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: Senate Budget Vote Defining For Middle Class
OurFuture.org's Isaiah Poole: "Shortly after 5 p.m. Wednesday, a roll call vote that some Republicans were not-so-secretly dreading began, and the public began to know the names of the senators who were willing to throw the middle class under the luxury bus for the corporate class that is the 2012 House Republican budget resolution. This was a critical vote. The conservatives dominating the budget debate in Washington should not be allowed to escape accountability for the policies they advocate."
GOP Clings To Doomed Medicare Plan
Most Republicans stick with politically toxic plan to dismantle Medicare, in Senate vote. W. Post: "...the unity among Republicans — with only five out of 47 voting against it — served as an important sign that party leaders remain wedded to a deficit-reduction plan that is a loyalty test for many GOP voters but is widely unpopular ... Every Democrat opposed the Ryan proposal over the Medicare issue, as did four centrist Republicans — Sens. Scott Brown (Mass.), Susan Collins (Maine), Olympia J. Snowe (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska)."
It's just a message problem, say GOPers. The Hill: "'If we’ll just stay with our argument and do a better job developing it, we’ll be fine,' said Rep. Tom Cole (Okla.), one of many Republicans blaming GOP candidate Jane Corwin’s loss on the presence of a Tea Party candidate who siphoned away votes in a three-way race."
TNR's Jonathan Chait sums up the GOP's strategic error: "Conservatives may have convinced themselves that their public opinion success in the health care debate amounted to the public embracing their market-oriented vision of health care, when in fact it was the public simply reacting against any changes in Medicare at all. Their embrace of the Ryan budget reflects, in part, a kind of self-delusion -- a reluctance to admit to themselves that their strongest weapon against the Affordable Care Act was outflanking Democrats to the left."
Rep. Paul Ryan's releases video defending Medicare plan, doesn't actually defend plan. Time's Kate Pickert: "He spends three and a half minutes explaining the health care system and pitfalls of the Affordable Care Act and only one minute explaining his plan, which he’s not specific about. He doesn’t come out and say that the reason it saves money is that the government would spend far less on health care for seniors in the future."
Huge opposition to GOP cuts for Medicaid. TNR's Jonathan Cohn: "In a new poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation, 60 percent of respondents said they oppose Republican Medicaid plans ... 63 percent said they knew somebody who’d once gotten insurance from Medicaid ... It’s a program for poor people without insurance, yes, but many more people fall into that category than you might realize ... people who were not poor until they needed long-term care, spent down their savings, and eventually became eligible for Medicaid once they ran out of money."
VT Gov. signs law today putting state on path to single-payer. Bloomberg: "By signing a bill that lays a framework for building a single-payer insurance system for Vermont’s 625,700 residents by 2017, [Gov. Peter] Shumlin will begin creating the first state-financed universal health plan in the U.S. ... The health-care overhaul led by President Barack Obama provided the basis for the bill ... The state still needs to determine which insurers will be included in the exchange, which is set to open in 2014. Under the U.S. overhaul, individuals and businesses can begin claiming federal tax credits for their health-insurance costs in that year. Vermont’s single-payer plan also requires a federal waiver, which it can’t get until 2017..."
Momentum For Warren
Elizabeth Warren antagonist is the "the rudest, most shameless College Republican in Congress." Salon: "[One] of McHenry's first acts in Congress ... was to champion a bill that was specifically written to rip off a large portion of his constituents, by making it 'much harder for government to regulate or block the conversion of credit unions into banks ...' He is a close ally of major consumer financial institutions with a plum assignment to the Committee on Financial Services, which is great for raising money ... And his treatment of Warren will only make him a bigger conservative hero and an even more attractive investment opportunity for major banks."
Grassroots support building for Warren recess appointment. W. Post: "An online petition circulated by the Campaign for America’s Future asking the White House to appoint her while the Senate is in recess garnered 20,000 signatures by Wednesday afternoon. A similar effort from Progressive Change Campaign Committee signed up 10,000 people an hour in the first five hours, organizers said, and won support from Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.)."
Geithner stands up for Warren. Bloomberg: "Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner suggested yesterday that House Republicans were engaging in ''political theater' instead of true oversight in their questioning of Elizabeth Warren ... 'I thought what happened yesterday was deeply unfair to her personally,' Geithner said of Warren yesterday. 'I think she's done an exceptionally good job.'"
HuffPost's Trey illis makes the case for Warren: "Going to bat for Ms. Warren is an easy show of political force and a great way to kickoff a sustained narrative of a man willing to go to bat for the vast rest of us. From now until election day the president needs to convince the middle class and seniors that he's the only thing that stands between them and the bread line."
GOPers continue lame attempt to claim Warren left hearing early. The Hill: "...committee Republicans are citing copies of emails ... as proof that Warren knew there was no guarantee she could leave at a specific time ... Committee Republicans said in a message accompanying the emails that Warren 'is the latest example of Obama Admin arrogance: she tried to bail on a hearing, claiming she didn't know she'd have to stay to answer questions. Here's proof she did, but her boots kept right on walkin' all over your right to know. It's our job to hold gov't accountable, but the Obama White House doesn't think you deserve answers.' The CFPB contends that there was a verbal agreement with committee staff on the timing, and points to a follow-up email a CFPB staffer sent to the committee that morning that mentions the arrangement."
GOP Conflicted Over Debt Limit
GOPers squabble over debt limit strategy. Politico: "South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint expressed frustrations that Senate Republican leaders have failed to publicly lay out a specific set of demands as a condition for increasing the national debt ceiling. But Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) had heard enough, scolding DeMint for pushing a strategy he believed could undercut his Arizona colleague, Whip Jon Kyl, who is engaged in closed-door bipartisan talks..."
Alan Simpson repeats falsehoods about Social Security at Pete Peterson's deficit summit. HuffPost: "...Simpson cited a statistic that serves as evidence of Social Security's shrewd management while claiming the number shows the program has been poorly managed."
House Maj. Leader Cantor insisting on spending cuts before approving disaster aid. Roll Call: "The federal government has 'the capacity to provide the economic aid and relief [needed] and do so in a fiscally responsible manner,' he added ... Not all Republicans supported Cantor’s stance. 'I’m saying if we do an emergency supplemental, it does not need to be offset,' said Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (Mo.), whose state was slammed Sunday by a tornado that killed at least 123 people."
New Fuel-Efficiency Labels Help Car Shoppers
EPA, Transportation Dept. unveil new consumer-friendly fuel-efficiency labels for cars. W. Post: "The first major revision in 30 years of gas-mileage labels on new vehicles will tell you just how much more — or less — you’ll pay for gas over the next five years ... It will use average miles driven per year to estimate annual fuel costs, and will provide a rating that combines fuel efficiency with greenhouse gas emissions on a scale of 1 to 10 ..."
Feds rejected labels with letter grades. NYT: "Some environmental advocates pushed hard for the letter grade system, saying it provided car buyers the clearest way to compare vehicles across classes. [Safe Climate Campaign's Dan Becker said,] 'With its $80 billion bailout in hand, the auto industry has beaten the administration into abandoning the letter grade label.'"
Breakfast Sides
NY Fed investigating charge that Goldman Sachs unit wrongly denied homeowners mortgage aid. FT: "The Fed is looking at the review process Litton used for borrowers who sought help under the US Home Affordable Modification Programme, or Hamp. Obama administration officials initially hoped the programme would help 4m borrowers. However, since its introduction in 2009, only 670,000 homeowners have received a permanent modification. Servicers do not have to take part in Hamp, but once they do, they need to comply with guidelines that include reviewing each loan for eligibility and providing written explanations and loss-mitigation alternatives upon denial..."
Republicans who oppose expanding program aiding workers displaced by trade, sought help from program for constituents. The Hill: "In letters and faxes sent to the Labor Department obtained by The Hill under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 11 Republicans in the House and Senate forwarded constituents’ pleas or outright supported their petitions for aid under the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program."
