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: Will The President Pass The Warren Test?
OurFuture.org's Robert Borosage: "Elizabeth Warren's opposition comes not only from Senate Republicans ... It comes, by all reports, from Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, ever solicitous of Wall Street's concerns. And this White House is ever more ready to switch than fight. So now the administration is floating the notion that it will name a Warren deputy to head the bureau ... Every consumer activist, every informed citizen ... will be simply outraged if Elizabeth Warren is not nominated to head the bureau that she conceived, championed and constructed. The Warren test cannot be ducked. If the president names someone else, he gets the worst of both worlds. The Republicans will still block the nomination, demanding that the bureau be neutered. And the White House will be savaged across the progressive community for demonstrating once more that it caters far more to bankers than to the customers who are too often their victims."
Raj Date Under Consideration For CFPB
Raj Date considered for CFPB chief. W. Post: "His financial credentials could fend off questions of whether someone such as [Elizabeth] Warren who has never worked in the industry could fairly regulate it. But Date also has a track record of consumer advocacy that should appease Democrats ... Date and Warren have worked closely together since he joined the staff, sometimes meeting twice a day ... Warren selected him for the position..."
AFL-CIO adds workers' voice to push for Warren. The Hill: "In an email sent to the labor federation’s activists Thursday, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka asked them to urge President Obama to appoint Warren to the head of the agency."
Sign the OurFuture.org petition: "Tell Republican Obstructionists: Stop Blocking Elizabeth Warren"
Banks lose Senate vote on debit card fee cap: "... Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), who co-sponsored Tester’s bill, said lawmakers were loath to change their votes on the issue and support the proposal. After the tally Wednesday fell six short of the 60 votes needed to prevent a filibuster of Tester’s amendment, Corker dismissed any industry hopes of a second chance anytime soon."
WH Considers New Payroll Tax Cut In Response To Jobs Crisis
White House considering new payroll tax cut to encourage hiring. Bloomberg: "The idea, which is in preliminary stages of discussion, is among several being talked about at the White House ... Targeting the employer side of the payroll tax could both attract Republican support and spur job growth, said Christina Romer, who was Obama’s first chairman of the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers."
Liberals push for new stimulus as part of debt limit talks. NYT: "... Democrats and more liberal economists are suggesting that any long-term deficit reduction be paired with short-term spending increases or tax cuts to spur the economy ... But this week 103 House Republicans told party leaders, Speaker John A. Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor, a negotiator in the Biden group, that they want immediate spending cuts of at least $380 billion for 2012 to halve the projected deficit, as a condition of their support for raising the federal debt limit this summer."
Bloomberg's Ezra Klein pushes stimulus-for-cuts swap: "Imagine a 3:1:1 compromise. For every three dollars in spending cuts between 2013 and 2022, there would be one dollar in tax increases, along with one dollar in stimulus prior to 2013. If Republicans were willing to be flexible on the precise nature of the spending cuts, I bet they could get Democrats to accept a 4:1:1 ratio of even deeper cuts."
President plugs job-training initiative. LAT: "In a visit Wednesday to a community college in suburban Washington, Obama touted a $2-billion federal plan designed to customize job-training programs to suit the needs of manufacturing companies around the country ... The president described new commitments between members of the National Assn. of Manufacturers and several colleges, which he said would equip 500,000 community colleges with industry-accepted credentials for manufacturing jobs. The White House also is setting up Internet resources meant to connect students with a range of jobs."
New Fed report shows slow, uneven growth. NYT: "The central bank’s district-by-district report, called the beige book, said that economic activity 'generally continued to expand,' although at different rates across the country. The pace of growth slowed, for example, in the New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta and Chicago districts. The Dallas district accelerated, while other areas showed growth continuing at a steady pace, the survey said. The beige book also noted that manufacturing in general expanded, and that activity in the nonfinancial service sectors grew steadily, led by the information technology and business and professional services industries."
Bipartisan Senate group say they've agreed on cuts, but no final proposal. NYT: "A bipartisan group of senators ... has identified more than $4.7 trillion in deficit reductions over a decade, more than the separate proposals put forth by President Obama or House Republicans ... The leaders, Senators Mark R. Warner, Democrat of Virginia, and Saxby Chambliss, Republican of Georgia, said they could not say when their group would present a finished proposal ... any deal [by the White House-led talks] is likely to reduce deficits by less than $4 trillion over 10 years, perhaps by $1 trillion to $2 trillion."
Romney Hit By Climate Deniers and Auto Workers
Romney raises conservative ire for accepting reality of global warming. W. Post: "'Bye-bye, nomination,' Rush Limbaugh said Tuesday ... Then came the Club for Growth, which issued a white paper criticizing Romney ... And Conservatives4Palin.com, a blog run by some of former Alaska governor Sarah Palin’s more active supporters, posted an item charging that Romney is 'simpatico' with President Obama after he 'totally bought into the man-made global warming hoax.'"
"No apologies" says Romney team reports Politico.
Michigan won't forget Romney's opposition to the auto bailout. AP: "The auto industry bailout may be a tough issue here for any Republican in the presidential race since many GOP leaders have blasted it as an example of government fiscal irresponsibility ... Democrats and anti-Romney autoworkers plan to gather Thursday outside the Livonia diner in suburban Detroit where Romney is scheduled to make an early morning campaign stop."
Unclear Outcome For Health Reform Appeal
Appellate court's leanings murky after hearing over health reform law. NYT: "After a nearly three-hour hearing, Chief Judge Joel F. Dubina called the litigation 'a very difficult case,' but provided no clues as to when or how the court might rule ... Judge Dubina’s daughter, Representative Martha Roby, is a newly elected Republican from Alabama who voted with the majority in January to repeal the health care law ... [Paul] Clement, who was retained by the states for a fee of $250,000, argued that by requiring Americans to buy insurance, the act unconstitutionally conscripted citizens into the stream of commerce ... [Acting Solicitor General Neal] Katyal urged the judges to see the law not as a mandate to buy an insurance policy, but as a regulation of the means of payment for care that individuals would inevitably consume..."
How the judges will rule "depends on who you ask," says TNR's Jonathan Cohn: "The judges seemed a lot more ornery during the questioning of Katyal than they did during the questioning of Paul Clement ... But the actual substance of those questions – and some side comments that the judges made – suggested they were ready to reject essential pieces of the legal challenge."
WH Defends Afghan Spending
White House takes issue with Senate report critical of Afghanistan spending. The Hill: "The report said that aid being used for projects in area where the Taliban have been cleared could be wasted as those projects or investments might not last after American forces withdraw ... [WH spokesman Jay] Carney said that 'civilian assistance is important, but it represents a small proportion of the overall costs of our mission in Afghanistan [and] it is an essential component of our critical national security strategy in Afghanistan,'..."
Military spending cuts in focus as Leon Panetta faces Defense Sec. confirmation hearings today. AP: "While Panetta’s Senate path looked clear, the road ahead at the Pentagon was filled with far-reaching decisions, including moving toward Obama’s call to slash an additional $400 billion from defense over the next 12 years ... In his Senate questionnaire, Panetta said he supports a 'responsible' military withdrawal. He said that the United States has made enough progress in the Afghanistan war to give Obama meaningful options for the troop withdrawal but that the size and pace must depend on battlefield conditions."
Three WI Dems Now Face Recalls
Three recall elections targeting WI Dem legislators will go forward. TPM: "...it was a close call, as the board grappled all through the day with a topic that isn't discussed too much in the media: Alleged election fraud that is perpetrated by Republicans."
GOP plot to force recall primaries with phony Dem candidates will cost WI taxpayers. W. Post's Greg Sargent: "...these tactics could actually end up costing the Wisconsin taxpayer tens of thousands of dollars — and that all the Wisconsin GOP senators being targeted in recalls were aware of this plan ... Keep in mind that the number one justification Wisconsin Republicans offered for taking away the collective bargaining rights of public employees ... has been that it’s necessary to protect Wisconsin taxpayers!"
