MORNING MESSAGE: Declare Victory Over The Deficit
OurFuture.org's Richard Eskow: "When it comes to spending cuts, it’s time to follow the advice a general offered when we were mired in Vietnam: Declare victory and get out ... Washington needs to spend more money now if we want a balanced budget tomorrow ... In fact, other cuts in this battered economy would make the economy worse – and would make deficits go up. Don’t take our word for it. The world’s leading institutional deficit hawk, the International Monetary Fund, reached the same conclusion. To understand why reality’s so different from the Beltway’s fantasy we need to know how we got here..."
GOP Plots Debt Strategy As Bluff Exposed
GOP to determine debt limit strategy at three-day retreat starting today. The Hill: "Among the options discussed at a leadership summit on Sunday and Monday, aides said, were increases in the debt ceiling that would cover the government’s debt for a few months, as well as larger measures that would last one, two or even four years. Any bill is likely to adhere to Boehner’s principle that any increase in the debt ceiling be accompanied by spending cuts and reforms of an equal or greater amount, meaning a two- or four-year hike would come with significant spending cuts and entitlement reforms. One leadership aide said, however, that a short-term 'clean' increase in the debt ceiling to buy time and demonstrate good will has not been ruled out."
"GOP Debt Limit Bluff Exposed" reports TPM: "Over the past several days, House and Senate Republicans, as well as influential conservative advocates and media figures, have joined Newt Gingrich, Wall Street Journal editors and others pressing Republicans to give up the ghost ...'If you incur an obligation, you have a responsibility to pay for that,' [Sen. Lisa] Murkowski said. Her colleague, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) echoed this sentiment to the Washington Post through her spokesman ... In the House, Republicans are beginning to accept what Boehner and others have argued — that the debt limit only provides illusory leverage, and that the party should dig its heels in over the sequester and expiring appropriations."
Dem group proposes bill abolishing debt limit. ThinkProgress: " Reps. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Hank Johnson (D-GA), Jim Moran (D-VA), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Keith Ellison (D-MN), and Peter Welch (D-VT) will announce the legislation at a press conference [today] according to a joint release, in an effort to 'move forward with legislation that actually promotes jobs, economic recovery, and growth.'"
Dems also bring back public health insurance option, to cut deficit. HuffPost: "According to a Tuesday statement from Rep. Jan Schakowsky's (D-Ill.) office, Schakowsky, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), and 43 other House members have introduced the Public Option Deficit Reduction Act, which would 'would offer the choice of a publicly-run health insurance plan, an option that would save more than $100 billion over 10 years.'"
Global Austerity Projected To Reduce Growth
Global austerity prompts World Bank to lower growth forecast. Bloomberg: "The Washington-based bank yesterday projected the world economy will expand 2.4 percent, down from a June forecast of 3 percent, after growing 2.3 percent in 2012. It halved its forecast for Japan, cut the U.S. projection by 0.5 percentage point and predicted a second year of contraction in the euro region. It also lowered projections for emerging markets led by Brazil, India and Mexico."
Germany economy weaker than thought, impacting Europe. NYT: "... Germany, the Continent’s flagship economy, contracted by about 0.5 percent in the final months of last year. Combined with a flurry of disappointing results recently in other major economies, the stumble raised questions about Europe’s ability to escape recession."
New American Society of Civil Engineers eport pegs infrastructure need at $2.7 trillion. W. Post: "The exclamation point on the 'Failure to Act' reports came Tuesday in an ASCE paper: An investment of $2.7 trillion is needed by 2020 ... The Congressional Budget Office says combined federal, state and local spending for roads and bridges now amounts to about $160 billion. 'Job losses will mount annually, and by 2020 it is predicted that there will be 3.5 million fewer jobs throughout the country'” the paper said."
President To Announce Gun Violence Prevention Plan
Obama plan aims to address all forms of gun violence, beyond mass shootings. NYT: "...some of the proposals that Mr. Obama is expected to make at the White House on Wednesday, which are likely to include a call for expanded background checks, a ban on assault weapons and limits on high-capacity clips, will be intended not only to prevent high-profile mass shootings, but also to curb the more commonplace gun violence that claims many thousands more lives every year."
Including gun trafficking. Politico: "The gun-trafficking proposal ... would seek to prevent so-called straw-man purchases and stop gun-trafficking rings that transport weapons from states with lax gun laws to states with stronger ones."
President may seek to rally public to pressure Congress. The Hill: "Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.), Congress’s loudest advocate for tougher gun laws, said Tuesday that the White House is weighing a plan to use its widely successful Obama for America 'campaign mold' to sell the proposed reforms to the public. White House spokesman Jay Carney on Tuesday refused to outline specifics or commit to the president hitting the campaign trail..."
