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: GOP Rings Up Credit Card, Threatens To Stop Payments
OurFuture.org's Bill Scher: "... all House Republicans are refusing to unconditionally raise the debt limit, even though they just voted for a 2012 budget that adds $1.9 trillion to the national debt. In other words, after approving a budget that puts an additional $1.9 trillion on the nation's credit card, House Republicans are threatening to prevent our Treasury Department from paying it off when the payments are due."
Outlines Of Deficit Reduction Deal
Trigger proposal may be at heart of deficit reduction deal. Bloomberg: "Proposals being circulated among the bipartisan 'Gang of Six' Senate negotiators, and about 20 other lawmakers in both chambers, would set deficit-cutting targets, according to people familiar with the plan. They would impose automatic, across-the- board spending reductions and higher taxes if Congress failed to meet the goals. Such plans -- dubbed save-as-you-go, or Savego in one version -- contrast with the immediate spending cuts House Republican freshmen are demanding."
GOP names two to meet with Biden on deficit reduction deal, undercutting talks. HuffPost: "House and Senate Republican leaders announced Tuesday that their sole appointees to the May 5th meeting would be House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.)--neither of whom are budget leaders and both of whom function largely as political mouthpieces for their party. GOP leaders also each opted to send only one appointee, instead of the requested four, to the meeting."
Yet another poll shows strong support for raising taxes on the wealthy, opposition to Medicare and Social Security cuts. W. Post: "The Post-ABC poll finds that 78 percent oppose cutting spending on Medicare as a way to chip away at the debt ... 72 percent support raising taxes [on family income over $250,000] ... "
President Obama makes case at town hall for higher taxes on wealthy to pay for the government we want: "Nobody volunteers and says, 'Boy, I’m just wild to pay more taxes'. But it’s a matter of values and what we prioritize ... I think America wants a smart government. It wants a lean government. It wants a accountable government. But we don’t want no government."
Bipartisan agreement for cutting corporate tax rate, less on closing corporate tax loopholes. LAT: "Eliminating any tax breaks will be difficult because corporate lobbyists are expected to fight hard to keep breaks that benefit their companies. But the push begun by the Obama administration for revenue-neutral corporate tax reform hasn't pleased some liberals. They want the loopholes removed, but want the savings to go toward reducing the budget deficit, not the corporate tax rate."
Some bipartisan pushback to President's plan to save money within Medicare. NYT: "Opponents fear that the [soon-to-be formed] panel, known as the Independent Payment Advisory Board, would usurp Congressional spending power ... Mr. Obama said he wanted to beef up the board’s cost-cutting powers in unspecified ways should the growth of Medicare spending exceed certain goals ... 'Why have legislators?' asked Representative Pete Stark of California, the senior Democrat on the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health."
Military establishment knows it will face cuts, tries to limit scope. The Hill: "Pentagon officials likely can meet coming budget-reduction targets by continuing to trim the military’s bloated infrastructure; slimming the ranks of uniformed personnel; and bringing home some number of troops now permanently stationed in places like Europe, analysts and former officials said Tuesday. That means weapons programs should be safe, defense sources say..."
NYT edit board lays out a path for cutting more military spending than either party proposes: "The Pentagon’s civilian work force, currently 650,000, should be cut by up to 10 percent ... Freezing noncombat pay for three years would save $3 billion per year ... Ground forces have been increased, but that needs to be paid for by corresponding reductions at sea and in the air ... Twenty years after the cold war’s end, the Pentagon is addicted to hugely expensive weapons systems that are poorly suited to current and future military needs."
NYRBlog's Jeff Madrick pinpoints the "economic fallacies" that mar the House Republican budget: "...that getting rid of Medicare will reduce health care costs and that enacting yet further tax cuts for the rich will spur growth and investment."
Geithner upbeat about prospects for deficit reduction deal. LAT: "Asked about the S&P report, which rattled the markets Monday, Geithner said he disagreed with the rating firm's negative assessment ... 'I think if you listen very carefully now to what's happening in Washington, you see people on both sides, Democrats and Republicans, agree with the president that we have to put in place some reforms now to bring down our long-term deficits,' he said."
Dean Baker responds to Sen. Dick Durbin's comments dismissing those who argue Social Security doesn't need imminent changes: "As you know, the country has 26 years between now and 2037, so not acting in 2011 does not imply that the Congress will not do anything over the next quarter century to address the projected shortfall. Furthermore, you should realize that the shortfall in 2037 does not necessitate any reduction in benefits. Even if Congress sat by and never did anything to fix the projected shortfall in the next 26 years, it would still have the option of raising additional revenue in 2037 if this shortfall materialized, rather than cutting benefits."
Business groups pressure GOP to raise debt limit. The Hill: "Groups such as the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors (NAW), the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) plan to step up their advocacy for a debt-limit increase as the deadline for congressional action draws closer."
Republicans Undermining Foreclosure Fraud Settlement
Republican state AGs prevent unified front for imposing stiff fine on fraudulent mortgage bankers. Bloomberg: "The states have agreed on some terms while failing so far to reach an accord on monetary payments by lenders, a person familiar with the talks said last week. Eight Republican attorneys general have publicly challenged the concept of principal reductions as part of a 50-state settlement."
A successful financial crisis prosecution! NYT: "The founder of what was once one of the nation’s largest mortgage lenders was convicted of fraud on Tuesday ... It is one of the few successful prosecutions to come out of the financial crisis ... a federal jury in Virginia found Lee B. Farkas, the former chairman of Taylor, Bean & Whitaker, guilty on 14 counts of securities, bank and wire fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud ... one of the largest and longest bank fraud schemes in American history and led to the 2009 collapse of Colonial Bank ... The Justice Department has yet to bring charges against an executive who ran a major Wall Street firm leading up to the disaster. An earlier case against hedge fund managers at Bear Stearns ended in acquittal. Prosecutors dropped their investigation into Angelo R. Mozilo, the former chief of Countrywide Financial..."
Sen. Tester rakes in campaign cash after siding with banks on debit card fees reports The Hill.
President Renews Immigration Reform Push
President meets with wide range of immigrant advocates, to rally for reform. AP: "The meeting was an attempt by the White House to demonstrate far-reaching support for immigration overhaul and to include voices often not heard in the debate, such as San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro and Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg. Castro told The Associated Press afterward in an interview that Obama pledged to spend as much time on this issue as he spends on the deficit and health care."
GOP will block any reform effort. AP: "A path to citizenship is 'what has doomed all immigration legislation in the last two administrations,' California Republican Dan Lungren said during a recent House hearing..."
Breakfast Sides
WH announces final deal on Panama trade agreement. NYT: "... the two countries agreed to exchange tax information; the United States has complained in the past that Panama was a haven for income-tax evasion. The end to the Panama negotiations followed the administration’s tentative agreement earlier this month with Colombia ... and its deal late last year with South Korea ... Republican leaders had said the Obama administration needed to propose legislation adopting all three trade agreements before they would consider any of them."
Supreme Court appears to side with feds over states in climate case. NYT: "The suit said the courts should step in to protect the states from a 'public nuisance' created by the defendants, five power companies collectively responsible for a quarter of carbon-dioxide emissions by utilities in the nation ... Justice Elena Kagan questioned the plaintiff’s 'public nuisance' theory ... 'One factory emitting discharge into one stream,' Justice Kagan said of such suits. 'They don’t involve these kinds of national, international policy issues of the kind that this case does.'"
