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: What Doomed Simpson-Bowles
OurFuture.org's Dave Johnson: "Dec. 1 has passed and the out-of-business commission apparently can’t get the required 14 votes. The commission has failed. What happened? Two hidden agendas were brought to the table, undermining the commission's work. Both come from longstanding campaigns by corporate-backed conservatives to undermine trust in, and ultimately defund democratic government. The first was an attack on Social Security. The second was a demand for even more tax cuts for the rich."
"U.S. Deficit-Cutting Panel's $3.8 Trillion Plan Is on Brink of Rejection" reports Bloomberg: "A presidential commission’s $3.8 trillion debt-cutting plan is set to be rejected after five members from both political parties said they would oppose its mix of tax increases and cuts in programs such as Social Security and Medicare ... The recommendations 'paint a big red target on rural America,' [said] Senator Max Baucus ... Baucus said that he opposed cuts to farm subsidies and that reductions in Social Security and Medicare would disproportionately hurt rural states because they have larger numbers of older residents."
"...almost all of the 'no' votes will come from the 12 members of the House and Senate named by congressional leaders to the body," notes Politico.
NYT spins expected loss for Simpson-Bowles plan: "...in drawing greater-than-expected support, the proposed overhaul of taxes and spending has attracted interest among some in the White House and Congress as a blueprint for future action..."
Dem Sen. Dick Durbin announces "yes" vote in Chicago Tribune oped, defends Social Security cuts: "The commission creates an actuarially sound program for an additional 75 years. It increases the minimum benefit for the lowest income Social Security recipients and adds a much needed increase in benefits for those above the age of 85. It raises the retirement age one year to 68, 40 years from now, meaning no one above the age of 28 today would be affected and the retirement age would be 69, 65 years from now. To protect those in manual labor jobs who cannot wait to retire, we create special benefit package that will still allow for early retirement."
Wonk Room's Pat Garofalo lists the tax reform ideas Simpson-Bowles left out: "Financial Transactions Tax: In addition to raising revenue, a tiny, fraction of a cent fee on financial transactions like stock trades would slow down some of the hyper-trading that has been popularized recently by Wall Street, but that has no societal benefit ... Bank Tax: The Obama administration has already proposed a Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee — which would be assessed on the biggest banks, in accordance with their riskiness ... Carbon Tax: As Brad Johnson noted when the commission’s co-chairs released their first report, 'Nowhere in their discussion of the prospects for the next generation did they mention the challenge of global warming, nor did they integrate climate policy into their economic suggestions.'"
HuffPost's Peter Goodman on the Simpson-Bowles inattention to the jobs crisis: "...the societal remedy the public is being asked to ingest to avert these long-term, theoretical disasters comes with an immediate and palpable side-effect: continuing indefinitely the epidemic of joblessness, foreclosure and weak economic opportunity in a country still battered by the Great Recession."
Robert Reich reminds the deficit commission that the real issue still is health care costs: "Let’s be clear about the long-term deficit problem. It’s not Social Security. Social Security’s shortfall is modest. ...Nor is the real problem Medicare. It’s what lies behind Medicare’s projected growth: the explosive growth in medical costs. Attempts to cap Medicare without dealing with the underlying problem of soaring medical costs — as the deficit commission recommends — will cause a firestorm .... The answer is to finish the job of reforming health care. How? Let Medicare use its bargaining leverage to get low-cost drugs and supplies. End health insurer’s immunity from antitrust laws. Allow the public to buy health insurance from a Medicare-like public option. And award plans that focus on disease prevention rather than expensive diagnostics and procedures."
House Votes, Senate Schedules, President Deals On Tax Cuts
House passes end of Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. LAT: "The final vote was 234-188, with 20 Democrats joining a nearly unanimous block of Republicans against the plan ... Ohio Rep. John Boehner, who will take the gavel as speaker in the new Congress, called the Democrats' maneuver 'chicken crap.'..."
Jed Lewison deems the WH reaction a "buzzkill": "After the House passes the Obama tax plan -- something we were told the House would never do, even though it ended up passing by 46 votes -- the first thing we hear from the administration is sorry, but Republicans won't let us do the right thing -- so we're going to sit down with them and figure out the best way to do the wrong thing."
W. Post's Greg Sargent says congressional Dems more at fault than White House: "... It isn't Obama's fault that Congressional Democrats punted on holding a vote on just the middle class tax cuts before the election. Indeed, the White House appears to have wanted just the opposite ... it's tiresome to hear Dems blame the White House for their own lack of spine or leadership."
Senate to vote on two Dem tax cut proposals Saturday. The Hill: "One plan sponsored by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) would extend current tax rates only for families that earn less than $250,000. The second plan offered by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) would extend tax rates only for families that earn less than $1 million ... Both Democratic tax proposals are expected to fall short of the 60 votes needed to quash GOP filibusters ..."
Dem Sen. Chuck Schumer seeks to unify Dems around "millionaires' tax." NYT: "...the hope is that the phrase can define the debate with the same semiotic impact as 'death tax,' ... many Democrats are adopting Mr. Schumer’s language ... 'They are trying to create class warfare,' said Senator Jim DeMint, Republican of South Carolina. 'But I don’t care who they take it from. It’s still money out of the private sector.' ... Some Senate Democrats support extension of the high-end tax cuts on the grounds that it is a bad idea to raise taxes on anyone when the economy remains so fragile. Many liberals say that the $1 million threshold is too high..."
Outlines of compromise emerging from private bipartisan talks. W. Post: "Republicans are demanding that Democrats extend Bush-era tax cuts at all income levels at least temporarily ... They are also pressing Democrats to approve a measure to keep the government funded through September, a move aimed at avoiding a fight with the White House over spending that could provoke a government shutdown ... Obama is seeking Republican support for as much as $150 billion in new spending on the economy, including an additional 13 months of emergency jobless benefits and another year of his signature 'Making Work Pay' tax cut for working families ... The shadow talks have stirred considerable ill will among Democrats, who complain privately that the White House is capitulating to Republicans without extracting anything substantial in return."
But NYT says deal is not close: "Administration officials said no deal was at hand, and negotiators from the administration and the two parties in Congress met only briefly on Thursday. It is possible that the parties will be unable to reach a compromise, in which case tax rates will revert at the end of this year to their pre-2001 levels, meaning an across the board tax increase. However, the Treasury could be directed to keep the current rates while negotiations continue."
Extension of Build America Bonds program tied to tax cut talks. Stateline: "Build America Bonds, under which state and local governments have sold more than $150 billion in taxable bond offerings since April 2009, is set to expire at the end of the year. ... [Dems] are planning to include the extension of Build America Bonds in legislation favored by Republicans that would continue a series of Bush-era individual and business tax breaks."
MoveOn and PCCC push Obama not to concede on Bush tax cuts, reports W. Post: "The Progressive Change Campaign Committee ... spot is called 'Obama Promised,' and the group says it will air on CNN and MSNBC and on Jon Stewart's 'The Daily Show' ... Moveon.Org has its own new ad, titled 'Obama Back,' which in cludes a video montage from Americans all over the country urging the president not to compromise."
NYT's Paul Krugman slams President for fed worker wage freeze and tax cut strategy: "It’s hard to escape the impression that Republicans have taken Mr. Obama’s measure — that they’re calling his bluff in the belief that he can be counted on to fold. And it’s also hard to escape the impression that they’re right. The real question is what Mr. Obama and his inner circle are thinking. Do they really believe, after all this time, that gestures of appeasement to the G.O.P. will elicit a good-faith response?"
DIsappointing jobs report this AM. NYT: "...the United States economy added just 39,000 jobs in November, and the unemployment rate rose to 9.8 percent, ... Private companies, which have been hiring since the beginning of the year, added 50,000 jobs in November. Most of those increases came from the temporary help, where 40,000 jobs were added, and health care sectors, with an additional 19,000 jobs. Manufacturing companies, which showed some strength earlier in the year, lost 13,000 jobs ... Analysts generally estimate that the economy needs to add at least 100,000 to 125,000 jobs a month simply to keep up with new entrants to the labor force."
GOP Sen. John Barrasso gives false reason to blocking unemployment insurance extension. HuffPost: "... 'This is about people who have been collecting unemployment benefits for 99 weeks,' said Barrasso, describing the bill he just blocked. Except he wasn't describing it. The bill Democrats have been pushing is for a yearlong reauthorization of two programs called Emergency Unemployment Compensation and Extended Benefits, which combined provide up to 73 weeks of benefits in some states. Those programs lapsed this week, meaning people laid off through no fault of their own are now eligible for just 26 weeks of state-funded benefits. If the lapsed benefits are reauthorized, some unemployed will once again be eligible for up to 99 weeks of benefits -- but not any more."
Battle for House Appropriations gavel may determine Tea Party clout. Time: "As the ranking Republican member, [Rep. Jerry] Lewis has seniority on his side; but because he has already served as the No. 1 Republican on the committee for six years, he requires a special waiver to sidestep term limits. He's also a prodigious pork-barrel spender who has nabbed more than $97 million in earmarks in fiscal year 2010 ... [And Rep. Hal] Rogers has not been shy about securing earmarks for his district ... While [Rep. Jack] Kingston sponsored or co-sponsored nearly $67 million in earmarks in fiscal year 2010 ... the Georgia Congressman has better marks on spending issues than his competitors ... In a telephone town hall this week held by the group Tea Party Patriots, more than 80% of respondents lined up behind Kingston."
"The Fed Lied About Wall Street"
OurFuture.org's Zach Carter sums up the Fed audit: "When Wall Street went off the rails in the fall of 2008, policymakers told the public we had a certain kind of problem, knowing all along that the actual nature of the problem was very different—and far more severe. ... Not only are today’s major banks unable to support the economy, they are actively sabotaging the middle class with fraudulent foreclosures. This is a direct result of policymakers’ failure to address the fundamental solvency problem in 2008 and 2009. And what’s worse, it appears that the Federal Reserve was aware of the solvency problem, even as its top officials publicly insisted that the bailed out banks were fine."
Sen. Bernie Sanders promises more action on Fed: "As a result of this disclosure, other members of Congress and I will be taking a very extensive look at all aspects of how the Federal Reserve functions and how we can make our financial institutions more responsive to the needs of ordinary Americans and small businesses ... I intend to investigate whether these secret Fed loans, in some cases, turned out to be direct corporate welfare to big banks that used these loans not to reinvest in the economy but rather to lend back to the federal government at a higher rate of interest by purchasing Treasury Securities."
GOP looking to rein in Consumer Financial Protection Bureau before it starts. Paper Trail: "'American families have the agency they need, but they may have to fight for its survival,' [Elizabeth Warren] said ... Before Warren spoke, Rep. Randy Neugebauer, a ranking Republican from Texas ... told the consumer group he fears new rules from the agency will end up hurting rather than helping consumers. So he wants to consider ways to give Congress more oversight of the agency and would how to change the funding mechanism that automatically gives the bureau around $500 million each year from Federal Reserve money to fund its activities."
Paul Betts, at FT, says that banks still love their bonuses:: "Investment banks, we are told, have learnt the lessons of the financial crisis. ... However, the genetic engineering that produced a generation of bankers so perfectly adapted to the generation of huge bonuses and stratospheric profits is not proving easy to squeeze back into the test tube."
No Agreements Yet In Climate Talks
Friction at international climate summit, reports Time's Bryan Walsh: "Should countries negotiate a new post-2012 commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol, essentially extending it? (A path that would leave out the two top emitters in the world, China and the U.S., not to mention other big emitters like India and Brazil.) Or scrap it altogether and start with something new—perhaps a beefed-up version of the Copenhagen Accord, which is Washington's preferred path? ... Russia is against [extending Kyoto] as is Canada, which has blown past its supposedly binding Kyoto targets as the country has expanded its oil industry. But the fact that Japan—which took on onerous emissions limits back in 1997 in an effort to get the Kyoto Protocol passed—would speak so frankly shook the summit ... Meanwhile there's no evidence that the major nations like China or India—who might be able to sway other, smaller developing countries—have much interest in shifting away from Kyoto."
Senate GOPers stoke international concern that US won't help developing world deal with climate crisis. Mother Jones' Kate Sheppard: "In a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Inhofe joined John Barrasso (Wy), David Vitter (La.), and George Voinovich (Ohio) in requesting that the US stop 'wasting' money on programs to help developing countries reduce emissions and adapt to climate changes ... Other countries are growing increasingly worried that the US will not follow through on its commitment to provide money for a climate fund ... there's concern that, with Republicans in charge of the House, getting the US to commit more money for climate will be impossible."
The Green Grok argues that cap-and-trade may get new life if Europe and China team up: "... a cap-and-trade program, whose details are still to be ironed out, is a centerpiece of China’s upcoming five-year energy plan ... China and officials from the European Union met to scope out a pilot carbon-trading program. Could there be a new international economic regime in the making — one with billions of dollars in carbon credits and low-carbon technologies flowing between Europe and China and the United States locked out?"
Alaska officials formally acknowledge climate change is happening. AP: "Alaska wildlife officials have released a report acknowledging that scientific and traditional evidence increasingly shows climate change at unprecedented rates throughout the Arctic."
Ethanol tax credit extension could be part of omnibus spending bill, if there is one. The Hill: "'If we have an omnibus, the chances are pretty good we might get that in the omnibus,' [IA Sen. Tom] Harkin told reporters in the Capitol. However, the prospects for a catch-all federal spending package rather than a continuing resolution that maintains current spending levels are highly uncertain ... Harkin also said the issue is tethered to the broader debate about extension of expiring Bush-era tax cuts ... Harkin said it’s unclear if there are enough votes for extending the credits."
Baucus offers ethanol compromise, along with renewable energy support. The Hill: "Baucus unveiled a plan Thursday evening that would extend the credit gasoline refiners and blenders receive for mixing ethanol into gasoline. The current 45 cents per gallon credit expires at year’s end – his plan would extend it through 2011 at 36 cents per gallon ... His plan extends – through 2011 – an expiring program that provides grants to developers of wind farms, solar plants and other types of projects.
On its 40th anniversary, Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins thank you to the EPA: "Consider that by 1990, the EPA’s actions had prevented 205,000 premature American deaths, 189,000 cardiovascular hospitalizations and 18 million child respiratory illnesses. The EPA has reduced 60% of dangerous air pollutants in the air we breathe. They have transformed 67% of contaminated Superfund Brownfield sites nationwide into livable neighborhoods and active business centers."
Push for DREAM
Homeland Security Sec. says DREAM Act will help immigration officials focus on criminals reports NYT.
Outgoing FL senator withholding support. McClatchy: "Asked if he was going to vote against the bill, LeMieux replied: 'The way it is postured now I am. If you could do border security and tighten something up, I'd be willing to look at it. I think you have to secure the borders before you talk about other immigration issues.'"
Repealers Learning Governing Is Hard
Congress already proving how hard repealing health care reform will be. TNR's Jonathan Cohn: "At issue was an obscure, but unpopular, provision within the new health law that requires businesses to file 1099 tax forms anytime they purchase goods or services worth more than $600 ... For several months, [both parties] have been promising to strip the provision -- and to replace it with something better. It's the 'replace' part that got tricky ... if rescinding something this incidental and small-scale is so difficult, just think how hard repealing the bigger provisions will be."
Incoming SC governor personally asks President to repeal health care law, President reminder her of state waiver provision. McClatchy: "...Obama rejected Haley's request to repeal the health care bill — but said he'd consider letting states opt out of its mandates if they ran exchange programs, banned insurance firms from denying coverage of pre-existing conditions and enabled people to pool together for better rates."
WH may have asked businesses to quit Chamber of Commerce during health care debate. LAT: "... the White House also asked corporate executives to drop their membership in the chamber, said the lobbyist, who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid becoming personally entangled in the conflict. Another source said there had been discussions at the chamber regarding the White House urging resignations ... The chamber has not publicly accused the White House of urging resignations, nor has any company said publicly that it has been pressured to leave."
Breakfast Sides
Bill for healthier school lunches passes Congress, but at the expense of food stamps. NYT: "Michelle Obama lobbied for the bill as a way to combat obesity and hunger. About half of the $4.5 billion cost is financed by a cut in food stamps starting in several years ... Mr. Obama tamped down concern by telling Democrats he would work with them to find other ways to pay for the bill, before the cuts in food stamps take effect ... The bill gives the secretary of agriculture authority to establish nutrition standards for foods sold in schools during the school day, including items in vending machines. The standards would require schools to serve more fruits and vegetables, whole grains and low-fat dairy products ... the bill would increase federal reimbursement for school lunches beyond inflation — to help cover the cost of higher-quality meals. It would also allow more than 100,000 children on Medicaid to qualify automatically for free school meals."
China suggests it will let currency rise more next year. NYT: "China’s top leaders announced Friday that the country will tighten monetary policy next year ... The Xinhua article did not discuss the implications of a tighter monetary policy for the value of the renminbi. But an important reason China's monetary policy has been loose for the last several years has been the central bank's large-scale issuance of renminbi so as to buy dollars."
