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: (Debt) Trigger Happy
OurFuture.org's Richard Eskow: "Suddenly Washington is filled with proposals for 'debt triggers,' policy devices that would force spending cuts if arbitrary targets aren't met in the future. Everybody's either got one or wants one: the President, the Republicans, the Gang of Six, and all the usual suspects from the austerity crowd. Let's not dance around the harsh truth. 'Triggers' are economic IEDs, set to to explode when their builders have left the scene and can't be blamed for the damage."
No Movement In Deficit Reduction Talks
Congress questions point of Biden-led deficit reduction talks, no deal in sight. W. Post: "Republicans are pushing to attach an 'enforceable' spending cap, in Cantor’s words, to legislation raising the government’s debt ceiling ... other Republicans are considering a proposal from Sens. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) that would eventually cap federal spending at about 20 percent of the country’s economic output. House Democrats, Van Hollen said, think 'there should not be linkage between any of these things and the debt ceiling.' ... Democrats oppose proposals such as the Corker-McCaskill initiative, because it suggests tackling the deficit with spending cuts alone while ignoring ways to increase tax revenue."
Pro-austerity group knocks Obama budget proposal. W. Post: "The analysis, by the bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, found that the plan Obama unveiled in a speech last week would require the nation to borrow another $7 trillion during the next decade, compared with about $5.5 trillion under the House Republican budget and about $5.3 trillion under the recommendations offered in December by Obama’s fiscal commission ... White House spokeswoman Amy Brundage defended the president’s plan, arguing that the committee’s analysis relies on economic forecasts by the Congressional Budget Office that are less optimistic than forecasts by the White House budget office ... Plus, she said, if the CBO’s projections are used, 'the president’s framework would save more not less than these totals' because the debt fail-safe would be triggered..."
"The only responsible budget in town" is from the Congressional Progressive Caucus, argues The Guardian's Michael Tomasky: "[The House GOP budget adds] $600 billion of debt every year. It would increase the current debt limit, about which Republicans are howling, by about half again the current amount. And why? So the highest tax rate on the rich can be lowered from 35% to 25% ... The Prog caucus budget would balance the books by 2021 ... How would it do this? Largely through cuts to the military and tax increases."
Robert Reich warns against the "middle ground" of the budget debate: "The Republican plan shouldn’t be considered one side of a great debate. It shouldn’t be considered at all. Americans don’t want it. Which is why I get worried when I hear about so-called 'bipartisan' groups on Capitol Hill seeking a grand compromise..."
No vote scheduled for Rep. Jan Schakowsky's millionaire tax bill. In These Times: "Just over a month ago, Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) introduced the Fairness in Taxation Act to create new tax brackets for millionaires and billionaires at rates between 45-49 percent ... The fact that most politicans regard this bill, which is modest by pre-Reagan standards (the top marginal rate was about 90 percent during the Eisenhower administration), as a nonstarter reveal just how far to the right the terms of our political debate and culture have shifted."
Patients Are Not Shoppers
NYT's Paul Krugman rips conservative health care view that treats patients like "consumers": "Medical care, after all, is an area in which crucial decisions — life and death decisions — must be made. Yet making such decisions intelligently requires a vast amount of specialized knowledge. Furthermore, those decisions often must be made under conditions in which the patient is incapacitated, under severe stress, or needs action immediately, with no time for discussion, let alone comparison shopping ... The idea that all this can be reduced to money — that doctors are just 'providers' selling services to health care 'consumers' — is, well, sickening."
Another GOP congressperson challenged in town hall to defend dismantling Medicare. Wonk Room's Igor Volsky: "...Rep. Lou Barletta (R-PA) received a similarly hostile reception ... 'This plan does not do nothing to affect anyone 55 years or older,' ... But before Barletta could continue, 64-year-old Linda Christman raised her hand and argued that those under 55 would see an erosion of benefits. The exchange became heated as other constituents began yelling for the woman to 'sit down'..."
NH Latest State To Attack Workers
NH on verge of enacting anti-union law over governor's veto. NYT: "...a law is expected to be adopted that would prohibit unions from collecting mandatory fees and disallow collective bargaining agreements that require employees to join a labor union. The State Senate passed the bill Wednesday — by a veto-proof vote of 16 to 8 ... Labor groups plan to mobilize for the veto fight with rallies this weekend and calls to legislators."
Dean Baker further explains: "The NYT wrongly told readers that a bill approved by the New Hampshire legislature would, 'disallow collective bargaining agreements that require employees to join a labor union.' ... Under current New Hampshire law, collective bargaining agreements can require workers to pay representation fees to a union ... The new bill passed by the New Hampshire legislature effectively guarantees non-union members the right to get union representation without paying for it (representation without taxation). It denies workers the freedom of contract that they currently enjoy, which would allow them to require that everyone who benefits from union representation has to share in the cost of union representation."
More recall elections on tap in WI. W. Post: "[GOP State Sen. Alberta] Darling and three Democrats join four GOP senators who have had recall petitions filed against them. Petitions still are being circulated against five other Democrats and three other Republicans ... Democrats, who control 14 Senate seats, would have to take three of the Republicans’ 19 seats to hold a majority."
Breakfast Sides
Interagency effort launches to probe fraud as gas prices rise. Reuters: "he group, which will be part of the administration’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force, will focus on any manipulation of oil and gas prices, collusion, fraud, or other violations of state and federal laws..."
Wall St. is lobbying more this year than last year, as reform law's regulations still need to be written. WSJ: "The industry is working to influence a long list of Dodd-Frank rules, including sweeping ones for the nearly $583 trillion derivatives market and restrictions on the size and activities of the largest banks. Many are also weighing in on mortgage-finance issues as policy makers address problems with foreclosures and how to revamp mortgage-lending giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which now are under federal control."
