minimum wages above the federal minimum as of the start of this year, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The $9 wage would be one of the highest in the country, although lawmakers in many other states are also contemplating increasing their minimum wage this year."
Obama eases up on student loan debt collection. Bloomberg: "President Barack Obama’s administration slashed the commissions paid to private collection companies that chase overdue student loans, reducing an incentive to squeeze borrowers. Previously, the U.S. Education Department paid a commission as high as 16 percent of the entire loan amount only if collectors convinced defaulted borrowers to make stiff monthly payments. Starting this month, the fee dropped as low as 11 percent ..."
