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: The Disastrous Super Committee Proposal
OurFuture.org's Richard Eskow: "If you've ever questioned whether the so-called 'Super Committee' represents a breakdown in the democratic process, yesterday's proposal from the group's Democratic members should put your doubts to rest. The system's seriously broken when unelected super-legislators from both parties keep trying to top each other in proposing inhumane and unpopular programs. The party of the donkey is about to give itself a real ass-kicking."
House Leaders Keep Door Open To Deficit Deal
Both Speaker Boehner and Leader Pelosi signal willingness to accept "grand bargain." Bloomberg: "U.S. House Speaker John Boehner and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi are signaling flexibility on taxes and entitlement cuts, two issues that have deadlocked the congressional supercommittee seeking at least $1.2 trillion in deficit savings by Nov. 23. While Boehner derided a Democratic proposal to raise taxes by $1.3 trillion, the Ohio Republican didn’t rule out closing tax loopholes to raise revenue in exchange for a Democratic willingness to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid spending. Pelosi, a California Democrat, called for 'balance' between taxes and spending cuts while not rejecting a proposal for measuring inflation that would mean smaller cost-of-living increases for Social Security recipients."
But parties remain far apart, and divided. Politico: "The two sides remain hundreds of billions of dollars apart with both parties dug in on protecting their cherished priorities — GOP leaders are refusing to consider tax increases, while Democrats are insisting that increased revenues be part of a final deal.On top of that, there’s intraparty fighting: Many Democrats don’t like the offer their party has made, and some Republicans aren’t happy with the GOP’s initial proposal."
Bipartisan House group seeks to press Super Committee to "go big." The Hill: "... a bipartisan group of House lawmakers was gathering support for a letter that calls for the supercommittee to exceed its charge and come up with between $4 trillion and $6 trillion in savings, said Rep. Steven LaTourette (R-Ohio ... LaTourette said organizers had about 100 signatures, nearly evenly split between the parties, and planned to release the letter next Wednesday."
Congressional progressives criticize Dem Super Cmte offer. The Hill: "By proposing significant cuts to Medicare and Medicaid as an early offering, liberals said the panel Democrats weakened their party’s negotiating position as Republicans, who have ceded no ground on their central anti-tax message, sat back and watched."
Some Republicans make Keynesian arguments for spending ... on the military. TPM: "Call them Defense Keynesians — GOP members who represent defense interests, veterans, service members, contractors, and others whose livelihoods would be impacted by deep cuts to defense spending. They don’t want the Super Committee to cut much more, if any, from defense, and they certainly don’t want to pull the so-called 'trigger' which would cut defense across the board by about $600 billion starting in 2013, if the panel gridlocks."
Super Cmte Co-Chair GOP Rep. Jeb Hensarling busted by Politifact: "...Hensarling offered budgetary statistics designed to show massive spending increases by federal agencies in recent years ... We checked Hensarling’s numbers and found that while stimulus did expand spending by those departments’, the rate of increase was much lower. On balance, we rated the statement False."
HuffPost's Eric Sapp rooting for Super Cmte failure: "I can hear your shrieks now: 'Eric, how can you possibly say that? Don't you realize that if the super committee does nothing, we will face the dreaded "Trigger Cuts?!"' ... But I'm not arguing for triggers. I'm arguing against the super committee, because triggers will be better than anything the super committee can come up with that will pass the House."
Crackdown On Occupy Backfiring
"Outrage grows" over Iraq vet seriously wounded at Occupy Oakland. NYT: "...the oddity of a Marine who faced enemy fire only to be attacked at home[,] has prompted an outpouring of sympathy, as well as calls for solidarity among the scores of Occupy encampments around the nation."
"Officials shift into damage control" reports McClatchy: "[Mayor Jean] Quan visited Olsen, a former Marine and Iraq War veteran, on Thursday morning at Highland Hospital. Besides encouraging him and others to speak with police, she shook his hand, and apologized for what happened to him..."
"'Occupy' to march on N.Y.C. banks" today reports Politico.
CA Moves To Cut Public Pensions
CA Gov. Jerry Brown backs public pension cuts. NYT: " Gov. Jerry Brown offered a far-reaching proposal on Thursday to reduce the cost to government of public pension programs, calling for an increase in the retirement age for new employees, higher contributions from workers to their own pensions and the elimination of what he termed abuses ... his pension plan ran into immediate resistance from labor leaders and skepticism from Democrats — particularly the notion that these kinds of cutbacks should take place outside the collective bargaining system."
Union pension funds are investing in infrastructure, notes W. Post's Harold Meyerson: "In June, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka announced that the federation’s unions’ funds would invest $10 billion over the next five years in infrastructure projects. Since then, the federation’s construction-worker division has put $200 million of pension money into to retrofitting buildings, while the retirement funds of California teachers and other public employees have committed between $1.1 billion and $1.4 billion to infrastructure projects in the state ... unions not only represent American workers, they also are among America’s major investors — just about the only big investors these days who are putting their money where the nation needs it most."
Breakfast Sides
Senate to vote next week on bipartisan bill for an infrastructure bank to fund projects reports The Hill.
"ObamaCare" dramatically slows growth of Medicare premiums. NYT: "Monthly Medicare premiums for most beneficiaries will rise next year by $3.50, to $99.90, a much smaller increase than had been expected ... Administration officials said the smaller increase showed their prudent management of the program, using tools provided by the new health care law to control costs."
Feds approve waiver for CA to cut Medicaid. McClatchy: "The decision by the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services allows California to reduce reimbursement rates by 10 percent for doctors, pharmacists and others who serve the state's 7.7 million Medi-Cal patients. It's a budget victory for Gov. Jerry Brown, who relied on the cut to save $623 million in the state budget ... Providers and patient groups, who lobbied CMS throughout the summer, said California already ranks near the bottom in Medicaid reimbursement rates, and that a further cut would cause more health care providers to abandon the system."
Some GOP presidential challengers attack Obama order lowering student loan repayments. The Hechinger Report: "Republican presidential candidates on Thursday night criticized the Obama administration's newly announced plan to lower student loan repayments ... Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota called the move an 'abuse of power,' ... 'That's a Ponzi scheme by even Gov. (Rick) Perry's standards,' Gingrich said ... Gingrich attacked student loans in general, arguing that they let students live beyond their means while they're in school ..."
GOP Rep. Darrell attacks clean energy loan guarantee ... for company backed by fellow Republican. TPM: "Rep. Darrell Issa in recent days has moved on from bashing the Obama administration’s support for the failed solar-company Solyndra to training his sights on another federal loan guarantee — $730 million for the U.S. subsidiary of a Russian steel company ... In 2007, [GOP Rep. Fred] Upton supported a measure that created the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing (ATVM) Loan Program, targeting manufacturers and suppliers looking to retool U.S. factories to build high-fuel economy vehicles ... Severstal was a huge beneficiary of the program — winning the $730 million loan in July of this year after Upton signed the Michigan delegation letter..."
Delaware files formal complaint against hub of foreclosure fraud scandal, MERS reports Bloomberg.
