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: Five Plutocracy-Busting Ideas from America’s Progressive Past
OurFuture.org's Sam Pizzigati: "In my new book 'The Rich Don’t Always Win: The Forgotten Triumph over Plutocracy that Created the American Middle Class,' I trace the incredible feats those progressives accomplished over the first half of the 20th century … How can we get back on a plutocracy-busting track? We could start by revisiting those struggles of years past that came up short … One: Require the rich to annually disclose the income they’re reporting to the IRS and how much of that income they actually pay in taxes … Two: Leverage the power of the public purse against excessive corporate executive pay … Three: Give Americans a safe alternative to private banks … Four: Tax undistributed corporate profits. … Five: Cap income at America’s economic summit."
GOP Feeling Squeeze On Taxes
Obama squeezes GOP on taxes by warning of economic fallout. The Hill: "On Monday, they argued that GOP opposition would take $200 billion in consumer spending from the economy. The argument attempts to cast Republicans as opponents of economic growth and as out of touch with the middle class, a theme the White House used successfully in the end-of-2011 vote to extend the payroll tax holiday."
Obama building outside pressure for a deal. W. Post: "Obama is strongly considering holding events in Washington or elsewhere later this week to argue for extending current tax rates for 98 percent of Americans and letting rates rise for the wealthy, according to administration officials. White House officials met Monday with the leaders of two major business groups — the Business Roundtable and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce — part of Obama’s campaign to persuade business executives to get behind a deal that raises $1 trillion or more in tax revenue. Obama plans another meeting with executives Wednesday."
CEOs pushing for skewed deficit deal are big contributors to deficit. HuffPost: "Many of the companies recommending austerity would be out of business without the heavy federal support they get, including Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase, which both received billions in direct bailout cash, plus billions more indirectly through AIG and other companies taxpayers rescued."
House and Senate Republicans not on same page. The Hill: "Some GOP senators want to strike a quick deal this year, while House conservatives prefer holding out for major structural changes to the tax code and entitlements that would be enacted in 2013 … Many House Republicans want to stick with the reforms they endorsed and defended during the bruising 2012 campaign."
WH Separates Out Social Security
WH says Social Security should not be part of deficit deal. CBS: "White House spokesman Jay Carney said today that Social Security is one entitlement program that should be addressed on a 'separate track.' 'We should address the drivers of the deficit and Social Security currently is not a driver of the deficit,' Carney told reporters today."
Republicans pushing retirement security cuts as price for tax increases. NYT: "Republicans insist that changes in the major entitlement programs be on the table in exchange for their willingness to accept increases in tax revenue. But Democrats have given no indication that they are willing to consider policy changes or savings of the magnitude demanded by Republicans … Mr. Obama and some Democrats in Congress say they are willing to squeeze savings from Medicare by trimming payments to drug companies, hospitals and other health care providers. They have generally ruled out structural changes that would increase costs for a typical beneficiary … Congress should 'reduce the federal subsidy of Medicare costs for those beneficiaries who can most afford it,' the president said this year. House Republicans voted for a similar proposal last year."
GOP Sen. Bob Corker proposal spells out potential cuts. AP: "Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker is circulating a 10-year, $4.5 trillion plan loaded with controversial proposals, including a less generous inflation adjustment for Social Security, and a gradual increase in the regular Social Security retirement age to 68 and the Medicare eligibility age to 67. Corker's plan also includes $749 billion in higher tax revenue claimed by capping itemized deductions at $50,000 … Corker has yet to attract any Democrats in support … [It also includes] higher Medicare premiums for upper-income earners and new revenue from Medicare co-payments and deductibles. Federal workers would get hit with higher contributions to their pensions and would receive an $11,000 voucher payment to finance their family's health insurance, saving taxpayers about $7 billion a year."
Bust The Filibuster
Majority and minority leaders square off. Roll Call: "Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell pointedly raised the prospect of a stalled lame-duck session if Democratic leaders keep threatening to change the rules at the start of the new Congress during the final weeks of the old one … Reid reiterated his plan to change the rules by a simple-majority vote at the start of the next Congress in an effort to make legislation move somewhat more quickly through the chamber."
NYT's David Firestone encouraged by prospects for reform: "The specific change [Reid] mentioned is fairly minor: it would ban filibusters of the 'motion to proceed,” which would end the routine Republican practice of blocking even debate on a bill. That would end a common delaying tactic and speed consideration of a bill, but would still allow senators to filibuster passage of the bill itself. More tantalizingly, Mr. Reid also suggested he would move to end the silent filibuster, under which a single senator can object to a bill and thus trigger a 60-vote threshold for it to pass. Several younger senators have proposed a 'talking filibuster,' requiring members who object to a bill to stay on the floor and keep discussing their reasons for blocking it … They are proposing that the Senate be allowed to get back to its actual purpose, which is passing laws, confirming appointments and appropriating money. It’s about time."
Breakfast Sides
SEC faces partisan deadlock after chair departs. LAT: "'With the resignation of [Mary] Schapiro, we have two Republicans, two Democrats, and they won't agree on anything,' said John Coffee, a securities law expert at Columbia Law School … Obama has had difficulty getting nominees through the Senate, so the agency could remain one person short for a while."
New study disproves conservative governors' complaints about Medicaid expansion. The Atlantic's Jordan Weissman: "…the Kaiser Family Foundation released a new report illustrating just what a farce the 'It's a budget-buster!' argument truly is. No, growing Medicaid wouldn't be free for places like Texas and Florida. But the expense would be minimal compared to the economic benefits of guaranteeing healthcare to millions and bringing federal tax dollars back within their borders … the federal government would be on the hook for $952 billion of the [10-year] total. The states themselves would pay another $76 billion. Nine-to-one is a pretty good bargain."
