CAF In The News

spectator.org — As Congress considers the Democrats' unprecedented legislative assault on Wall Street, radical leftists say the bad economy gives them new opportunities to push America even farther down the road to socialism.

"The banking crisis is the next big thing," said George Goehl, executive director of the Chicago-based group National People's Action.

congress.org — Many audience members crowded to the front of the stage, standing and cheering loudly to support Pelosi and counter the fervent protests. The Speaker continued through her speech, touting several Democratic policy issues.

cnsnews.com — Andy Stern, the former head of the Service Employees International Union who now sits on President Obama's National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, said the United States needs an economic plan that does not include “worshipping” the free market.

reuters.com — Nineteen months after celebrating U.S. President Barack Obama's historic election win, disappointed liberal activists promised on Monday to turn up the political heat on a White House they said is too quick to compromise.

At an annual conference of grassroots progressives, they said the euphoria and high expectations after Obama's victory had lulled them into a false sense of security, and hopes for his success had sometimes limited their criticism.

politico.com — When President Barack Obama launched his fiscal deficit commission Feb. 18, he acknowledged that there are “some on the left who believe that this issue can be deferred.”

What he didn’t say was that there are some on the left who wish the entire deficit commission itself would be deferred.

news.firedoglake.com — Chris Dodd just moved the Senate to a vote on the nomination of Ben Bernanke for the Chair of the Federal Reserve. Once the Senate scheduled this vote, it was a pretty good sign that they would have the necessary 60 votes to break a filibuster. Still, Democrats like Sheldon Whitehouse and Maria Cantwell have announced their opposition in recent days.

Multiple Senators, including Patty Murray (D-WA), Richard Burr (R-NC), Kent Conrad (D-ND), Bob Casey (D-PA), Jon Kyl (R-AZ) and Jack Reed (D-RI), announced support today. Murray’s statement is a representative sample, that Bernanke was partially responsible for the dire economic straits we face, but that he did a good job dealing with the crisis and saving the financial system, so he’ll get another term, reluctantly. An excerpt:

opednews.com — President Obama's State of the Union outlined a renewed commitment to job creation and focused on investing in the American people once more. For his initiatives to be successful however, the Administration and Congress must greatly invest in worker training if Americans are going to gain the skills needed to take advantage of emerging job opportunities. The Institute for America's Future, in partnership with the National Skills Coalition, will release later today, "The Bridge to a New Economy: Worker Training Fills the Gap" a state-by state report highlighting the importance of worker training investments, and why community colleges, business and labor must also come to the table.

Looking forward, job creation initiatives that the President proposed will provide solid growth for middle-skill jobs. The middle-skill sector requires occupations with an associate's degree or some form of post-secondary certification. They span various fields from nursing and construction to information technology. Much of the employment provided by the Recovery Act or "stimulus' for instance, were in this category. And looking out through the next decade, as the economy begins to pick up speed and grow again, middle-skill jobs will be a significant portion of the job market according to the latest projections by the Department of Labor.

washingtonpost.com — Obama's domestic policy agenda, which defined him as a president seeking to restore faith in government, is imperiled by his call for a "freeze" on spending, many advocates said Tuesday, as federal agencies scrambled to determine the proposal's impact.

The freeze would hold steady for the next three years the government's discretionary budget -- the portion of spending that Congress decides every year -- except for spending on the military, homeland security, the State Department and Veterans Affairs.

politico.com — The anti-Ben Bernanke tide seems to have turned, but the nail-biter vote count shows there’s no love lost for the Federal Reserve chairman or the institution he leads.

Bernanke now seems likely to survive a confirmation vote for a second term, despite a groundswell of Senate opposition in recent days. But a close vote could have very real consequences for the future of the Federal Reserve, not least in the outcome of financial reform legislation that’s still percolating in committee.

news.firedoglake.com — Open Left and the Campaign for America’s Future have launched a whip count for Ben Bernanke’s confirmation, and they count 40 votes in support of Bernanke thus far. The Wall Street Journal similarly has 40 in favor, 17 opposed and the rest undecided. They may need to recalibrate their whip counts, however. Because apparently, procedural votes and final votes are separate in Bernanke’s case in a way that they were not for practically everything else in the Senate.