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: Why Elizabeth Warren Scares Republicans
OurFuture.org's Brian Dockstader: "...no one is arguing that Elizabeth Warren shouldn't be appointed director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) because she isn't the best person for the job. No, the opposition to her comes from the exact opposite position: Republicans oppose Elizabeth Warren because she is too good at her job."
Warren To Give House Testimony Today
Warren testifies to House today, will defend CFPB against conservative attacks. Dow Jones: "U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry (R., N.C.), chairman of the U.S. House oversight subcommittee holding the hearing, wants assurance that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or the CFPB, will set rules for mortgages, credit cards and other financial products in an impartial manner ... Warren says [GOP-proposed] changes would undercut the bureau's effectiveness as a financial-markets cop, and she is prepared to defend the agency as a much-needed new regulator that already has adequate checks and balances on its powers."
Top Warren critic now calls for her recess appointment. TPM: "The head of the Oklahoma Banker's Association -- a one-time Elizabeth Warren skeptic who believed she was 'akin to the Antichrist' -- is now asking President Obama to provide her a recess appointment to direct the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ... ' I am convinced she clearly recognizes the importance of community banks and small credit unions to the nation's economic recovery' ..."
Some Dems want Warren to run for Senate instead of head CFPB. NYT: "In seeking to enlist Ms. Warren for a different campaign, Democrats are taking aim at two birds. They can lay the groundwork for a potential compromise over a different candidate to lead the new agency and, they hope, they can increase their chances of reclaiming [Sen. Scott] Brown’s seat..."
Community bank concerns ignore exemptions they've already won. NYT: "Small banks fear new rules under the Dodd-Frank law, especially certain consumer protection provisions and debit card fee restrictions, could hurt their bottom line ... Community banks and credit unions won exemptions from several of the law’s toughest provisions, and some of the rules put small banks on more equal footing with big banks ... said Neal S. Wolin, deputy secretary of the Treasury. 'If you sit down with 20 small banks, you’ll find there’s a lot of anxiety there ... But if you ask them to focus that criticism in concrete ways, there’s not much there.' ... Ms. Warren, who met with more than 60 small bank and credit union executives in March alone, has assured the industry that she will keep them involved in the rule-writing process."
Medicare Center Stage In NY Election Today
New AP poll says Americans are "not buying" the austerity agenda: "Americans worry about the future of the retirement safety net, the poll found, and 3 out of 5 say the two programs are vital to their basic financial security as they age. That helps explain why the Republican Medicare privatization plan flopped ... 54 percent said it's possible to balance the budget without cutting spending for Medicare, and 59 percent said the same about Social Security ..."
Update NY Republican reiterates support for House GOP plan to dismantle Medicare before today's special congressional election. NYT: "[Jane] Corwin said she could have better clarified her position by responding sooner to comments by her Democratic rival, Kathy Hochul ... Ms. Corwin, who did not back away from the Medicare proposal..."
Sen. Rand Paul says House GOP budget doesn't cut enough. Politico: "... Paul said he actually likes Ryan’s changes to Medicare – and he’ll later unveil his own stand-alone plan to overhaul Medicare. This week, when the Senate votes on Ryan’s budget, Paul expects that he’ll get a vote on his own five-year budget plan that he says will balance the budget over that timeframe."
GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski won't commit to House GOP budget. Politico: "'I have not yet firmly come down on the Ryan budget,' the Alaska Republican told POLITICO on Monday, saying she’s clearly 'concerned' that it could further limit access to providers in her state. 'I’m not so sure about the components of his Medicare proposal.'"
Another GOP congressman faces town hall wrath from seniors. HuffPost: "A [Rep. Rob] Woodall constituent raised a practical obstacle to obtaining coverage in the private market within the confines of an employer-based health insurance system: What happens when you retire? 'The private corporation that I retired from does not give medical benefits to retirees,' the woman told the congressman ...'Hear yourself, ma'am. Hear yourself,' Woodall told the woman. 'You want the government to take care of you, because your employer decided not to take care of you. My question is, "When do I decide I'm going to take care of me?"'"
House GOP Proposes Less Food For Poor
House GOP proposes more cuts in food for the poor. AP: "In a bill released Monday, Republicans proposed cutting $832 million – or 12 percent – from this year's budget for the federal nutrition program that provides food for low-income mothers and children. The 2012 budget proposal for food and farm programs also includes a decrease of almost $457 million, or 31 percent, from an international food assistance program that provides emergency aid and agricultural development dollars to poor countries."
Cuts would leave hanging up to 475,000 women and children. CBPP: "Economists have varying views on the size of the likely increase in food prices over the next 18 months. If the cost of WIC foods increases by 2 percent between fiscal years 2011 and 2012 — the smallest increase likely — the proposed funding cut would force WIC to serve roughly 325,000 fewer people in 2012 than in 2011. If, as some food price experts believe likely, the price increase is 5 percent, WIC would have to be cut by roughly 475,000 people."
Senate GOPers start taking the Biden-led debt limit talks seriously. Politico: "It’s an opportunity for Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) — who has thrown his weight behind the group — to establish himself and play up his priorities in a way he couldn’t have if there were a Gang of Six alternative ... it’s a change from April’s short-term budget deal, during which McConnell stayed in the background ... Senate Republicans said they held off on that fight for this larger political and fiscal battle."
WH budget director argues for Social Security reforms, but says GOP preventing deal. The Hill: "[Jacob] Lew also made clear his view that Social Security should be reformed now, but not as part of a deficit reduction package ... The main problem right now is that Republicans won't agree to any payroll tax increases as part of a fix for the program, and they only want to cut benefits. 'We are not in a place right now,' to solve the problem, he said."
New CBPP chart reminds what actually has caused the national debt. Tapped's Jamelle Bouie: "... the Bush tax cuts -- and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan -- account for a huge chunk of current and projected public debt ... With few exceptions, Republican scaremongering on the debt has come from lawmakers who wholeheartedly supported the offending policies."
The "People's Budget" is actually supported by the people, notes In These Times' David Moberg: "...multiple polls show that voters oppose deep cuts in or radical transformation of Medicare ... support a surcharge income tax on millionaires and billionaires [and] favors military spending cuts as a first step in deficit reduction..."
Jeffrey Sachs and Rep Mike Honda make the case for the People's Budget, and against the "Gang of Fave": "As much as the politicians argue, they don't seem to hear the good sense of the American people. The many closed-door meetings in Washington to decide on America's future are filled, instead, with esoteric and magical formulas purporting to close the deficit ... These are gimmicks, not governing. Governing is about making choices, setting priorities and following through."
Health Reform Already Working
New data shows health reform law is working. Forbes' Rick Ungar: "The provision of the law that permits young adults under 26, long the largest uninsured demographic in the country, to remain on their parents’ health insurance program resulted in at least 600,000 newly insured Americans during the first quarter of 2011 ... every one of the young immortals we add to the rolls of the insured is one less young adult who will turn to the emergency room to fix a broken leg and then find themselves unable to pay the bill – leaving it to the rest of us to pay the tab ... The more healthy people available to pay for those in the pool who are ill (translation- the older people), the better the system works and the lower our premium charges should go ... Health care reform is working, folks – and we have yet to get to the really big benefits which kick in come 2014."
GOP divided whether to attack or accept health reform waivers. The Hill: "...some Republican policy heavyweights are uncomfortable with arguments from other prominent conservatives that suggest Democrats and the Obama administration are handing out the waivers to favored interests. They argue the GOP threatens to undermine its own position against the healthcare law with the attacks ... The Obama administration says the waivers offer only a temporary exemption from a single provision of the law."
Newt Gingrich once praised cost-saving ideas from President Obama's Medicare director. Wonk Room's Igor Volsky: "...Gingrich was once a strong promoter of the CMS administrator, praising Berwick for what Republicans are now characterizing as “rationing” — his work to improve the quality of the nation’s health care system. In early part of the last decade, Gingrich ... advocated 'reforms such as "data-driven reimbursement" informed by best practices, a national electronic health network and a focus on prevention and wellness. All those items — and others Gingrich supported — are contained in the HITECH Act, part of the budget stimulus package and the Affordable Care Act,' Michael Millenson notes."
Feds challenging state attempts that target Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood. AP: "The U.S. Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services issued a statement saying it was reviewing Indiana’s law and situations in other states threatening to withhold funds from abortion providers ... 'Medicaid does not allow states to stop beneficiaries from getting care they need - like cancer screenings and preventive care - because their provider offers certain other services' ... Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller issued a statement Monday saying his office would 'continue to diligently represent' the state against Planned Parenthood’s lawsuit ... at least six other states also were considering restrictions on abortion providers."
Rough Rollout For Pawlenty
Presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty starts by proposing Social Security and Medicare cuts. NYT: "He said that Social Security and Medicare 'are on an unsustainable path and that inaction is no longer an option,' and he proposed increasing the retirement age and using means testing for Social Security’s cost-of-living adjustments."
Pawlenty's call in Iowa to phase out ethanol subsidies not as courageous as it seems. The Hill: "Ethanol is popular in the corn belt, but there's already a sense that the ethanol blenders' credit — which helps guarantee a market for ethanol producers — is approaching its twilight. A number of key ethanol backers, led by Sens. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), have already floated legislation that would gradually reduce the tax credit for blending ethanol into gasoline."
Pawlenty lies about past comments support active government. W. Post's Dana Milbank: "He claimed that he had merely been referencing somebody else’s words — 'I didn’t say those words myself' [he told Rush Limbaugh yesterday.] 'The era of small government is over,' Pawlenty told the [Minneapolis Star Tribune in 2006]. '...Government has to be more proactive, more aggressive.' The newspaper did issue a 'clarification,' but only to say that Pawlenty’s quote about small government was 'in reference to a point' made by the conservative writer David Brooks — one that Pawlenty, from his other comments, obviously agreed with."
