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: American Media, Meet The "American Majority"
OurFuture.org's Roger Hickey: "Today the Campaign for America’s Future is sending letters to all the major media demanding that the views of the American Majority be represented in the news programs, print articles and opinion pages, and in the non-stop daily and Sunday talk shows ... We are also supplying the media with an extensive list of economists, experts and advocates who share the majority view that deficits are not now the major threat to U.S. prosperity, and that getting revenue back into the budget is far less damaging (and more just) than cutting spending and crippling important programs for the poor and the elderly ... why aren’t 72 percent of the pundits on television talking about raising taxes on the rich? Why don’t we read about—and hear from—the 56 percent of Americans (and experts) who think that jobs and economic recovery is more important than austerity."
Boehner Fails To Soothe Wall Street On Debt Limit
"Boehner's hard line on debt ceiling gets cool reception from Wall St." reports The Hill: "'We should be talking about cuts of trillions, not just billions. They should be actual cuts and program reforms, not broad deficit or debt targets that punt the tough questions to the future.' The Speaker’s stand drew little reaction from the banquet hall of Wall Street executives, who offered polite applause at the end of Boehner’s speech but sat in silence through his demands on the debt limit ... Attendees offered a mixed reaction to his presentation, with some saying he did little to allay concerns in the financial community about the looming debt threshold. 'Disconnected from reality,' one attendee said..."
Yet Boehner still concedes that not raising debt limit would be "irresponsible." Wonk Room's Pat Garofalo: "Boehner is still trying to walk the fine line between placating the fringe elements in his party and acknowledging that allowing the U.S. to hit its debt limit is not an option ... But as the Wall Street Journal’s Paul Gigot pointed out ... 'you have to pass a debt ceiling increase, so that’s a hostage you’re not prepared to shoot...'"
No comment on short-term debt limit increase. NYT: "Asked by an audience member whether he would entertain a short-term increase in the debt limit if no deal was reached, Mr. Boehner was noncommittal."
W. Post adds: "...such a strategy would require multiple votes to raise the limit before the 2012 election, something many lawmakers in both parties want to avoid."
TNR's Jonathan Chait urges President Obama to call Boehner's "trillions" bluff: "Boehner says he wants to cut trillions, which would have to entail cutting Social Security and Medicare. Boehner does not want to cut Social Security and Medicare. Oh, sure, he wants them to be cut. But he does not want to be the one who cuts them ... [Obama] needs to ask Boehner to spell out his demands. What's the exact bill that Boehner demands as a condition for not crippling the U.S. economy? If he wants to make demands, he needs to write out those demands."
Senate GOPers won't touch House GOP Medicare privatization: "Senate Republicans have decided to avoid jeopardizing their chances of capturing the upper chamber in next year’s elections and will not echo the House GOP’s call for a major overhaul of the popular health entitlement for seniors ... The budget plan that will be introduced Tuesday by conservative Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), a former House member, is expected to become the leading Senate GOP alternative ... Senate Republicans need to pick up four seats to win control of the Senate ... But Republicans fear their political momentum could be reversed by a misstep on Medicare."
Alan Simpson insults AARP, makes up stuff about Social Security. HuffPost: "... Simpson delighted the finance industry audience members by aiming a rude gesture at the leading lobby for senior citizens ... Simpson’s forceful gesture came after an extended diatribe against Social Security, which he said is a 'Ponzi' scheme, 'not a retirement program.' ... HuffPost [later] suggested to Simpson during a telephone interview that his claim about life expectancy was misleading because his data include people who died in childhood of diseases that are now largely preventable. Incorporating such early deaths skews the average life expectancy ... Told that the data came directly from the Social Security Administration, Simpson continued to insist it was inaccurate."
President To Push Immigration Reform In Texas Today
President to lay out principles of immigration reform at Texas border today. The Hill: "Despite the new, more conservative Republican majority in the House, administration officials insist that legislative prospects have not dimmed ... White House officials are scheduled to take part in at least 30 talks throughout the country with community, business and law enforcement leaders on the topic of immigration reform over the next several months..."
President will emphasize record of enforcement. W. Post: "The president is expected to reel off what his aides say is evidence of an unprecedented focus on border security ... The president and administration officials have said they want to find points of compromise with Republicans — and aides say convincing the public that the border is safer than it has been in years might pressure the GOP ... Activists have repeatedly raised concerns, saying that the administration’s policy of deporting up to 400,000 illegal immigrants a year is disrupting families and targeting the wrong people. They want Obama to issue an executive decree barring the deportation of young people who would qualify for the Dream Act, legislation that would legalize many children of illegal immigrants."
Arizona will appeal blocking of anti-immigrant law to Supreme Court. AP: "Attorney General Tom Horne said going next to the Supreme Court and skipping a possible second appeal to the 9th Circuit will save time in resolving the case ... The 9th Circuit panel said federal officials were likely to prove the law is unconstitutional..."
GOP Sticks Up For Banks
House GOPers call on Justice Dept. to lay off penalizing banks alleged of committing foreclosure fraud. Wonk Room's Pat Garofalo: "According to a letter sent to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder by four Republicans on the Financial Services Committee ... 'We have concerns about the potential terms of the servicing settlement because, among other things, we believe that a $20 billion principal reduction fund will create incentives to default that could worsen the housing crisis and impede economic recovery.'"
FDIC Chair to step down. LAT: "[Sheila] Bair's departure had been expected. Her five-year term as chairwoman ends next month, and she was clear in stating that she did not want to be reappointed ... President Obama is expected to nominate a successor soon. The favorite is Martin J. Gruenberg, the vice chairman of the FDIC board, who served as acting chairman for about seven months ..."
GOP Bill Would Cut Jobless Aid
House GOP pushing bill that would cut unemployment insurance. HuffPost: "...Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.), chairman of the Ways and Means Committee ... is pursuing a bill that would give states the option to spend federal unemployment dollars on paying down debt instead of paying for extended unemployment benefits ... Ways and Means will vote on Camp's bill on Wednesday."
NLRB General Counsel responds to conservative attack on his case against Boeing's union-busting. HuffPost quotes: "There is nothing remarkable or unprecedented about the complaint issued against the Boeing Company on April 20. The complaint involves matters of fact and law that are not unique to this case, and it was issued only after a thorough investigation in the field, a further careful review by our attorneys in Washington, and an invitation by me to the parties to present their case and discuss the possibility of a settlement."
Calm Rhetoric, No Changes After US-China Talks
"U.S. and China spar on rights, soften tone on economy" reports Reuters: "On the topic of the economy, Washington pressed China on familiar themes, saying Beijing should let its yuan currency rise faster and do more to spur domestic demand. But U.S. officials also welcomed reforms China has taken and admitted the U.S. budget needed tightening."
China reports big trade surplus with record exports. NYT: "China is trying to shift from an export-led model for growth to an economic model giving primacy to domestic consumption. But Ben Simpfendorfer, the managing director of China Insider, an economics newsletter, said that it had been premature for some to suggest recently that the country’s overall trade surplus was already disappearing ... Many companies are searching for alternatives to manufacturing in China, but finding that nowhere else offers China’s combination of a large labor supply, world-class highways and ports and strongly pro-business policies, including a strict ban on independent labor unions that tended to hold down wages until very recently."
Senate Dems Search For Consensus Before Push To End Oil Subsidies
Senate Dems split on what should be done with subsidies to Big Oil. The Hill: "Democratic leaders want to launch a floor battle on industry subsidies as soon as this week ... Tuesday morning a group that includes several Senate Democrats facing tough reelection battles will unveil a bill to 'end to taxpayer handouts to the 5 largest oil companies making record profits and use the savings to reduce the deficit,' ... But Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) has floated a plan that would steer the savings from repeal of the tax breaks into alternative fuels and vehicle incentives – not deficit reduction."
More help needed to support purchases of electric cars and reduce oil dependence, argues Seth Fletcher in NYT oped: "The president’s 2012 budget request increases financing for battery research and proposes good ideas for accelerating the spread of electric vehicles, including the transformation of the existing $7,500 tax credit for the purchase of a plug-in vehicle into a point-of-sale rebate, which would give buyers their refund immediately rather than at tax time. These investments may be too much to expect from a Congress that can barely keep the government running. At the very least, however, President Obama and the Senate must resist pressure to gut renewable energy programs in the name of reducing the deficit — an urge expressed most clearly in Representative Paul D. Ryan’s budget plan..."
NYT edit board mocks FL Gov. Rick Scott for giving away federal high-speed rail funds: "...he claimed last month that he was doing a huge favor for the national Treasury, which he expected would give away the money in tax cuts ... Mr. Scott was really doing a favor for train passengers in the Northeast, Midwest and California, which were given $2 billion of his money on Monday for better service. Florida voters might want to think about that decision as they sit in traffic jams, burning up $4-a-gallon gasoline. In fact, some of them clearly have thought about it because Mr. Scott now has some of the worst approval ratings of a Florida official in the last decade."
New study finds high levels of methane in water near shale gas "fracking" sites. Time: "...the study should alleviate — for now — environmentalist fears of fracking chemicals and wastewater toxifying groundwater supplies. That's small consolation to the shale-gas industry. A study that finds the lesser of two chemical evils in the water supply is hardly a clean bill of health ... shale can provide inexpensive, low-carbon and low-polluting energy, sourced from inside our borders. But it has to be done right, and there's growing evidence that it simply isn't."
