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: On Social Security, Say It IS So, Joe!
OurFuture.org's Richard Eskow: "No, we're not talking about his 'chains' comment which, as usual, has fascinated a press corps obsessed with taking statements out of context and playing 'gotcha' games. We're referring to the comments he made about Social Security in a Virginia coffee shop. From a press corps pool report, as relayed by NBC News: '"Hey, by the way, let's talk about Social Security," Biden said after a diner at The Coffee Break Cafe in Stuart, VA expressed his relief that the Obama campaign wasn't talking about changing the popular entitlement program. "Number one, I guarantee you, flat guarantee you, there will be no changes in Social Security," Biden said…' … What does it mean when those words come from the Vice President of an Administration that's been talking for years about a deal to cut Social Security? A lot."
More Medicare Misleading From Romney-Ryan
Romney-Ryan continue to mislead on Medicare. McClatchy: "At a campaign fundraiser in Charlotte on Wednesday, Romney told NASCAR team owners and other donors that Obama 'cut Medicare funding for current Medicare retirees' to pay for his health care overhaul … Unmentioned by Romney: Obama's $716 billion in cuts in the projected growth of Medicare have no direct effect on the benefits that patients receive. The savings, instead, come from such areas as lower government reimbursement rates for hospitals and nursing homes. Romney also skirted another nettlesome issue: His running mate's budget proposal relies on the same $716 billion in Medicare cuts. Restoring the cuts, as Romney advocated Wednesday in a CBS interview, would swell the federal deficit in kind. Romney, who has named deficit reduction as a top priority, said nothing about how he would cover the expense."
Ryan claims campaign wants to debate Medicare, fails to describe own plan. The Hill: "'The president, I'm told, is talking about Medicare today. We want this debate,' Ryan said. 'We need this debate. And we will win this debate.' Ryan avoided the specifics of Romney's plan, focusing instead on cuts that Obama's healthcare law makes…"
Those "cuts" are cost-saving reforms that have shored up the Medicare trust fund. Dean Baker: "[The Affordable Care Act] proposes a number of mechanisms for containing costs within the Medicare program. As a result the projected shortfall has fallen by almost two-thirds … to claim that President Obama and the Democrats did nothing to address the projected shortfall in Medicare is not true."
W. Post recounts how Ryan lost his battle to privatize Social Security in 2005: "Sen. Harry M. Reid (Nev.), leader of the Senate Democrats, took Jim Messina aside in 2005 and thanked him for his role in killing the Bush administration’s plan to privatize Social Security … [It] also amounted to a bruising loss for Rep. Paul Ryan, a young Republican from Wisconsin who had shepherded the idea from the conservative and libertarian wings of his party into the mainstream. The 2012 presidential race, with Ryan’s proposed Medicare overhaul front and center and Messina in charge of President Obama’s reelection campaign, is shaping up to be Round 2 … Ryan sloughed off responsibility for the failure and pointed the finger at the [Bush] White House … Backed with millions of dollars in advertising money, Ryan is now apparently confident of his team’s powers of persuasion."
Yet another Romney lie: "no one is talking about deregulating Wall Street." ThinkProgress' Garofalo: "But Romney, on many occasions, has called for the repeal of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law … Until Romney provides an alternative, his plan is nothing but deregulation of the sort that led to the 2008 financial crisis in the first place."
Romney Team Having Hard Time With Math
Ryan, top Romney campaign spokesmen don't know when Romney plan balances the budget. CNN: "[Mitt Romney's senior adviser Ed] Gillespie said on CNN's 'The Situation Room' that he was unsure of how many years it would take for the federal government to balance spending and revenue levels. 'I'm not sure of that myself, actually,' he told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. 'I'll get back to you though. I'm sure it's on our website.' … 'Well I don't know exactly when it balances because we haven't - I won't get wonky on you, but we haven't run the numbers on that specific plan,' Ryan said on Fox News Tuesday."
ThinkProgress notes the reason why the Romney team can't say when their budget would be balanced: "[They] didn’t have the number on hand because, as Romney himself said in March, his budget plan 'can’t be scored' and is missing key details about which deductions it would eliminate … In sum, Romney’s plan is 'mathematically impossible.'"
Romney says he would "eliminate … the Amtrak subsidy." ThinkProgress' Pat Garofalo: "…Romney intends to slice Amtrak funding at a time when funding for rail service is more necessary than ever … Amtrak announced earlier this year that it is on pace to break the ridership record it set last year [yet its infrastructure] desperately needs some upgrades."
Ryan pick risks losing moderate voters. NYT: "[John Brooks] had been undecided, but he said Mitt Romney made his decision easier by placing Representative Paul D. Ryan on the Republican ticket. The choice pushed him back to President Obama … until now he had thought Mr. Romney was really a moderate…"
Romney's new strategy doesn't bode well in Ohio. Politico: "As Romney sheds his bland 'Believe in America' slogan to deliver a tough-talking, budget-slashing message with Ryan, they are pushing the presidential campaign toward many of the same themes that have defined Ohio politics since 2010. In Ohio … Republicans lost the battle to enact controversial labor reforms reforms and the memory of that battle still lingers."
DREAMers Line Up For Work
Tens of thousands of DREAMers sign up for new work permits. LAT: "Lines formed in Washington, D.C., before 7 a.m. In Houston, lines for the Mexican Consulate stretched into downtown streets, creating traffic jams. 'It was incredibly powerful,' said Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) … 'It was hard not to be moved by the understanding of what today means to so many young people across our nation who have literally dreamed of the day they could come out of the shadows.'"
Some states may not be as helpful as others. McClatchy: "Officials said this week that it would be up to the states to determine issues under their control, such as whether undocumented immigrants who get deferrals may receive in-state tuition and driver’s licenses. Those rules vary from state to state."
Take Arizona. HuffPost: "Arizona Republican Governor Jan Brewer, in yet another clash with the White House, issued an order on Wednesday barring undocumented immigrants who qualify for temporary legal status in the United States from receiving any state or local public benefits."
Breakfast Sides
PA judge upholds voter suppression law. McClatchy: "A state judge has refused to block a new Pennsylvania law that requires voters to display a current government-issued photo identification at the polls … Prior to the trial, the state's lawyers conceded they were 'not aware of any incidents of in-person voter fraud in Pennsylvania' and agreed it was not 'likely to occur in November of 2012' even if the law were put on hold … the state reported about 9 percent of its registered voters - more than 758,000 people - did not have a valid ID issued by PennDOT, the transportation agency. In heavily Democratic Philadelphia, 18 percent of registered voters did not have a current state driver's license…"
Less-educated unemployed having the hardest time finding work. NYT: "…Americans with no more than a high school education have continued to lose jobs during the sputtering recovery while better-educated people have gained millions of jobs, according to a Georgetown University study … From late 2007, when the recession began, to early 2012, the number of people with jobs in the least-educated group fell by more than 5.8 million, or 10 percent. In the middle group, recession losses were not as steep and were almost completely reversed by early this year. And in the best-educated group, in which there was no net loss during the recession, the number of people with jobs climbed by 2.2 million, or 5 percent."
BofA drags feet on implementing mortgage settlement. Bloomberg: "Bank of America Corp., plagued by complaints about customer service in its mortgage unit, said it hasn’t yet refinanced a 'significant number' of loans as part of the industry’s $25 billion settlement of foreclosure abuses. The lender blamed the 'time required to underwrite' loans for why it hasn’t completed many of its planned $1 billion in modifications, according to a filing earlier this month. By contrast, JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) said last week it has already finished a 'significant portion' of its $500 million program and Wells Fargo (WFC) & Co. said it expected to complete its $900 million requirement two years ahead of the 2015 deadline."
