Specter Opposes Public Health Plan Option
New Democrat Sen. Arlen Specter opposes public health plan option, on NBC's Meet The Press:
DAVID GREGORY: You would not support a public plan?
SEN. SPECTER: That's what I said, and that's what I meant.
MR. GREGORY: Do you support taxing the value of, the value of employer-provided health care for workers?
SEN. SPECTER: No, I'd be very reluctant to do that. Health care provided by employers, which is deductible for them and not added on as income to the recipient, has been the mainstay of health coverage for millions of Americans, and I'd be very reluctant to abandon that.
MR. GREGORY: So the health care reform you would like to see is what?
SEN. SPECTER: I would, I would like to see all Americans covered. I've joined with the Wyden-Bennett plan, has 14 co-sponsors. .... I've been in this field for a long time and have a lot of ideas, participated in the president's task force, and I'm ready to put my shoulder to the wheel to get legislation adopted. But I'm going to take a look at it piece by piece. I'm not committed.
Daily Kos' nyceve throws down the gauntlet: "This will be a fight like nothing you have ever seen. It will be up to you and me, ordinary citizens who will have to mobilize and push back against feeble minds like Arlen the special interests who own him, and the insurance industry. If we don't shame or primary people like Arlen Specter into submission, and if we fail to get a strong and robust public health plan option, we will have healthcare reform in name only."
Anonymous Liberal: "For someone who switched parties in order to avoid losing a primary contest, Arlen Specter is surprisingly oblivious to the very real risk he faces in next year's Democratic primary."
Ben Smith sees SEIU subtly pressuring Sen. Specter on EFCA, via Twitter.
MoveOn.org hosts "emergency" online health care forum with Howard Dean tonight.
Will Obama Knock Heads For Climate Deal?
The Hill: "Congressional Democrats headed into the weekend without an agreement on a climate change bill, raising doubts an accord will be found in time for a scheduled markup this week. ... Energy lobbyists count as many as 11 Democrats on the 36-member subcommittee either on the fence or in opposition to the measure. Because Republicans are likely to vote in unanimity or one vote short of it against the measure, most of those wavering Democrats would have to be convinced to support the bill for it to pass. Three main issues have divided the group: One, how many emissions allowances should industries like electric utilities receive for free, versus how many should be sold at auction? Two, how quickly should polluters be required to reduce their emissions? And three, to what extent should power plants be forced to use renewable energy sources like wind and solar power to produce electricity?"
President Obama to meet with House energy committee Tuesday to advance negotiations. ClimateWire: "A White House aide said the meeting between Obama and Energy and Commerce Committee Democrats is expected to cover a wide range of issues on the panel's plate, including health care reform and the proposal to set a first-ever mandatory cap on U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. The session comes at a critical juncture for Obama's energy and environmental agenda. ... 'I think right now Waxman is negotiating from a position that he doesn't have leadership from Obama,' added Phil Radford, executive director of Greenpeace USA. 'Right now, Obama can provide that. The question is: will he?' ... One idea floating around Capitol Hill would see the climate bill bypassing Markey's subcommittee and going straight to the full House Energy and Commerce Committee. But this is not a favorite option for either side of the aisle.'"
Grist's Kate Sheppard: "Here’s a rundown on the wild-card members of the subcommittee, what they’ve said about the bill, and how they want to change it."
Politico reports Rep. Henry Waxman scolded Rep. Chris Van Hollen for talking down prospects: "other members present stayed silent during the exchange, and none of the bill’s potential critics, including Connecticut Rep. John Larson and California Rep. Dennis Cardoza, echoed Van Hollen’s concerns; instead, Cardoza, speaking on behalf of fellow moderates in the Blue Dog Coalition, told Waxman his colleagues were still open to supporting the bill, provided Waxman continues to listen to their concerns."
CQ sizes up "Coal States Wielding New Power:" "While legislation to cap carbon emissions will hit both the coal and oil industries, coal-state Democrats — led by Rep. Rick Boucher of Virginia — are actively involved in negotiations aimed at mitigating the added costs. Leading oil-state lawmakers, led by the committee’s ranking Republican, Joe L. Barton of Texas, oppose any 'cap and trade' legislation and are largely shut out of the talks."
Australia's government announced a one-year delay to its carbon emissions trading scheme on Monday, promising more support to big industry but opening the door to a tougher 2020 target in a bid to win its approval," reports Reuters.
Stress Test Results Soon
NYT previews Thursday release of stress test results: "[they] are expected to include more detailed information about individual banks ... than many analysts have been expecting. Using these results, the administration seems prepared to argue that, while a few banks may need additional money, the broad financial system is healthier than many investors fear ... If the tests fail to instill confidence, it will be the clearest sign to date that economists who have criticized the administration may be right that its rescue plan has not been aggressive enough. President Obama may then need to ask a wary Congress for billions of extra dollars to shore up the credit system and perhaps even take over one or more large banks ... But if the test results can persuade investors that many banks are in the early stages of recovery, investors may then become more willing to invest in relatively healthy firms, like Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase, which, in turn, would become more comfortable making loans ... One outstanding question is how tough [Treasury officials] will be on the banks they judge to be weak."
Naked Capitalism reacts to NYT: "New Stress Trial Balloon Floated"
Prez of Kansas City Fed proposes temporary bank takeovers, in FT oped: "the plan would require those firms seeking government assistance to make the taxpayer senior to all shareholders, with the government determining the circumstances for managers and directors. These firms would be operated by outside individuals with no conflicts involving either the firm or its competitors. Non-viable institutions would be allowed to fail and be placed into a negotiated conservatorship or a bridge institution, with the bad assets liquidated while the remainder of the firm is operated under new management and re-privatised as soon as is feasible ... management and shareholders bear the costs for their actions before taxpayer funds are committed. This process also is equitable across all firms; is similar to what is currently done with smaller banks; and provides a definitive process that should reduce market uncertainty."
AmericaBlog on BofA plans to raise $10B: "Looks like it's time to give both BofA and Citi the GM treatment including management change at the top."
HuffPost's Robert Kuttner boosts Pecora commission: "A House floor vote on a bill sponsored by Rep. John Dingell is expected this week ... all of the issues about what to regulate, how, and by whom, are still very much on the table--and a consensus still needs to be created. We need a latter day Pecora Committee to arouse the public and the back-benchers in Congress. Otherwise, the reform moment will pass, and we will revert to something very much like business as usual."
Bloomberg on tax haven crackdown, and requisite lobbyist whining: "President Barack Obama will propose today to outlaw three offshore tax-avoidance techniques U.S. companies such as Caterpillar Inc. and Procter & Gamble Co. want to use to save $190 billion over the next decade and make it riskier for Americans to stash money in tax-haven banks ... 'This is bad stuff,' Kenneth Kies, a tax lobbyist at the Washington firm Federal Policy Group, said of Obama’s plans. 'This is going to be the biggest fight for the corporate community in the next two years.' Kies represents General Electric Co., Anheuser-Busch Cos. and Microsoft Corp., among others."
Deepening Concern Over Wage Cuts
W. Post on spread of wage cuts: "The Labor Department's employment cost index, which tracks wages, salaries and benefits, rose in the first quarter by the smallest amount since the index began in 1982. That bodes ill for those workers trying to rebuild nest eggs depleted by the housing and stock market downturns. To boost their savings, they typically need faster income growth or lower spending, and, as Harvard University economist Lawrence Katz put it, "It is going to be a long time before we see sustained pay raises."
NYT's Paul Krugman warns more stimulus needed after crisis wanes to boost wages: "...all signs point to a terrible job market for many months if not years to come — which is a recipe for continuing wage cuts, which will in turn keep the economy weak. To break that vicious circle, we basically need more: more stimulus, more decisive action on the banks, more job creation. Credit where credit is due: President Obama and his economic advisers seem to have steered the economy away from the abyss. But the risk that America will turn into Japan — that we’ll face years of deflation and stagnation — seems, if anything, to be rising."
Can Banks Stop Credit Card Reform?
Washington Indepedent's Mike Lillis on upcoming Senate credit card vote: "The bill, which has the strong backing of President Obama, has a good chance of passing, but not before the consumer protections are diluted to the satisfaction of at least some moderate senators on both sides of the aisle — lawmakers whose support Dodd will need to overcome a Republican filibuster. A similar credit card reform proposal, sponsored by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), passed the House easily last week, but the Senate bill goes even further to protect card users from unexplained fees and surprise rate hikes. The question now on the minds of many anxious consumer and lending advocates is this: How strong can Senate Democrats keep those consumer protections and still have the bill pass the upper chamber?"
CQ assess why credit card legislation is moving and mortgage cramdown legislation isn't: "Lobbyists on both sides of the issue say the credit card legislation (HR 627) caught fire because of its widespread impact — 80 percent of American families have credit cards. Mortgage cramdowns, meanwhile, might benefit only a few million homeowners facing foreclosure, and many lawmakers and their constituents wonder if they would be bailing out people who shouldn’t have bought a home in the first place, or who bought one they could not afford."
GM Talks Resume After Chrysler Bankruptcy
WSJ: "General Motors Corp. is expected this week to accelerate talks with the United Auto Workers union and move toward closing about 2,600 dealerships. The giant auto maker also is likely this month to approach banks holding secured debt, hoping to work out terms to ease the company's debt burden. Reaching agreement on these fronts is critical if GM is to restructure outside of bankruptcy court.
Bloomberg: "General Motors Corp. may be more likely to end up in bankruptcy based on the Obama administration’s willingness to place Chrysler LLC into court protection to safeguard union health-care benefits. With GM and its biggest bondholders at odds over resolving $27 billion in unsecured claims by a June 1 deadline, the Chrysler model indicates that President Barack Obama may resort to bankruptcy to end any impasse over that debt, said Martin Fridson, chief executive officer of New York-based credit investment firm Fridson Investment Advisors ... 'The Chrysler bankruptcy can either scare [bondholders] into settling or maybe make them more likely to take GM into bankruptcy,' [Casesa Shapiro Group's John] Casesa said. 'I don’t get the sense that the bondholders are ready to give in.'"
Breakfast Sides
W. Post claims some lawmakers are "uneasy" over Obama's proposal to end subsidies to private student lenders, but also reports lobbyists "acknowledge that the prospect of capturing $94 billion and directing it to Pell Grant assistance could prove hard for Congress to resist ... White House officials, along with veterans of financial aid debates, have been surprised by the lack of strong resistance to the Obama plan so far, even among Republicans."
Charlottle Observer profiles "the new homeless:" "Many of them work regular jobs, or did until recently, nursing the sick, caring for other people's children, vacuuming offices, driving cabs. They lived in apartments or houses, surviving paycheck to paycheck. One thing went wrong in this bad economy, and they didn't have far to fall before they ended up on the street. Or in the cab of a pickup, where the Dowdys slept one night, treating it like a camping adventure for the sake of their young son ... At least 5,000 people, likely as many as 8,000, are homeless every night. Mothers, fathers, the elderly and, the most staggering figure of all: 3,500 children in public schools, plus an untold number of their younger siblings."
Terrance Heath contributed to the making of this Breakfast.
