Obama To Propose Compromise For Jobs
Obama today to propose new "grand bargain": corporate tax reform for infrastructure investment. Reuters: "Obama wants to cut the corporate tax rate of 35 percent down to 28 percent and give manufacturers a preferred rate of 25 percent. He also wants a minimum tax on foreign earnings as a tool against corporate tax evasion and increased use of tax havens. The new twist is that in exchange for his support for a corporate tax reduction, he wants money generated by the tax overhaul to be used on a mix of proposals such as funding infrastructure projects like repairing roads and bridges, improving education at community colleges, and promoting manufacturing, senior administration officials said. Obama's proposal would generate a one-time source of revenue, for example, by reforming depreciation or putting a fee on accumulated foreign earnings."
More from AP: "Obama long has called for a cut in corporate tax rates, but previously insisted such business tax reform be coupled with an individual tax overhaul. He's dropping that demand and says instead that he's open to the corporate tax cut that that businesses crave. But he wants it to be coupled with a significant investment on some sort of job creation program, such as manufacturing, infrastructure or community colleges ... [Republicans] have long insisted on tying corporate and individual tax reform so that small business owners who use the individual tax code would be offered cuts along with large corporations."
Politico suggests deficit reduction "grand bargain" talks fizzling out: "Senators said Monday evening that a decision needs to be made: Should the two sides continue to focus on the grand bargain — a major reform of tax and entitlement programs — or instead on a much smaller goal of reforming the automatic sequestration cuts ... But in last week’s meetings, Republicans continued to resist White House demands for higher revenue as part of a fiscal deal, instead calling for a new round of cuts to replace the automatic spending reductions known as sequestration that kicked in earlier this year ... Republicans and the White House both agree on proposals to cut Social Security known as chained CPI ... But the White House wants new taxes in exchange for those entitlement cuts, something at which the GOP continues to balk..."
Conservative push for shutdown weakens Boehner's hand, notes Roll Call: "With 60 Republicans already pushing the Ohio Republican to defund Obamacare in any spending bill, the speaker may not be able to cobble together a House majority on a bill that President Barack Obama would sign without Democratic votes. And he’s not likely to get those votes for free ... Democrats and the White House, meanwhile, still haven’t decided how much hardball they want to play. While White House spokesman Josh Earnest on Monday said the White House doesn’t want a shutdown, he didn’t clarify what the president would sign."
Quiet August Seen As Plus For Immigration
Boehner has an immigration game plan, says National Journal: "...top House Republicans are casting the inaction as a tactical play designed to boost reform’s chances. Keeping immigration on the back-burner helps avoid a recess filled with angry town-hall meetings reminiscent of the heated August 2009 protests where the backlash against health care reform coalesced ... [And] voting on border security before August would hand Democrats a gift-wrapped political cudgel, a case that again paints Republicans as interested only in legislation that cracks down on immigrants. Or, as one senior House leadership aide put it, 'all you did was pass bills that on the surface look discriminatory.' A month of ads smacking Republicans for being anti-immigrant was not a happy prospect."
House border security bill may be key to compromise, suggests W. Post: "In mid-May ... something remarkable happened in the House Homeland Security Committee. With little fanfare, the committee unanimously passed a border-security plan as part of its immigration reform effort ... the solid Democratic support for the GOP-sponsored measure on this most intractable of issues is an encouraging signal that immigration may not be doomed ... If the House bill passes, aides said, Senate Democrats will be willing to negotiate on border security so long as it is part of a package of bills that includes a 'pathway to citizenship' or permanent legal status for the nation’s undocumented immigrants."
GOP donors urge House to pass immigration reform. NYT: "More than 100 Republican donors — many of them prominent names in their party’s establishment — sent a letter to Republican members of Congress on Tuesday urging them to support ... 'legal status' for the 11 million immigrants here illegally ..."
McCain urges big August push. Bloomberg: "Senator John McCain said business and religious groups need to press reluctant House Republicans next month to back a revision of U.S. immigration law, saying he was 'not happy with the effort so far.' ... McCain said he was nonetheless encouraged that Boehner left open the possibility of passing a bill with Democratic support. He said many House Republicans, in private discussions, say enacting an immigration measure will put the party 'on a level playing field where we can compete for Hispanic votes.'"
WH makes immigration case to rural districts. NYT: "An immigration overhaul of the kind supported by President Obama would help ensure a stable, predictable work force for the nation’s agricultural industries, a new report released by the White House argues. The 20-page document is the latest effort by Mr. Obama’s administration to try to document what it says are the benefits of providing a pathway to citizenship ... The White House report cites studies showing that without such changes in immigration law, a labor shortage for agricultural work could significantly affect the output and exports of the nation’s farms ..."
Scandal Rocks Charter School Movement
Charter school rating manipulated to appease Republican donor, scoops AP: "Emails obtained by The Associated Press show [former Indiana schools chief Tony] Bennett and his staff scrambled last fall to ensure influential donor Christel DeHaan's school received an 'A,' despite poor test scores in algebra that initially earned it a 'C.' ... the emails clearly show Bennett's staff was intensely focused on Christel House, whose founder has given more than $2.8 million to Republicans since 1998, including $130,000 to Bennett and thousands more to state legislative leaders."
Mark Kleiman slams charter school cheaters: "Look: I believe in outcomes measurement. I believe in accountability. I even believe in school choice ... What I don’t believe is that the current testing/accountability/choice con artists and racketeering enterprises are going to make things better rather than worse. The cheating is so pervasive that I now see no basis for believing any claimed good result. That’s why Diane Ravitch has switched sides. You’d have thought that charter schools, like private prisons, could hardly have done worse than their big, clumsy, bureaucratic, union-dominated public competition. But you would have been wrong, twice."
Breakfast Sides
Richmond, CA using eminent domain to stop foreclosures. NYT: "The results will be closely watched by both Wall Street banks, which have vigorously opposed the use of eminent domain to buy mortgages and reduce homeowner debt, and a host of cities across the country that are considering emulating Richmond."
About 11% of House GOP constituents receive food stamps finds The Atlantic: "When most House Republicans talk about cutting food stamps, they're saying that they're ok with the idea that at least one out of every ten households in their district will have a tougher time putting food on the table, and will have less money to spend on local businesses. Now, politicians like Louie Gohmert might think that's ok because poor families eat too much anyway and are just using their benefits to buy expensive king crab legs (13 percent of his constituents use food stamps by the way). But for those of us a bit more strongly tethered to reality, it ought to cause a bit of concern."
Federal energy regulators detail energy market manipulation case against JPMorgan Chase. McClatchy: "JP Morgan Chase is already in settlement talks with the FERC, with published but unconfirmed reports citing a price tag ranging between $410 million and $1 billion. Settlement is expected as early as this week ... [The manipulation] involved day-ahead bids and staggered bidding during normal business hours designed allegedly to dupe the [independent system] operator into higher payments late in the day."
