Boehner Roadblock To Aid For Long-Term Unemployed
Senate poised to pass aid to long-term unemployed, but Boehner dismisses. UPI: "'It is extremely disappointing that, no matter what solution is reached, there is some excuse to deny these much-needed benefits,' [GOP] Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev. ... The Department of Labor estimates there are currently 3.8 million long-term unemployed, making up 37 percent of all those out of work ... the lack of benefits makes it impossible 'to put gas in the tank. They can't pay the Internet bill to apply for jobs online. ... It makes it really difficult to look for work,' [NELP's Maurice] Emsellem said."
"Unemployment Insurance Saved Me" writes Will Wilson in Chicago Sun-Times: "...I was diagnosed with AIDS and my life changed forever. I was sick and went medically bankrupt. I have been underemployed or unemployed ever since ... I signed up for unemployment insurance to stay alive ... When my unemployment insurance ran out over a year ago ... I was evicted from my house ... I stayed on friends’ couches, sent my dogs away and swallowed my pride and applied for food stamps ... after working four months as an unpaid [Obamacare] volunteer navigator, I am proud to say, I was hired by Enroll Lake County [as a navigator] and I’m earning a paycheck..."
"Four policies that would provide relief for the long-term unemployed" from W. Monthly's Kathleen Geier: "[The] 'Better Off Budget' by the Congressional Progressive Caucus ... would finance $1.6 trillion in direct job creation measures over FY2014-2024 ... jobs programs run by state governments where, for a limited time, the federal government pays most of the employee’s wage ... Expansion of short-time compensation (STC) benefits ..."
Washington Conservatives Fight GOP Govs Over Taxes
Norquist, Kochs attack Tennessee's GOP governor for refusing to repeal investment taxes. Politico: "The intraparty skirmish is about to get ugly, with the Washington heavyweights gearing up to put their substantial resources and national policy clout to work ahead of a pivotal vote next week ... Recalcitrant Republican legislators may even be primaried by repeal backers ... 'Philosophically, I would love to do [it]; realistically, you all know our revenue is down this year,' [Gov. Bill] Haslam told reporters ..."
OH Gov. Kasich defends tax hikes from Beltway conservatives. The Hill: "Kasich's latest budget proposal, while slashing income taxes, would make up the revenue difference largely by hiking taxes on tobacco and drilling for natural gas – proposals that have drawn outcries from conservative groups like Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) ... Kasich dismissed those criticisms, arguing that, revenue being necessary to run the state, the money has to come from somewhere. 'You have got to have a tax system...'"
Kasich also defends Medicaid expansion. The Hill: "Adopting a Democratic line, he emphasized that the expansion of the low-income health insurance program will bring billions of dollars to Ohio while benefiting some of the state's most vulnerable people. 'I have a chance to bring back $14 billion … back to Ohio to do what? To strengthen our local communities as they treat the most significant problem of drug addiction and the problem of mental illness,' he said."
$1B in taxpayer dollars funds creationism. Politico: "Taxpayers in 14 states will bankroll nearly $1 billion this year in tuition for private schools, including hundreds of religious schools that teach Earth is less than 10,000 years old, Adam and Eve strolled the garden with dinosaurs, and much of modern biology, geology and cosmology is a web of lies. Now a major push to expand these voucher programs is under way from Alaska to New York, a development that seems certain to sharply increase the investment."
Breakfast Sides
WH considers challenge to "blue slip" filibusters of judicial nominees. Politico: "...White House counsel Kathy Ruemmler and others in the administration are currently caught between their own exasperation and their wariness about a direct challenge to Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy ... without the signoff of home-state senators on a sheet of paper that’s traditionally blue — which doesn’t count as a vote in favor — they can’t even get a hearing ... [Leahy] clearly doesn’t want to make the change, even as the calls from Democrats and liberal groups mount ... the signals coming from [Senate] leadership are that the system isn’t working quite as smoothly as Leahy would like to portray."
House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer to call for "grand bargain" budget deal at Third Way. The Hill: "He has a tough road ahead ... Congress is running low on must-past legislation that might provide a vehicle for some of the controversial budget changes of the order Hoyer is urging. And even Republican plans for sweeping fiscal reforms, such as Rep. Dave Camp's (R-Mich.) recently unveiled tax policy overhaul, have been largely ignored by GOP leaders, who don't want to highlight party divisions in a high-stakes election year."
