Obama Budget Sets Up 2014 Debate
President's budget draws clear contrasts with Republicans. NYT: " The document, his sixth budget, seeks to energize Democratic voters with populist proposals like a more generous tax credit for the working poor, paid for with higher taxes on the rich ... his emphasis is on the investment side to address the rise in economic inequality, broaden opportunities for upward mobility and spur technological innovation."
"Obama Budget Raises $276 Billion From U.S. Multinationals" reports Bloomberg: "...the Obama administration seeks to generate $276 billion over the next decade from what it calls loophole-closing in the international tax system. The revenue -- 75 percent more than was sought through such changes in last year’s budget plan -- would be used to reduce corporate tax rates."
Some common ground with new GOP tax plan. Politico: "The tax strategy unveiled in the White House budget is a sharp contrast to the Tax Code overhaul released last week by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp ... [But c]ommon ground exists in a tax on big banks and lower corporate tax rates ... Taxes for high-income earners are another area Obama and Camp use different logic and terms to wind up with nearly the same result."
Parts of Obama budget could actually become law, argues TNR's Jonathan Cohn: "The Administration may have another chance to scrounge up new funding for early childhood this year ... Congress could to take up a major highway bill, since the existing federal law expires in September. That’s an opportunity to drum up support for infrastructure projects ... Both Ryan and Senator Marco Rubio has expressed interest in expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit, so that childless adults can get benefits closer to the ones that families already receive. Obama’s budget calls for the same thing."
Budget would fund Obama's regulatory agenda. The Hill: "The proposal would bolster Obama’s climate change initiative with additional funding and manpower, and add to the coffers of Wall Street regulators whose responsibilities have grown ... would direct money toward a renewed gun control push and reforms to the federal criminal justice system. It would devote tens of millions of dollars more to regulations governing the nation’s chemical plants and food safety system, as well as fund a new push to tamp down on compounding pharmacies."
House Republicans try to gut Obama's climate regs tomorrow. The Hill: "The House is set to vote on a bill Thursday that would scale back the Environmental Protection Agency's carbon emissions rules for new coal-fired power plants. But if the bill somehow reaches President Obama's desk, he will veto it, the White House said on Tuesday."
Obama Stumps For Minimum Wage Today
Obama to push minimum wage hike in CT today, sticking with $10.10. WSJ: "White House economic adviser Gene Sperling said Tuesday that President Barack Obama won’t backtrack to the $9 rate he pitched a year ago ... 'We feel strongly that particularly with the unemployment rate at 6.6% and the economy getting stronger…it should really stay at $10.10,' ..."
"Highest Minimum-Wage State Washington Beats U.S. in Job Creation" reports Bloomberg: "When Washington residents voted in 1998 to raise the state’s minimum wage and link it to the cost of living, opponents warned the measure would be a job-killer ... In the 15 years that followed, the state’s minimum wage climbed to $9.32 -- the highest in the country. Meanwhile job growth continued at an average 0.8 percent annual pace, 0.3 percentage point above the national rate. Payrolls at Washington’s restaurants and bars, portrayed as particularly vulnerable to higher wage costs, expanded by 21 percent. Poverty has trailed the U.S. level for at least seven years."
Ryan Report Makes No Sense
CEPR's Shawn Fremstad shreds the Paul Ryan poverty report: "Ryan claims federal programs have created a 'poverty trap' and cites the work of Gene Steuerle of the Urban Institute. Ryan’s implication is that people are better off 'on welfare' than in the workforce. But in Congressional testimony, Steurele has clearly said 'the poverty trap [has] been largely removed.' ... too often Ryan’s report reads like a class project cut-and-pasted together by a group of Google-happy sophomores in a 200-level class at Bob Jones University."
Senate Republicans want nothing to do with Ryan budget. Roll Call: "Senate Republicans, several of whom are caught between primary challengers on the right and Democratic upstarts on the left, would rather talk about something else ... 'You are correct they have a vote count problem and that has led to concern on our side. We have better issues on which we can message,' said a Senate Republican aide."
