MORNING MESSAGE: How "Right to Work" Laws Kill Jobs
OurFuture.org's Richard Eskow: "'Right to work' is a misnomer for laws which let employees enjoy the benefits of union membership – at least for a little while, until they’re stripped away – without joining or contributing. So we’ll call them 'right to shirk' laws instead … let’s stop calling the states that have adopted this legislation 'right to work.' They don’t give people any new rights. They take rights away, by making it illegal for employees to organize and negotiate together. They even take away employers‘ rights – to sign a certain kind of contract. So let’s give the other states a name instead: In a nod to the Jim Crow origin of these laws, let’s call the ones which don’t have these laws 'free states.'"
Checkmate?
Democrats say, "checkmate." National Journal: "Democrats look at the political landscape and see a win whether a deal gets cut now or after the country goes over the cliff … Democrats don’t believe that Republicans have the time, the megaphone or the leverage to force Democrats into making significant entitlement cuts right now … 'If we go over the cliff, it doesn’t last long. That’s why these guys are fundamentally checkmated,' said a senior Democratic leadership aide."
Senate Dems open to Medicare means testing, resist other benefit cuts. Politico: "…even though Democrats are open to this one cost cutting move, they are saying no to increasing the eligibility age on Medicare; no to touching Social Security; and no to cutting into Medicaid programs that cover the poor and disabled … Durbin said Thursday the White House informed him that raising the Medicare eligibility age is 'no longer being considered' by Obama. But Democrats are still plainly nervous that Obama will be overly generous on entitlement cuts in his negotiations with Boehner."
Dems backing off Medicaid cuts, complains House Majority Leader Eric Cantor reports WSJ.
CEPR report debunks claims from "Chained CPI" advocates: "Proponents of this proposal argue that the Chained CPI is a more accurate formula and any impact on beneficiaries of the government programs affected would be mitigated by increased tax revenue from the wealthy. However, this issue brief effectively refutes those arguments by showing that switching to the Chained CPI would result in cuts to already modest Social Security benefits, that it is likely that the Chained CPI is not an accurate measure of the inflation rate seen by seniors and that the Chained CPI would lead to income tax increases for working Americans."
Republicans Resist Specifics
Still no specifics from Boehner. NYT: "Even as Mr. Boehner pressed Mr. Obama to specify reductions in spending for Medicare and other entitlement benefit programs, the Republicans continued to be mute on what reductions they favor. Republicans are not proposing the sort of program overhauls … that have been part of their House budgets for the past two years … In any case, the Ryan budgets delayed the changes so they would not save much in the next 10 years."
Intellectually bankrupt Republicans don't know how to propose specific spending cuts, argues NYT's Paul Krugman: "…Republicans have suffered more than an election defeat, they’ve seen the collapse of a decades-long project. And with their grandiose goals now out of reach, they literally have no idea what they want — hence their inability to make specific demands."
Boehner "can’t be seen as conceding too much too soon" reports Bloomberg: "A slow-walk approach to averting more than $600 billion in tax increases and spending cuts set for January is crucial for Boehner whether the talks succeed or not, according to Republicans in Congress. If they don’t reach agreement, Boehner will have gathered a coalition of lawmakers he’ll need for a more limited deal. If he succeeds, he’ll have convinced anti-tax Republicans that he fought to extract spending cuts."
Obama tells as much to Minnesota's WCCO: "… he doesn’t want to look like he’s giving in to me somehow because that might hurt him in his own caucus."
Republicans "dig in" on debt ceiling power. Roll Call: "…since the president made that offer, Republicans have dug in on the issue, becoming almost preoccupied by their need to preserve that point of leverage during Obama’s second term. 'It’s all our guys want to talk about,' one senior Senate Republican aide said."
Republicans plot strategy if no deal is reached. NYT: "If no deal is reached, Republicans are increasingly talking about a more hostile outcome in which the House passes legislation that extends tax cuts for the middle class, sets relatively low tax rates on dividends, capital gains and inherited estates, and cancels the across-the-board defense cuts, but leaves in place across-the-board domestic cuts. Then House Republicans would engage in what Mr. Boehner, in a private meeting last week, called 'trench warfare,' a running battle with the president on spending, first as the government approaches its statutory borrowing limit early next year, then in late March, when a stopgap government spending bill runs out."
Breakfast Sides
Immigration reform will follow budget resolution. Politico: "Top Obama aides are already laying the groundwork for a campaign-style operation to broaden the base of support for a mega-bill. The White House will not only target Latino voters but also religious leaders, law enforcement and others … Latino leaders say the activity is a clear sign that Obama plans to keep his word and make immigration a signature policy of his second term …"
State campaigns push higher minimum wage. LAT: "The New Jersey state legislature handed Gov. Chris Christie a bill to raise the state's minimum wage to $8.50 an hour from the federal minimum of $7.25 this month, but he hasn't signed it and has signaled he might not … Democratic lawmakers in Illinois are also trying to push a bill that would increase the minimum wage — an earlier effort this year failed."
