MORNING MESSAGE: Progressives Fire Warning Shot Against Social Security Cuts
OurFuture.org's Richard Eskow: "...The Hill reported Wednesday that Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., was considering using a special parliamentary maneuver to push a budget deal [including] the 'chained-CPI' cut to Social Security benefits ... After initial calls to Schumer’s office went unreturned, Roger Hickey of the Campaign for America’s Future issued a statement ... 'If Sen. Schumer’s proposal was accurately reported, the senator could not be more wrong … Sen. Schumer has previously been a strong opponent of cuts to Social Security ... These cuts are very unpopular with all Americans, and Democrats should be leading the fight to protect Social Security and Medicare, not helping Republicans accomplish their harmful goals.' ... At 6 p.m. Thursday evening The Hill modified its article to include a paragraph that read: 'Schumer’s office does not support the idea of fast-tracking Medicare cuts or the chained-CPI formula for Social Security through a budget resolution' ... This denial is welcome, but it’s based on procedural rules and is not a statement of unequivocal opposition to these reductions ... [This episode] illustrates the dangers Democrats face when they don’t clearly distance themselves from the chained CPI, or from other cuts to Social Security or Medicare."
Filibuster Tweaked In Final Deal
Senate approves "modest" rules change. TPM: "...Reid declined to push through more extensive reforms on a simple majority vote ... [The new rules] permit a Senate majority to bypass the filibuster on a motion to proceed to debate on the condition that either a group of senators on each side of the aisle consents, or the minority is guaranteed the chance to offer amendments. They limit debate on sub-cabinet and district court nominations and reduce the time between cloture and final confirmation from 30 hours to two. They also reduce the number of cloture motions required to go to conference with the House."
Senate veterans never really got behind reform proposals from newer colleagues: " Merkley and Udall are both freshman senators; neither one has ever been in the minority. While they agitated for changes, more senior Democratic senators eyed them warily, remembering when they'd been in the minority and used filibusters ... 'I'm not personally, at this stage, ready to get rid of the 60-vote threshold,' Reid told Ezra Klein Thursday. 'With the history of the Senate, we have to understand the Senate isn't and shouldn't be like the House.'"
Proponents of "talking filibuster" slam deal. TPM: "Reformers in and out of the Senate believe that Reid tapped into their enthusiasm to advance his goal. 'Reid said he wants to make it easier to move on bills,' said a pro-reform aide. 'This doesn’t do that. He still has to negotiate with McConnell to get on a bill. It’s a negligible difference to how the Senate operates today.'"
Immigration Reform Prospects Brighten
House GOP warming to immigration reform. The Hill: "Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), for instance, is the new chairman of the House Judiciary Committee's Immigration subpanel ... he recently rejected the notion that the government should round up and deport the millions of illegal immigrants living in the country ... In another shift, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) ... lost his leadership spot on the Immigration subcommittee this year ... a clear sign that GOP leaders view his hardline position — and often controversial statements — as a political liability that undermines the party's effort to attract more Hispanic voters."
Sen. McCain leading bipartisan effort: "...McCain is one of a bipartisan group of eight senators talking behind closed doors on an immigration deal that could give the nation’s 11 million illegal immigrants more leeway than many conservative hard-liners are ready to accept. If the coalition holds, McCain could emerge as a chief ally to Obama, a stark reversal from the past four years, when McCain was a thorn in the administration’s side on a host of issues, including immigration and defense."
Obama sees chance to split GOP. Bloomberg: "Increasing the number of visas for highly skilled immigrants is one of the few policy goals Obama and Republicans agree on ... [But Obama] will insist on tying the visas to broader changes in immigration laws, which many Republicans strongly object to ..."
GOP Goes In Two Directions On Taxes
GOP govs speed ahead on big tax shift, from income to sales. NYT: "Republican governors are moving aggressively to cut personal and corporate income taxes, including proposals that would increase reliance on state sales taxes, setting up ambitious experiments in tax reform that could shape what is possible on a national level ... Taxing consumption has the potential to lift economic growth by encouraging more savings and investment. But the shift could also increase inequality by reducing taxes predominantly for the wealthy, who spend a smaller share of their income than middle- and lower-income people ... Democrats say the approach would lead to cutbacks in education, health care and other vital services while shifting relatively more of the tax burden to those who can least afford it."
House GOP considering higher taxes on Wall Street. HuffPost: "House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) is considering legislation that would significantly increase taxes for the nation's largest banks while providing tax breaks to struggling homeowners. The draft legislation, which may get significant revision before it's presented to a congressional committee, would be vehemently opposed by Wall Street and other major corporations that trade heavily in derivative securities ... One Republican operative told HuffPost that Camp's bill is political payback for the CEOs collaborating with the Fix the Debt coalition, which worked with corporate chiefs who had pressured Republicans to accept tax increases as part of a deal to avert the so-called fiscal cliff at the close of 2012 ... Camp's new bill would harvest government revenues from complex financial transactions involving derivatives ... Camp's legislation also would permanently establish a homeowner aid plan advocated by former Rep. Brad Miller (D-N.C.), who retired this month."
Breakfast Sides
Obama nominates Wall St. cops. LAT: "In nominating former federal prosecutor Mary Jo White to head the Securities and Exchange Commission, President Obama aimed a strong message at potential Wall Street miscreants: Watch out. Obama amplified that decision Thursday by renominating Richard Cordray, a former state attorney general, as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ... [As U.S. Attorney] from 1993 to 2002, she prosecuted insider traders, drug traffickers and terrorists, including those involved in the 1993 World Trade Center attack ... White has spent the last decade in private practice, defending companies and executives accused of white-collar crime or securities law violations ... Barbara Roper, director of investor protection for the Consumer Federation of America, said she hoped White's time as a defense lawyer hadn't softened her views on financial wrongdoing."
Public squarely opposed to Medicare cuts. Politico: "Fifty-eight percent of people oppose any spending cuts to Medicare and 46 percent oppose any cuts in Medicaid, according to the poll, released by the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health. Medicare received the strongest support, after protecting public education. Robert Blendon, a professor of health policy and political analysis at the Harvard School of Public Health, says the public supports Medicare even more than the numbers let on. People feel very strongly about Medicare and consider it an important part of their lives, he says, calling it one of the biggest disconnects between the public and 'official' Washington that he’s ever seen."
