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: Conservatives Demand US Repeat Irish Austerity Fail
OurFuture.org's Terrance Heath: "The 'Celtic Tiger' — the Irish economy — has clawed its way back from near extinction, according to the Heritage Foundation. The irony is that the things that Heritage praises about Ireland's economy are what drove it to the brink of extinction ... Ireland followed the same tax-cutting, deregulating conservative economic path to its misfortune that led America to its own. That Ireland stands as an example of austerity's epic failure, makes it even more mystifying that conservatives keep spotlighting the clearest example of the disastrous impact of conservative economic policy."
Shutdown Averted ... For Now
Obama signs bill to keep government open two more weeks, taps Biden to lead bipartisan talks. W. Post: "Obama said in a statement that he would enlist Biden, White House Chief of Staff William M. Daley and budget director Jacob J. Lew to meet with congressional leaders. They could sit down as early as Thursday. Biden is scheduled to leave Sunday for a week-long trip to Finland, Russia and Moldova."
After complaining about lack of WH engagement, Speaker Boehner scoffs at WH proposal for budget talks. The Hill: "Boehner, in response to a plan to have Biden negotiate with the GOP over spending legislation ... didn't rule out the idea, but hardly seemed thrilled about it, either. ;I think the vice president would better spend his time if he sat down with Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and come up with a Democrat position,' Boehner told Fox News. 'It'd be a far better use of his time.'"
Tea party leader calls for primary challenge to Speaker Boehner. CNN: "Noting an earlier pledge from Republicans, [Tea Party Nation founder Judson] Phillips said the $61 billion [in spending cuts] is not enough."
Bernanke makes clear, GOP plan will lose jobs. Politico: "Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke said Wednesday that House GOP’s 2011 spending plan would likely cost 'a couple hundred thousand jobs,' a number he called 'not trivial.'"
WH proposes to sell 14,000 buildings for $15B. WSJ: "...operating the federal government’s unneeded buildings cost about $20 billion a year."
New NBC/WSJ polls shows public rejects conservative austerity agenda. TNR's Jonathan Chait: "...asked about deficit reducing options, the options the public overwhelmingly favors are ones Democrats favor, and the options they overwhelmingly oppose are ones Republicans are promising to propose ... But the public demands deficit reduction, right? Well, actually, they care more about jobs ... President Obama may decide to cut a deficit deal, but both the politics and the policy say he should hand the Republicans their head first."
"On Social Security, FactCheck Didn’t" finds CBPP's Kathy Ruffing: "FactCheck erroneously claims that Social Security will run a $45 billion deficit this year. In reality, while the program will collect $45 billion less in payroll taxes than it spends on benefits and administrative costs, it also will earn $118 billion in interest on the $2.6 trillion it has accumulated in its trust fund over the years."
GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham and Rand Paul teaming up to slash Social Security. Daily Kos' Joan McCarter: "Graham also 'called on President Obama to join with Republicans to forge a bipartisan deal on Social Security.' His choice of legislative companions make that offer questionable..."
Public Opinion Squarely With Civil Servants
"Four national polls show solid support for public employees" notes W. Post's Greg Sargent: "...public employees are not proving the easy scapegoat many predicted they would be, and when faced with the question of whether their fundamental union rights should be taken away, Americans have stepped up and answered with a firm No."
Wisconsin Dems not budging. TPM: "TPM just spoke to Wisconsin Democratic state Sen. Chris Larson ... regarding the state Senate GOP's newly-passed fines of $100 per day for the absent Dems. And the way Larson tells it, the fines don't faze him and his fellow Democrats."
Effort launched to recall Republican state senators. FireDogLake's David Dayen: "Depending on their success in gathering enough signatures – and the threshold is not too high, they need between 14,000 and 20,000 signatures in the various districts – the State Senate will be up for grabs in Wisconsin as early as this year."
Ohio Senate passes union-busting bill by one vote, as GOPers defect. AP: "Senators passed the legislation on a 17-16 vote Wednesday, with all 'yes' votes coming from the GOP. Six Republicans voted against the bill. The bill establishes fines and jail time for those who participate in strikes. Unionized workers could negotiate wages, hours and certain work conditions -- but not health care, sick time or pension benefits."
The Nation's Meredith Clark on the potential damage to Wisconsin's schools: "As it becomes clearer that Walker’s proposals will make it harder to attract talented young teachers, the state must also confront the possibility that it will lose its most veteran educators much faster than anticipated. ... If thousands of experienced teachers retire, the state would save some of the money Walker says is so desperately needed. But Wisconsin pays its starting teachers less than almost every other state in the Midwest. Without competitive benefits or collective bargaining, it is hard to imagine anything but dedication and state loyalty keeping passionate teachers from abandoning the state’s children."
NYT talks to one of those fat-cat greedy Wisconsin teachers: "Ms. Parker, a second-year teacher making $36,000, fears that under the proposed legislation class sizes would rise and higher contributions to her benefits would knock her out of the middle class. 'I love teaching, but I have $26,000 of student debt,' she said. 'I’m 30 years old, and I can’t save up enough for a down payment' for a house. Nor does she own a car. She is making plans to move to Colorado, where she could afford to keep teaching by living with her parents."
W. Post's Matt Miller notes schools with teacher unions perform great in other countries: " The highest-performing school systems in the world - in places such as Finland, Singapore and South Korea - all have strong teachers unions ... the entire public policy culture (and thus resource allocation) in these high-performing nations is built around attracting, rigorously training and retaining top talent for teaching."
W. Post's E.J. Dionne touts the governors who have ideas besides brutal cuts: "The brave ones are governors such as Jerry Brown in California, Dan Malloy in Connecticut, Pat Quinn in Illinois, Mark Dayton in Minnesota and Neil Abercrombie in Hawaii. They are declaring that you have to cut programs, even when your own side likes them, and raise taxes, which nobody likes much at all. Rhode Island's Lincoln Chafee has warned of possible tax increases too ... those governors doing the hard work trying to balance cutbacks and tax increases get ignored, because there's nothing sexy about being responsible."
Foreclosure Fraud Settlement Divide
Division among regulators on potential foreclosure fraud settlement. NYT: "The newly created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is pushing for $20 billion or more in penalties, backed up by the attorneys general and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. But other regulators, including the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which oversees national banks, and the Federal Reserve, do not favor such a large fine, contending a small number of people were the victims of flawed foreclosure procedures ... the Obama administration, as well as the F.D.I.C., sees any broad settlement with the servicers as an opportunity to do more than just fix the foreclosure process. They want to stabilize the housing market, where prices are continuing to decline, and try to help bolster the economic recovery ... lawyers and other advocates for the foreclosed who were hoping for criminal charges are set to be disappointed."
Mortgage modification quotas being considered by WH. W. Post: "... the Obama administration is weighing whether to impose quotas that would force the firms to modify a specific number of mortgages for distressed borrowers [but] are wrestling with how to structure quotas ... . Under one option, the government would set a number of loans that the mortgage servicers as a group would have to modify. A second option would entail quotas for individual firms. Another approach, rather than designating a number of loans to be reworked, would instead require the mortgage servicers to spend a certain amount of money modifying troubled loans."
Republicans argue against trying to do anything to solve housing crisis. LAT: "Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) said at a House hearing Wednesday that the Treasury Department's Home Affordable Modification Program should be ended because it was doing 'active harm' to at-risk borrowers by allowing banks to string them along ... But Democrats said the programs should be fixed, not terminated ... Republicans have introduced bills to shut down the Home Affordable Modification Program and three other foreclosure prevention initiatives ... the full House could approve them this week ..."
Medicaid Is Not The Problem
Conservative governors keep pretending Medicaid changes are a problem. W. Post: "..., congressional Republicans unveiled a report by the committee's majority staff estimating that the Medicaid expansion would cost states $118 billion through 2023 - a substantially larger amount than recent estimates by the Congressional Budget Office and independent analysts that consider a shorter time frame ... But administration officials countered that the additional expense to states will be largely offset because the law also enables states to save on Medicaid."
W. Post's Glenn Kessler slams Gov. Haley Barbour for claiming wealthy people driving "BMWs" are getting Medicaid benefits: "Two days of inquiries to spokesmen for Barbour yielded no evidence or explanation for his statement ... a working Mississippi couple with one child could earn no more than $8,150 a year and still qualify for Medicaid ... new BMW car prices range from nearly $30,000 to more than $120,000. That seems out of the price range of someone making $8,000 a year."
"Medicaid Does A Better Job Of Containing Costs Than Private Insurance" reports Wonk Room's Igor Volsky: "Republicans railing against Medicaid would be well served by reading this brief from the Urban Institute. ... 'growth in Medicaid spending (the national average, not necessarily specific states) is slower than both growth in national health expenditures per capita and increases in private health insurance premiums ... due to an aggressive set of cost containment policies implemented by states in general.'"
Dem Backs Anti-EPA Bill
One House Dems plans to back anti-EPA bill. The Hill: "Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) will co-sponsor legislation slated to be introduced Thursday by House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.) ... The legislation will eliminate EPA's authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from stationary sources."
Grist's John Farrell lays out a legal strategy for states to prevent green jobs from going overseas: "...under the strict discrimination clause there is room for states to favor local development. But there are also several nondiscriminatory strategies that can also pass legal muster."
