MORNING MESSAGE: Day of Action Against Poverty – And The Assault Against The Poor
OurFuture.org's Isaiah J. Poole: "An effort to move the fight against poverty to the top of the national agenda begins today, led by the Half in 10 campaign and the Coalition for Human Needs. The major campaign goal is to persuade President Obama to talk about poverty and its solutions in his State of the Union address February 12. It is also an opportunity to tell conservatives in Congress and the states to focus on fighting poverty and stop fighting the poor. The heart of the #TalkPoverty campaign is a social media campaign that is designed to build public demand for paying more attention to the needs of the nearly 50 million people living in poverty in the United States. These are the people whose struggle to support themselves will be directly affected by the federal budget sequester that is scheduled to go into effect March 1 unless Congress and the Obama administration agrees on a budget. The sequester will force an average 5 percent cut in most federal spending programs."
Sequester Strategizing
Deep spending cuts are likely, lawmakers say, with no deal on sequester in sight [Washington Post]: "Less than a month after averting one fiscal crisis, Washington began bracing Tuesday for another, as lawmakers in both parties predicted that deep, across-the-board spending cuts would probably hit the Pentagon and other federal agencies on March 1. An array of proposals are in the works to delay or replace the cuts. But party leaders say they see no clear path to compromise, particularly given a growing sentiment among Republicans to pocket the cuts and move on to larger battles over health and retirement spending. Adding to the sense of inevitability is the belief that the cuts, known as the sequester, would improve the government’s bottom line without devastating the broader economy. Though the cuts would hamper economic growth, especially in the Washington region, the forecast is far less dire than with other recent fiscal deadlines, and financial markets are not pressing Washington to act."
GOP Lawmakers See Automatic Cuts As Leverage [AP]: "Driven by frustration over deficits and debt, Republican conservatives are pushing a politically risky move to permit painfully large automatic spending cuts to strike the Pentagon and domestic programs alike in an effort to force Democrats into making concessions on the budget. It's a remarkable turnabout from last year, when GOP leaders were among the loudest voices warning of dire consequences for the military and the economy if more than $100 billion worth of across-the-board cuts were allowed to take effect. Now, even as defense hawks fume, Republicans see the strategy as their best chance of wringing cuts from costly government benefit programs like Medicare that President Barack Obama and his Democratic allies have been reluctant to touch."
Digby says sequester isn't going to happen, and Paul Ryan knows it: "I hope everyone understands that when Paul Ryan said they were going to leave "entitlements" alone and the sequester would take place that it was a form of political trash talk before the negotiation, right? Nobody really believes that either side will allow defense cuts of that magnitude to take place. Nobody. And the domestic cuts would cause havoc too, so they aren't going to do that either. I'm sure there are a few Tea Partiers who would be fine with all that, but they no longer have the hold on the caucus John Boehner might have once wanted us to think they do. But just because the looniest Tea Partiers aren't in charge doesn't mean the Republican majority in general is suddenly a nice bunch of Rockefeller Republicans who are eager to put all this ill will behind them and work with the Democrats to preserve the welfare state. There all nuts you know, even if they aren't all kamikazes."
Coming To America
Obama Lays Out Immigration Plan, But Avoids Thorny Issues [NPR]: "President Obama's highly anticipated speech Tuesday outlining his blueprint for an overhaul of the nation's immigration system was perhaps most notable for the big issues left unaddressed. Rather than wade into thorny territory, and potentially derail the bipartisan momentum in the Senate, the president struck an optimistic, populist tone as framer-in-chief. …The president endorsed the proposals unveiled Monday by a bipartisan group of senators that included a path to citizenship for those in the country illegally. He also joined the senators in calling for strengthened border security, a mandatory system for verifying workers' immigration status and 'bringing our legal immigration system into the 21st Century' with streamlined processes to handle future flows of newcomers. Obama did warn lawmakers, however, that he'd "send up my own proposal and insist that they vote on it right away" if they steer negotiations on a bill into partisan gridlock."
Obama pushes Congress on immigration, split emerges [Reuters]: "Just over a week into his second term, President Barack Obama took his fight for immigration reform to the West on Tuesday and pushed Congress to quickly find a path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented residents. … In Washington, however, differences quickly emerged between what Obama would like and the proposals by the bipartisan "Gang of Eight" senators, whose plan is heavy on border security. Obama pushed for a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants that is faster than the one the Senate group proposed. Rather than emphasize border security first, he would let undocumented immigrants get on a path to citizenship if they first undergo national security and criminal background checks, pay penalties, learn English and get behind those foreigners seeking to immigrate legally."
Perry Bacon Jr. spots Obama's bit immigration opportunity: "More broadly, immigration could help Obama with one of his less tangible goals: improving the tone of political discourse in Washington. The past four years have been dominated by debates over the economy and health care, issues on which the two parties have fundamentally different views. The partisanship in these fights has been tense and passionate and exacerbated existing divides between Democrats and Republicans throughout the country. Immigration is not an issue on which the parties are as polarized. And if an immigration bill gets major bi-partisan support in both houses of Congress, as it expected, it would be a rare moment where Obama’s Washington is not defined by partisan rancor."
GOP Crosses Over on Immigration?
Immigration divides GOP [McClatchey]: "Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., took his case for an overhaul of the nation’s immigration system straight to one of the most influential voices in Republican politics, conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh. Their friendly exchange notwithstanding, Limbaugh remained opposed. And their exchange underscored a key facet of the coming debate over whether to allow a pathway to citizenship for the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants now inside the U.S.: Republicans are split on the immigration issue and the schism is not going to be easily healed. Party leaders are well aware they’ve got to erase what former Secretary of State Colin Powell termed the “dark veil of intolerance” that colors the party’s image in some circles and broaden their appeal to Hispanics, a crucial and growing voting bloc that went overwhelmingly for President Barack Obama in November."
Jaime Fuller notes that Republicans will have to resist their urge to do a 180 on immigration, after the president's speech: "Now that Barack Obama has joined the immigration debate with his own plan (like the bipartisan one, at this point it's not particularly detailed), it will take all the fortitude Republicans can muster to keep from doing a 180, just as they did on the individual health-insurance mandate and cap and trade, once those ideas were infected by contact with Obama. They know that their political future may depend on not screwing up this debate and alienating Latino voters any more than they already have. But in order to accomplish their political goal they may have to—and if there are young ones in the room you may want to cover their ears—agree with President Obama. Horrible, it's true, and it just shows how diabolical the president is that he maneuvered them into this position. "
Salon's Dave Weigel asks if Latinos will ever support the GOP, if the GOP supports immigration reform: "If they’re going to pass any kind of legalization plan, Republicans have to answer two questions they’ve been putting off. Are they willing to add millions of potential Hispanic voters? And if they are—if they are willing to pass some McCain-Rubio-Schumer bill—can they win these people over? This week, the most prominent Republicans are the ones saying yes. … But how do you get there? Since Sunday night, when the Octogang’s deal leaked to Politico, we haven’t heard much from the demography-is-destiny Republicans. They believe, for cultural reasons, that Hispanic immigrants are natural Democratic voters. There is a theory of 'makers' and 'takers,' and no matter how many calluses they get picking lettuce, the new arrivals go into column two."
Breakfast Sides
President Obama’s popularity surges to three-year high [Washington Post]: "President Obama is riding a wave of personal popularity into his second term, with his highest favorability ratings since his first year in office, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. Fully 60 percent of Americans have a favorable impression of Obama in the new poll, up slightly from October but a clear shift in opinion from an election year in which his ratings hovered in the mid-to-low 50s. And by 39 percent to 26 percent, the president now has more “strongly” positive ratings than strongly negative reviews, breaking a two-year stretch in which intense opposition was on par with (or higher than) intense support."
Obama Signs Sandy Bill Providing $50.5 Billion In Disaster Relief Into Law [Huffington Post]: "President Barack Obama has signed into law a $50.5 billion emergency measure for Superstorm Sandy victims. Congress gave the measure its final approval late Monday. Obama signed it Tuesday night, minutes after returning to the White House from a visit to Nevada. It took Congress three months after Sandy devastated areas along the East Coast to approve the emergency funding. Obama scolded lawmakers for delaying recovery efforts even as he commended them for providing the long-awaited aid."
Senate confirms John Kerry nomination for Secretary of State [AP]: "The Senate overwhelmingly confirmed President Barack Obama’s choice of five-term Sen. John Kerry to be secretary of state, with Republicans and Democrats praising him as the ideal successor to Hillary Rodham Clinton. The vote Tuesday was 94-3. One senator — Kerry — voted present and accepted congratulations from colleagues on the Senate floor. The roll call came just hours after the Senate Foreign Relations Committee unanimously approved the man who has led the panel for the past four years. Kerry could be sworn in as early as Wednesday. A welcoming ceremony is planned at the State Department on Monday."
