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: Obama's Tax Plan Is a Test for America
OurFuture.org's Sam Pizzigati: "The upcoming battle to enact the tax increases on the wealthy the President proposed Monday, [Vanderbilt University's Larry] Bartels feels, may force us to face more fundamental truths. 'If our leaders cannot bring themselves to support even this timid tax increase for the most fortunate Americans,' he observes, 'that will be bad news both for our fiscal prospects and for our civic faith that democracy can function effectively in a society marked by vast economic inequality.'"
Shutdown Prospect Looms Again
Senate will vote on bill to fund disaster relief and keep government open today, without agreement with GOP. W. Post: "The Senate bill includes dollars for disaster relief without an offsetting spending cut elsewhere that the House GOP demands ... members of Congress who appeared on Sunday talk shows gave little sign that they would move quickly from their parties’ positions on disaster relief."
President calls out GOPers on disaster relief. The Hill quotes: "What makes it worse is that some of the Republicans who are opposing this disaster relief it's their constituents who've been hit harder than anyone by these natural disasters."
Flood victims incredulous: "'Members of Congress are playing with people’s lives, not just their own political careers,' said Martin J. Bonifanti, chief of the Lake Winola volunteer fire company. 'While they are rattling on among themselves down there in Washington, people are suffering.' Mr. Bonifanti said his politics were simple: 'If they are in, they should be out.'"
TNR's Norm Ornstein makes clear who is to blame for the standoff: "Congress’s policy towards disaster relief has always been that money is allocated in the budget, and if more is required because there are more or deeper disasters, Congress provides it in supplemental funding. The roots of this showdown go back to Cantor announcing on August 25, while Hurricane Irene wreaked havoc, that he would break precedent and demand offsets for recovery expenditures. Cantor and his House Republicans then wrote their continuing resolution for this year’s appropriations to take money from popular research programs to pay for the disaster relief, and insisted that the Senate accept their plan ... government by hostage-taking and blackmail has become standard operating procedure for congressional Republicans."
Record year for disasters. Stateline: "...Obama had issued 83 federal disaster declarations at the request of governors. That is more declarations than in any year since the score was first kept six decades ago. And there are still three months left in 2011 ... Suburban sprawl is pushing people into more places, increasing the likelihood that storms will hit populated areas. A larger share of the population now lives closer to the coasts than a generation ago, increasing the damage when a hurricane comes ashore. Global warming may even play a role."
President Turns Up Heat On GOP Rivals
President slams potential GOP rivals for harsh economic vision, on fundraising swing. USA Today: "President Obama kicked off a three-day Western swing today by telling donors in the Seattle area that Republican candidates advocate 'an approach to government that would fundamentally cripple America in meeting the challenges of the 21st century.'"
Also mocks field as allergic to facts. The Hill: "...Obama said that some in the audience might be former Republicans 'but are puzzled by what's happening to that party,' and voters should back him if they believe in a 'fact-based' America. 'I mean has anybody been watching the debates lately?' Obama said. 'You've got a governor whose state is on fire denying climate change. It's true. You've got audiences cheering at the prospect of somebody dying because they don't have healthcare. And booing a service member in Iraq because they're gay.'"
Florida Republicans unhappy with candidates' stance on Social Security. Politico: "'There is a way to talk about Social Security reform without scaring seniors and while demonstrating to younger workers that you’re going to have a modern system that’s going to be there for them,' said Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam. 'We haven’t heard it yet.'"
Expectations Low For Super Committee Deal
Latest shutdown threat drives down expectations for Super Committee deal. NYT: "People in both parties worry that the panel, which plans to meet privately this week, could fall far short of [$1.2T] goal or deadlock altogether, with potentially damaging economic consequences ... For the first time since Republicans won control of the House nearly a year ago, Democrats believe that they have the advantage — a result, administration officials say, of terms they negotiated in the August compromise that many liberals denounced as a sell-out ... Republicans cannot threaten a default again to get their way ... the automatic cuts in 2013 would hit military programs hard — an outcome Republicans are more eager than Democrats to avoid — while Medicaid and Medicare benefits are exempt [and] the Bush-era tax cuts expire after 2012 ... So, while they could be bluffing, some Democrats say a deadlock might be fine with them."
Super Committee debating whether to count savings from policy decision to leave Iraq and Afghanistan reports The Hill.
Breakfast Sides
Military leading clean energy push. W. Post: "...the Pentagon is pressing ahead with an ambitious program to change its energy use. Its spending on renewable energy increased 300 percent between 2006 and 2009, from $400 million to $1.2 billion ... The Defense Department has pledged to obtain 25 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2025 ... the Navy secretary said he is more focused on the fact that a Marine is either wounded or killed for every 50 convoys of fuel brought into Afghanistan than on cutting greenhouse gas emissions."
Congressional Repubicans defend Gibson guitar for breaking bipartisan-backed law, undercutting American jobs. Mother Jones: "In late August, the US Fish and Wildlife Service raided two of the company's Tennessee locations, in search of illegally imported wood [in violation of the Lacey Act]. ... Republicans in Congress have sought to make the CEO of Gibson Guitar the poster boy for government overreach ... The Lacey Act was first passed in 1900 to prevent the illegal trade of wildlife, fish, and plants. In 2008, Congress updated the law to included wood and wood products (and other plants) that were obtained or sold illegally. The law requires companies that import or export wood to follow the laws of the US and the country where the logging took place. Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), was the sponsor of the bill, but he had 10 Republican co-sponsors on it, the support of the Bush administration, and widespread business backing. It was popular precisely because it was billed as a way to protect American logging companies and manufacturers from unfair competition from illegally logged timber..."
Simon Johnson criticizes proposed mortgage fraud settlement, in Bloomberg oped: "One suggestion from some officials this weekend -- and of course many banks -- is to accept a relatively small amount of money to settle the various robo-signing and other mortgage document cases that state attorneys general are pursuing. The claim is that this would put the banks back on their feet and spur lending. This is a complete illusion ... Let every disputed mortgage case be examined separately, using the full process of the law. If that prospect is too daunting for the banks accused of serious misconduct, then they should reach a settlement that’s big enough to make a difference."
