Each morning, Bill Scher and Terrance Heath serve up what progressives need to effect change on the kitchen-table issues families face: jobs, health care, green energy, financial reform, affordable education and retirement security.
MORNING MESSAGE: Cuts vs. More Cuts? That's No Debate.
OurFuture.org's Bill Scher: "According to Sen. Chuck Schumer, the range of opinions inside the Democratic caucus stretches from cuts to more cuts, at a time when many economists argue the shaky economy needs the federal government to spend more and create bigger budget deficits to fill in the gap of economic demand ... it doesn't mean we have to accept the constraints on public debate. We have to power to expand the debate, to change the political dynamic and renew the possibility of bold action to solve our daunting economic challenges ... The Campaign for America's Future is going light the spark for expanding the debate on March 10, when we host The Summit on Jobs & America's Future."
Boehner Takes Step Towards Shutdown
Speaker Boehner rejects any stopgap measure to keep government open at current spending levels, raising prospect of shutdown. NYT: "Senate Democrats are expected to put forward a temporary extension of the stopgap measure that would prevent a government shutdown and allow continued negotiations. But at a news conference on Thursday, Mr. Boehner said Republicans would not accept a temporary extension without additional reductions."
Senate Dems charge Boehner with engineering a shutdown. The Hill: "Democratic Senate leaders refused to budge, saying a short-term bill should keep current funding levels in place ... 'What he is saying is he will not renew even the short-term [continuing resolution] unless his way is met. That’s a shutdown,' Schumer told reporters."
Sarah Palin eggs on shutdown, "in a packed ballroom at Crest Hollow Country Club." Bloomberg: "...Palin said her fellow Republicans shouldn’t be deterred by Democratic 'scare tactics' over a possible government shutdown. A shutdown would force President Barack Obama to work with Republicans, she said yesterday."
Running out of time prevent shutdown, as Senate heads into recess. ABC: "Upon their return to work on Feb. 28, lawmakers will have only five days to extend federal funding to prevent a government shutdown on March 4.
More Amendments, More Cuts, More Lost Jobs
Final vote on spending cut bill expected today as House works through amendments. USA Today: "Among the amendments adopted Thursday ... Cutting $15 million in funding for the Presidio in San Francisco ... Reducing support for the National Endowment to the Arts by an additional $20 million ... Eliminating the presidential campaign fund ... block the Federal Communications Commission from implementing the 'Net neutrality' policy ... defund the Environmental Protection Agency's oversight of parts of the Clean Air Act."
Politico adds: "...a school reform program important to President Barack Obama would be decimated by a $336 million reallocation of funds approved by 249-179 ... Democrats failed to restore $131 million for the Securities and Exchange Commission, facing new responsibilities under Wall Street reforms enacted in the last Congress ... The multitude of environmental riders added to the bill can be a nightmare for some GOP moderates who are committed to voting for the spending cuts but now will be saddled with these provisions as well, when they meet with suburban voters..."
Still more jobs lost under GOP spending cut plan, 178,000 lost from community health center cuts. Wonk Room: "... these health centers directly employ people in their communities, including doctors, nurses, other health professionals, and key entry-level jobs. The centers provide training on-site and other community-based opportunities. And they purchase goods and services from local businesses and expand and build new locations."
CBPP tallies up the damage: "Some 157,000 at-risk children up to age 5 could lose education, health, nutrition, and other services under Head Start, while funds for Pell Grants that help students go to college would fall by nearly 25 percent ... That proposal also would kill a program that helps low-income families weatherize their homes and permanently reduce their home energy bills, cut federal funds for employment and training services for jobless workers and for clean water and safe drinking water by more than half, and raise the risk that the WIC nutrition program may not be able to serve all eligible low-income women, infants, and children under age 5."
60 GOPers side with Dems to protect National Labor Relations Board from defunding. HuffPost: "Nine high-ranking Republican members of the Education and the Workforce Committee broke with their party to support the agency, including the chairman, Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.)."
GOP rejects amendment to extend unemployment benefits. HuffPost: "Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) attempted to amend the CR with her provision to provide another 14 weeks of federally-funded unemployment benefits for people who've been out of work for six months or longer ... Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.) then used a parliamentary maneuver to successfully block the amendment."
Senate Dems accuse House GOP of trying to sneak through legislation unrelated to spending without serious debate. The Hill: "Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) ... said Senate Democrats hope to move a CR without proposals like the one to block EPA’s climate rules. 'One of the things we’re pretty clear on is we want a clean CR ... All the legislating they’re doing on the CR shows they’re not really serious. There are 400 legislative items that have nothing to do with spending that have been added to the CR.' Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) echoed Schumer’s comments. 'We’ve got a budget crisis. If people want to change abortion law, if they want to change the Clean Air Act, if they want to change regulations that have to do with the rest of our life, that doesn’t belong on a budget bill,'..."
Badger State Showdown
Latest on the Wisconsin showdown to stop Gov. Walker from stripping public workers of bargaining rights, from WisPolitics: "Protesters occupied the Capitol for the third straight night and thousands are expected again today to voice their opposition ... it's possible the Assembly may take up the bill prior to the Senate ... Senate Democrats, who fled the state yesterday in protest of a floor session to vote on the bill, are saying they won't return before Saturday ... Many Wisconsin schools, including many in southern Wisconsin, are closed again today as protests at the Capitol intensify."
HuffPost explains the stakes: "Wisconsin is a stronghold of the labor movement -- the birthplace of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, one of the nation's largest labor unions -- with a long history of successful battles for workers' rights. This is part of the reason the pushback to Walker's bill has been so strong. It's also why, if the bill does pass, the precedent it sets for other conservative governors looking to go after collective bargaining rights is so powerful."
White House sides with workers as protests spread. W. Post: "The president's political machine worked in close coordination Thursday with state and national union officials to mobilize thousands of protesters to gather in Madison and to plan similar demonstrations in other state capitals ... Democratic Party officials were working to organize additional demonstrations in Ohio and Indiana ... Some union activists predicted similar protests in Missouri, New Jersey and Pennsylvania."
Wisconsin isn't even facing a budget crisis. TPMDC: "... this broadside comes less than a month after the state's fiscal bureau -- the Wisconsin equivalent of the Congressional Budget Office -- concluded that Wisconsin isn't even in need of austerity measures, and could conclude the fiscal year with a surplus. In fact, they say that the current budget shortfall is a direct result of tax cut policies Walker enacted in his first days in office."
Attack on unions part of the GOP's wedge politics. Robert Reich: "The Republican strategy is to split the vast middle and working class – pitting unionized workers against non-unionized, public-sector workers against non-public, older workers within sight of Medicare and Social Security against younger workers who don’t believe these programs will be there for them ... By splitting working America along these lines, Republicans hope to deflect attention from the big story. That’s the increasing share of total income and wealth going to the richest 1 percent while the jobs and wages of everyone else languish."
House Dems Move To Protect Social Security In Deficit Deal
House Dems warn Senate bipartisan group to keep Social Security out of deficit deal. The Hill: "Congressional Democrats and liberal think tanks view this week as a crucial time to influence the group of six before its bill is drafted ... [The Senate group is] aiming to have a draft bill ready at least by the time the nation’s debt ceiling is reached this spring so it can be paired with that vote ..."
House Budget Chair Paul Ryan attacking Obama for not embracing deficit commission proposals ... even though Ryan voted against them, notes TNR's Jonathan Chait.
Senate Budget Chair Kent Conrad suggests revisiting ban on Medicare to negotiate prescription drugs. The Hill: "...Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) suggested Thursday that Democrats reopen the bitter healthcare debate, arguing that the reform law’s provisions could yield opportunities to cut the federal deficit ... several Democratic colleagues rejected the idea — it did them enough damage in the last election cycle ... Some are inclined to wait for the reform law, which passed last year, to be implemented. They contend it could produce tens of billions of dollars in savings that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) failed to predict ... Conrad said he 'personally' liked the idea of empowering the secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate prescription drug prices ... however, [that] could run afoul of a deal President Obama cut with the drug industry in 2009."
WH Looks To Bypass FL Gov. On Rail
Transportation Sec. LaHood meets with FL legislators in hopes of circumventing Gov. Scott on high-speed rail. HuffPost: "Prospective solutions to the standoff aren't entirely clear ... It's been suggested that the federal government could simply foot the entire bill for the project, rather than requiring Florida to put up matching funds. But if the administration shows a willingness to pick up the full tab, other governors could well follow Scott's script."
Veto-proof majority in Florida senate still wants federal funds for high-speed rail notes Daily Kos' Meteor Blades.
Politico explores the political challenges facing the President's high-speed rail initiative: "...Obama is the first president to take steps to make it happen, launching the effort in 2009 with $8 billion in stimulus funds. The problem is, there was no real structure in place to support the new initiative ... The money funded everything from routine track improvement to building new stations and transportation systems, but in only a few states such as Florida, with its proposed Orlando-Tampa route, was the administration presented with a more or less shovel-ready plan for an actual high-speed line ... Inviting ridicule by lumping together funding for Amtrak and high-speed rail, some advocates say, was a critical mistake."
GOP Push To Defund Wall St. Reform
GOPers push to defund Wall St. reform: "'We should slow a lot of that down,' said Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby, the top Republican on the panel. 'A lot of us voted against and oppose Dodd-Frank. Obviously, we’d repeal it. So I certainly don’t think we should rush to implement it.'"
Other aspects of Wall St. reform revisited by regulators at Senate hearing. NYT: "The Federal Reserve has proposed rules that would exempt smaller banks [from caps on debit card fees], which depend more on the fees to maintain profitability, from having to lower their fees. But Mr. Bernanke and Sheila C. Bair, chairwoman of the F.D.I.C., said a two-tiered system might not work ... John Walsh, the acting comptroller of the currency, asked senators to consider revising part of the law that limits the use of credit ratings to determine whether a financial institution can hold an investment ... Several Democrats took time to point out to colleagues that the S.E.C. and the commodities futures group were facing budget squeezes that had led to cutbacks in technology spending, hiring and travel for enforcement action."
Breakfast Sides
Senate passes aviation safety bill, estimated to "create or save" 280,000 jobs reports ABC.
Texas backs off threat to quit Medicaid, shifts to waiver request to severely restrict eligibility. NYT: "With the state now facing a large budget shortfall, Texas officials ... want to be able to choose which services to offer, to design eligibility packages tailored to different types of patients, to require Medicaid patients to pay co-pays in emergency rooms so they will see a primary-care doctor instead, and to consolidate Medicaid financing streams now divided by type of care provider. Some are taking an even tougher tack: seeking a federal block grant, effectively a lump sum, to operate Medicaid as Texas sees fit ... health care advocates say Texas has few options to save money, because Medicaid benefits here are already so bare-bones ..."
Conservative judge tries to force Interior Dept. to approve Gulf drilling permits. NYT: "...despite the official end of the ban [Interior officials] have not issued any deepwater permits. The agency says that drillers have not yet demonstrated that they have the technology and safety practices in place to safely resume deepwater exploration ... Ruling in favor of the British drilling company Ensco, Judge Feldman ordered the Interior Department to decide within 30 days whether to approve five drilling permits sought by the company over the last year."
Gov. Christie's record is more job-destroying conservatism, finds CEPR's Eileen Appelbaum: "In the year after Christie took office, non-farm payroll employment in the Garden State fell by 30,700 jobs ... Average hourly earnings are down in nominal terms over the year to November 2010 ... New Jersey’s unemployment rate remains above 9 percent..."
