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: Senate Republicans Shaft The Vets
OurFuture.org's Robert Borosage: "The young men and women who serve in our military return from fighting in the longest wars in American history to the worst jobs market in generations. They suffer higher unemployment rates than the general population … [But] yesterday, in one final vile act before adjournment for the elections, Senate Republicans used a point of order to block passage of the Veteran’s Jobs Act that would have provided a modest $1 billion to hire veterans to tend federal lands or gain priority in hiring at police and fire departments. The bill was crafted with bipartisan support. 58 Senators supported the bill, but Republicans put together the 40 votes needed to block its passage. Why shaft the very veterans whose service politicians sanctimoniously celebrate at every occasion? Is it because unemployed veterans are part of Mitt Romney’s scorned 47%?"
GOP Blocks Vet Jobs Bill
GOP obstruction of veterans' jobs bill a "new low." W. Post: "Democrats charged that Republican opposition stemmed from a refusal to support an initiative that originated in the White House. The corps, loosely based on the Civilian Conservation Corps created during the Great Depression, would employ veterans in conservation, resource management and historic preservation projects on public lands. The legislation would also provide for hiring veterans as police officers and firefighters. Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said the measure would have 'sailed' through the Senate in past years but had been derailed by partisanship. 'Blocking a veterans’ jobs bill is a new low,' he said in a statement."
Economically distressed young adults tough for both campaigns to reach. NYT: "The director of [Orlando's] Community Food and Outreach Center, said he saw many young people in crisis. 'The economics they face dominate their political views, but they’re conflicted,' said Andrae Bailey, the director. 'They don’t know if it’s Obama’s politics that failed them, or if it’s the Republican conservative platform that they’re told led to the recession. When the 20-somethings figure out who to blame, that’s going to shift the electorate for years to come.'"
Low-wage workers need law establishing minimum hours, argues Susan Lambert in NYT oped: "This reform would encourage employers to make full use of their hourly employees instead of overhiring, at low cost, a pool of on-demand shift workers."
Dems Surge In Senate Races
Dems make gains in Senate races. Politico: "Democratic candidates in Virginia, Massachusetts and Wisconsin are on the rise after navigating a summer of challenges, and benefiting from Obama’s growing strength in all three states. In Florida and Ohio, Democratic incumbents have so far withstood a tidal wave of spending by conservative super PACs and outside groups."
First debate between Elizabeth Warren and Scott Brown is tonight, 7 PM ET: "…the debate format will allow for the candidates to interact directly with each other, to ask each other questions, and to bring up issues that otherwise might not have been addressed."
Romney Crowns Himself "Grandfather of ObamaCare"
Romney calls himself "grandfather of ObamaCare" at Latino forum. WSJ quotes: "I have experience in health-care reform … Now and then the president says I’m the grandfather of Obamacare. I don’t think he meant that as a compliment but I’ll take it … This was during my primary, we thought it might not be helpful … I’ve actually been able to put in place a system that fit the needs of the people of my state …"
NYT's Kristof nails Romney: "We manifestly do have a problem with people who see themselves as victims even as they benefit from loopholes in the tax code. One is running for president."
Arctic Ice At Record Low
Record melting of the Arctic. NYT: "The apparent low point for 2012 was reached Sunday, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, which said that sea ice that day covered about 1.32 million square miles, or 24 percent, of the surface of the Arctic Ocean. The previous low, set in 2007, was 29 percent … 'The Arctic is the earth’s air-conditioner,' said Walt Meier, a research scientist at the snow and ice center, an agency sponsored by the government. 'We’re losing that…'"
WH pledges veto of House GOP bill that would kneecap EPA's ability to regulate greenhouse gas. The Hill: "It would nix the Environmental Protection Agency’s power to regulate greenhouse gas emissions; take aim at other air emissions rules; prevent the agency from issuing stringent rules on storage and disposal of coal ash, a waste product from coal-fired power plants; and limit the agency’s Clean Water Act powers, among other provisions. The White House called the bill a major rollback of vital protections."
Feds advance CA high-speed rail. Reuters: "The initial segment of California's ambitious $68 billion high speed rail project won the approval of the U.S. Federal Railroad Administration on Wednesday, clearing the way for construction to begin in 2013 … California's bullet train network, expected to take decades to complete, would eventually connect Sacramento and San Francisco to Los Angeles, with stops along the 800-mile system."
Breakfast Sides
Series of talks in Congress being held on end-of-year budget deal. Politico: "In one day, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner met with both House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.). The meeting with Camp was directly focused on the year-end expiration of tax rates … Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Congressional Budget Office Director Doug Elmendorf spoke with the Senate Finance Committee in a closed, off-the-record meeting. Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), who chairs the Finance Committee, will hold separate calls with Geithner and Camp each week while Congress is in recess. Meanwhile, House Republican leadership … has begun privately mulling different electoral outcomes and legislative scenarios they would present."
W. Post's Harold Meyerson offers "lessons from the teacher's strike": "Here’s a bit of advice to America’s teachers: If you want the nation’s opinion leaders and CEOs to like you, don’t congregate in groups. Everyone, it seems, loves teachers individually. But when they get together, they become a menace to civilization … [But] the demonization of teachers unions is a dead end for improving American education. Working with, not against, teachers is the more sensible way to better our schools."
