MORNING MESSAGE: House Republican Budget Would Crush The American Dream
OurFuture.org's Robert Borosage: "The Republican budget is a remarkably revealing document. The budget document says it is time for America to choose. And Republicans choose to be the tribunes of the 1 percent, willing to destroy basic elements of the American dream in service of that cause."
GOP Plans To Rush Passage Of Radical Budget
Under House GOP budget proposal, "most of the federal government aside from Social Security, health care, and defense would cease to exist", notes CBPP: "The CBO report, prepared at Chairman Ryan’s request, shows that Ryan’s budget path would shrink federal expenditures for everything other than Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and interest payments to just 3¾ percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) by 2050 ... [Since,] Ryan seeks a high level of defense spending ... the rest of government would largely have to disappear. That includes everything from veterans’ programs to medical and scientific research, highways, education, nearly all programs for low-income families and individuals other than Medicaid, national parks, border patrols, protection of food safety and the water supply, law enforcement, and the like."
"GOP Releases Plan to Save America From the Poor." NY Mag's Jonathan Chait: "The House Republicans unveiled their new budget today, complete with a spooky video pressing home the point that only the House Republicans and their leader Paul Ryan stand between us and CIVILIZATIONAL COLLAPSE. Yes, the peril of rising debt is that bad. No, it’s not so bad that it’s worth restoring Clinton-era tax rates to prevent. But so bad that it’s worth throwing tens of millions of people off health insurance? Oh, yeah."
House plans to budget eliminating most of government after a week of debate. Politico: "Beginning with a committee markup Wednesday morning, Ryan hopes to move his resolution through the House by the end of next week."
Tax cuts in House GOP budget would dramatically increase deficit in next 10 years. The Hill: "Ryan’s blueprint, 'The Path to Prosperity,' would add $3.127 trillion to the deficit during the decade spanning 2013 to 2022 ... Congress would save more money over the next decade if it allowed current law to continue than if it adopted Ryan’s budget..."
Budget doesn't explain how it would raise even a meager amount of revenue. W. Post's Ezra Klein: "...Paul Ryan’s plan to cut the tax code down to two rates of 10 percent and 25 percent ... would raise $31.1 trillion over 10 years, or 15.4 percent of GDP ... [Ryan] says he’ll 'broaden the tax base to maintain revenue...consistent with historical norms of 18 to 19 percent.' ... That means he’d need to close about $6.2 trillion in tax deductions and loopholes over 10 years. That will not be easy. And, as of now, he has not named even one deduction or loophole that he would close."
Ryan says it will pass the House, despite intra-party division reports The Hill: "Next week’s vote will be an important test of unity for a House GOP conference that has grown more divided in the year since it passed Ryan’s last budget plan with only four Republican defections. Achieving the same cohesion will be close to impossible this time around, and cracks began to form almost immediately ... [GOP Rep. Tim] Huelskamp said he was troubled by a lack of specificity on tax reform and the budget’s failure, in his view, to hold to spending levels that will be lower..."
GOP seeks to save military from last year's debt deal "trigger," renewing threat of government shutdown W. Post: "House leaders are pressing to protect the Pentagon in 2013 while cutting budgets for domestic agencies below levels set during last summer’s showdown over the federal debt ceiling. The decision has alarmed both Democrats and some GOP moderates, who said the move could spark a fresh clash over the annual bills needed to keep the government running into the new fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. If that dispute is not resolved, Democrats warned that the government — or significant parts of it — could shut down five weeks before the election."
Romney endorses House GOP budget. Politico quotes: "I'm very supportive of the Ryan budget plan. It's a bold and exciting effort on his part and on the part of the Republicans and it's very much consistent with what I put out earlier."
Americans are losing their tolerance for income inequality, argues NYT's Eduardo Porter: "...41 percent said that there was not much opportunity in America, up from 17 percent in 1998."
President Prepares Energy Tour
Obama embarks on four-day trip to promote "all of the above" energy reform: "The plan for driving that point home: visiting an oil-and-gas drilling site in New Mexico and a solar power plant in Nevada ... On Thursday, Obama will tout efforts to expedite construction of the southern portion of the Keystone pipeline in Oklahoma and speak about energy research at Ohio State University."
Obama administration slaps tariffs on China solar panels. LAT: "The Commerce Department, in its preliminary finding over illegal subsidies, said solar panels imported from China — now dominating the U.S. market — would face a duty of 2.9% to 4.73%. The tariff is considerably smaller than what some had hoped for but nonetheless marks another step by the Obama administration to get tougher on trade with China."
Days Away From Supreme Court Hearing On Health Reform
Health care law defenders cite George Washington: "...some constitutional scholars are reaching back 220 years to a law signed by George Washington: the Militia Act of 1792 ... adherents say; it shows that the nation's founders had no problem requiring citizens to enter into commerce."
Republicans step all over each other trying to repeal key cost-control in Affordable Care Act. Politico: "The problems came when Republicans were preparing legislation to wipe out the Independent Payment Advisory Board ... Its purpose: Keep Medicare spending down. To pay for repealing that provision costs big money, and Republicans wanted to offset the cost with medical malpractice reform — something they think can save tens of billions of dollars. But a gaggle of Republican lawmakers came alive to the fact that changing malpractice laws at the federal level would interfere with existing state laws — in some cases, nullifying states’ constitutions. States’ rights advocates got up into a tizzy."
Supreme Court joins "War on Women," limits scope of Family and Medical Leave Act. NYT: " By a 5-to-4 vote that split along ideological lines, the Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that state workers may not sue their employers for money for violating a part of the federal Family and Medical Leave Act. The decision prompted the term’s first dissent read from the bench, by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who said the justices in the majority had made it harder for women 'to live balanced lives, at home and in gainful employment.' ... The case decided Tuesday concerned a part of the law that entitled eligible employees to take leaves to tend to their own serious medical conditions ... [Ginsburg] wrote, 'the F.M.L.A. was originally envisioned as a way to guarantee — without singling out women or pregnancy — that pregnant women would not lose their jobs when they gave birth. The self-care provision achieves that aim.'"
Romney Tightens Grip
Romney takes IL. W. Post: "Romney was leading Santorum by almost 12 percentage points, and victory would allow him to extend his already-imposing lead in the race for delegates."
"I Did the Delegate Math—And It's Over" says TNR's Ed Kilgore: "...even the best-case scenario for Rick Santorum would leave him trailing Romney by 300 delegates; Mitt would be on the brink of an absolute majority, and unpledged delegates would then be able to push him over the top."
Breakfast Sides
"JOBS Act" dereg bill hits snag in Senate. NYT: "Senator Harry Reid ... announced at 5 p.m. that an expected vote on whether to bring the so-called JOBS bill to the Senate floor for final action would be delayed until Wednesday morning ... Democrats wanted to give companies a little less leeway in their disclosure obligation by rolling back some of the measures in the House bill. But an amendment to do so, sponsored by Senator Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat, received only 55 of the 60 votes needed to proceed to full consideration ... Similarly, a move to attach an amendment to the House bill that would reauthorize financing for the Export-Import Bank through 2015 and expand its loan limit also failed to proceed. The vote was also 55-44."
Some GOP state legislators resisting anti-union push: "After costly, bruising political showdowns with union forces last year in Wisconsin and Ohio, Republicans in some state legislatures are facing a tugging match within their party — between passionate conservative members ... and a more moderate bloc not sure it is wise to take on labor so directly now."
House GOP will propose stopgap transportation fund legislation to avoid construction shutdown. Politico: "...the House being ready to move a clean extension puts the kibosh on earlier rumors that the House might try to use an extension to go to conference with the Senate on its two-year surface transportation bill."
