Budget Deal May Hurt Workers, Jobless

Dems question emerging budget deal. W. Post: “It was unclear Monday whether Democrats would succeed in their campaign to win a year-long extension of emergency jobless benefits, which are set to expire at the end of the month, cutting off 1.3 million people … Speaking on MSNBC, Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) agreed that a hit to federal-worker pensions would be a ‘deal-breaker’ for him …”

Extending jobless aid would save 240,000 jobs. ThinkProgress: “The [White House] report also notes estimates from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and JP Morgan that indicate that a failure to extend the benefits would mean a drop in GDP growth by 0.2 to 0.4 percentage points.”

18% support sequester in National Journal poll: “…61 percent, would undo all or some of the automatic sequester cuts, which remain the law of the land. Just 18 percent favored enacting all of the required cuts.”

Regulators Vote on Volcker Rule Today

“Five different regulators will huddle Tuesday to finish the rule” reports The Hill: “Many expect the final text of the Volcker Rule — which has yet to be released — will be significantly strengthened from what was first proposed. But reform advocates fear intense industry pressure would lead to softer rules, and they plan to go through the regulation with a fine-tooth comb to see whether it misses their mark.”

Final rule “tougher than the banks had hoped” reports NYT: “The rule, for example, includes new wording aimed at the sort of risk-taking responsible for a $6 billion trading loss at JPMorgan Chase last year … it will require banks to identify the exact risk that is being hedged. The risks, the rule said, must be ‘specific, identifiable’ rather than theoretical and broad. The Volcker Rule also takes a swipe at the bonus culture of Wall Street, requiring banks to shape compensation so that it does not reward ‘prohibited proprietary trading.’ In addition, it requires chief executives to attest that they have established programs for complying with the rule … But it could have been even tougher. Some critics of Wall Street wanted the executives to attest that their bank was actually in compliance with the rule, not just taking steps to comply.”

But “Wall Street’s lobbying paid off in part” reports Bloomberg: “Regulators granted a broader exemption from the ban for banks’ market-making desks, on the condition that traders aren’t paid in a way that rewards proprietary trading, according to a draft of the final rule. The final version also exempts securities tied to foreign sovereign debt from the ban. At the same time, regulators gave banks less leeway for bets considered hedges for other risks.”

GOP Holds Up Nominations

GOP Sen. Lamar Alexander denies unanimous consent to quickly move batch of non-controversial nominations. AP: “‘Until I understand better how a United States senator is supposed to operate in a Senate without rules, I object,’ Alexander said. The nominees blocked included posts like an undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness and a pick for the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board. Also included was Deborah Lee James, Obama’s choice to be secretary of the Air Force.”

Nominee for key federal appeals court expected to get vote today reports Roll Call.

Housing nominee expected to clear. McClatchy: “Rep. Mel Watt is expected to be confirmed this week to lead the influential housing-finance regulator that oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac after the Senate changed its filibuster rules, making it harder to block White House nominees. But Republicans aren’t likely to acquiesce lightly. They’ve blocked the North Carolina Democrat’s nomination for months and could still use a collection of procedural hurdles to stymie – or at least delay – the nomination to draw more public scrutiny to the pick.”

Obamacare Momentum

HealthCare.gov “vastly improved” reports NYT: “The technical errors that had bedeviled visitors to the site for weeks seemed to have been tamed by the patchwork of hardware and software fixes ordered by the administration, and applicants were finally selecting health care plans under the president’s new law, the Affordable Care Act. By last week, the number of applicants who dropped a plan into their virtual grocery carts was climbing at a rapid clip … In the first week of December, about 112,000 people selected plans — compared with about 100,000 in all of November and only 27,000 in October. Last week, more than half a million people created accounts on the federal website…”

Republican governors’ opposition to Medicaid expansion taking toll on African-Americans. National Journal: “More than 2.2 million African-Americans living below the federal poverty line won’t have access to Obamacare’s insurance benefits due to the slew of states that opted out of the law’s Medicaid expansion … 25 states chose not to expand Medicaid, creating a ‘coverage gap’ where some residents earn too much to qualify for the program but not enough to qualify for the tax credits…”