Final Obamacare Signup Surge
Obamacare exchange signups may hit 7M. AP: "... President Barack Obama's health care overhaul was on track to sign up more than 7 million Americans for health insurance on deadline day Monday, government officials told The Associated Press ... [But the] administration hasn't said how many of the 6 million people nationally who had signed up before the weekend ultimately closed the deal by paying their first month's premiums. Also unknown is how many were previously uninsured..."
Obamacare "already has spurred the largest expansion in health coverage in America in half a century" reminds McClatchy."
TNR's Jonathan Cohn explains why you should be optimistic: "...if the real story about Obamacare is a lot more complicated than the sign-up figures indicate, it’s also a lot more complicated than the conservative caricature ... the fact that enrollments through the marketplaces are approaching what the Congressional Budget Office and other experts once predicted ought to make you more confident about their other projections. And these authorities predicted the law would mean many more people had real, stable health insurance coverage."
Minimum Wage Deal In Early Stage
Hints of bipartisan compromise on minimum wage. The Hill: "Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) has been reaching out to Democrats to agree on a compromise that is threatening to divide the president’s party on this core component of its election-year message. Democrats already disagree among themselves over whether they should continue to stick to the $10.10 amount or try to work with Republicans on a lower figure ... despite his staunch personal preference for $10.10, Reid’s office doesn’t rule out compromise depending on feeling within his caucus."
Jobless aid will pass this week, says Sen. Reid. Roll Call: "On Monday evening Reid set up a vote for Wednesday on advancing bill in hopes of finishing work on the proposal by week’s end. He also filled the amendment tree in an effort to keep any amendments from being offered to the bipartisan proposal, which was negotiated over months by five Democrats and five Republicans."
Ryan Budget Again Targets Medicare
Rep. Paul Ryan to unveil Republican FY15 budget. The Hill: "The budget resolution, which Ryan’s committee will consider on Wednesday, is expected to stick to an agreed-upon top spending level of $1.014 trillion in 2015 while erasing the federal deficit within a decade, a top GOP goal. But as in past years, Ryan will propose an overhaul of Medicare and Medicaid that has become a lightning rod during election seasons. The budget is expected to rely on a economic projection method known as 'dynamic' scoring to help reduce deficits, a move likely to draw criticism from Democrats."
Dems sharpen knives. Politico: "They hope to counter the steep spending cuts they anticipate will be included in Ryan’s budget with provisions they see as middle-class friendly, such as an expanded Earned Income Tax Credit ... 'We can make this a referendum about whose side are you on and remind people that Republicans have consistently chosen special interests over the middle class,' said New York Rep. Steve Israel ... The next Democratic pushback will start Wednesday with a series of amendments that will offer education, tax and infrastructure alternatives..."
Dems worry about November turnout. NYT: "Young voters have abandoned the midterm electorate at more than twice the rate of seniors. Hispanics, who favored Mr. Obama by a margin of 44 percentage points, have voted at just two-thirds the rate of whites. Unmarried women, the source of the Democratic advantage with women, vote less often than their married counterparts. I’m worried this could be a disaster,' said Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster."
Climate Report Creates Extra Hurdle For Global Agreement
"Climate Study Puts Diplomatic Pressure on Obama" reports NYT: "Countries like Bangladesh and several in sub-Saharan Africa that are the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change say the report strengthens their demand for 'climate justice' — in other words, money, and plenty of it — from the world’s richest economies and corporations ... That puts Mr. Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry, who has been working aggressively behind the scenes to forge a United Nations climate change treaty in 2015, in a tough position."
But not on Republicans. The Hill: "Democrats and the Obama administration saw the report as more evidence that leaders must take quick, decisive action on the issue, while skeptics, including much of the Republican Party, held fast in their position that the science is wrong."
Breakfast Sides
"Momentum" for Senate house finance reform bill, reports The Hill: "Lawmakers are rallying around a core set of principles crafted by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) and ranking member Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), providing real hope that legislation might finally move forward after years of delays ... the committee is holding a markup April 29 ..."
Sen. Carl Levin fingers Caterpillar as poster child for offshore tax avoidance. Politico: "Heavy equipment manufacturer Caterpillar used complicated corporate maneuvers to avoid $2.4 billion in U.S. taxes by parking profits in a unit in Switzerland ... The report is the latest in a series of probes by the chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations into corporations shifting profits overseas to skirt U.S. income taxes ... It is the first time that Levin has focused on a domestic manufacturer primarily engaged in large-equipment sales rather than intellectual property-heavy technology firms like Apple, HP or Microsoft."
