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: The Debit Card Sharps
OurFuture.org's Richard Eskow: "The debit card business is an oligopoly-driven, secretive, usurious system that shafts American consumers along with the small businesses that are the engines of jobs and growth. The big banks love it. Now they're fighting to keep it. ... First there was a covert, mock-consumer website called 'Don't Make Us Pay.' It should've been called 'Don't Let Us Know We're Paying.' They also put together a phony front group for the banks called the 'Citizens Against Retail Discrimination Alliance.' ... The 'CARD Alliance' created by these banks came up with the slogan 'Tell Congress: Hands Off My Wallet.' They apparently didn't have room on the page for the rest of it: '... because banks like JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo have already claimed it.'"
Bipartisan Resistance To Multinational Tax Giveaway
WH rejects House Maj. Leader plan for giant tax giveaway to multinationals: "Treasury officials said they would only consider letting U.S. companies pay a reduced tax rate on as much as $1 trillion of profits earned overseas as part of a broader overhaul of the U.S. corporate tax code ... Backers of a tax holiday said they would keep trying ..."
Treasury's Michael Munduca notes previous multinational tax "holiday" did nothing for jobs: "In 2004, when the U.S. enacted a repatriation tax holiday, the goal was to encourage U.S. multinationals to pay bigger cash dividends from their overseas subsidiaries and use the cash to make investments in the United States. Unfortunately, there is no evidence that it increased U.S. investment or jobs, and it cost taxpayers billions."
Multinationals say, it will be different this time! The Hill: "... it appears the Chamber and the WIN America campaign – composed of about 15 corporations, including Google, Microsoft and Apple – have some significant lobbying hurdles in front of them if they want to see Congress approve legislation similar to the repatriation holiday enacted in 2004 ... , the WIN America Campaign understands that it needs to conduct a sort of political triage because of how some companies acted during that holiday some six years ago ..."
Top GOPers on tax committees side with WH on multinational tax issue. Bloomberg: "Representative Dave Camp, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, and Senator Orrin Hatch, the top Republican on the Finance Committee, said through aides yesterday that they want to consider the repatriation issue as part of a comprehensive look at rewriting the U.S. tax code ... [But] Representative Kevin Brady of Texas, a senior Republican on Ways and Means, plans to introduce a bipartisan bill for a repatriation holiday in the next few weeks..."
Boehner And Reid Try To Turn Down Temperature
Sen. Maj. Leader Reid and Speaker Boehner lay off the insults in hopes of a budget deal, reports Bloomberg: "Boehner and Reid, who both declined to be interviewed, have largely refrained from personal attacks during the budget battle, often leaving it to lieutenants such as Senator Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, a Virginia Republican, to trade barbs."
GOP budget didn't erase all earmarks. USA Today: "...a congressional report shows they left $4.8 billion in earmarks untouched ... Most of the remaining funds that congressmen set aside for pet projects are in defense, military construction and veterans affairs ..."
New Front Opened To Shine Light On Corporate Campaign Cash
FCC petitioned to exercise authority regarding disclosure of political donations. W. Post: "Under current regulations, some of which date to the 1940s, the FCC requires disclosure only for the group claiming responsibility for the ad, no matter how the group paid for it. But [Media Access Project's Andrew] Schwartzman says the Communications Act of 1934 and subsequent legislation calls for a much broader standard: disclosure of those actually paying for the message. The petition asks that the FCC revise its rules to require groups to disclose financial backers who contribute more than 10 percent of the groups’ budget..."
Former Sen. Fritz Hollings calls for a constitutional amendment allowing Congress to regulate campaign finance again: "James Madison never intended for the freedom of speech to be limited or measured by money. A simple Constitutional amendment authorizing 'Congress to regulate or control spending in federal elections' is needed to restore Madison's intent."
Breakfast Sides
WH Chief of Staff William "Daley recuses self from nominee search for consumer protection head" reports W. Post: "Before coming to the White House in January, Daley oversaw, among other things, J.P. Morgan Chase’s lobbying operation as the bank opposed the creation of the new watchdog ... the president has yet to nominate a permanent director, and everyone from Capitol Hill Republicans to consumer advocates have been barking at the White House to get on with it already."
"States Pass Budget Pain to Cities" reports NYT: "Ohio plans to slash aid to Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati and other cities and local governments by more than a half-billion dollars over the next two years ... Nebraska passed a law this month eliminating direct state aid to Omaha and other municipalities. The governors of Wisconsin and Michigan have called for sending less money to Milwaukee, Detroit and other local governments ... Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York, a Democrat, decided not to restore $302 million in aid to New York City that was cut last year, while Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts, another Democrat, has called for cutting local aid to Boston and other cities by some $65 million."
Nuclear physicist Frank N. von Hippel calls for tougher nuclear power regulation in NYT oped: "Nuclear power is a textbook example of the problem of 'regulatory capture' — in which an industry gains control of an agency meant to regulate it ... It has become customary for administrations not to nominate, and the Senate not to confirm, commissioners whom the industry regards as 'anti-nuclear' — which includes anyone who has expressed any criticism whatsoever of industry practices. The commission has an excellent staff; what it needs is more aggressive political leadership."
