MORNING MESSAGE: Sequester Cuts Confirm GOP Party Of Deadbeat Dads
OurFuture.org's Jeff Bryant: "...some of the hardest hit by the budget cuts will be children. Prenatal children will feel the brunt of $353 million in cuts to nutrition, care, and education for their pregnant moms. An estimated 30,000 children in low-income families will lose access to child care assistance due to $121.5 million in cuts. 70,000 fewer children will have access to early childhood education due to $424 million in cuts to Head Start. Children in K-12 schools who happen to be poor or who have learning disabilities will be especially hurt by $725 million in cuts to Title I and $600 million to special education. Deadbeat dads are famous for withholding financial support from children. So Republicans seem to fit the mold here."
Sequestered, But Not Shut Down
Sequester not expected to lead to shutdown. W. Post: "'The president this morning agreed that we should not have any talk of a government shutdown,' Boehner said in the interview. 'So I’m hopeful that the House and Senate will be able to work through this.' Following Boehner on “Meet the Press,” Gene Sperling, the chairman of Obama’s National Economic Council, agreed that it appeared likely the two sides could avoid threatening a shutdown. That would mean the sequester would remain in effect until the end of the fiscal year. But Sperling insisted that Obama will work to undo its cuts in coming months as part of a broader discussion about continued deficit reduction."
But will hurt poor. W. Post: "Because certain entitlement programs, such as food stamps and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, were exempted from the $85 billion in automatic spending cuts, the most vulnerable were not supposed to be severely hurt ... [But there] will be cuts to a wide range of services for the needy, analysis shows, including Meals on Wheels for seniors, nutrition assistance for mothers and children, rental help for low-income families and programs for the homeless."
House bill to keep government oped will undo some military cuts from sequester. Politico: "House Republicans are proposing this week to restore upward of $7 billion to operations and maintenance accounts for the four military services ... to address the GOP’s great Achilles’ heel: the serious danger to military readiness if the standoff with President Barack Obama drags on for months."
Spending cuts the lone plank Republicans remain united on, notes NYT: "... it is no longer entirely clear what it means to be a Republican. The party is more divided than ever on domestic policy, and a debate is breaking out over how best to invigorate the conservative movement. In that sense, the budget showdown is not just about cutting $85 billion out of government spending over the next seven months. It is, to many conservatives, about showing that Republicans still have the will, the leadership and the public support to use this moment to halt, or at least slow, an ideological pendulum swing from the right..."
Military-industrial complex comes up short. Roll Call: "Factors include defense contractors’ tendency to fight among themselves for federal dollars instead of rallying behind a unified message, as well as the 2010 ban on congressional earmarks — the line items for pet projects, often defense-related, that once gave defense lobbyists leverage during budget negotiations."
"Grand Bargain" Still Alive
Obama may have path to get GOP to accept more tax revenue in broader deal, but at a cost. Politico: "...Obama has put $900 billion in 10-year savings on the table, which roughly matches the $960 billion left to sequestration at this stage. The president has said repeatedly he is committed to this package, which includes about $200 billion in appropriations cuts but also some far-reaching changes in benefit programs that Republicans want. By putting his savings up front, Obama might help the GOP get past the rhetoric that no revenues be part of a deal on sequestration. In turn, he would have to have a commitment locking in added revenues as part of tax reform."
"If we're going to increase revenue again, it's got to go to the debt with real entitlement reform" said GOP Sen. Kelly Ayotte on ABC's This Week.
Obama reaches out to individual GOPers in pursuit of "grand bargain." NYT: "In conversations last week with Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and John McCain of Arizona, both Republicans, and in a wider outreach to rank-and-file members of Congress that a top White House official said began this weekend, Mr. Obama hopes to build a broad consensus on deficit reduction that includes new revenue, despite the uncompromising stance of Republican leaders in the House and the Senate."
Big Exec Pay Win In Switzerland
Swiss voters clamp down on excessive executive pay. NYT: "The vote gives shareholders of companies listed in Switzerland a binding say on the overall pay packages for executives and directors ... companies would no longer be allowed to give bonuses to executives joining or leaving the business, or to executives when their company was taken over. Violations could result in fines equal to up to six years of salary and a prison sentence of up to three years."
More foreclosure fraud found targeting military. NYT: "The nation’s biggest banks wrongfully foreclosed on more than 700 military members during the housing crisis and seized homes from roughly two dozen other borrowers who were current on their mortgage payments, findings that eclipse earlier estimates of the improper evictions ... The revelations of more pervasive harm could provide fresh ammunition for Wall Street critics and prompt regulators to adopt a tougher stance."
