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: Appoint Elizabeth Warren. Now.
OurFuture.org's Richard Eskow: "This should be a no-brainer: A Warren appointment would be a policy win and a political win. Republicans have purchased first-class tickets on the Crazy Train by vowing to block any appointment to that position, even a person that shares their radical anti-regulation ideology. The President can be a voice for sanity by acting decisively to fill this urgently-needed position ... What the GOP is doing is blackmail, pure and simple, an attempt to re-fight battles they've already lost."
House Dems, Campaign for America's Future, Lead Effort To Appoint Warren
Campaign for America's Future launches petition drive for recess appointment after Senate adjourns next Friday. OurFuture.org/Warren: "The Senate Republican minority has publicly announced it will filibuster any nominee to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, unless the President strips the new bureau of much of his ability to protect consumers and hold banks accountable. If Senate Republicans are going to unreasonably withhold their votes, the President has no obligation to cater to their demands."
House Dem trio circulates letter in support of Warren. Politico: "Reps. Carolyn Maloney (N.Y.), Keith Ellison (Minn.) and Brad Miller (N.C.) are urging their colleagues to sign onto a letter urging Obama to appoint Warren to the post while Congress is in recess ... since Senate Republicans have vowed to block the appointment of any director for the CFPB, even a Republican, unless the bureau’s powers are weakened. Republicans, the letter says, 'would rather hold your appointment hostage and obstruct the process than make sure consumers have a strong advocate on their side.'"
GOP Cheering For Default
GOP Rep. Devin Nunes eagerly awaits America's defaut. Wonk Room's Pat Garofalo: "'"By defaulting on the debt, in the short and long term, it could benefit us to go through a period of crisis that forces politicians to make decisions” on major policies that affect the budget," he told POLITICO.' ... Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) said earlier this month that 'no one is advocating defaulting.' But it seems, for the House Republicans at least, that is no longer the case."
Senate Budget Chair Kent Conrad to withhold proposal in deference to WH talks. NYT: "The decision by Mr. Conrad ... comes after weeks in which he has struggled separately and unsuccessfully to get either a bipartisan budget agreement from the Senate’s so-called Gang of Six or a Democrats-only budget from his budget panel."
Newt Gingrich tells Rush Limbuagh his critical response to a question about Rep. Paul Ryan's budget "was not a reference to Paul Ryan." Daily Kos' Jed Lewison: "Even though what Gingrich told Limbaugh is obviously contradicted by the transcript of Sunday's Meet the Press, he's obviously telling the truth—as he has already made clear, quoting his own words is the same thing as spreading a 'falsehood' ..."
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi tells W. Post's Greg Sargent, "We have a plan. It’s called Medicare.": "Asked to clarify what she meant, and to detail what sort of changes she’d be open to, Pelosi insisted that any claims she could support cuts in the program are wrong ... Pelosi added that Dems have already put on the table the type of reform they should continue advocating for: The Affordable Care Act ... Pelosi insisted that when all the smoke clears, the Democratic Party will still be standing by Medicare in a way liberals can accept."
Trumka To Warn Dems
AFL-CIO's Richard Trumka to warn Dems not to take labor support for granted, in speech today. HuffPost: "'It doesn’t matter if candidates and parties are controlling the wrecking ball or simply standing aside -- the outcome is the same either way. If leaders aren’t blocking the wrecking ball and advancing working families’ interests, working people will not support them. This is where our focus will be -- now, in 2012 and beyond.' ... The AFL-CIO has traditionally judged lawmakers by their votes on legislation; threatening them for simply 'standing aside' during the process is a much more aggressive posture."
Trumka also will challenge austerity obsession. The Hill: "The national debate has become dominated by deficit politics over how much to cut government spending, met with protests from labor as they see funding for needed programs slashed by lawmakers ... 'America’s real deficit is a moral deficit — where political choices come down to forcing foster children to wear hand-me-downs while cutting taxes for profitable corporations. Powerful political forces are seeking to silence working people — to drive us out of the national conversation,' Trumka will say."
House GOP seeking to stifle labor gains in transportation. The Hill: "House Republicans inserted a provision in the FAA reauthorization bill to repeal the [National Mediation Board's] new rules that would ease union organizing. The White House threatened to veto the legislation unless that provision was removed ... Meanwhile, labor is set to score a big victory Monday ... the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) will face off in a runoff election to be the exclusive union of the TSA ...The TSA decided to grant the agency’s 40,000 transportation security officers collective bargaining rights earlier this year over strong GOP opposition."
The Manufacturing Bright Spot
The bright spot in the economy is manufacturing, no thanks to conservatives, says NYT's Paul Krugman: "...the U.S. dollar has fallen against other currencies, helping give U.S.-based manufacturing a cost advantage. A weaker dollar, it turns out, was just what U.S. industry needed. Yet the Federal Reserve finds itself under intense pressure from the right to make the dollar stronger ... If Mr. Bernanke had given ... manufacturing would have continued its relentless decline ... then there’s the matter of the auto industry, which probably would have imploded if President Obama hadn’t stepped in to rescue General Motors and Chrysler ... One Republican congressman ... insisted that when government gets involved in a company, 'the disaster that follows is predictable.' Not so much, it turns out ..."
VP to deliver clean energy speech in Colorado today. The Hill: "'The Vice President will highlight initiatives that are spurring job creation and manufacturing, growing the economy, and helping America win the future,' states an advisory about his visit to the Energy Department lab. The White House is seeking increased spending on Energy Department programs aimed at researching and demonstrating cutting-edge technologies in renewable power, efficiency, improved electric vehicles and other areas. Administration officials, as they joust with Republicans on spending, say these programs should be spared from budget cuts because the green energy sector is vital to the country’s future competitiveness."
Interior Sec. Salazar held bipartisan talks on clean energy legislation. The Hill: "Salazar met Thursday with [Sen. Maj. Leader] Reid and [Sen. Tom] Carper [D-Del.], as well as Sens. John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) ... Salazar told reporters after the series of meetings that he believes lawmakers can coalesce around three broad issues: expanded energy production, alternative fuels and energy efficiency."
Conservative Governors Continue Assault On Jobless
South Carolina is giving away more corporate tax breaks, while cutting aid to the jobless. Wonk Room's Pat Garofalo: "The South Carolina state Senate ... is cooking up a budget that includes $100 million in corporate tax breaks ... Already, the state has reduced its benefits under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program by 20 percent to $216 per month, which is just 14 percent of the poverty line. And as The Huffington Post’s Arthur Delaney reported, South Carolina is also looking at cutting its unemployment insurance system: 'The South Carolina State Senate gave preliminary approval last week to a bill that would reduce state unemployment benefits from 26 weeks to 20 weeks...'"
"Add Pennsylvania and Wisconsin to the list of states considering cuts to unemployment insurance," reports HuffPost: "Within the past two months, lawmakers in Michigan, Missouri and Florida permanently slashed state unemployment aid in bills that preserve temporary federal aid. Two Republican-sponsored measures moving through the GOP-controlled Pennsylvania statehouse would achieve similar results. And in Wisconsin, a proposal by Republican Gov. Scott Walker would ... permanently install a one-week waiting period for new claimants before any jobless claims are paid, relieving Wisconsin businesses of a $45.2 million tax burden ...'Without knowing exactly how the state arrived at the $45.2 million figure, it is safe to say that a roughly equivalent amount will come out of workers' pockets,' said Mike Evangelist of the National Employment Law Project..."
Breakfast Sides
New rule implementing health reform seeks to limit health insurance price spikes. NYT: "... the Obama administration demanded on Thursday that insurers justify proposed rate increases of more than 10 percent, starting in September ... Federal health officials proposed the 10 percent threshold in December. The insurance industry criticized it as an arbitrary test that could brand a majority of rate increases as presumptively unreasonable. But the administration rejected the criticism and insisted on the 10 percent standard in the final rule, issued Thursday. Starting in September 2012, the federal government will set a separate threshold for each state, reflecting trends in insurance and health care costs."
Subpoenas expected for Goldman Sachs soon, reports WSJ: "Officials at the New York company believe the Justice Department will demand certain documents and other information, possibly within days, these people said. Spokesmen for Goldman and the Justice Department declined to comment Thursday."
