Progressive Breakfast: Prez Takes Charge Of Health Care Debate

The daily Progressive Breakfast serves up what progressive movement members need to know to start their day.

WH (Still) Has Health Care Cost Control Plan

WH budget director Peter Orszag pushes back on spin of CBO report, touts plan to enhance health care legislation and further control costs, on CNN: [1] "Well, let's actually look at what the Congressional Budget Office put out on Friday night with regard to the House bill. And again, taking doctor payments off the table, that bill is deficit- neutral over 10 years. There are out-year deficits that we want to bring down even further. I think the single most important thing that's missing from the legislation at this point is our proposal for an independent commission of doctors to help the policy-making process be more flexible, lead to higher quality and lower costs over time."

Obama to fully engage health care battle. W. Post: [2] "...the White House has launched a new phase of its strategy designed to dramatically increase public pressure on Congress: all Obama, all the time. Senior White House aides promise 'an aggressive public and private schedule' for Obama as he presses his case for reform, including a prime-time news conference on Wednesday, a trip to Cleveland, and heavy use of Internet video to broadcast his message beyond the reach of the traditional media."

ABC's Jake Tapper previews presidential counter-attack: [3] "On Friday, on a'"Conservatives for Patients Rights' conference call with conservative activists dealing with health care reform, Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., said, as Ben Smith at Politico reported [4], 'If we're able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him.' You should expect to hear that quote this week from the White House as they use it to rally their troops, a White House official tells ABC News. Officials will say the people being 'broken' are the American people going bankrupt paying for health insurance premiums that increase 10 percent every year, the source says, and that those who want to use this issue to break the president are doing nothing but working for insurance companies and insurance executives."

W. Post report on poll buries lede, support for reform remains high among independents and Dems: [5] "On health care, the poll, conducted by telephone Wednesday through Saturday, found that a majority of Americans (54 percent) approve of the outlines of the legislation now heading toward floor action. The measure would institute new individual and employer insurance mandates and create a government-run plan to compete with private insurers. Its costs would be paid in part through new taxes on high-income earners ... Three-quarters of Democrats back the plan, as do nearly six in 10 independents."

House may modify tax on wealthiest to fund health care reform. Politico: [6] "...Speaker Nancy Pelosi told POLITICO in an interview that she wants to soften a proposed surcharge on the wealthy so that it applies only to families that make $1 million or more. The change could help mollify the conservative Democrats who expect to have a tough time selling the package back home ... Pelosi also told POLITICO she will push to “drain” more savings from the medical industry — hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and health insurers — than they have given up under current health-reform agreements with the Senate and White House."

Michael Tomasky slaps "The illogic of the centrists": [7] " If the president of their party goes down in flames on a major bill, and the Republicans can do a war dance on his (political) grave, whom does that hurt? It hurts all Democrats, but most of all it hurts the most vulnerable ones – the ones from red or barely-blue states. In other words, them!"

Lobbyists Out To Weaken Climate Bill

The Hill details what changes various organizations seek in the Senate climate bill [8]:

The American Materials Manufacturing Alliance, which includes chemical, aluminum, iron and steel and forest and paper companies, wrote senators urging they do more to protect American industries. Provisions in the climate change bill passed by the House are "insufficient," the Alliance said. The group wants energy-intensive and trade-sensitive industries to get 15 percent of the free emissions allowances during an initial phase of the program and for the program to be extended to 2030, longer than the House bill would...

...The various components of the electric utility industry remain at war about how well the House bill does the trick. A group of rural electric cooperatives, public power companies and state electricity regulators released a report by Synapse Energy Economics that found the impact of climate change legislation will vary greatly by region. The groups said they support the overall goal of the bill, but they don't want 5 percent of the allowances distributed to so-called merchant generators, power companies that sell electricity in the marketplace. They want the allowances to be distributed through electric distribution companies that already would get 35 percent of the permits available ... The Electric Power Supply Association, which represents merchants, said it was appropriate to distribute some allowances to generators given they are the ones that would have to comply with the emissions reductions under the bill. EPSA said its members operate "the cleanest generation fleet in the country, bar none." ... The Edison Electric Institute, which represents investor-owned utilities, devised the formula used in the House bill. But it too wants less aggressive emission reduction targets in the near term.

Meanwhile, environmental groups are focusing on another delicate issue: carbon offsets. Industries that can't reduce their emissions at the smokestack enough can make up the difference by investing in the projects that offset them. Farm groups lobbied hard to ensure conservation practices like no-till farming or adding methane digesters to hog-waste lagoons, which spew methane, a particularly potent greenhouse gas, would be eligible.

India digs in opposition to strong climate treaty, carbon tariffs. NYT: [9] "In a meeting with Mrs. Clinton, India’s environment and forests minister, Jairam Ramesh, said there was 'no case' for the West to push India to reduce carbon dioxide emissions when it already had among the lowest levels of emissions on a per capita basis. 'If this pressure is not enough,' he said, 'we also face the threat of carbon tariffs on our exports to countries such as yours.'"

Bernanke Week

W. Post outlines Fed chief publicity tour: [10] "On Tuesday and Wednesday, he delivers his semiannual testimony on monetary policy to House and Senate committees. Look for him to affirm his view that the economy will bottom out and that growth will resume by the end of the year. Look for him to couch that by saying that the expansion will be weak at first. On Friday, he is to make another Capitol Hill appearance, on regulatory reform. Then Sunday, Bernanke will go before a live audience at Kansas City, Mo., in a town-hall meeting hosted by Jim Lehrer of 'The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer' on PBS. For one hour, Lehrer and the assembled audience plan to question Bernanke about the economy and the Fed's response to the financial crisis. It is to be broadcast in three parts over the following week on 'NewsHour,' though financial media will have access as it is being taped Sunday evening and will report any news immediately."

Bloomberg previews congressional testimony: [11] "The Federal Reserve chairman will probably outline his strategy for exiting the biggest monetary expansion in history when he delivers his semiannual economic report to Congress tomorrow. Among the options: establishing term deposits at the Fed designed to induce banks to keep money there rather than lending it out ... Bernanke is 'very conscious' of worries that the Fed may end up rekindling inflation [said Rep. Barney Frank.]"

Bailout overseer finds misuse of funds, Treasury rejects recommendation. W. Post [12] "Many of the banks that got federal aid to support increased lending have instead used some of the money to make investments, repay debts or buy other banks, according to a new report from the special inspector general overseeing the government's financial rescue program. The report, which will be published Monday, surveyed 360 banks that got money through the end of January and found that 110 had invested at least some of it, that 52 had repaid debts and that 15 had used funds to buy other banks. Roughly 80 percent of respondents, or 300 banks, also said at least some of the money had supported new lending. The report by special inspector general Neil Barofsky calls on the Treasury Department to require regular, more detailed information from banks about their use of federal aid provided under the Troubled Asset Relief Program. The Treasury has refused to collect such information."