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: Who Voted For The Most Radical Right-Wing Budget In American History?
OurFuture.org's Bill Scher: "228 House representatives -- all Republicans -- voted for a budget that would give every millionaire a brand new $265,000 tax handout, cut funding for the poor by $3.3 trillion, privatize Medicare, and impose spending caps so radical that it would 'end most of government other than Social Security, health care, and defense by 2050.' That's quite a vote."
House Budget May Shape Election, Spark Shutdown
House GOP passes budget that could define the debate for the election. NYT: "The plan, which passed 228 to 191, with no Democratic votes and 10 Republican defections, will form the template around which much of the 2012 election will be fought. Democrats will try to hang its extensive changes to Medicare around the necks of vulnerable Republican candidates, along with the accusation that Republicans supported a program to punish the poor and elderly while rewarding the rich with still more tax cuts. Republicans will say theirs is the party willing to make the tough choices to tame a soaring federal debt."
Romney praises vote. CNN quotes: "The House budget and my own plan share the same path forward..."
Budget breaks 2011 debt limit deal. Politico: "...inviting another October shutdown fight with Senate Democrats unless the House alters course."
Will GOP push more tax cuts for the rich next? Politico: "A slew of tax cuts first enacted under President George W. Bush are set to expire at the end of 2012 and soar to pre-2001 levels, including ... provisions covering capital gains and stock dividends — a critical issue for investors and Wall Street. And wealthy families would be hit with a dramatic boost in federal estate taxes unless Congress acts before Dec. 31."
"Rebuild America Act" To Restore Middle Class Unveiled
Sen. Tom Harkin introduces comprehensive bill to restore the middle class. CAP's David Madland: "The Rebuild America Act would make a major and timely investment in the teacher workforce of our nation’s schools ... provide community colleges with the funding they need to design training programs that are responsive to the local labor market ... increase federal infrastructure spending by more than $300 million over 10 years ... improve the quality and availability of child care to families as well as support the skills and credentialing process of the workforce ... It institutes the 'Buffett Rule'” ensuring that no millionaire pays lower taxes as a share of income than middle-class families. And it addresses the unfairness of taxing investment income more favorably than wages by raising the top rate on capital gains ... to 25 percent."
OurFuture.org's Robert Borosage praises: "Harkin’s bill is common sense. If we want to rebuild the American middle class and revive the American Dream, we have to invest in areas vital to our future – a modern infrastructure, modernizing our schools, investing in education and training for 21st century jobs. And we have to be serious about a national manufacturing strategy so we make things in America once more. And, as Harkin’s bill shows; we can afford to do this, with sensible and fair tax reform."
Conservative Case Against Health Reform Falls Apart
Conservative legal argument against individual mandate undercuts long-standing conservative position on Social Security. NYT's Paul Krugman: " Is requiring that people pay a tax that finances health coverage O.K., while requiring that they purchase insurance is unconstitutional? It’s hard to see why ... another pet conservative project — private accounts to replace Social Security — relies on, yes, mandatory contributions from individuals."
Conservative case rests on cheap semantics. TNR's Jonathan Cohn: Both the plaintiffs and some of the skeptical justices have also indicated that the Affordable Care Act would be constitutional if the law's architects had simply used the word 'tax' to describe the penalty. Think about that for a second: If the justices strike down the Affordable Care Act, they would be stopping the federal government from pursuing a perfectly constitutional goal via a perfectly constitutional scheme just because Congress and the President didn’t use perfectly constitutional language to describe it."
"Republicans Tampered With Court Audio in Obama Attack Ad" reports Bloomberg: "A review of a transcript and recordings of those moments shows that [Solicitor General] Verrilli took a sip of water just once, paused for a much briefer period and completed his thought -- rather than stuttering and trailing off as heard in the edited version."
Breakfast Sides
Construction shutdown averted, but no long-term transportation bill in sight. Bloomberg: "House and Senate lawmakers voted yesterday to extend U.S. highway programs through June 30, averting for the next three months a shutdown of construction projects and the furlough of 3,500 federal-government workers ... Most Democrats said a vote on a two-year, $109 billion highway plan, passed by the Senate March 14 and blocked in the House, would give states and localities more certainty ... Yesterday, House Speaker John Boehner indicated he wanted to make sure increased spending is backed by revenue from expanded offshore energy production ... 'Will we spend less money? Yes,' [GOP Rep. Bill] Shuster said."
Republicans filibuster attempt to end subsidies to Big Oil. W. Post: "[President Obama said,] 'I think it’s curious that some of the folks in Congress who are the first to belittle investments in new sources of energy are the ones fighting the hardest to keep these giveaways for big oil companies.' ..."
Chinese factory that supplies Apple pledges to improve working conditions after labor audit. W. Post: "The pledge, which could also propel broader labor reform in China, was announced in an audit report by the Fair Labor Association, which found that more than half of the employees at Foxconn’s assembly plants for Apple exceeded the company’s limit of 60 hours of work a week. The labor group also reported hazardous working conditions that put lives at risk."
WH-Senate deal to approve several nominees means no recess appointments next month. Chicago Tribune: "Because of the agreement, nominees were approved across the federal government including for positions at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Federal Trade Commission, and the State and Treasury departments."
