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.
Who Will Show Up On Election Day?
Is the Tea Party ready for prime-time when it comes to getting out the vote? LAT: "...the push to get the nation's conservative voters to the polls is fractured and untested, with some 'tea party' activists refusing to cooperate with more mainstream Republicans, in contrast to the unified and well-organized parallel effort by unions and Democrats ... ]There is a sense now that Republicans may not be able to capitalize on the backlash against [President] Obama and the Democrats because they lack the well-organized voter ID and get-out-the-vote effort that they have had in the past,' said Lawrence Jacobs, a University of Minnesota political scientist ... There is enormous variation now state to state..."
AFL-CIO voter turnout effort hits high gear. CNN: "Trumka penned two letters Monday, each with a different message, which the union's spokesman called 'the most sophisticated [get-out-the-vote] mail program the AFL-CIO has ever done.' The union uses 'micro targeting' analysis to pinpoint the issues union members care about and that, in turn, determines which letter they will receive. In one version, Trumka warns his members that if the Republicans win control of Congress they will privatize Social Security, send jobs to China, cut off any future extensions of unemployment benefits and let insurance companies take away health care coverage ... The other personalized letter from Trumka [stresses] undisclosed outside money is fueling an onslaught of television ads and distorting the records of pro-union candidates."
The American Prospect's Jamelle Bouie writes that Citizens United gives both parties more reason to concentrate on interest groups and the rich: "When there's relative equality between parties and outside groups, the former have some incentive to reach out to voters for cash, which can dilute the influence of special interests. But without that equality, parties have more reason to concentrate their fundraising on the usual collection of corporations, parochial interest groups, and rich people."
Deficit hawks: divided government is not necessarily your ally. NYT: "For all the pre-election talk that a divided government could force the parties to work together, especially on cutting annual deficits, the opposite could just as well be true ... incumbents otherwise inclined to make deals are now wary, Republicans say privately, mindful of colleagues who lost primary challenges from Tea Party candidates."
WH Moves On Rail, Solar and Fuel-Efficiency
Transportation Department announces new round of high-speed rail funding. The Transport Politic: " In sinking $800 million more into the Tampa-Orlando line, Obama Administration is making clear its interest in making this the nation’s model program for fast trains ... Of the dozens of projects proposed across the country, only one could offer true high-speed service and open before the end of President Obama’s second term, all within a relatively tight budget ... Of the remaining $1.7 billion to be allocated this week, $902 million will go to California, primarily for the construction of a new line in the state’s Central Valley ... Iowa and Illinois won $230 million for a link between Chicago and Iowa City; Michigan received $150 million for the Dearborn-Kalamazoo line; and Connecticut landed $121 million for the New Haven-Hartford-Springfield connection ... Unless Republican political foes of high-speed rail shut down these projects after November’s elections (likely in Wisconsin, possible in Ohio and Florida, unlikely in California), these funds are likely to be spent on actual construction."
Another major solar plant get go-ahead from feds. WSJ: "The $6 billion project is being developed by Solar Trust of America, a joint venture between Germany's Solar Millennium AG and privately held Ferrostaal AG on 7,025 acres of federally owned land near Blythe, Calif. The approval clears the way for the developers to seek federal grants and loan guarantees ... The Obama administration said the Blythe solar-power project will create 1,066 jobs at the peak of construction and almost 300 permanent jobs to operate the facility."
WH proposes tougher fuel-efficiency for trucks and buses. McClatchy: "[EPA chief Lisa] Jackson said that much of the saved money would stay in the U.S. economy instead of going to pay for oil bought overseas. In addition, air pollution would be reduced everywhere ... The officials said the new standards had strong support from the trucking industry. The American Trucking Association has vocally supported fuel economy standards and recently formalized that position in a written policy..."
More from Politico: "The draft rules would mandate cuts in fuel consumption and emissions by up to 20 percent for long-haul tractor trailers, up to 15 percent for large pickup trucks and vans and up to 10 percent for vehicles like garbage trucks and school buses ... Some members of the trucking industry have already signaled support for the new rules, but the administration can expect pushback from environmentalists, who have called for standards to reduce trucks’ fuel consumption by as much as 35 percent."
The Hill rounds up calls from enviros to do more: "Environmentalists say one way to promote further emissions reductions would be to encourage more hybrid technologies in smaller, short-haul delivery trucks."
Ecocentric's Bryan Walsh sees truck limits a positive, but limited, step: "These rules won't push trucking companies towards alternative, low-carbon fuels like natural gas or even electrics—instead, the improvements will mostly be made with better engines and aerodynamic improvements ... as with any policy based around improving efficiency—but not promoting carbon-free fuels—there's a risk of the rebound effect, which would limit the overall carbon savings. Still, with the EPA likely to come under conservative assault should Republicans take Congress, these standards might end up being a high-water mark for an embattled Administration."
Big Oil not giving up on killing Caifornia's carbon cap. Grist's Todd Woody: "Tesoro and Valero, the Texas oil companies that are largely funding Prop 23, contributed $1.5 million to the campaign on Friday. It was the first seven-figure donation since Sept. 2, when the billionaire Koch brothers dropped $1 million into campaign coffers ... [Meanwhile,] San Francisco-based utility Pacific Gas & Electric has given another $250,000 to the No campaign while teachers and public employees unions donated a combined $300,000. (Tellingly, even an East Coast power company with coal-fired power plants in its portfolio, AES Corp, donated $25,000 to the No campaign on Friday.)"
Former municipal utility executive debunks Big Oil claims about California rate hikes, in LAT oped: "When I asked a Proposition 23 spokesperson for the genesis of the 60% rate hike allegation, I was told that the Southern California Public Power Assn. had predicted such an increase. But in fact, the association posited rate adjustments that don't even begin to approach such a drastic escalation."
Tea Party and independent voters part ways on climate. The Hill: "The Civil Society Institute – a think tank that pushes low-carbon power and conservation – is unveiling a survey that probes whether Tea Partiers and independents are 'of the same mind when it comes to climate and clean energy issues.' [It] shows that “Independents are significantly more likely than Tea Party supporters to see global warming as a problem in need of a solution."
Criminal Probes in Foreclosure Scandal
Foreclosure service firms facing criminal probes. W. Post: "Law enforcement authorities on both state and federal levels are probing whether individuals at these foreclosure companies and at the banks that hired them committed an array of possible crimes - mail and wire fraud, money laundering, conspiracy and racketeering ... Some law enforcement officials say that a goal of their investigations is to negotiate an industrywide settlement with mortgage lenders that will include forgiving the principal on a loan and more loan modifications."
"Bank Of America Tries To Frame Foreclosure-Gate As Simply A Case Of Misspelled Names" reports Wonk Room's Pat Garofalo: "Of course, BofA places the emphasis on innocent sounding mistakes like misspelling a homeowner’s name, and not on far more harmful instances, such as when it foreclosed on a homeowner who didn’t have a mortgage at all."
Fannie and Freddie suspend dubious foreclosures. WSJ: "Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac said on Monday that the mortgage giants had suspended all activity on foreclosure cases that had been referred to a Florida attorney under investigation by state officials ... former law-firm employees ... have alleged that the firm forged notarized documents and that employees signed files without reviewing them in a bid to speed through foreclosure filings."
TARP inspector general questions Treasury assumptions. W. Post: "The Treasury Department's recent prediction that taxpayers will lose far less than expected on the bailout of American International Group could prove far too optimistic ... But the estimate also could lowball the return for taxpayers, depending on how AIG's stock performs ... Neil Barofsky, the TARP inspector general, wrote that while Treasury officials disclosed the new valuation approach in a recent retrospective of the TARP program, they had not been transparent enough about the change ... Treasury officials took issue with that criticism."
Breakfast Sides
Robert Reich explains why Democrats move to the center and Republicans don't: "Because Democrats think in terms of programs, policies, and particular pieces of legislation. It’s easy to reverse course by compromising more and giving up on legislative goals ... Republicans think in terms of simple ideas, themes, and movements. It’s far harder to reverse course on these (look what happened to the first George Bush when he raised taxes), and easier to keep them alive: Republican presidents just continue looking for opportunities to implement them."
NYT's Bob Herbert sounds the call for upgrading our water infrastructure: "Improving water systems — and infrastructure generally, if properly done — would go a long way toward improving the nation’s dismal economic outlook. According to the U.S. Conference of Mayors, every dollar invested in water and sewer improvements has the potential to increase the long-term gross domestic product by more than six dollars. Hundreds of thousands of jobs would be created if the nation were serious about repairing and upgrading water mains, crumbling pipes, water treatment plants, dams, levees and so on."
Bloomberg plays up inflation fears around Fed's expected move next week: "Bernanke next week is likely to preside over a decision to launch another round of large-scale asset purchases ... The goal is to unlock consumer spending ... 'By reducing real interest rates and trying to break the psychology of "Why spend today when I can buy goods cheaper tomorrow," they are hoping to drive growth that would be more commensurate with a pickup in employment,' said Dan Greenhaus, chief economic strategist at Miller Tabak & Co. in New York. 'The risk is a late 1970s type of scenario where the inflation genie gets out of the bottle.'"
HHS and insurers negotiating what should be included in new health plan brochures. Politico: "The little-noticed provision in the health reform law calls for insurers to outline their health insurance plans on a standardized, four-page form with information about costs, benefits and definitions of commonly used terms ... Each term on the document, from the definition of emergency care to whether to describe deductibles as being applied 'yearly' or 'annually,' has been the subject of a lengthy debate..."
NYT sees shift in Obama's China strategy toward applying more pressure: "'This administration came in with one dominant idea: make China a global partner in facing global challenges,' said David Shambaugh, director of the China policy program at George Washington University. 'China failed to step up and play that role. Now, they realize they’re dealing with an increasingly narrow-minded, self-interested, truculent, hyper-nationalist and powerful country.' To counter what some officials view as a surge of Chinese triumphalism, the United States is reinvigorating cold war alliances with Japan and South Korea, and shoring up its presence elsewhere in Asia."
