MORNING MESSAGE: Scrap The Cap
OurFuture.org's Isaiah Poole: "Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., introduced a bill that, if passed by Congress and signed by the president, would insure Social Security's solvency for the next 75 years—without having to cut a single person's benefit. Sanders' solution is simple: gradually eliminate the cap on wages subject to the payroll tax, starting with people earning more than a quarter-million a year."
Medicare, Not Social Security, May Lead President's Deficit Reduction Plan
WH reportedly leaving Social Security alone, but may push increase in Medicare retirement age. W. Post: "As Obama prepares to present Congress on Monday with a detailed plan for taming the nation’s debt, a pivotal question is whether he will again propose raising the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 67 and propose cuts in Social Security benefits ... Obama is unlikely to include the Social Security proposal, the sources say, and an administration official noted that Social Security is not contributing to the nation’s immediate deficit problem. The sources were less clear about whether Obama would recommend the change in the Medicare eligibility age."
CBO chief explains economics to Super Committee. GOPers stick fingers in ears. TPM: "So did CBO Director Doug Elmendorf make any headway convincing Super Committee Republicans that a). the economy needs a short term boost of near term spending and tax cuts, and b). that the country shouldn't dive headlong, and unnecessarily, into austerity? If Dave Camp is any indication, the answer is no."
Anonymous member of Super Committee downplays prospect of "big" agreement. The Hill: "The key lawmaker, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it is unrealistic to think the 12 lawmakers on the panel will be able to agree to a budget-cutting deal as large as $3 trillion or $4 trillion, as some have urged it to do ... There does not appear to be any consensus to cut Medicare payments to doctors, the Defense Department or other large programs with strong political support, the lawmaker said."
Jobs Push Meets Bipartisan Resistance
President derides GOPers who want to kill jobs bill for political reasons. NYT: "He accused lawmakers of deliberately dragging their feet on his economic plan, not because they don’t think it will help, but because they do not want to give him a political win. 'Give me a win?' Mr. Obama said, his voice rising as the crowd started cheering. 'Give me a break. That’s exactly why folks are fed up with Washington.'"
Some Dems pushback on American Jobs Act: "'I think the American people are very skeptical of big pieces of legislation,' Senator Bob Casey, a Democrat from Pennsylvania ... Some are unhappy about the specific types of companies, particularly the oil industry, that would lose tax benefits ... A small but vocal group dislikes the payroll tax cuts for employees and small businesses ... There are also Democrats, some of them senators up for election in 2012, who oppose the bill simply for its mental connection to the stimulus bill..."
ThinkProgress' Matthew Ygelsias suggests conservaDems simply don't understand economics: "...lots of members of Congress genuinely don’t believe in Keynesian economic prescriptions and nobody’s managed to persuade them ... this is in many ways not so surprising. People don’t get involved in politics thanks to deep convictions about macroeconomic stabilization policy."
Speaker Boehner to propose more tax cuts for the wealthy, call it a "jobs" plan, at 12:30 PM today reports Politico.
GOP Sen. Tom Coburn threatens to block bipartisan transportation, FAA funding extensions. Roll Call: "The Oklahoma Republican vowed Wednesday he would block any unanimous consent request for the transportation and FAA bill already passed by the House unless a mandate that states spend 10 percent of the money on items such as highway beautification is removed ... Reid said he could allow Coburn a vote on his amendment on the transportation measure, but Coburn is demanding the 10 percent mandate be dropped from the final bill."
Public backing American Jobs Act. W. Post: "Two new polls show more Americans like the president’s jobs plan than dislike it. A CNN/Opinion Research poll shows 43 percent favor Obama’s jobs plan, while 35 percent oppose it. And Gallup shows an even wider gap, with 45 percent in favor and 32 percent opposed ... The CNN poll shows more people trust Obama (46 percent) than Republicans (37 percent) to deal with the economy. And it also shows Americans think job creation (65 percent) is more pressing than cutting the deficit (29 percent)."
But congressional phone lines are not lighting up yet: "When Obama asked voters this summer to let Republican lawmakers know their opinions during the debt ceiling debate, constituents jammed phone lines across Capitol Hill, and crashed many members' websites. But Congress isn't hearing much about Obama's jobs plan ..."
GOP Bill Handcuffs NLRB
House expected to pass anti-NLRB bill today, let Boeing punish union workers by relocating new plant reports NYT.
But Boeing doesn't endorse the bill. The Hill: "Boeing is in a tough spot when it comes to the GOP bill, experts said, because if it is approved, it would drastically change labor law. While the law would likely void the NLRB complaint against Boeing, it might also have unforeseen consequences, some of them negative, for employers."
GOP Tries To Manufacture Solyndra Scandal
GOPers yell, interrupt a lot, at Solyndra hearing. W. Post: "'Should someone be fired here?' Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), chairman of the Energy and Commerce subcommittee on oversight and investigations, asked Jonathan Silver, head of the Energy Department’s loan guarantee program, and Jeffrey D. Zients, deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget ... Silver and Zients said the February call was a hard one. 'The DOE then faced a difficult choice,' Silver told the committee. '(A) to refuse the restructuring terms . . . ensuring the company would close, or (B) to allow the restructuring, giving it and its more than 1,000 workers a fighting chance and the government a higher chance of recovery' of taxpayer money."
Nothing to see in phony Solyndra "scandal," says Time's Bryan Walsh: "My response: meh. TIME's Michael Grunwald has covered this from the start, and while he's unhappy—to say the least—with executives at Solyndra for misleading the government on its financial health, the solar industry more broadly is doing well, thanks in part to the money the Obama Administration has channeled towards more successful companies ... Bad investments are a part of business, especially a cutting-edge industry like renewable energy, and failure is a necessary ingredient for innovation. (Just ask the famously fired Steve Jobs.) The idea that the collapse of one solar company discredits the entire solar industry is absurd."
Breakfast Sides
CA asking HHS to approve deep Medicaid cuts. LAT: "A decision on some of California's requests is expected this month. If approved, the limits could open the door to deep cutbacks nationwide ... The state plans to limit Medicaid beneficiaries to seven doctor visits a year, with exceptions for essential care. No state has imposed such stringent limits."
GOP bill to keep government open squeezes disaster relief. W. Post: "Republicans propose funding the government at a rate of $1.043 trillion for the fiscal year. The number represents the cap on spending imposed in the August deal that allowed the debt ceiling to rise ... But problems could still arise because the measure includes less money for disaster relief than Democrats want. It also seeks to offset some dollars for disaster cleanup from a program to spur the development of energy efficient cars."
Votes disagree with presidential candidate Rick Perry on key issues, finds Bloomberg poll: "In a hypothetical general election matchup, Perry trails President Barack Obama among the poll’s entire sample, 49 percent to 40 percent, about twice the deficit for Romney. Perry also confronts negative reactions from Americans disinclined to vote for a candidate expressing the skepticism he has about the viability of Social Security, evolution science and whether humans contribute to climate change."
