Progressive Breakfast

Progressive Breakfast: Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!

Bill Scher — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 05:54:24 -0700

Strong Deficit Reduction Smooths Path To Sunday Health Care Vote

House leaders post the health care bill online 72 hours before expected Sunday vote. W. Post: "House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) announced the weekend debate schedule, with a 72-hour march culminating at 1 p.m. Sunday. Democrats expect a final vote sometime Sunday evening, Sunday night or possibly early Monday morning."

W. Post Ezra Klein's praises Democrats for their legislative skills: "Pairing the largest coverage increase since the Great Society with the most aggressive cost-control effort isn't easy. And since the cost controls are complicated, while the coverage increase is straightforward, many people don't believe that the Democrats have done it. But to a degree unmatched in recent legislative history, they have."

TNR's Jonathan Cohn herald commitment to fiscal responsibility: "The Democrats could have argued they didn't need to meet [the CBO] requirement and they would have had a pretty legitimate case ... But the Democrats didn't do that. Instead, they constructed a bill that, even in the worst-case scenario, CBO thinks would not raise the defict. It's not an ironclad guarantee, but it's as close as you can come. And if that's not fiscal responsibility, I don't know what is."

Wonk Room's Igor Volsky says reconciliation has improved the Senate bill: "...the package improves the affordability measures in the Senate bill, increases the excise tax thresholds and completely closes the donut hole in Medicare Part D. Lawmakers had a hard time making this package work: they had to achieve significant deficit reductions all the while spending more money on affordability credits and losing revenue in the excise tax provisions. The bill does this in several ways..."

Positive reaction from several right-leaning Dems. LAT: "Party leaders are closing in on the 216 votes they will need Sunday and appeared to pick up more support from conservative Democrats on Thursday, thanks to the CBO cost estimates."

"House Democrats officially gained two and lost two on Thursday," reports Roll Call before House leaders show confidence. "Rules Chairwoman Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) dismissed the threat of minimal defections. 'We’ve got a surplus. We’ve got some spares,' she said."

Congressional Hispanic Caucus on board, reports The Hill: "Ultimately, the lawmakers determined the fight for the immigration language was not worth killing the broader package. And at least one said his vote came after President Barack Obama this week assured him that he would push for a broad immigration overhaul."

But not there yet. TPMDC: "...though many members are coming around, very few of them are in the elusive pool from which Pelosi needs to draw: Members who voted against reform in round one. And she's running out of easy pick-ups."

House Dems from McCain districts are the final undecideds. The Hill: "25 of the 46 were prepared to vote against the president, while just seven were on his side ... Those members, especially the 14 who have offered little indication of where they stand, will decide the future of the healthcare bill. "

TPMDC reports Kucinich is now furiously whipping: "Astonished colleagues pointed to Kucinich (D-OH) darting from member to member on the House floor yesterday, saying privately they'd never seen him get so involved in whipping a vote. It's not just progressives he's targeting to keep in the fold, it's everyone, a top Democratic aide told me ... 'It's a totally new dynamic. People are realizing he's doing it for history,' the aide said."

AFL-CIO Blog's Mike Hall writes that 60 years is long enough to wait for health care reform: "Nearly every president since Harry Truman has sought health care reform. But powerful opposition from the insurance industry and others has scuttled each attempt. In a video message to working families, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says: 'We can't miss this opportunity. We've been fighting for health care for 60 years. When I look at the years we have put into fighting for health care and what it means to working families to start down the path of comprehensive reform, I know the time to step forward is now.'"

W. Post edit board makes the right-leaning Washington establishment case for reform: "...moving ahead with health reform is fraught with risk. The question is whether the measure carves out enough of a toehold on cost containment to justify that risk. We think it does ... The measure contains important seeds of reform."

Digby says that by going all in for health care reform, Rep. Kucinich has robbed moderate Democrats of an easy scapegoat if reform fails: "I'm sure this is very frustrating to the villagers, who want more than anything to blame the liberals for the failure to pass the plan. Kucinich is making that impossible."

NYT's Paul Krugman stresses the end of discrimination based on pre-existing conditions: "In every other advanced nation, insurance coverage is available to everyone regardless of medical history. Our system is unique in its cruelty."

NYT's Timothy Egan praises liberal lawmakers for pragmatism, slaps conservatives for purity: "Ah, to be among the true believers, breathing only the clean air of sanctimony. Nothing is ever done, no lives improved, no laws passed ... The public hates you — every poll shows that voters want both sides to legislate with a mix of ideas. But, oh, how good it must feel to be right all the time."

Conservatives viciously attacking 11-year old health care activist Marcelas Owens, whose mom died without insurance. McClatchy: "Conservative talk show hosts and columnists have ridiculed an 11-year-old Washington state boy's account of his mother's death as a 'sob story' exploited by the White House and congressional Democrats like a 'kiddie shield' to defend their health care legislation ... 'My mother always taught me they can have their own opinion but that doesn't mean they are right,' Owens, who lives in Seattle, said in an interview."

W. Post's Eugene Robinson on the insincerity of conservative arguments: "...the Republicans portray even this fairly modest set of fixes -- cautious, incremental, fiscally responsible -- as socialism run rampant. They portray the health-reform package as a government 'takeover,' although the idea of any kind of limited, restricted, tightly constrained little government-run health plan has long been abandoned."

Movin' Meat shreds the "government takeover" talking point: "$94 Billion a year is a lot, but it is a drop in the bucket compared to the overall cost of US health care. It's hardly a 'takeover' and laughably not 'one-sixth of the economy' that will be affected."

Senate reconciliation process could begin Tuesday. The Hill: "How long the process takes depends on how many procedural objections GOP senators raise. It also depends on the number of amendments they offer ... Even senior Democrats acknowledge it’s likely Republicans will be able to derail certain provisions, requiring another House vote on a revised package before it becomes law ... Durbin noted that amendments must have a score from the Congressional Budget Office to be considered germane ... Democrats are confident the parliamentarian will rule Republican efforts to slow the process with a storm of amendments as dilatory and out of order [because of] lack of germane amendments..."

Student Loan Reform In Health Care Bill

End of subsidies to private student lenders in House health care bill, but Pell Grant increases scaled back to meet deficit reduction targets. NYT: "The maximum annual Pell grant would rise to $5,975 by 2017, from $5,350 this year. The new Pell initiative includes $13.5 billion to cover a shortfall caused by the sharp increase in the number of Americans enrolling in college during the recession ... the amount going to education spending and aid for college students is far less than the Obama administration had hoped, largely because the savings from the switch to direct federal lending is now estimated to be $61 billion, rather than $87 billion."

More Pell grant funding may come later. CNN: "Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, pledged that Congress would continue working on how to plug Pell grants shortfalls"

Higher ed groups supporting student loan reform. W. Post: "...several higher-education groups have moved from neutral on the lending issue to supportive of Obama's proposal. Federal grants reduce somewhat the pressure on colleges and universities to provide aid."

Sen. Kent Conrad drops support of student loan subsidy exemption for state-owned Bank of North Dakota, to avoid right-wing attacks: "It has not engaged in the abuses that have required the reform legislation that is before us ... But often, facts are the first victim in an overly heated partisan environment."

Glenn Beck rails against the bank bailout, but is vociferously defending taxpayer subsidies for bank to prop up their student lending scheme. Media Matters: "According to Beck, Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act ... would amount to the government 'taking over' education, meaning '[y]ou are not going to get any private dollars for education.' ... In reality, the bill eliminates the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program, which currently allows banks and other lending institutions to issue student loans that are insured by the federal government ... The SAFRA bill simply cuts the middle man..."

Republicans Embrace Bankers Before Dodd Bill Vote

Republicans threaten to withhold votes on Dodd bill in committee. W. Post: "Two key Republican senators said Thursday that the bill introduced this week by Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) to overhaul financial regulation is headed for a strict party-line vote in the Senate banking committee unless the measure undergoes significant amendments during debate next week ... 'I won't be terribly disappointed if we don't resolve it completely in committee," [Dodd] said. 'You've got to start someplace before you get to a compromise.'"

House Minority Leader Boehner literally leads an army of bankers to storm Congress and quash financial reform. W. Post: "'You're all going to be lobbyists today,' House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), told the crowd. 'I know that's a dirty word, but that's what you're doing.' He told the bankers not to be afraid to stand up to members of Congress or 'these little punk staffers,' as he called them. 'Don't be bashful about who you are,' he said. 'Stand up for yourselves, for goodness sakes.' The bankers soon headed to Capitol Hill, talking points in hand..."

"[Larry] Summers Slams Boehner’s ‘Punk Staffers’ Comment." NYT quotes: "And at a time when industry has hired – has spent $1 million on lobbyists per member of Congress, at a moment when there are four lobbyists per member of the House and Senate working on this issue, we in the administration do not believe that the prominent issue is allowing bankers to stand up for themselves."

NYT edit board likes Obama's expected picks for the Fed: "Early word indicates he is on the right track ... Mr. Obama appears to be seeking board members with broad economic and legal expertise, including a keen sense of how policies affect what the Fed would call 'the household sector.' This is a welcome shift from decades in which the Fed has focused increasingly on financial markets as a proxy for the economy — mistaking asset bubbles for growth and debt-driven gains for prosperity."

President Signals Support For Bipartisan Immigration Proposal

Bipartisan duo Schumer and Graham outline immigration reform proposal in advance of Sunday's March For America. W. Post on the key provisions: "... a to-be-determined system to regulate the future flow of temporary workers ... permanent residency to immigrants who receive advanced degrees from a U.S. university in science, technology, engineering or math. An improved tamper-proof Social Security card ... legal status to illegal immigrants who have not committed felonies, and who admit they broke the law by entering the country illegally, then agree to perform community service, pay fines and back taxes, pass background checks and learn English."

NYT on need for additional GOP support: "To advance the legislation, Mr. Schumer and Mr. Graham have said they need help from Mr. Obama to round up at least one more Republican sponsor ... Representative Luis V. Gutierrez ... said he had decided to support the Democrats’ health care legislation after assurances from Mr. Obama that the White House would continue to press for the immigration overhaul."

How Different Is Kerry-Lieberman-Graham?

Wonk Room's Brad Johnson comprehensively compares Kerry-Graham-Lieberman to Waxman-Markey: "...it appears that the Kerry-Graham-Lieberman draft is consistent with President Obama’s principles and similar in its policy aims to the Waxman-Markey ACES Act. Further information will be required to determine if the legislative package will allow the United States to join an international solution to global warming."

TNR's Brad Plumer on what's different from the House cap-and-trade bill: "The most obvious difference from the House bill is that utilities and manufacturers and refiners would all get regulated separately, rather than placed together under one big cap-and-trade system. From an economic standpoint, that's less efficient, but this patchwork approach appears to have been crafted in the hopes of placating oil companies. We'll see whether it sells politically."

OurFuture.org's Natasha Chart urges inclusion of loans for green manufacturing in climate bill: "I implore, ask your Senators to support the inclusion of Sen. Sherrod Brown's IMPACT Act in the Clean Energy legislation. It would be a win-win-win for the environment, the economy and American workers. If that's all the extra good we get out of this bill, it'd be better than nothing."

Enviros meet with Kerry, say little afterwards reports Mother Jones. Though what little was said was positive according to the Hill.

Enviros questioning whether GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski is gettable for a climate bill, reports Mother Jones' Kate Sheppard: "For a long time, environmental groups had been reluctant to criticize Murkowski publicly, hoping that she might yet be won over. But with her bid to insert ANWR drilling in the climate bill, their patience has expired."

Progressive Breakfast: Conservatives Deemed Hypocrites

Bill Scher — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 06:38:35 -0700

Phony GOP Attack On House Rules

American Enterprise Institute's Norm Ornstein rips Republicans for hypocrisy on procedure: "...I can’t recall a level of feigned indignation nearly as great as what we are seeing now from congressional Republicans and their acolytes at the Wall Street Journal, and on blogs, talk radio, and cable news ... In the last Congress that Republicans controlled, from 2005 to 2006, Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier used the self-executing rule more than 35 times [and it] was defended by House Republicans in court (and upheld)."

"Deem and Pass" Is NOT "Without A Vote" notes OurFuture.org's Bill Scher: "If any members of the House do not want to deem the Senate bill passed, they can vote 'No' on the rule which would deem it passed. Any members of the House who vote 'Yes,' would do so by recorded vote, so their constituents will be able to judge their actions."

HuffPost's slams media for awful reporting on the phony attack: "This is all about the House Democrats being scared out of their minds that they'll have to spend even an hour explaining, 'No, we do not approve of the Cornhusker Kickback.' But that's America, circa 2010. It makes the Democrats look timid, but it doesn't make them wrong."

Dems turn process charge back on GOP and insurance industry. The Hill quotes Speaker Pelosi: “If you want to talk about process, let’s talk about the process that the insurance companies use when they say to you, ‘When you become sick, your insurance is cancelled.’ When they say to you ‘You’re on your way to an operation, but your insurance is rescinded because we just feel like it, and we can do it so we will.’” Pelosi said at a press conference. “Or what they say when they say to somebody, ‘You have a preexisting condition and so you cannot have health insurance.’ ... Let’s talk about that process."

TPM's Josh Marshall says Rep. Eric Cantor's demand for an up or down vote on the original senate health care reform bill "taketh the cake": "Really? Have we forgotten why we're here? The entire reason we're in this situation is that Cantor's fellow party members in the Senate won't allow any votes on health care at all."

Weak Tea Party turnout for anti-health care rally. HuffPost: "Tea Party organizers told CNN that somewhere between 1,000 and 3,000 people gathered today in Washington D.C. But the Democratic National Committee estimates placed the number of attendees at a mere 300, an amount that they later mocked and used as evidence that 'the air is out of the tea party balloon,' as DNC spokeswoman Brandi Hoffine said..."

NBC/WSJ poll finds political risk for congresspeople no matter which way they vote: "If their representative votes with Republicans to defeat the bill, 34 percent say they would be less likely to re-elect that member ... But if their member of Congress votes with Democrats to pass the legislation, 36 percent say they would be less likely to re-elect that member ... Translation: 'There is no easy place right now in the health care debate,' says McInturff, the GOP pollster."

Congress still fine-tuning final bill to achieve strong cost estimate from CBO. Bloomberg: "Among the issues House leaders and the CBO are discussing are the size of subsidies for middle- and low-income families; changes to the Medicare payroll tax; the amount of funding states get for Medicaid programs for the poor and disabled, and payments to doctors who take Medicaid patients [as well as] the provision affecting the so-called 'doughnut hole,'..."

CBO wait risks delaying vote past this weekend. Roll Call: "That delay appeared to push a vote to Saturday at the earliest because House leaders want to give Members at least 72 hours to read the bill. If the package isn’t unveiled Wednesday, Democrats would not be able to keep the 72-hour rule and vote before President Barack Obama is scheduled to leave for his trip to Indonesia and Australia."

Anti-health care corporate lobbies vastly outspending reform advocates in final days. Politico: "...a pro-reform coalition announced that it would spend $1.7 million on advertising in about 17 districts urging House members to back the final bills and pledging support come the November midterms. But opponents, led by the Chamber and a coalition of other business trade groups, are spending about $750,000 a day, in essentially the same districts."

Howard Fineman reports on MSNBC that Rep. Dennis Kucinich will announce switch to "Yes" at press conference today. FireDogLake's Jane Hamsher calls on Kucinich to return donations if true.

"Members of the middle class are losing their health insurance faster than any other income group, according to a new report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, reports HuffPost.

"Big Insurance Rate Increase for Pennsylvania Poor" headlines NYT.

NYT chronicles Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's strategy of non-stop obstruction: "Even Mr. McConnell’s fellow Republicans say somewhat admiringly that he can be a secretive and coldly calculating tactician with an eye for political openings, someone more consumed by political strategy than ideology or philosophy."

Dodd Bill Hit From All Sides

Bank lobbyists poring through Dodd bill. Politico: "Banks, credit unions and financial firms that operate in more than one state are taking aim at language that would enable states to pass stronger consumer protection rules than the federal statutes ... The U.S. Chamber of Commerce ... is already increasing its ad buys inside and outside the Beltway opposing the consumer [protection agency] piece in Dodd’s bill."

Republicans on banking cmte complain Dodd is moving too fast, but leave door open to support: "Most of the unhappy GOP senators are expressing their displeasure in temperate terms, leaving alive hope that they may still come on board at some point in the legislative process. But not all ... In a positive sign for the bill’s Senate prospects, Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), No. 4 in GOP leadership said ... 'a lot of our people do want to vote for something.'"

GOP has no strategy on financial reform yet, reports Roll Call: "More so than on any other issue this Congress, Republicans appear nearly unanimous in their hope that a consensus can be reached and that the Senate ultimately produces a bill that they can support. But several influential Republicans acknowledged Tuesday that the Conference has yet to settle on a road map for financial regulation and is stuck in a wait-and-see mode."

Lobbyists opposing new fee to assist with identifying systemic risk. CQ: "[The bill] contains a provision that would result in assessments on financial institutions with more than $50 billion in assets [to] fund a new Office of Financial Research ... on top of cash that large institutions would have to pay into another fund to cover the potential collapse of large financial firms..."

Fed will control CFPA budget notes Dean Baker: "This means that if the Fed believes that the agency is causing too much trouble to the financial industry, it would have the power to squeeze its budget so that it would become less troublesome."

NYT op-ed contributor Daniel Carpenter rips decision to put CFPA in Fed: " The Fed’s politically reactive posture is the exact opposite of the sustained care that consumer financial protection demands."

Bernanke to argue for retaining all bank oversight in congressional testimony today. Bloomberg: "Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said the central bank is best qualified to oversee the largest financial institutions and should retain its oversight of smaller banks as well."

W. Post Ezra Klein argues the Dodd bill fails to deal with failed regulators: "...this bill gives those failed regulators more power and autonomy, not less. It deals with the information that they didn't have and it deals with the authority they didn't have, but it doesn't deal with their failure to want to regulate."

Wonk Room's Pat Garofalo defends Dodd approach to "too-big-to-fail": "...it bars financial firms from owning more than 10 percent of the assets in the financial system, while creating a Financial Stability Oversight Council ... that will recommend stricter capital and leverage standards for firms as they grow ... firms will have to write living wills, laying out their interconnectedness and liabilities in the event that they fail ... on this piece, he does seem to have thought through a workable way to ensure that firms have a hard time becoming gigantic, and have no expectation of a taxpayer funded bailout, regardless of their size."

PRWatch.org's Mary Bottari lists 7 positives and 6 negatives of the Dodd bill, including criticism of "too-big-to-fail" provisions: "Capital requirements and leveraging requirements to be set by regulators [but] No break up of the too big to fail banks, no prevention of too big to fail."

Bipartisan Bill Presses China On Currency

Bipartisan Senate bill aims to pressure China on currency manipulation. CQ: "The measure unveiled Tuesday ... would change the criteria used in making that decision and force Treasury to report to Congress biannually on 'fundamentally misaligned currencies' ... If the “priority” countries did not address alignment concerns within 90 days, the administration would be required to take action at the International Monetary Fund and end federal procurement from those countries. After 360 days, the U.S. Trade Representative would be required to request dispute settlement proceedings at the World Trade Organization ... Prospects for action [at the committee level] remain unclear..."

NYT edit board calls for international response to China: "One way would be to press the I.M.F. to officially pronounce on whether China is breaking the rules and manipulating its exchange rate. That is part of the fund’s job ... it would help if some other countries — certainly those in the European Union, but perhaps aspiring players including India and South Korea — started publicly making the case that the cheap renminbi is hurting them, too."

Weak WH Jobs Forecast

Pessimistic WH jobs forecast spurs congressional calls for greater infrastructure investment. The Hill: "Net monthly job growth for this year would be about 100,000, a pace not quick enough to substantially cut the 9.7 percent jobless rate, said White House economist Christina Romer ... Jobs would grow at a faster pace in coming years — about 200,000 per month in 2011 and 250,000 in 2012 — but that still wouldn’t be enough to bring the jobless rate down to pre-recession levels ... A number of Democrats called on the administration to create a new national infrastructure bank to finance projects, instead of devoting $4 billion to an infrastructure fund."

Senate skittish on using TARP funds for Main Street jobs. CQ: "House Democrats said they would take $75 billion from the Troubled Asset Relief Program ... to pay for part of the $154 billion jobs bill ... But the TARP idea is running into problems in the Senate ... Senate Budget Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., said ... he does not view the funding shift as a valid way to prevent deficit growth..."

Sen. Sherrod Brown and Rep. Russ Carnahan seek to help local transit avoid service cuts and layoffs. Streetsblog: "The Brown-Carnahan measure would allow urban areas -- now barred from spending federal money on operating, save for 10 percent of their stimulus allocations -- to use between 30 percent and one-half of their federal transit grants to defray the cost of keeping trains and buses running. The bill also would free up more funding for urban transit agencies that have demonstrated cuts in carbon emissions after getting anti-pollution stimulus grants ... "

Conservatives Shill For Bank Lobby on Student Loan Reform

Wonk Room's Pat Garofalo flags conservative congresspeople shilling for bank lobby, calling student loan reform a "job-killer": "... let’s recognize the congressmen’s statements for what they are: a defense of wasting taxpayer money on loan companies that add no value to the educational experience."

Republicans use "government takeover" talking point to defend government subsidies to private student lenders. W. Post: "Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said student borrowers would receive worse service if the government monopolizes the business ... Democrats and the Obama administration said that the guaranteed loan program amounts to a giveaway to banks that could be better spent on students."

Next Steps On Climate In Senate Unclear

President Clinton urges Senate to tackle climate and create jobs: "Former President Bill Clinton urged Senate Democrats to pass energy and climate change legislation that he said would provide an economic spark to the U.S."

Draft Senate bill to be modeled by EPA soon, next steps unclear. The Hill: "Reid noted that the Energy and Natural Resources Committee has already approved a broad energy measure ... 'The question is, do we amend that with the climate change stuff, or do we come up with a new bill to take care of all that?' Reid said ... Lieberman told reporters Tuesday that they hope to have draft legislative language by the end of next week to provide to EPA for modeling."

Grist's Josh Nelson asks "Is Senator Graham looking for an excuse to bail on climate legislation?": "When democrats pass health care legislation in the next few days, Senator Graham will have a potentially career-defining decision to make. He can take the easy route, the predictable path, by joining
republicans in an orchestrated tantrum and an attempt to completely shut down the government. Or he can do what he knows is right and continue working for clean energy legislation that will create jobs, reduce pollution and improve our national security."

Christian Coalition running ads supporting Graham's efforts on climate bill. CBS: "There is certainly room for bipartisan support on the issue, however. The Christian Coalition of America, founded by conservative televangelist Pat Robertson, supports climate change legislation and last week released a radio ad urging its supporters to call Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and encourage him to continue working on the issue."

Carbon tax on motor fuels, instead of carbon cap, may win Big Oil support for climate compromise. Politico: "Supporters believe that consumers will opt to lower their fuel consumption if gas prices increase. Oil companies think the bill is fairer because it puts greater impetus to lower emissions on consumers than on producers, which, they argue, are just responding to market forces ... Revenues from the tax would be used to fund programs promoting cleaner transportation options like public transit, bike and pedestrian projects and carpooling." EARLIER from Wonk Room: "American Petroleum Institute Tells Lawmakers It Supports Carbon Fee Because It’s Easier To Demonize."

Climate Progress on new CAP-NRDC-UAW report finding climate policy will create manufacturing jobs: "...saving oil will create good jobs, not in the abstract, but directly by driving demand for specific additional manufactured components. The move to greater fuel economy means greater labor content per vehicle and higher employment across the fleet ... . By 2020 this analysis shows ... supplying the U.S. automobile market with more efficient cars could provide a net gain of over 190,000 new jobs from improvements to fuel economy alone."

Progressive Breakfast: Health Care is In The House

Bill Scher — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 05:21:28 -0700

Each morning, Bill Scher and Terrance Heath serve up what progressives need to affect change on the kitchen-table issues families face: jobs, health care, green energy, financial reform, affordable education and retirement security.

House Begins Reconciliation Process, Aims For Final Vote This Week

TNR's Jonathan Cohn argues that since Dem leaders can't be sure they have the votes for health care, public pressure is critical: " It’s not clear if that push will come. Recent polls show a clear change in public opinion: People are demonstrating more approval both of the Democrats and their reform bill. But, as far as I can tell, an enthusiasm gap remains. Conservatives hate the bill. Liberals, well, they’re still learning to like it." Click here to demand an up-or-down vote on health care.

House budget cmte begins the reconciliation progress. Swampland's Kate Pickert: "The House budget committee took a procedural step late Sunday night that opens the door to begin moving a reconciliation package on Monday ... Expect to see major procedural progress - or major stalls - happen every day this week."

W. Post lays out the expected schedule: "House Democrats expect to receive a final cost estimate by Monday afternoon, when the House Budget Committee is scheduled to vote on the reconciliation package. It would then go to the House Rules Committee, where Chairman Louise M. Slaughter (D-N.Y.) could package it with the $875 billion measure the Senate passed on Christmas Eve. The package is also expected to include Obama's proposed overhaul of the student-loan system. The full House is expected to vote on both measures by week's end, with the climactic moment coming as soon as Thursday but, more likely, Friday or Saturday, aides said."

Slate's John Dickerson finds GOP misreading and mistreating Sen. Byrd in their efforts against health care reform: "They cite the Senate's longest-serving member to support their argument that President Obama and Senate Democrats are breaking the rules to pass health care legislation. ... [But] Republicans don't need to guess at what the senator believes ... he wrote a letter to the Charleston Daily Mail [and] essentially endorsed reconciliation as Democrats plan to use it."

President campaign for health care in Ohio today. LAT: "The president ... plans to campaign for the measure in Strongsville, Ohio, on Monday. Natoma Canfield, a cancer patient and self-employed maintenance worker from the Cleveland suburb, wrote the president saying she no longer could afford healthcare after her insurance premiums rose to $8,500 a year. The decision forced her to choose between insurance and her home, and she decided to keep her house."

"House Democratic leaders are growing increasingly confident that they can avoid an impasse on abortion," reports Roll Call.

Swampland's Amy Sullivan reports that the Catholic Hospitals Association has endorsed the president's final health care proposal. "Among the charges lodged against the Senate's abortion language by opponents is the idea that it weakens conscience protections for Catholic health providers. The CHA's statement makes no mention of this concern..."

Swing Democrats hammered with multi-million dollar anti-health care ad campaign. NYT: "The coalition of groups opposing the legislation, led by the United States Chamber of Commerce, is singling out 27 Democrats who supported the health care bill last year and 13 who opposed it ... could total $30 million before week’s end ... the lawmakers Mr. Obama and Speaker Nancy Pelosi were trying to persuade to vote for the measure were taking a pounding in their districts."

MoveOn raising money to fund challengers to anti-health care Dems reports HuffPost.

W. Post edit board debunks myth that student loan reform, likely to be part of health care bill, is a "government takeover": "Opponents would make it appear as though Democrats want bureaucrats to destroy a functioning private market for federally backed student loans. In fact, the only reason any private company is in the business of originating such loans is because of government support, and propping up that artificial market is expensive..."

After health care, W. Post speculates that WH will prioritize financial reform and campaign finance over climate and immigration this year: "...although Obama expressed a commitment to work for energy and immigration reform, according to the meetings' [congressional] participants, he did not pledge to take the lead this year ... he made clear it was up to those in the room to come up with the votes."

Dodd Bill To Be Released Today

Dodd to announce financial reform proposal today. NYT: "... a consumer protection agency within the Federal Reserve ... In a concession to liberals, states’ attorneys general could sue violators of those rules ... in a nod to Republicans, the bill would allow a council of regulators, led by the Treasury, to overturn proposed consumer rules by a two-thirds vote ... [The Fed] would be entrusted for the first time with oversight of all of the largest and most interconnected financial companies, even if they are not banks... The bill would allow regulators, after a study, to implement elements of [the Volcker rule.]"

"Dodd has scheduled a markup for the week of March 22," reports The Hill.

GOP Sen. Bob Corker expects to like the bill .. and not vote for it. W. Post: "Corker said Dodd's new bill almost certainly would not get his and other Republicans' support. Still, he said it will be 'a huge improvement' over the initial proposal that Dodd released last November ... 'I think this last month has helped produce a far better product.'"

Calculated Risk sums up the early reports of the Dodd bill: "The derivative regulation is a positive step forward. I'm not sure about the systemic risk council, but this could be helpful. The consumer financial protection agency as part of the Fed is really no change."

NYT's edit board slams Fed for weak rules on credit cards: "The biggest flaw is that the proposed rules fail to regulate so-called 'penalty interest' charges, under which interest rates can be doubled or even tripled for infractions like late payments. The Fed tries to defend this omission by arguing that the proportionality provision in the legislation does not specifically refer to penalty interest rates. That’s a convenient interpretation if you own a credit card company."

China Digs In On Manipulating Currency

Chinese Premier denies currency is undervalued. W. Post: "Wen countered that he didn't think the yuan was undervalued and that the U.S. method -- seeking to enlarge exports through tweaking currency exchange rates -- was protectionist ... letting the yuan, or renminbi, appreciate again ... might increase the price of Chinese goods, thereby lowering America's $225 billion trade deficit with Beijing."

IMF reportedly deems China's currency undervalued, notes NYT in larger piece on how China is "skillfully using inconsistencies in international trade rules to spur its own economy at the expense of others, including the United States."

NYT's Paul Krugman backs tariff on China if they won't stop manipulating currency: " In 1971 the United States dealt with a similar but much less severe problem of foreign undervaluation by imposing a temporary 10 percent surcharge on imports ... it’s hard to see China changing its policies unless faced with the threat of similar action — except that this time the surcharge would have to be much larger, say 25 percent."

Progressive Breakfast: Reconcile This

Bill Scher — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 06:06:34 -0800

March 18 Still The Goal To Pass Health Care In The House

House timeline could lead to March 18 vote. CQ: "Congressional Budget Office scores of the final bill were expected Friday ... According to plans under discussion Thursday, the Budget Committee would act first, on March 15 ... The Rules Committee would then follow on March 17 ... with a rule for debate on both the reconciliation bill and the Senate health care bill. The full House could then take up the measures together, as soon as the next day..."

LAT reports congressional leaders not committing to that timeframe: "...senior Democrats acknowledged that they were not ready to move forward, and could miss a tentative deadline for a first vote next week."

W. Post's Ezra Klein sums up Reid roundhouse letter to McConnell: "Reconcile this." "...one might conclude that Republicans believe a majority vote is sufficient to increase the deficit and benefit the super-rich, but not to reduce the deficit and benefit the middle class. Alternatively, perhaps Republicans believe a majority vote is appropriate only when Republicans are in the majority. Either way, we disagree."

Reports from GOPers that Senate Parliamentarian would not allow reconciliation votes until Senate bill signed into law appear to be false. CQ: "The parliamentarian ... later reportedly clarified his position to Senate aides, saying that the reconciliation bill could be written in a way that would not require Obama to sign the Senate bill into law before the reconciliation bill is voted on."

GOP strategy involves sowing House distrust of senators. Bloomberg: "To assure House members the Senate will pass reconciliation, Senator Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, said he’d be willing to sign a letter with 50 other senators pledging to do so ... Republicans say rank-and-file Democrats shouldn’t trust their leaders. 'What the president is doing is asking House Democrats to hold hands, jump off a cliff, and hope Harry Reid catches them,' Senator Lamar Alexander..."

House may move without any changes to Senate abortion language reports HuffPost.

Rep. Waxman says talks with Stupak continue notes TPMDC

Four more anti-abortion House Dems -- Reps. Steve Driehaus, Marcy Kaptur, James Oberstar and Charlie Wilson -- open to voting for Senate language reports CQ.

Stupak’s Abortion Gang Falling Apart As Pro-Life Members Admit Senate Bill Won’t Fund Abortions says Wonk Room.

FireDogLake's Jane Hamsher and DailyKos' mcjoan rip Sen. Durbin for pressuring public option supporters to vote against it in reconciliation.

TPMDC suggests public option supporters don't have a firm 41 senators in hand: "...a closer look suggests some of the latest additions are senators who only conditionally support a public option being passed through reconciliation. "

Sen. Sanders planning to force up-or-down vote on public option reports The Plum Line.

Rep. Alan Grayson now has 50 cosponsors for his Medicare buy-in bill. OpenLeft's Chris Bowers: "Every indication has always been that there is overwhelming support for a Medicare buy-in among Congressional Democrats. This could very well pass as a stand alone bill, especially in 2011 once filibuster reform has taken place. This is definitely one of the ways that progressives can viably continue the fight for real health reform no matter what happens to the current bill."

NYT's Paul Krugman pushes back on claims that President's proposal does not cut costs: "The [Medicare] actuary’s assessment of the Senate bill, for example, finds that it would raise total health care spending by less than 1 percent, while extending coverage to 34 million Americans ... That’s a large expansion in coverage at an essentially trivial cost. [Plus,] the Congressional Budget Office has just concluded, in a new report, that the arithmetic of reform will look better in its second decade ... [And] health reform is likely to do much better at controlling costs than any of the official projections suggest."

James Parks at the AFL-CIO observes that rising health insurance premiums seem to be related to a rise in support for reform: "A survey from Economist/YouGov released this week, shows 53 percent of respondents support changes proposed by the Obama administration. ... Meanwhile, a study by Health Care for America Now (HCAN) shows jaw-dropping insurance premium hikes-up 97 percent for families and 90 percent for individuals between 2000 and 2008."

If Members of Congress can't seem to listen to the public, perhaps they will take the time to listen to 11-year-old Marcelas Owens talk about the death of his mother HuffPost quotes: "I am here because of my mom. My mom was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension in 2006. She missed so much work she lost her job. And when my mom lost her job, she lost her health care. And losing her health care ended up costing her her life."

Dodd Moves Without GOP On Financial Reform. (But What's In His Bill?)

Consumer advocates still concerned Dodd will propose watered-down reforms. HuffPost: "... while [the Independent Community Bankers Association] supports strengthening consumer protection, it doesn't want an independent consumer-focused agency targeting community banks ... Dodd was reportedly willing to negotiate on these key points -- to the detriment of consumers, consumer groups and reformers argue."

Dodd trying to not repeat Baucus health care debacle. Politico: "...Corker said it is clear Dodd is under pressure from the White House and other Democrats to get a bill out of the Senate Banking Committee before reconciliation distracts the chamber from other business ... 'God bless Bob Corker. We appreciate all the help he gave us, but at some point we just can’t wait,' Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said when asked about Corker’s assertion concerning reconciliation. 'Sen. Baucus spent 61 different meetings with Republicans trying to get something on health care. There reaches a point where you have to accept the inevitable.'"

MyDD's Charles Lemos hopes Dodd didn't wait too long: " It has long been clear that the Republicans are not interested in governing. With their interminable delays, they have sought, and frankly largely succeeded, in derailing the agenda of the Obama Administration. While it may not be too late to actually achieved wide-ranging reforms, that window of opportunity is now measured in just months."

Corker still looks to shape legislation. W. Post: "...Corker said he would continue to work toward agreement on the remaining issues. 'What Chairman Dodd is going to do, probably, is introduce a bill on Monday that is a little to the left of where we were, to try to ensure that he can do as much as he can in the way of getting Democratic support on the committee,' Corker said. 'And then I think he will move to the right.'"

Reuters' Felix Salmon says bipartisanship will still be necessary to get a bill passed: "[The American Prospect's Tim] Fernholz points out that Democrats, too, want decent Republican support, saying that 'moderate Democrats on the committee are leery of portions of the bill and would prefer to have Republican cover': his datapoint here is that of the 13 Democrats on the committee, only 7 have gone on the record saying they’d support an independent CFPA. So Dodd’s going to design his bill to have the best possible chance of getting Republican support once it comes out of markup, while still being acceptable to the left wing of the Democratic party."

Yellin May Be Next Fed Vice-Chair

Former Fed governor Janet Yellin reportedly to become Fed vice-chair. Bloomberg: "Yellen ... said last month that the U.S. economy 'still needs the support of extraordinarily low' interest rates ... The Obama administration is also working to fill two other vacancies on the seven-member Fed board. Among the candidates is Sarah Bloom Raskin, 48, Maryland’s commissioner of financial regulation ... Peter Diamond, an economics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is also under consideration ..."

Calcuated Risk gives Yellin a thumbs up: "She was way ahead of most other Fed members in recognizing the housing bubble ... She is also very focused on unemployment (something we need right now)."

Momentum Returns To Pass Student Loan Reform With Simple Majority

Student loan reform now likely to be included in health care reconciliation bill. W. Post: "Key Senate Democrats initially balked at combining the health-reform bill with a measure that overhauls the nation's student-loan program, but on Thursday they had warmed to the idea ... Conrad said the Senate parliamentarian suggested in a preliminary ruling that combining the bills could work, provided that the right balance on cost was found. "

CQ has more on what cost adjustments might be needed: "...the Congressional Budget Office released an estimate last week that lowered the measure’s potential savings from $87 billion to $67 billion, raising questions about whether it would be deficit neutral. Provisions in the House bill to expand early education programs and increase access to higher education, including increasing the availability of Pell grants, are based on the earlier, $87 billion estimate. If the student loan bill were included in a reconciliation package, negotiators would need to adjust the measure accordingly."

Pairing student loan reform with health care now seen as necessary to meet reconciliation requirements. Politico: "The Senate parliamentarian notified Democratic leaders that, in order to meet the reconciliation requirements, both the Senate health and finance committees would need to produce $1 billion in deficit savings each over the next 10 years, [Sen. Kent] Conrad said ... [The health cmte] would not be able to show the items within its jurisdiction save at least $1 billion. By inserting the education package, the committee would satisfy the reconciliation instructions, Conrad said."

Some congresspeople arguing that adding student loan reform will attract more health care votes than it loses. CQ: "'It helps in the House,' [Rep. George Miller] said. 'It’s very important in the House.'"

300,000 New Jobs In March?

Talk of as many as 300,000 new jobs in March. Bloomberg: "White House economic adviser Lawrence Summers said the U.S. economy soon will start generating jobs and move a step closer to lowering the nation’s unemployment rate ... Better weather, hiring of temporary government workers and a growing economy are likely to expand payrolls by as much as 300,000 jobs in March, David Greenlaw, chief fixed-income economist at Morgan Stanley in New York, said ... Still, Summers said the recovery 'is likely to be less rapid than in some past historical instances.'"

Senate schedules cloture vote on revised jobs tax credit bill for Monday reports CQ.

Digby renames deficit hawks as "Little Hoovers": "Little Hoovers want to shock the states so they can break the state level public sector programs once and for all. At the very least, all those useless bureaucratic parasites living off the taxpayers need to be brought down to the level of the rest of the proles. Saving their jobs and the services they provide is counter-productive to the goals of the revolution."

American Prospect's Jake Blumgart examines why the president is having trouble fixing the Department of Labor's Bush-era damage: "Under both Bush and Clinton, the Department of Labor largely relied on a complaint-based strategy, reacting to complaints as they came in ... The two Labor Department appointees blocked in the Senate were both known advocates of ambitiously scaled, strategically planned investigations."

Obama delivers speech on strategy to boost exports, still walks fine line on trade: "...we will substantially increase access to trade financing for businesses that want to export their goods but just need a boost ... We’ll create public-private partnerships to help firms break into new markets with the help of those who have been there ... [We will make] sure American companies have free and fair access to those markets. And that begins by enforcing trade agreements we already have on the books ... But keep in mind, the United States offers some of the world’s lowest barriers to trade. That’s why we can often get more out of a trade deal, because our borders are largely already open ... We’re going to strengthen relations with key partners, specifically South Korea, Panama, Colombia, with the goal of moving forward with existing agreements in a way that upholds our values ... China moving to a more market-oriented exchange rate will make an essential contribution to that global rebalancing effort."

Bipartisan Immigration Proposal In The Works

Sens. Schumer and Graham meet with Obama to advance immigration reform. LAT "Graham said the elements included tougher border security, a program to admit temporary immigrant workers and a biometric Social Security card ... Graham also said the proposal included 'a rational plan to deal with the millions of illegal immigrants already in the United States ... We're not going to mass-deport people and put them in jail ...' ... Graham predicted that their effort would collapse if Senate Democrats proceeded with a strategy to pass a healthcare bill through a simple majority vote ... Obama and Schumer sounded more upbeat."

Progressive Breakfast: "Time For Talk Is Over"

Bill Scher — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 06:19:15 -0800

Obama: "The Time For Talk Is Over. It's Time To Vote."

Speaker Pelosi today begins "walking her members through" the final health care bill language, reports Politico: "'We’re going to get started,' Pelosi said as she left the Capitol Wednesday night ... The speaker and her leadership team have their work cut out for them as they approach an Easter deadline to wrap up a year’s worth of work on health care reform in the next two-and-a-half weeks."

WH-Congress near final health care agreement. AP: "A closed-door meeting in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office Wednesday evening moved congressional leaders and administration officials close to agreement on such issues as additional subsidies to help lower-income families ... and more aid for states under the Medicaid program ... Democrats still need to see a final cost estimate from the Congressional Budget Office..."

In St. Louis, President emphasizes track record in cutting waste to bolster health care cost-savings argument. Bloomberg quotes: "So much of the money currently in our health-care system is being misspent ... If we can have a smarter health-care system, then yes, we can provide help to middle-class folks who need it and, at the same time, actually reduce the burden on taxpayers.”

LAT on the president's plan to support waste-fighters: "...Obama has proposed expanding a program to reward private bounty hunters who find waste by auditing government payments through what are called 'payment recapture audits.' The White House reported that a pilot program in California, New York and Texas yielded $900 million in Medicare savings between 2005 and 2009."

TNR's Jonathan Cohn points out Congress will get the same insurance as many Americans under the bill: "The provision would require that members of Congress and their staff get insurance through the new insurance exchanges, once they are up and running ... It's giving Congress what everybody else has, instead of giving everybody else what Congress has. Maybe that will sound more credible to the skeptics."

W. Post's Chris Cilllizza reports health care is now a big test of Organizing For America's grassroots muscle: "The House vote looks like it will be decided by a small margin, with a number of Democrats publicly -- and privately -- on the fence about the legislation. OFA, according to its defenders, was built for exactly this sort of situation. But, there are lingering questions in the Democratic operative community about whether or not OFA has been effective in doing much of anything other than (sort of) rallying the base of the party behind Obama's priorities."

HHS Sec. confronts insurance industry. Politico: "...she spent much of her 20-minute speech recounting tales of Americans who have lost their coverage because of skyrocketing insurance prices and reminding the audience that major insurers have poured millions of dollars into ad campaigns opposing reform legislation that has been moving through Congress for more than a year."

Newsweek's Daniel Gross Republicans' claim that health care reform will mean a "government takeover" of one-sixth of the economy is bogus: "... the bills under consideration don't contain a public option and don't provide for a single payer. In fact, they provide subsidies for millions of people to purchase private insurance."

HuffPost reports 41 Senators now backing public option through reconciliation: "Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) became the 41st senator ... [He] was unequivocal. "Yes," ... momentum has come without any organized effort by Senate leadership or from the White House."

Sen. Durbin acknowledges some of those 41 will be asked to vote against public option. Roll Call: "...ome supporters of creating a public insurance option are privately worried that they will be asked to vote against the idea during debate on the bill ... Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) acknowledged Wednesday that liberals may be asked to oppose any amendment, including one creating a public option, to ensure a smooth ride for the bill. 'We have to tell people, "You just have to swallow hard" and say that putting an amendment on this is either going to stop it or slow it down, and we just can’t let it happen,'..."

6 right-leaning Senate Dems push back on also including student loan reform in reconciliation bill. Politico: "Sens. Lincoln, Bayh, Webb, Warner, Ben Nelson and Bill Nelson wrote that the Senate must move forward 'in a thoughtful manner that considers potential alternative legislative proposals.' Including the House-passed lending overhaul in the health reform bill would not give senators much room to tweak it. Sen. Dick Durbin, the Senate's No. 2 Democrat, said yesterday that the lending overhaul would only be included if it helped win votes for health care reform."

Sen. Sanders pushing state-based single-payer strategy. W. Post Ezra Klein: "'Right now,' he explained, 'we have language in the bill that says that states that want to go forward with single payer can do that.' He's talking about the Waiver for State Innovation ... And before some of my conservative readers decide this is a liberal trapdoor in the middle of the bill, the provision could be used to develop a much more conservative approach to universal health care. In fact, it's a legislative expression of the GOP's third plank for health-care reform..."

Steven D, at the Booman Tribune backs Rep. Alan Grayson's new bill to allow Americans to buy into Medicare at cost: " I'd pay for Medicare coverage for myself and my children in a heart beat rather than keep tossing money at ~~corporate bloodsuckers~~ America's private health insurance industry."

Bold Jobs Bill Proposed, As Senate Passes Long-Term Jobless Aid

New House "Local Jobs For America Act" from Rep. George Miller would directly create 1 million jobs. OurFuture.org's Isaiah Poole: "...These include about a quarter million jobs in education, and 750,000 other jobs providing services that range from public safety to child care, in both the public and private sector ... These jobs, they maintain, would not be temporary, make-work positions ... the legislation addresses the fundamental inadequacy of last year's Recovery Act bill in compensating for the spending cuts that state and local governments did..." More details from AFL-CIO's James Parks.

Rep. Miller hopes $100B jobs bill will prod Senate to think big. Roll Call: "Miller said he hopes that when mayors come to Washington, D.C., next week to lobby, they will help convince the Senate of the need to act ... the Senate hasn’t yet put together anything close to the package Miller is proposing, instead choosing to split legislation into a series of proposals that are harder for Republicans to oppose."

Senate passes long-term jobless aid, additional funding to states for Medicaid, on bipartisan vote. Bloomberg: "The vote was 62 to 36. Six Republicans joined Democrats in voting for the bill; the only Democrat to oppose it was Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska."

"16 Senators From States With Double-Digit Jobless Rates Vote Against Extending Unemployment Benefits" reports Wonk Room.

Some House members concerned about duplicative revenue raisers in Senate bill. The Hill: "House Democrats suggested they may make changes to the Senate bill when they take it up [noting] that the revenue raisers in the Senate bill are already included in the healthcare reform proposal favored by President Barack Obama."

Senate may turn to infrastructure investment soon. The Hill: "Oberstar, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chairman, said that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told him he would soon bring up a bill that included the infrastructure and state fiscal aid measures from the House jobs bill .. before Congress leaves for the Easter break."

President to ramp up effort to boost exports. AP: "An administration official says Obama will issue an executive order Thursday creating an Export Promotion Cabinet of federal agencies whose work affects exports ... Two prominent business leaders will be named to lead the President's Export Council, an advisory committee on international trade. They are the president and CEO of The Boeing Co., Jim McNerney, and the CEO of Xerox Co., Ursula Burns."

NYT highlights complaints of Obama by supporters loose trade agreements: "...supporters of freeing up trade say the administration has been slow to move..."

Roll Call finds House liberals newly impressed with Obama's balanced approach to trade: "Between sending U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk to meet with House Democrats to find common ground on trade policies and then announcing a deal with Canada allowing U.S. businesses to bid on Canadian government procurement and vice versa, Obama has come a long way since angering liberals last year after signaling an interest in advancing leftover trade deals from the Bush administration."

Jared Bernstein, Chief Economist to the Vice President keeps the focus on what the Recovery Act has accomplished: "...there are hundreds of thousands of teachers in classrooms and police on the beat, construction workers fixing roads, weatherizing and rehabbing buildings, engineers building out the smart grid and planning new high-speed rail lines, and much more ... for each one of these jobs, there are many others helping to supply materials and services to these firms and workers. We'll be throwing a lot more stones in the water in coming months, and I'll be sure to keep [you] posted on both the splash and the ripples."

HuffPost's Arthur Delaney highlights expiring stimulus program that could cost 100,00 jobs: "...more than 100,000 people ... will lose their jobs by September unless Congress extends a stimulus bill provision that gives states funding to create jobs programs for low-income parents and young adults ... On Tuesday, Senate Republicans (and four Democrats) defeated a $1.3 billion measure that extends funding until March 2011 for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Emergency Fund ... Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Wednesday that Senate Democrats will revisit the measure soon."

Kansas City decides to shutter 26 schools to help close budget gap reports McClatchy.

Five Senators Introduce Volcker Rule Bill

Dodd-Corker compromise plans not enough for group of progressive senators. Politico: "A group of Senate Democrats is championing legislation to quash big banks’ high-risk trading activities ... It’s is the latest public sign that members of the wider Democratic caucus are unhappy with the direction Republicans are pushing the [Dodd] legislation ... The legislation closely mirrors what the White House has pitched to Congress – known as the 'Volcker rule' ... — and even appears to widen its reach.

Dem Sens. Merkley, Levin, Brown, Shaheen and Kaufman on board. HuffPost: "[They] are pushing the Obama administration's proposal to rein in banks' Wall Street-like practices, such as trading securities for their own profit, while they enjoy the protections afforded by U.S. taxpayers through deposit insurance and access to cheap funds courtesy of short-term loans from the Federal Reserve. Their legislation also attempts to sever the ties between banks and largely unregulated hedge funds and private equity funds -- firms that invest and bet for the benefit of their investors."

Baseline Scenario's Simon Johnson says upcoming Kaufman speech provides the narrative Obama has lacked: "He will say, according to what is now on his website ...We need to modernize and apply the same general principles that were behind the Glass-Steagall ... We need size caps on the biggest banks in our financial system ...We should tighten capital requirements substantially ... And we must regulate derivatives more tightly ... because the administration so completely lost the narrative regarding what happened and why, there is now a free, open, and fair competition to explain what we need to do."

Sen. Corker feeling heat for trying to protect predatory payday lenders. CQ: "... as he rejected suggestions that he was seeking to ease potential regulations on payday lenders, Sen. Bob Corker provided new details Wednesday on how a proposed consumer protection supervisor might be structured ... he envisioned a system in which a new consumer supervisor would write rules governing a variety of financial products, and individual regulators ... would enforce those rules on the institutions under their oversight ... For payday lenders, Corker said, that means the Federal Trade Commission ... The FTC typically gets involved when a lender is charged with engaging in unfair or deceptive practices, which can be a high bar for consumers wishing to lodge a complaint."

HuffPost's Adam McKay urges Alabama to put heat on Sen. Shelby for a consumer protection agency: "...why would Senator Shelby fight against the interests of the people of Alabama? Simple. Cause those same banks and credit card companies are the ones who give him a ton of cash."

Baseline Scenario's James Kwak finds survey of private business economists backs consumer protection agency: "The financial sector has been ... threatening that greater regulation will make credit harder to come by. Apparently the business community–a group that is pretty skeptical about government, judging by some of the other survey responses–isn’t buying it."

Sen. Sherrod Brown pushing Obama to name Fed governors who will look out for consumers. HuffPost: "The chair of a Senate panel overseeing the Federal Reserve wants the Obama administration to appoint Fed officials committed to transparency, consumer protection and lowering the unemployment rate -- three critical areas that the Fed needs to beef up."

Naked Capitalism backs Brown's call: "One of the bizarre things that occurs whenever particular high profile slots are up for grabs is that the discussion rapidly devolves into which candidate A Lot of People Have Heard Of should get it, rather than focusing on selection criteria ... [Sen. Brown] puts the focus on the right foot..."

The Base Gets Restless

USA Today explores whether Obama is losing his progressive base: "Their collective discontent, on issues from health care to nuclear energy to the handling of terrorism suspects, could mean bad news for Democrats during this fall's congressional elections."

Unions prepare to challenge Dems who don't back worker-friendly policies. The Hill: "Unions have already made their picks among dueling Democrats in the closely watched Senate primaries in Arkansas and Colorado, and union officials say to expect other early endorsements."

Alternet's Devon Walker urges progressives to stick with Obama: "Voicing criticism of this administration is one thing, but taking self-defeating stances is quite another. Are there really any progressives out there who honestly believe there is no difference between this administration and the Bush administration? Are there really progressives out there who believe an imperfect health care reform is no better than none at all?"

HuffPost's Ian defends Rep. Kucinich's opposition to the health care compromise, attacks Markos Moulitsas: "... if 'progressives' like Kos want to primary Kucinich, many other progressives will defend him and fight for him. So, instead of picking up new seats, we'll be wasting time and money fighting over a seat already held by a progressive."

Progressive Breakfast: Obama Grassroots v. Lobbyist Millions

Bill Scher — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 06:03:01 -0800

Obama Heads To St. Louis As Lobbyists Launch Ad Blitz To Kill Health Care Reform

St. Louis awaits "Trumanesque" address from Obama on health care today. St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "When Obama takes the stage at St. Charles High School before about 400 people this afternoon, he is expected to skewer the industry ... Obama planned to spell out a new White House initiative today that would pay private auditors to root out waste and fraud in Medicare and Medicaid ... If White House aides hoped that the Midwest visit today could snare another vote from the Missouri delegation, they might be disappointed. Rep. Ike Skelton ... said Tuesday that he had seen nothing to change his mind."

Speaker Pelosi aiming for vote on Senate bill this month, waiting for CBO. CNN: "Asked if House leaders want a letter or some other concrete assurance about what the Senate can pass in a reconciliation bill, Pelosi, D-California, said no. '... It's not a question of confidence. It's a question now of making sure those numbers are what we represent them to be and we have to have that validation from the CBO.'"

Sen. Minority Leader McConnell tries to scare House Dems that Senate won't pass changes in reconciliation, previews smear campaign. W. Post quotes: "House Democrats will have to decide whether they want to trust the Senate to fix their political problems ... They will be voting, when they pass the Senate bill, to endorse the Cornhusker Kickback, the Louisiana Purchase, the Gator-aid, the closed-door deal, the special deal for the unions..."

Grassroots protesters serve insurance companies with "citizen's arrest" warrant yesterday. HCAN's Jason Rosenbaum posts video.

HHS Sec. Sebelius to address insurance industry conference today reports Politico.

Anti-abortion Dem breaks with Stupak. Roll Call: "Rep. Dale Kildee (D-Mich.) ... said Tuesday night that he’s satisfied the Senate abortion language prohibits federal funding of abortions and will likely vote for the bill ... House Democratic leadership aides have predicted that they could perhaps cut the losses from Stupak’s coalition to a handful instead of the 10 or more Members he says will vote to bring down the Senate health care bill unless their demands are met."

Corporate lobbyists spending $1M a day to kill health care reform reports Bloomberg.

Right-leaning Dems dismiss GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham call to reject simple majority vote, reports Politico. "Sen. Ben] Nelson said[,] 'The Gang of 14 was directed at getting up-or-down votes. This is aimed at stopping an up-or-down vote.'"

Daily Kos' Markos Moulitsas predicts primary for Rep. Dennis Kucinich if he derails health care reports HuffPost.

The Hill maintains it's own whip count. 27 former No votes listed as "Undecided" or "No Comment."

Rush Limbaugh threatens to leave US if health care reform passes. Let's help pack his bags says OurFuture.org's Brian Dockstader. Click here to demand Congress take an up-or-down vote on health care.

Long-Term Jobless Aid Assured Passage Today

Eight GOPers reject filibuster of long-term unemployment insurance extension and state aid for Medicaid, reports Bloomberg: "[The bill offers] the jobless as many as 99 weeks of unemployment assistance averaging $300 per week along with a 65 percent subsidy to help buy health insurance through the federal Cobra program."

Senate will revisit jobs tax credit this week. W. Post: "Later this week, the Senate is expected to vote one more time on a separate $15 billion jobs measure that it has already approved once. The House tweaked that bill before passing it last week." The Hill adds: "One change provides more generous subsidies to the Build America Bonds that are included in the bill. That change has given some conservative lawmakers who supported the original measure pause when it comes to backing the proposal a second time."

New House Ways & Means chair Rep. Sander Levin previews jobs agenda. W. Post: "...he plans to meet this week with Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) to work out differences between the two chambers over the estate tax ... He and Baucus also are talking about two more jobs bills, to follow the two now pending in the Senate."

W. Post's Harold Meyerson highlights need for infrastructure bank to meet public desire to invest in America: "...in November 2008 ... L.A. County's beleaguered commuters voted to increase their sales tax by half a cent over the next 30 years to build an electric rail system that could speed their journeys and clean their air. Now, Los Angeles is asking Washington for loans ... to be repaid with that sales tax revenue, to accelerate said construction ... if the federal government could do this for Los Angeles, it could do this for other cities and counties whose voters have decided to tax themselves. Without adding to the deficit..."

Financial Reform Deals Spark Questions

NYT spotlights reported deal GOP Sen. Bob Corker struck to benefit home-state payday lenders: "[Corker] ressed to remove a provision from draft legislation that would have empowered federal authorities to crack down on payday lenders, people involved in the talks said. The industry is politically influential in his home state and a significant contributor to his campaigns, records show ... Mr. Corker pressed Mr. Dodd to scale back substantially the power that the consumer protection agency would have over such companies ... it would have to petition a body of regulators for authority over payday lenders and other nonbank financial companies ... Payday loans are short-term, high-interest loans — typically 400 percent on an annualized basis — to help borrowers cover expenses until their next paycheck. Many take out more loans, digging themselves deeper into debt."

Deal close on "too-big-too-fail" fund. Bloomberg: "Senate negotiators are closing in on a deal to create a $50 billion trust fund from fees on large financial firms ... to wind down failing institutions ... The Senate compromise would give the Federal Reserve the power to decide which firms would pay into a trust fund that would be held and managed by the Treasury..."

Sen. Dodd says that compromise could be completed in a "few days," as Sen. Shelby floats new consumer protection compromise. CQ: "Shelby indicated that he would reluctantly support giving regulators who monitor the safety and soundness of financial institutions ... the chance to object to rules proposed by the consumer supervisor, rather than veto authority ... But it is not an embrace of Dodd’s proposal to allow the supervisors to appeal the consumer regulator’s actions to a new council..."

Rep. Barney Frank pushing for formal House-Senate conference aired on C-Span to hash out financial reform differences. Politico: "...Frank’s plan would force Senate lawmakers to go on the record as choosing weaker proposals on the consumer protection piece and others."

WH-Senate Climate Meeting Lays Groundwork For Bipartisanship

President Obama and GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham team up to reject narrow bill without carbon cap. Politico: "President Obama took the idea of an energy-only bill – the preferred approach of moderate Democrats – off the table, saying he wanted a 'comprehensive' bill that includes a cap on greenhouse gas emissions ... Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) was impressed by Obama's commitment to a comprehensive approach and urged his GOP collegues to back the bill. 'I'm not going to support some half-assed reform,' he exclaimed ... Lieberman said the meeting was so encouraging that he wanted to bring the same lawmakers together in a new 'gang of 14,' after they released their proposal."

GOPers in attendance: Collins, Graham, Gregg, LeMieux, Lugar and Murkowski reports The Hill.

Business lobbyists intrigued by tripartisan proposal. CQ: "...representatives of 14 industry groups — including such powerful opponents of the House bill as the National Association of Manufacturers and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce — met Tuesday with [Sens. Kerry, Lieberman and Graham], and they expressed interest in the concept of tailoring emissions rules to fit the specific needs of different sectors of the economy ...[Sen. Carl] Levin’s wish list [for manufacturers] included provisions that would: Phase in emissions controls for manufacturers more slowly than those for utilities ... Condition emissions caps for manufacturers on implementation of a carbon tariff ... Give more free pollution allowances to manufacturers than the House bill would."

Kerry meets with Swift Boat attack ad financier T. Boone Pickens on climate bill. Newsweek: "...Kerry asked Pickens to take a look at his cap-and-trade plan, to which Pickens replied that he was still 'very skeptical' of such a proposal. But the two did agree on the ambitious goal of trying to get a bill to the president's desk by Memorial Day."

More GOP candidates denying climate crisis facts. LAT: "It wasn't long ago that Marco Rubio and Tim Pawlenty -- two rising Republican stars -- supported legislation to limit greenhouse gas emissions. But in recent weeks, both have begun to express doubts about whether cars, factories and power plants have anything to do with global warming ... In the face of a stiff primary challenge for his Senate reelection, McCain has backed away from his support for emissions limits."

American Farm Bureau lobbyist lying to farmers. Wonk Room's Brad Johnson: "His 'cow tax' lie is based on a figure from the Bush-era US Department of Agriculture, which noted that a 100-ton-per-year threshold of greenhouse gas pollution would cover 'even very small agricultural operations' ... The Environmental Protection Agency has no intentions of implementing a 100-ton-per-year threshold. Instead, it has proposed implementing a 25,000-ton threshold..."

China and India formally join Copenhagen Accord. NYT: "Analysts who have studied the pledges find that they fall short of the overall goal of the agreement, but would make a substantial dent in the greenhouse gas emissions that are heating the planet China has said it will try to voluntarily reduce its emissions of carbon dioxide per unit of economic growth — a measure known as 'carbon intensity' — by 40 to 45 percent by 2020, compared with 2005 levels. India set a domestic emissions intensity reduction target of 20 to 25 percent by 2020, compared with 2005 levels, excluding its agricultural sector."

Progressive Breakfast: The Cost Of Doing Nothing

Bill Scher — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 06:20:51 -0800

Obama Warns Of Price Paid By Inaction On Health Care

Positive Senate reaction to Obama's first health care rally. LAT: "One Senate Democratic aide said Obama's out-of-town stops are helpful in that they create political space for members to cast a vote in support of the bill. 'He still has a powerful bully pulpit and he's still our best spokesman,'... Obama has settled on a simple narrative: Ordinary people are being victimized by profit-minded insurance companies."

WH emphasis on rising costs puts "price" on inaction. W. Post "'Part of the motivating factor here is letting members of Congress know there's a price to pay for failure,' White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said Monday in an interview. 'And for the public, it's important to remind them that there are premium increases of 40 percent for as far as you can see if nothing is done.'"

Top insurance lobbyist tries to shift blame for massive rate hikes, reports Politico, blames legislation for insufficient cost controls.

Why not trust state insurance regulators? Because many shill for the insurance industry. NYT interviews several echoing lobbyist talking points opposing WH plan to restrain rate hikes.

Campaign for America's Future launches grassroots effort to demand "up-or-down" vote on health care reform.

HCAN's Jason Rosenbaum preview's today's "mass citizen's arrest" of the insurance companies: "Thousands of people will descend on the insurance companies, who are having a conference in DC and plotting how to kill health reform at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel on 22nd Street. We're going to shut down their conference and stop them and business as usual, and we'll do whatever it takes to succeed."

Rep. Bart Stupak sounding optimistic about an abortion compromise reports Swampland's Michael Scherer.

Survey by The Hill of 100 possible Dem "defectors" finds 6 former "No" votes and 1 "Yes" vote considering switches. Politico finds two more former "Yes" votes now undecided.

Cloture Vote Today To Advance Long-Term Jobless Aid

Cloture vote expected on long-term unemployment insurance, state aid to fund Medicaid. AP: "...the measure would add $107 billion to the deficit over the coming decade. Democrats have labeled most of the bill an emergency measure, exempting it from stricter budget rules enacted just last month ... Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, provided crucial help last week to keep the measure out of another procedural tangle, and Democrats sound confident they will prevail."

W. Post interviews the people who barely survive thanks to unemployment insurance and the conservatives who hate them.

Provisions to offset cost with taxes on Wall Street execs fail to be included. CQ: "...as the cloture vote nears, controversial amendments ... now seem unlikely to be considered. That includes a closely watched proposal from Jim Webb, D-Va., and Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., to impose a tax on bonuses paid in 2009 to [bailed out] executives ... The House’s version of the tax extenders bill paid for itself by changing the tax treatment of the 'carried interest' income of private equity fund managers ... but that idea continues to have relatively little support in the Senate."

Dean Baker debunks conservative talking point that business won't hire because Obama's agenda breeds "uncertainty": "...employers here can lay off anyone they want, any time they want, with no restrictions whatsoever..."

Robert Reich sounds the alarm over the fiscal crisis facing our schools: "... the federal government should give states and local governments interest-free loans to make up for all school and university budget shortfalls ... A tiny one half of one percent tax on all financial transactions would generate about $200 billion a year ... enough to fund early childhood education, smaller K-12 classes, and lower tuitons and fees for public higher education."

Economist's View's Mark Thoma wants additional pressure put on states to stand with schools: "Once help in some form is available to the states, I'd consider going even further and penalizing states in some way if they reduce educational services to balance their budgets during the recession..."

Fed May Lose Some Reg Authority Over Banks

Fed may retain authority over large banks but not small banks. NYT: "Several high-ranking members of the Senate Banking Committee have reached a tentative consensus on a plan that would strip the Federal Reserve of regulatory powers over all but the very largest banks, those with more than $100 billion in assets ... The vast majority of the bank holding companies would be overseen by a regulatory agency formed from a merger of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which oversees national banks, and the Office of Thrift Supervision, which regulates savings and loans ... Regulation of the state banks would go to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ... The Fed’s chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, and presidents of the Fed’s district banks have strongly opposed such a move ..."

Calculated Risk notes fervent banker opposition to any consumer protection agency: "...Andrew Ross Sorkin brings us this quote in the NY Times '[Edward L. Yingling, president of the American Bankers Association] says, “We don’t care where you put it,” adding that their position has always been “we’re totally against it.”' That sure makes it clear ... this one is simple - if it is not independent, don't bother. Anything else is failure."

Payday lenders seen as winning exemption in Dodd-Corker deal. Politico: "Payday lenders, check-cashing outfits and rent-to-own stores operate, for all practical purposes, free from federal regulation — and President Barack Obama wants to change that with a consumer agency that spans the world of finance from high to low ... [But] The draft legislation being hammered out by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd of Connecticut and Republican Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee is widely expected to shield most nonbanks from the enforcement powers of the new consumer protection body ... Some critics said they believe Corker, Dodd’s top Republican negotiating partner, has pushed for the exemption because Tennessee is home to powerful payday-lending interests..."

Treasury meets with econ bloggers. Reuters' Felix Salmon offers optimistic takeaway: "...the message from Treasury was that financial reform is not dead in the Senate, and that in fact on some matters, including derivatives reform, there’s real hope that the Senate can put something together that’s even stronger than what the House passed. I’ll believe it when I see it, but the general idea seems to be that so long as something gets out of committee, the final bill might actually have some teeth."

HuffPost's Ryan Grim emphasizes Treasury opposition to Fed audit: "The Treasury Department is vigorously opposed to a House-passed measure that would open the Federal Reserve to an audit by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), a senior Treasury official said Monday. Instead, the official said, the Treasury prefers a substitute offered by Rep. Mel Watt (D-N.C.), and would like to see it enacted as part of the Senate bill. The Watt measure, however, while claiming to increase transparency, actually puts new restrictions on the GAO's ability to perform an audit."

Poor US regulation leads Europe to bar Wall Street from "lucrative" bond sales. The Guardian: "'Governments do not have the confidence that the excessive risk-taking culture of the big Wall Street banks has changed and they still cannot be trusted to put the stability of the financial system before profit,' said Arlene McCarthy, vice chair of the European parliament's economic and monetary affairs committee..."

Direct Student Lending May Pass Along With Health Care

Bank lobby furiously trying to prevent direct student lending from being inserted into reconciliation bill. The Hill: "Senate Democratic leaders have decided to pair an overhaul of federal student lending with healthcare reform, according to a Democratic official familiar with negotiations ... But leaders may have to reverse themselves if they receive strong pushback from Democratic colleagues who represent states where lenders employ hundreds of constituents."

Wonk Room's Pat Garofalo debunks Sen. Lamar Alexander defense of massive subsidies to private student lenders: "The op-ed has plenty of scaremongering about Washington takeovers and long lines for student loans, but it doesn’t acknowledge the simple fact that the government already makes millions of loans every year, in a process that does not look anything like waiting in line at the DMV."

OurFuture.org's Richard Eskow tells Sen. Alexander it's the private lending system that's a bureaucratic mess: "I recently helped my son choose an institution for his student loan and, trust me: It's a rat's nest of confusing information, different loan models with no tools for side-by-side comparison, and runaway hucksterism."

WH-Senate Meeting On Clean Energy Today

Bipartisan group of Senators to meet with President on energy policy today, reports The Page. GOPers include Collins, Graham, Gregg, LeMieux, Lugar and Murkowski.

Big Oil backing Kerry-Graham carbon fee in hopes it will be rejected by public. Wonk Room's Brad Johnson: "...the oil industry likes the idea of legislators embracing a carbon fee plan — a plan originally proposed by oil companies — because they’ll be able to blame 'U.S. efforts to deal with climate change' on high gas prices."

EPA taking harsher tone on Rockefeller bill to suspend climate regs. The Hill: "EPA had a cautious response (or non-response) last week ... But EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson reacted more boldly on Monday ... “I am not in a position where I am going to stand here and support the idea of EPA not being able to use the Clean Air Act ... The energy of the Senate on this issue would be wonderful if it would be put towards new legislation to do something."

EPA's Jackson also criticizes narrow energy bill. The Hill: "EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said Monday that moving away from a broad 'economy-wide' climate bill could hinder private sector investment in low-carbon technologies."

New report finds international trade accounts for nearly 25% of carbon emissions. Time: "Climate-change critics like Republican Senator James Inhofe may rail against China, but the PNAS paper shows that while Beijing may be leading the world in carbon emissions, that output is in large part due to the fact that it is using energy to make clothes, cars and toys for the rest of us. It also demonstrates that Europe — whose per capita carbon footprint is less than half that of the U.S. — essentially imports some of its green virtue from abroad by outsourcing its carbon emissions."

House fears that Senate climate approach will blow up their own delicate work. Mother Jones: "...some House lawmakers worry that the Senate will abandon the hard-won balance they struck between environmentalists and industry. Their fear is that if the Senate starts over, it will go back to negotiate with the special interests and give away the store in the process —resulting in even more handouts and less-ambitious curbs on carbon."

NYT suggests lessons to be learned from Spain's solar push: "In its haste to create a solar industry, Spain made some miscalculations: solar plants can be set up so quickly and easily that the rush into the industry was much faster than anticipated. And the lavish subsidies inflated Spanish solar installation costs at a time when they were rapidly decreasing elsewhere — in part because of increasing competition from panel makers in China, but also because higher volumes produced economies of scale."

Progressive Breakfast: Health Care Road Trip

Bill Scher — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 05:41:54 -0800

Obama Hits The Road For Health Care

Obama in Philly today, St. Louis tomorrow reports Bloomberg:

Focus groups show public wants Congress to get health care done. Politico: "'Four weeks ago, it was an open question, whether or not the best thing to do was just to abandon [health care reform] and move on. But the picture is changing,' says veteran Democratic pollster Geoff Garin, who has been conducting health care focus groups for a range of Democrat-affiliated clients around the country in recent weeks. 'What I’m finding in the focus groups is that, however skeptical voters are of health reform, they’re now saying just go ahead and pass it just to get something done,' added Garin, one of the first Democratic strategists to warn of a potential anti-reform wave last year."

Did the failed bipartisan summit lead the public to support a partisan bill? TNR's John Judis: "...in the first poll conducted after the summit on February 25, Ipsos/McClatchy found that those who favor versus those who oppose 'the health care reform proposals presently being discussed,' went from 37 to 51 percent in late January to 41 to 47 percent. That's an eight point swing ... among the 47 percent who oppose the reform proposals 37 percent do so because they 'don’t go far enough.'"

CBO cost estimate of proposed budget reconciliation revisions expected week's end. Roll Call: "...after [the CBO analysis] they would forward the legislation to the Senate Parliamentarian to ensure that it complies with the chamber’s strict rules for 51-vote bills ... the Republicans’ strategy to defeat the reconciliation bill includes raising numerous budget points of order where they feel the legislation violates the rules and proposing an infinite number of amendments."

TNR's Jonathan Cohn pushes back on naysayer claims that the cost savings won't materialize: "The [CBO] has predicted that health care reform, fully implemented, will save a small sum of money in the first decade and a considerable sum of money in the second decade. This is not an accounting trick ... it's a worst-case scenario, given CBO's famously dour predisposition. And, despite what you may have heard, the government has actually kept promises to cut costs before."

GOP tries to sow mistrust between House and Senate. Bloomberg: "Two House Democrats who voted against the legislation the first time, Jason Altmire of Pennsylvania and John Adler of New Jersey, said on 'Fox News Sunday' that they are keeping an open mind ... Altmire said he’s worried the Senate might not pass the reconciliation changes once the House has ratified the underlying Senate bill ... Republicans are encouraging the view that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid might not get the job done. 'What the president is really doing is asking the House Democrats to hold hands, jump off a cliff, and hope that Harry Reid catches them,' said Senator Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican."

The Guardian's Michael Tomasky reminds reconciliation is not being used the pass the entire bill: "The Senate passed the bill, last December, under the 'normal' rules and with 60 votes. Our system is messed up but it isn't that messed up that they'd have to pass the exact same bill two times. When we talk about reconciliation, we're talking then not about the whole bill again, but a limited set of amendments to the bill."

Fed Wins Another Reg Battle?

Dodd compromise will keep Fed authority over big banks. FT: "Chris Dodd, the Senate banking committee chairman, had proposed hiving off all bank supervision to a single regulator but is set to propose this week that the 23 largest institutions stay under the Fed’s oversight, according to people familiar with the plans ... The Fed’s retention of authority over the biggest banks is partly a result of demands by Tim Geithner ...But it also comes after a mobilisation of regional Fed presidents, unprecedented since the second world war..."

Naked Capitalism rejects argument that Fed role matters less after reforms: "The notion that makes this guaranteed-to-continue-to-be-weak oversight OK is that the big banks will be permitted to fail. While that may be credible for some of the really big banks ... any large capital markets player is an integral part of crucial debt market operations. Those large firms in turn are deeply enmeshed via counterparty relationships, most notably repos and credit default swaps. How, pray tell, do you shut down a trading firm in an orderly fashion? You can’t freeze positions, which is what you need to do in an unwind, and not create pain and inconvenience for the counterparties."

HuffPost's Robert Kuttner chastises Dodd's dealmaking: "...in working with Corker, Dodd did a 180 when it came to the Fed. Their working draft legislation proposes more power for the Federal Reserve, not less ... No financial reform worth having will come out of the Senate if the price is a bipartisan bill."

NYT's Paul Krugman says contrasting Irish and Canadian experiences point to need to strong regulators, as well as regulations: " By all means, let’s limit both leverage and the use of securitization ... But such measures won’t matter unless they’re enforced by people who see it as their duty to say no to powerful bankers. That’s why we need an independent agency protecting financial consumers..."

NYT reviews possible nominees for Fed board: "It could use the expertise of an outsider with Main Street credentials, but savvy in bank regulation ... an esteemed economist, but one whose vision extends beyond fighting inflation..."

W. Post reviews possible picks for open bank regulator positions: "Perhaps the most anticipated vacancy is at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ... [Outgoing Comptroller John Dugan's] tenure has been marked by repeated conflicts with state regulators as the OCC asserted an exclusive right to police the activities of banks with national charters, a doctrine known as preemption ... The Obama administration proposed an end to that policy as part of its blueprint for financial regulatory reform, but conservative House Democrats forced party leaders to preserve the OCC's authority in the financial reform bill that the House passed in November. "

NYT's John Harwood suggests that compromises with Wall Street may soon get more notice by the public: "...industry lobbyists have wielded their influence quietly, as health care dominates the public dialogue. Republicans believe the issue’s obscurity has minimized Democrats’ ability to turn the politics of Wall Street against them, even as the minority party resists tax and regulatory elements of the administration’s agenda ... But the issue may soon assume a higher profile. [Dodd] plans to send a bill to the floor for debate later this month. If health care has commanded winter political headlines, Democratic leaders see financial regulation as a chance for springtime renewal. Their goal is Senate passage, and a compromise with the already-passed House version, by July 4."

Superwealthy Worry Estate Tax Would Fight Deficit

Superwealthy worried that higher estate tax would help close deficit gap. Bloomberg: "Lobbyists ... are racing the clock to convince Congress to reinstate the federal estate tax they’ve fought for years to abolish ... Unless Congress acts, current law would raise the tax next year to 55 percent on estates after they exceed $2 million per couple, from nothing this year ... as 2011 nears, so does the prospect that congressional inaction would start to bring in billions of dollars to help reduce trillion- dollar deficits. 'That’s the real fear,' said Rosemary Becchi, who lobbies on tax issues for Washington-based Patton Boggs LLP..."

Time's Zachary Karabell questions "Is There Too Much Worry About the Debt?": "Worrying about debt is like gaining too much weight and worrying about the size of your clothing. America's indebtedness would be sustainable and even healthy if the underlying economy were vibrant, innovative and strong and if federal and state governments could channel those moneys productively and quickly ... And that is the real nub: America isn't investing enough in its future. We are failing to mobilize resources to improve our health care and infrastructure and stay competitive in a global economy ... Focusing on how much we owe won't help us meet our real challenges. America's problem isn't large clothing; it's a body politic that is sliding into dangerous habits."

James Kwak at The Baseline Scenario says the problem isn't the deficit but the lack of political will to do anything about the cause, health care: : "... ironically, deficit peacocks are right that the deficit is a problem, but only because they refuse to do anything about rising health care costs — since the long-term deficit problem is a health care cost problem."

60 Or Bust For Climate Bill

Tripartisan climate trio needs to line up 60 votes before Reid will bring bill to the floor. Roll Call: "...Reid has given Kerry until the Easter recess to come up with a bill, even though sources said the Majority Leader is dubious of bringing up such a political lightning rod in a crucial election year. Boxer, who supports Kerry’s efforts, said Reid has only promised to bring up a climate change measure if supporters can secure a filibuster-proof vote for it ... Kerry said that all the talk about a lack of enthusiasm for climate change is overblown and that his effort has strong momentum."

Mother Jones' Kate Sheppard questions WH nuclear push: "Obama’s 2009 budget provides $54.4 billion in government-backed loans for new reactors ... Environmental and taxpayer protection groups oppose this plan—often citing a damning 2003 report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) that assessed a similar proposed program and predicted that the loans would have a default rate of 'well above 50 percent.' The Department of Energy (DOE) argues that this study 'is not germane to the current project' and says it has taken steps to avoid the financial pitfalls. But in interviews with Mother Jones, Obama administration officials refused to provide specific figures that would support their claim."

KC Schools Latest Victim In Nationwide State Budget Crisis

AP reports on proposal to shutter half of Kansas City schools: "Now it's on the brink of bankruptcy and considering another bold move: closing nearly half its schools to stay afloat ... Nationwide public districts are closing schools to better cope with a recession that has eaten away at academic budgets. In rapidly shrinking Detroit, 29 schools closed before classes began this fall, leaving the district with 172 schools. Washington, D.C. closed 23 of its schools in 2008 because of under-enrollment; last year only three were closed. But proportionally, Kansas City's potential closures are striking in scope."

Some governors crossing legal lines to make drastic cuts. Stateline: "The complaints challenge a wide variety of issues from a governor’s authority to cut the budget to spending money that voters designated for other uses to laying off union workers and cutting school money. California, Illinois, Arizona, Kansas, Indiana, New York and Minnesota have all recently faced lawsuits or are in court now."

Crazy Conservative Quote of the Day

Asked on CNN if "people are unemployed because they want to be," former GOP House leader Tom DeLay said: "Well, it is the truth.

Progressive Breakfast: The President's Public Option Pledge

Bill Scher — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 06:04:28 -0800

Public Option Fight May Continue After Reform Passes

President seeks to reassure House progressives on future of public option. Salon.com:: "A key House progressive says President Obama blamed the Senate Thursday for the fact that a public insurance option has been dropped from healthcare reform legislation — but promised to push for one in the future, after the current bill passes. 'The meeting with President Obama today was productive and necessary, and I was glad to hear him speak frankly about where we stand on healthcare legislation,' said Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz., the co-chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus .... Grijalva's statement [Thursday] was much less skeptical..."

Ezra Klein wonders why Obama didn't make this promise to begin with: "The administration and others like to say that the Senate legislation is just a start, and they should begin acting on that belief. Pass the start, and then begin trying to make it better with smaller, discrete bills that are easier to message and pass."

One liberal "No" vote, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, expected to stay that way. HuffPost: "None of the members, including Kucinich, indicated that they would vote any differently this time around. 'I think [Kucinich] left the meeting leaving the impression with the president that he's a no-go,' said Schakowsky."

Obama seeks to defuse issue on which body votes first. Bloomberg: "Grijalva said Obama told the lawmakers he intends to sign both the Senate-passed bill and the reconciliation bill on the same day."

Head of "centrist" House coalition Rep. Joseph Crowley optimistic. NYT quotes: “I think when all is said and done, we will have the votes.”

OMB director and top WH health care adviser pushback on conservative talking points in W. Post oped: "...some skeptics have claimed ... gimmickry because the legislation would pay for only six years of coverage expansions with 10 years of budgetary offsets. [But] the savings in the president's plan grow faster than the costs over time..."

President Obama shares story of cancer patient who lost insurance in meeting with insurance industry execs. McClatchy: "The letter ... from Natoma Canfield, 50, talked about how she'd been cancer-free for 11 years but nonetheless had last year paid $6,075 in premiums and about $4,000 more for medical care, co-pays and prescriptions, and her insurance had paid out only about $935. Then she was informed her 2010 premiums would go up 40%. [HHS Sec.] Sebelius is asking insurers to provide actuarial data justifying large rate increases."

House needs 217 votes, after GOP Rep. Nathan Deal delays resignation, reports TPMDC.

Obama more trusted than either party on health care. USA Today: "...a new Gallup Poll found that just half of the nation is confident Obama is recommending the right policies for revamping the health care system. Fewer Americans, 37%, had confidence in Democratic lawmakers, and only about a third expressed confidence in Republicans."

Abortion issue remains complicated minefield. W. Post: "The effort depends on convincing as many as a dozen antiabortion Democrats in the House that abortion language in the Senate bill is more stringent than initially portrayed. But Democratic leaders must be careful that they don't drive away abortion rights supporters who are increasingly concerned that the measure would prove severely restrictive."

Wonk Room's Igor Volsky cites Stupak's "lies" regarding Senate language: "...Stupak is just shifting the goal posts. First he complained about taxpayer funding for abortion and once Democrats strengthened the Senate language, he began arguing that private funds will not go towards abortion coverage. He simply can’t have it both ways."

Rep. Steny Hoyer floats possibility of separate abortion bill. Politico: "...while Hoyer proposed that an additional bill could be a viable route forward, the feasibility of that option remains in serious question. As recently as Tuesday, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said that 'there is no conversation' about a 'clean-up' bill in the Senate to resolve Stupak's qualms."

Newsweek's Andrew Romano, debunks all seven claims GOPers are making "reconciliation": "Republicans happen to have a case to make against relying on reconciliation to finalize health-care reform. But to make it, they'd have to abandon the ludicrous talking points they're currently parroting and indulge in something called logic instead."

Steve Benen at Washington Monthly says reconciliation was a lot less controversial when conservatives used to pass the Bush tax cuts: "Partisan hacks have managed to convince an entire political world and a media establishment that use of a fairly routine Senate procedure is not only problematic, but genuinely scandalous. They've even convinced some Democrats to feel squeamish about a process Republicans have used repeatedly with no qualms at all. It's quite a sight."

House Passes Senate Jobs Tax Credit

Jobs tax credit survives liberal defections. W. Post: "The House voted 217 to 201 to approve a $15 billion measure that would give tax breaks to companies for hiring new employees. Six Republicans joined the vast majority of Democrats in supporting the bill ... More than 30 Democrats voted against the measure. Liberals complained that it is too small and too focused on tax cuts ... "

House amendments mean measure ping-pongs back to the Senate. NYT: "They adjusted the bill to cover its costs more completely, to satisfy Democratic fiscal hawks. To attract liberal lawmakers who contended the measure was too meager, they added a provision to generate business for minority contractors. The revisions mean the measure will have to be reconsidered by the Senate, where it was unclear whether Republicans would seek to slow its progress."

Senate looks to finish long-term jobless aid, aid to states by Tuesday. CQ: "Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said ... the chamber would likely hold a cloture vote on the bill and finish it up on Tuesday ... Lively debate is expected on an amendment by Democrat Jim Webb of Virginia, that would impose a 'windfall tax' on bonuses paid in 2009 to [bailed out] executives..."

NYT's Paul Krugman was what the jobs debate has taught us about the two parties: "How can the parties agree on policy when they have utterly different visions of how the economy works, when one party feels for the unemployed, while the other weeps over affluent victims of the 'death tax'?"

Will Banking Regulators Have Veto Power Over Consumer Agency?

Politico reports "no breakthroughs" yet. Veto power over consumer rules a sticking point, but many optimistic: "...hope remained alive that senators could deliver President Barack Obama a sweeping financial reform package within weeks ... Democrats still have 'a few differences but I think it’s coming together,' said Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) ... 'I think we’re going generally in the right direction,' said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) ... Dodd stressed Thursday that he wouldn’t accept Republican demands that a banking regulator have veto power over the consumer body’s rule-making authority..."

Dood making case that agency could still be independent if within Fed, while Shelby pushing veto authority for banking regulators CQ: "Richard C. Shelby of Alabama, the top Republican on the Banking panel, wants financial regulators to have veto authority over the rules developed by the consumer division. Dodd has envisioned a system where financial regulators could appeal consumer rules they disagree with to a new council that would oversee broad risks to the financial system ... Dodd said in his statement. 'I am pushing for an office with an independent head, appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate; that has an independent budget to do its work; autonomy to craft rules; and an ability to enforce those rules.'"

Regional Fed chairs looking to expand Fed power. NYT: "The presidents not only fear the loss of prestige and influence, but also have to deal with the concerns of employees anxious about losing their jobs or being reassigned ... Critics of the Fed say the district presidents are often too cozy with the banks they regulate."

Congressional bailout watchdogs skeptical of Citigroup, Treasury Dept. testimony. NYT: "Despite near perfect recollection of most other events, [CEO Vikram] Pandit said he did not recall if he had spoken to Treasury officials or other federal regulators regarding the second rescue. The testimony left Damon A. Silvers, a committee member who is special counsel to the A.F.L.-C.I.O., incredulous. 'Your memory seems pretty good to me otherwise,' ... 'I don’t understand why the U.S. government can’t admit what everyone in the world knows: that during that week Citigroup was a failing institution,' Mr. Silvers said."

Politico adds: "In questions for Herbert Allison, Treasury’s assistant secretary for financial stability, [Panel chair Elizabeth] Warren pounced on several areas in which she thinks Treasury has been lax ... Warren demanded, 'Are you telling me that you are exercising no supervision of Citigroup?' ... Allison responded that Treasury has a deliberately hands-off policy toward Citi."

Momentum For Rockefeller Restrictions On EPA Climate Regs

W. Post reports on formal introduction of new bill to temporarily block EPA climate actions: " Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.) introduced a bill that would put a two-year freeze on the EPA's ability to regulate greenhouse gases from power plants ... Rockefeller's legislation would not affect the EPA's plans to limit greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks. But it would prevent the agency from implementing -- or even doing much work on -- caps on emissions from such 'stationary sources' as power plants and factories. Experts say the bill could postpone regulations for as much as four years."

EPA does not react as strongly as toward previous GOP attack. NYT: "'It is important to note that Senator Rockefeller’s bill, unlike Senator Murkowski’s resolution, does not attempt to overturn or deny the scientific fact that unchecked greenhouse gas pollution threatens the well-being of the American people,' said Adora Andy, an E.P.A. spokeswoman, 'nor would it threaten the historic clean cars program announced by the Obama administration last year.'"

Murkowski gets behind Rockefeller proposal. The Hill: "Murkowski – who has 40 cosponsors for her competing plan – supports Rockefeller’s bill but said she’s keeping her own plan at the ready if it doesn’t advance."

Rockefeller's fellow West Virginian not on board. Coal Tattoo quotes Sen. Byrd: "I do not plan to cosponsor Senator Rockefeller’s legislation at this time. I was encouraged by the response last week from EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to a letter that I signed along with other Senators that would delay into next year the application of stronger standards regarding increased efficiency or reduced pollution at large power plants and factories ... I take her at her word ... I am reluctant to give up on talks that might produce benefits for West Virginia’s coal interests by seeming to turn away from on-going negotiations."

Enviro groups highly critical of Rockefeller bill. Mother Jones: "Environmental groups argue that Rockefeller might as well have joined Murkowski's efforts. 'In our view, there is little difference between no action for two years and no action ever on solving the climate crisis,' said Joe Mendelson, director of global warming policy at the National Wildlife Federation."

Weathervane's Nathan Richardson does not believe Rockefeller restrictions will become law: "I cannot imagine the president would sign the bill. It blocks action on GHGs that the president has publically stood behind. Also, and maybe more importantly, the bill would take an arrow out of the quiver of the executive branch. No President likes that."

ANWR Drilling Not Happening

Lieberman rejects Murkowski call to include ANWR drilling in climate compromise. The Hill: "He said allowing ANWR drilling 'would be a deal breaker.' ... 'We are looking at a lot of things, we are bending to bring people in, but that one is a no-no,' he said."

Sen. Kerry calls forthcoming climate protection bill a "jobs bill." The Hill quotes: "What we are talking about is a jobs bill. It is not a climate bill. It is a jobs bill, and it is a clean air bill. It is a national security, energy independence bill ... And people are going to have to decide whether they are going to vote for America or against it."

Grist's David Roberts laments all the "stupid" things being said about climate compromise plan: "It’s just profoundly depressing that world-historically consequential policy is being shaped by people who don’t understand how it works and are primarily motivated by marching orders from corporate polluters. But, you know ... welcome to the U.S. Senate."

Another $100M in stimulus for green tech. NYT: "The [Energy] department has designated three areas of focus for the projects: energy storage, electrical power technology and thermodevices."

Breakfast Sides

Sen. Michael Bennet, fresh from defending the public option in health care reform, calls for the filibuster to be reformed: "...this important rule is being abused at an unprecedented rate, and it's grinding the business of the Senate to a standstill. That's why I am introducing new legislation ... to reform the filibuster in a responsible, practical way ... Ends anonymous hold ... Requires filibuster supporters to actually show up ... Filibusters at the beginning of debate will be eliminated ... Creates incentives to encourage bipartisanship..."

President looks to launch immigration reform effort. LAT: "Obama took up the issue privately with his staff Monday in a bid to advance a bill through Congress before lawmakers become too distracted by approaching midterm elections ... the White House may ask [Dem Sen. Chuck] Schumer and [GOP Sen. Lindsey] Graham to at least produce a blueprint that could be turned into legislative language."

Transportation Sec. challenges GOP Sen. Kit Bond on high-speed rail, livability. Streetsblog: "Bond cited a recent Wall Street Journal editorial by Wendell Cox, a conservative pundit who has penned laudatory literature for road lobbying groups, in accusing the Obama administration of frittering away taxpayers' money on high-speed rail. LaHood fired back, remarking wryly that Bond's home state sought high-speed rail grants and publicly celebrated its $31 million haul ... 'When did it become the responsibility of the federal DOT to build sidewalks?' the soon-to-retire senator asked, before LaHood that reminded him Congress set up dedicated funding for pedestrian improvements nearly 20 years ago."

College students rise up across nation to protest high tuition. AP: "Anger over rising tuition and school budget cuts boiled over as students across the country staged rowdy demonstrations that led to clashes with police and the rush-hour shutdown of a major freeway in California ... University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee police arrested at least 15 people protesting tuition hikes ...At the University of Illinois, more than 200 professors, instructors and graduate faculty marched through campus carrying signs that read 'Furlough Legislators' ... In Olympia, Wash., a group of about 75 protesters arrived at the Capitol bearing a faux coffin emblazoned with the slogan 'R.I.P. Education.'"

Progressive Breakfast: Up Or Down. Now.

Bill Scher — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 05:51:58 -0800

President Calls For Final Health Care Vote

Obama demands "up-or-down" vote on health in "a few weeks," with simple majority vote in Senate if necessary. The Hill: "... the president pointed to past examples of landmark and costly legislation that had been approved through the use of the rules, which prevent a filibuster from being used against budget-related measures in the Senate."

TNR's John Judis praises speech for drawing clear ideological lines: "'Republicans,' he said, 'believe the answer is to loosen regulations on the insurance industry ... I disagree with that approach. I'm concerned that this would only give the insurance industry even freer rein to raise premiums and deny care.' ... Obama said that that if Republicans 'truly believe that less regulation would lead to higher quality, more affordable health insurance, then they should vote against the proposal I’ve put forward.' Those are strong words. They make clear that Democrats and Republicans don’t share the same politics."

Sen. Tom Harkin says they are ready to proceed with simple majority vote plan. Politico: "The House, he said, will first pass the Senate bill after Senate leaders demonstrate to House leaders that they have the votes to pass reconciliation in the Senate .. It remains unclear what kind of guarantee the Senate can provide to the House..."

NYT says many obstacles to fast timetable remain: "...the final language must still be sent to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office for evaluation, a process that takes time. Many aspects of the legislation remain unresolved ... [Speaker Pelosi] faces complex negotiations with both the moderate and liberal wings of her party... "

Pelosi needs to convert previous "No" votes. W. Post: "Because Pelosi is likely to lose at least a handful of Democrats over the abortion issue, she must win conversions among the 39 Democratic lawmakers who voted against the House bill Nov. 7. One target is moderate Rep. Jason Altmire (D-Pa.), who said Wednesday that he was encouraged by the direction of the discussions."

WH persuading previous "Yes" votes not to flinch now. Politico: "...he White House is telling Democrats reconsidering their support for health care reform that they will pay the price for their original vote no matter what happens, so they should reap the political benefits of actually passing a law ... Sen. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas said she doesn’t buy the argument ... 'I've been supportive of the Senate bill.' The reconciliation measure 'would be a whole other bill,' she said."

TNR's Neera Tanden makes the case to the Blue Dogs to back the bill, because they won the policy fights: "The Blue Dogs opposed the public plan ... Well, the Senate scrapped that ... Blue Dogs wanted more cost-containment policies ... [The Senate bill] features a robust Independent Payment Advisory Board with authority to lower Medicare payment rates. ... Some House moderates criticized the House bill for taxing the rich. Lucky for them, that’s barely in the Senate bill ..."

The Guardian's Michael Tomasky reminds Dems of the importance of winning: "Is it bad for the Democrats if reform passes under controversial circumstances? Sure. But it would be far, far worse for reform to fail under controversial circumstances. It's really not even close. Winning is winning and losing is losing."

E. J. Dionne blasts GOPers for lying about past use of Senate budget rules: "The underlying 'principle' here seems to be that it's fine to pass tax cuts for the wealthy on narrow votes but an outrage to use reconciliation to help middle-income and poor people get health insurance."

How did media cover GOP's 2003 use of reconciliation? They didn't reports Media Matters' Jamison Foser.

Sen. Sherrod Brown says he will push for the public option in a separate bill if necessary: "[He] told reporters that he hopes that Democratic leaders include a public plan in the current package but said that he would 'absolutely' try to cobble together a different proposal if it is not."

HCAN report suggests greed is the driving force behind the rising price of health insurance. AFL-CIO's James Parks: "...over the past eight years, premiums almost doubled, but medical inflation went up only 39 percent. Premiums rose two times faster than medical costs and more than three times faster than wages..."

Completely Opposite Reports on Dodd Deal

Dodd and GOP leaders getting closer to financial reform deal with Fed claiming consumer protection authority, according to Politico: "Several Republican senators involved in the talks have made a new offer to Senate Banking Chairman Chris Dodd on a proposal to house a new consumer protection division within the Federal Reserve ... Dodd delivered a counter-offer to the Republicans a few hours later, which [GOP Sen. Bob] Corker had in his hand while he talked to reporters at around 6:30 p.m. 'We’re real close. It’s going back and forth,' Corker said ... Corker specifically said the proposal would meet the four essential elements Dodd said any consumer division must have: a Senate-approved director appointed by the president, a dedicated funding source to shield it from congressional budget making, the authority to make rules, and the authority to enforce them."

WSJ echoes Politico, notes WH trying to reassure progressives. "Multiple Democrats have already said Mr. Dodd's plan moves too far away from an original White House proposal to create an independent, freestanding Consumer Financial Protection Agency. On Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and White House senior advisor Valerie Jarrett met with consumer and public interest groups and said new consumer protection rules would be formidable."

But CQ says Fed proposal "fizzles": "...several sources familiar with the talks said the idea to vest consumer protection authority at the Fed was effectively off the table. 'Given the response, the proposal is dead,' an industry lobbyist said."

Ezra Klein says Fed proposal will silence CFPA: "...insofar as the CFPA is being placed inside the Federal Reserve and its directives are being carried out by Federal Reserve regulators, it's being put into a place where it can potentially be ignored. Priorities are set by the top, not by the middle."

WH sends Congress "Volcker rule" legislation blocking commercial banks from risky trading. AP: "The Treasury Department circulated proposed legislation that would prevent commercial banks from carrying out high-risk trades and that would restrict the size of financial firms to holdings no greater than 10 percent of the entire financial industry's liabilities ... Corker questioned the administration's timing. 'It is not helpful to the process for the administration to be putting out positions right now on financial regs...'"

"‘Volcker Rule’ Draft Signals Obama Wants to Ease Market Impact," headlines Bloomberg: "The rule ... exempts mergers that exceed the market-share limit in cases when a firm acquires a failing bank with regulators’ approval. Also left out are trading in Treasury and agency securities, including debt issued by Ginnie Mae, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac."

The Atlantic's Daniel Indiviglio doesn't see Volcker rule going anywhere: "Lawmakers, however, will probably mostly ignore the proposal. ... The possibility that Banking Committee members would derail the progress they've made by adding in these very controversial changes is pretty unlikely. Of course, anything as contentious as the Volcker Rule will have a much better chance of becoming law if wrapped up in a big bill, so the likelihood of its passing separately after broader legislation is adopted seems even minuter."

Next Senate Jobs Bill Moves Forward

CQ reports Senate appears to have 60 votes for long-term jobless aid and additional aid to states: "...the Senate voted 60-37 to waive a point of order that would have stripped the emergency designations ... the Democratic caucus [was] joined by Susan Collins, R- Maine ... The vote endorsed the principle that extensions of safety-net programs should not be offset [with anti-stimulative spending cuts or tax hikes.]"

House nears majority to pass Senate jobs tax credit. Politico: "[Blue Dog] lawmakers said they expected at least some in their ranks to support the legislation even if the conservative Democratic group doesn’t cut a deal to offset the cost ... Congressional Black Caucus leaders said the legislation could attract support from their ranks — even if the bill fails to include their priorities..."

Anti-immigration conservatives are holding up needed jobs legislation, reports Alternet's Anna Maria Kelley: "This group of senators wants to pile on current restrictions banning employers from hiring undocumented immigrants by adding more burdensome and faulty employment verification systems. That would make it harder for employers to grow jobs without adding any value whatsoever."

Major transportation bill inches forward in Senate. Streetsblog: "...environment committee chairman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) [vowed] to take up a successor to the 2005 infrastructure law before 2011 and [indicated] she would use the House's already-introduced version as a framework ... [But] though the biggest stumbling block facing the next federal transport bill -- namely, the lack of sufficient gas tax revenue to pay for it -- was lamented widely, few offered concrete solutions that would help Congress move forward more quickly."

Government change to poverty stats shows even higher poverty rate. Washington Independent's Megan Carpentier: "On Tuesday, America’s poverty rate jumped from 13.2 percent to 15.8 percent — or from 39.8 million to 47.4 million of 308 million Americans — as the government finally acknowledged that the way it calculated the poverty rate was designed to artificially deflate the statistics. The previous poverty rate was based on what an emergency food diet cost in 1955 and didn’t take into account government transfer payments, let alone differential living expenses and health care costs ... What the government will not do is allow the more realistic poverty calculations help determine which Americans qualify [for assistance.]"

Dems stepping up attacks on stimulus hypocrites. WSJ: "The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee ... wants Republican members of Congress to publish the requests they have made to federal agencies for stimulus funds."

Capital Gains and Games' Bruce Bartlett mocks House GOP proposal for constitutional amendment capping spending levels: "The Constitution has never in our history been used to enshrine a particular economic policy and it would be unwise to start now." TNR's Jonathan Chait on what it says about GOP ideas: "...the quality of thought about public policy in the Republican Party right now is extremely low."

Dem Senators Push Energy Dept. To Keep Stim Dollars in US

Dem Senators accuse WH of sending wind power fund overseas. W. Post: "A group of Democratic senators called Wednesday for the government to halt a federal stimulus program aimed at building wind farms and other clean-energy projects, arguing that too much of the money spent so far has gone to create jobs overseas ... Joined by Sens. Robert P. Casey Jr. (Pa.), Sherrod Brown (Ohio) and Jon Tester (Mont.), Schumer said at a news conference that the Obama administration has ignored concerns ... The senators' efforts garnered praise from several union leaders ... The senators' efforts garnered praise from several union leaders ... But Obama administration officials and wind-energy industry representatives said that the complaints are misguided and based on faulty information..."

Dean Baker knocks W. Post for scant information: "... it did not provide readers any basis to assess the key questions: how many jobs are being created here? what share of the wind turbines are constructed in the U.S?"

Energy Sec. Chu to testify to Senate today reports CQ.

GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski floats including ANWR drilling in climate bill. The Hill quotes: "To secure my vote on a climate bill, we have to develop a good policy. In my mind that good policy would include ANWR as part of a domestic production title."

Obama May Appoint Craig Becker TO NLRB

Labor Sec. Hilda Solis raises hopes of union leaders that Craig Becker will get "recess appointment." WSJ: "'I feel very confident,' Solis said Wednesday when asked by reporters about Becker’s chances of making it onto the board. She then referred to the recent Senate vote where Republicans blocked his nomination. 'The vote was already taken. How do you change the … numbers that came down when they took the vote? I’m just saying that I think people will be very pleased.' A day earlier while addressing a room full of AFL-CIO officials, Biden referred to Becker’s nomination and said, 'We’ll get it done.' Several union officials appeared to indicate that an April recess appointment is in the works."

Workplace Prof Blog cautions WH to follow through: "... but unless Solis was trying to tick off unions even more, it sounds like the Administration is going for it..."

RNC Caught Mocking Donors

Politico's Ben Smith uncovers RNC fundraising strategy doc, which amounts to scaring small-dollar donors and mocking major donors: "The Republican National Committee plans to raise money this election cycle through an aggressive campaign capitalizing on 'fear' of President Barack Obama and a promise to 'save the country from trending toward socialism.' The strategy was detailed in a confidential party fundraising presentation, obtained by POLITICO, which also outlines how 'ego-driven' wealthy donors can be tapped with offers of access and 'tchochkes.' ... The RNC reacted with alarm to a question about it Wednesday, emailing major donors to warn them of a reporter's question, and distancing Steele from its contents."