Final Senate Vote On Unemployment Insurance Today
Senate to pass jobless aid today. NYT: "The Senate is expected to easily approve legislation Monday restoring unemployment benefits to nearly three million people, throwing the bill to a divided House ... Seven House Republicans from high-unemployment regions or swing districts plan to send the House speaker, John A. Boehner of Ohio, a letter [urging] him to take up the Senate bill ... Other House Republicans are pressing to attach to the Senate bill what they call job-creation measures [like] building the transcontinental Keystone XL pipeline ... But many House Republicans oppose passing the unemployment benefits under any circumstances..."
President Obama continues fair wage crusade by executive order. AP: "Obama this week plans to issue an order prohibiting federal contractors from retaliating against workers who discuss their pay. He will also direct the Labor Department to issue new rules requiring federal contractors to provide compensation data that includes a breakdown by race and gender. The steps ... take aim at pay disparities between men and women. The Senate this week is scheduled to take up gender pay equity legislation that would affect all employers, but the White House-backed bill doesn't have enough Republican support..."
Equal pay a politically potent move, says Politico: "There’s a reason Democrats are making such a push on equal pay: they say their polls and focus groups are showing them that pressing Republicans on their opposition to the bill is quickly ticking up to be one of their most effective negative messages for persuadable voters this year. According to Democrats who’ve seen the numbers, women respond, men respond — in the same kind of high numbers, no matter where they are around the country."
Excessively low inflation is helping the "oligarchs" and hurting the middle class, argues NYT's Paul Krugman: "Doing what America did after World War II — using low interest rates and inflation to erode the debt burden — is often referred to as 'financial repression,' which sounds bad. But who wouldn’t prefer modest inflation and a bit of asset erosion to mass unemployment? Well, you know who: the 0.1 percent, who receive 'only' 4 percent of wages but account for more than 20 percent of total wealth."
GOP Whips Ryan Budget
Republicans say Paul budget will pass House. Politico: "After weeks of whipping, multiple senior Republican lawmakers and aides say they are in as good shape as they have ever been and believe they are close to the requisite votes for passage ... Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and his fellow Republicans have passed Ryan budgets three times since taking over the House in 2010, but it is a tougher vote this year because lower revenue forecasts have made the cuts needed to eliminate the deficit that much tougher to enact."
Dems hope Ryan budget will help win back seniors. The Hill: "They point to the fact that it contains Ryan’s longstanding proposal to partially privatize Medicare through an optional premium support system, which Democrats have charged 'ends Medicare as we know it.'"
"Will flash trades now lead to a financial transaction tax?" asks The Hill: "Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) joined with civil rights advocates Friday to hold a rally pushing his financial transaction tax bill ... Proponents of a tax on all financial transactions argue it would do away with unfair high-frequency traders, and would also boost U.S. tax revenue and reap more funds from Wall Street ... Backers of such a tax acknowledge they face extremely long odds on passage, and the idea largely remains isolated among the more liberal members of Congress."
Deportation Remains Immigration Flashpoint
Obama deportation strategy focuses on border, but targets low-level criminal offenders. NYT: "...a New York Times analysis of internal government records shows that since President Obama took office, two-thirds of the nearly two million deportation cases involve people who had committed minor infractions, including traffic violations, or had no criminal record at all ... [Republicans] said his shift in emphasis to the border had resulted in a decline in the removals from the interior of the country — a trend borne out by the records ..."
Deportations causing tension between advocates and WH. More from NYT: "[Last month, Obama] asked the advocates to stick with him another 90 days, and press hard on Congress. If those efforts failed to lead to reform, Mr. Obama said he would work with them on administrative relief. The advocates and others told the president that their communities had waited long enough."
Jeb Bush promotes reform. CNN quotes: "Yes, they broke the law, but it's not a felony. It's an act of love, it's an act of commitment to your family ... I honestly think that is a different kind of crime, that there should be a price paid, but it shouldn't rile people up that people are actually coming to this country to provide for their families ... I think we need to kind of get beyond the harsh political rhetoric to a better place."
