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: End Washington's March Madness
OurFuture.org's Robert Borosage: "With 25 million people in need of fulltime work, in Washington and state capitals across the country, Washington is fixated on how much spending to cut. This is attention disorder confounds economists, offends public opinion, and weakens the country ... everyone from Bush’s former economic advisor (Ben Bernanke, now head of the Fed) to McCain’s former lead advisor Mark Zandi, Obama’s former advisor Larry Summers to Nobel prize winners like Paul Krugman and Joe Stiglitz who disagree about most everything all concur that cutting spending now is a bad idea ... to the surprise of conservatives, Americans have rallied to the teachers, nurses, and sanitation workers under siege in Wisconsin, Ohio and elsewhere. We’ve begun to realize that the cutbacks in wages, benefits, and the right to organize and bargain take us further down the road to decline. Perhaps that energy can feed a movement for jobs, a movement to redeem the American Dream. It must come to Washington, because it sure as hell won’t come from there."
House Keeps Govt Open For Two Weeks, Shutdown Threat Still Looms
Tea Party lawmakers grumble, signal no more compromises. The Hill: "Several Republicans said they voted for the bill because it maintained the party’s promised level of spending cuts, pro-rated to two weeks. Yet patience appeared to be running out, as lawmakers criticized the piecemeal approach to keeping the government open ... Rep. John Fleming (R-La.), a member of the Tea Party Caucus, said conservatives will be hard-pressed to move a second short-term resolution if the Senate fails to advance a longer-term spending bill by March 18..."
GOPers brag that Fed chair Ben Bernanke believes their cuts will kill jobs, just not as many as some other economists believe. Wonk Room's Pat Garofalo: "Bernanke, Goldman Sachs, Moody’s, and EPI are all united in saying that loss will occur; they just differ on the final number ... The House GOP actually cheering when yet another economist says that their cuts will increase unemployment continues the very cavalier attitude Republicans have had regarding this point."
Republicans refuse to end tax breaks for Big Oil in spending cut bill. The Hill: "The 'motion to recommit' failed on a mostly party-line vote, but it will provide Democrats a hook to accuse Republicans of catering to 'Big Oil' at a time of rising gasoline prices."
"House GOP Spending Cuts Would Prevent 10,000 Low-Income Veterans From Receiving Housing Assistance" reports Wonk Room.
TNR's Jonathan Cohn highlights successful Durant Tuuri Mott Elementary School in hard-hit Flint, Michigan, but threatened by GOP cuts: "...Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives have proposed to reduce spending for the rest of the fiscal year by $60 billion ... a chunk of that would come out of funding for Title I, which pays for special education and schools that serve low-income communities. As I recall, Title I is what allows DTM to have not one but two 'intervention' specialists, one for the lower grades and one for the upper. I'm not sure what will happen if some of that Title I money disappears."
Sen. Maj. Leader Harry Reid embraces GAO report identifying redundant programs. Time: "The amendment calling for these studies was pegged to raising the debt ceiling last year in January and was introduced by Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma ... Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called the report 'constructive' and sounded open to enacting some of its recommendations ... 'I don't say this very often, but I'm glad Coburn asked for it.'"
Robert Reich accuses Dems of being "irrelevant" by agreeing to short-term compromise: "Here’s what Democrats should be saying: Hike taxes on the super-rich. Reform the tax code to create more brackets at the top with higher rates for millionaires and billionaires ... raise the ceiling on income subject to Social Security taxes. And bring back the estate tax. Do this and we can afford to do what we need to do as a nation."
300 economists criticize GOP cuts, but Dean Baker chides group for not calling for more stimulus: "At some point, we have to talk about changing the terms of the debate ... They could be trying to argue the case that the economy needs additional stimulus to get back to normal rates of unemployment. The Republicans may block this path, but at least, then, the public might understand that people are unemployed or underemployed because of a political decision, not an act of God."
The American Prospect's Paul Waldman accuses GOPers of putting the economy at risk by threatening shutdown: "... the political price the GOP is paying will drive Republicans to the negotiating table. But when a compromise is eventually worked out, the real cost will be significant. Even if they are forced to retreat on their culture-war goals, by forcing substantial budget cuts, Republicans will succeed in weakening the economic recovery. From all appearances, they don't much care."
GOP Rep. Michelle Bachmann pushing her own "bridge to nowhere" pork project. Wonk Room's Tom Kenworthy: "...Bachmann introduced legislation that would clear the way for building a proposed four-lane highway bridge over the St. Croix River that divides Minnesota and Wisconsin ... The bill would overrule a finding last October by the National Park Service that the bridge cannot be built because it would 'fundamentally change the scenic qualities that existed when the St. Croix was designated a national wild and scenic river in 1972.'"
Treasury estimates debt limit will be reached between April 15 and May 31 reports CBS.
Walker Doubles Down
Gov. Walker doubles-down on conservative cruelty with new budget. NYT: "Mr. Walker, a Republican, called for no tax or fee increases, but cuts of $1.5 billion to items like the schools and local governments ... the sound of hundreds of protesters screaming 'Recall! Recall!' and pounding drums outside the Capitol could be heard clearly inside the Assembly chamber ... Some [Dem lawmakers] said they feared the cuts might result in the layoffs of teachers, and that public schools might find themselves crammed — perhaps to as many as 60 children in a single classroom in some cases."
Legislator meeting does not resolve standoff. Wisconsin State Journal: "Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald ... met with Sen. Tim Cullen, D-Janesville, at a McDonald's in Kenosha on Monday morning, Cullen said. He said he presented a list of eight or nine proposed changes to Gov. Scott Walker's budget repair bill, and Fitzgerald came back with a counter offer. 'It was something,' Cullen said, 'but it wasn't enough.' ... 'No one will go back and be the 20th vote,' he said. 'We'll go back as a group.'"
NYT's David Leonhardt argues union pay packages should be reformed, not cut: "There is no good case that government pay is a major cause of the budget problems now facing states. ... Workers would have been better off accepting a less generous benefit package and slightly higher salaries."
Conservative Governors Want "Flexibility" To Drop Health Coverage
Conservative governors keep complaining about health reform, want "flexibility" to deny people Medicaid. NYT: "The new health care law generally prevents states from adopting more restrictive eligibility requirements for Medicaid — for example, by lowering personal income limits. The Republican Governors Association has asked Mr. Obama to lift that constraint ... [Dem Rep. Gene] Green said, that is not a good idea. In the absence of federal requirements, he said, Texas might try to balance its budget by eliminating coverage for tens of thousands of children."
"Republican Report Inflates State Medicaid Costs Under Health Reform" reports CBPP.
States have already begun dropping people from health insurance programs. NYT: "Ken Kewley woke up Tuesday without health insurance for the first time in nearly nine years. So did most of the 41,467 other Pennsylvanians who had been covered by adultBasic, a state-subsidized insurance program for the working poor that Gov. Tom Corbett shut down ... Gov. Christine Gregoire of Washington, a Democrat, recently removed 17,500 adults covered under Basic Health, a state-financed plan for the working poor. In Arizona, Gov. Jan Brewer, a Republican, proposes to remove up to 250,000 childless adults who have been insured by her state’s Medicaid program under a decade-long agreement with the federal government."
Deal to temporarily extend Bush tax cuts will deplete state government coffers. NYT: "The 19 states stand to lose money because they link their state tax laws to federal tax law. So the newly allowed federal tax deductions that businesses in those states take will lower their taxable incomes, which would in turn have the effect of driving down state corporate and income tax collections ... unless they decide to enact laws decoupling their state tax laws from the federal ones ... some states do not intend to do so this time. In Pennsylvania, which the report estimated could lose $833 million in revenues over the next few years, the state’s Department of Revenue announced last month that it had settled on a 'business-friendly' interpretation of the law that could benefit as many as 117,000 corporate taxpayers."
FL Gov. Sued Over High-Speed Rail
Bipartisan group of Florida lawmakers sues Gov. Rick Scott for violating constitution to kill high-speed rail jobs. HuffPost: "... the [Florida Supreme] Court announced Scott had until noon on Wednesday to respond in kind. His office responded to the lawsuit (not the Court) with a statement from the governor declaring that his 'position remains unchanged.'"
GOP State Sen. Thad Altman compares Gov. Scott to a monarch. St. Petersburg Times: "Altman ... said the suit was necessary to protect the Constitution. 'This is our American democracy,' he said, noting that the country's founders set up the three branches of government 'to prevent a king from taking over.'"
Major Utility CEO Backs Clean Energy Investment
Top utility CEO Jim Rogers making big push for clean energy R&D. Time: "'Just a sliver of our national budget goes to research,' he says. 'If we can't get a consensus on carbon policy, let's put the money into research and let's drive down the cost of solar and wind and make them competitive. Think about how much it would change the debate if solar and wind were as cheap as coal?' ... If powerful business voices like Rogers can get behind beefed-up support for energy R&D, that strategy might succeed where cap and trade failed. Rogers, for one, is about to get a lot more powerful — Duke Energy is set to merge with Progress Energy to form the biggest utility in the country."
House bill to ban EPA from taking climate action expected to be formally introduced next week. The Hill: "Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.), a co-author of the legislation, said Tuesday that he expects to have Democrats sign on to the bill as co-sponsors."
Northeast cap-and-trade system working, according to new report. HuffPost: "Participating states are reportedly investing, on average, 80 percent of their CO2 allowance proceeds to consumer benefit and energy programs ... the report finds that state investments have created jobs, reduced energy costs, and generated high economic returns."
Conservative governors in the West attack President's open space plan. McClatchy: "Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced late last year that the government will begin inventorying BLM holdings across the country in an effort to identify and protect wilderness-quality land. Many Republican lawmakers and Western governors say they worry that the inventory — on pause during the Bush administration — could make it more difficult to develop oil and gas or other energy and mineral resources on BLM land ... [Interior] out a fact sheet countering some of the characterizations of their inventory process, including claims that it could hurt the ability to develop wind and other energy resources on BLM land."
