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Seven Times Republicans Demanded The Budget Process They Are Obstructing

Unemployment Would Be A Point Lower Without Deficit Reduction

Politics

White House And Republicans Reach Tentative Deal To Raise Debt Ceiling

By Alex Seitz-Wald posted from ThinkProgress Politics on Jul 31, 2011 at 12:44 pm

Less than three days from potential default, the White House and Congressional Republicans reached a potential deal to raise the debt ceiling and lower the deficit late last night. Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said on CNN’s State of the Union today that both sides were “very close” to a deal that will cut $3 trillion over 10 years, saying negotiators have made “dramatic progress” over the weekend. Democrats appear less confident that the deal will hold, but still expressed optimism.

The deal is based on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-NV) proposal, but includes a “trigger” mechanism which would make deep across-the-board cuts if the bipartisan committee created by the bill to look for ways to reduce the deficit fails to produce a proposal that can pass Congress. The deal includes other provisions aimed at gaining GOP votes, the Washington Post’s Felicia Sonmez reports:

The process would involve a “resolution of disapproval” by Congress that would allow the debt ceiling to be further raised next year if one-third of either chamber agrees – an idea first proposed by McConnell in a “Plan B” he unveiled several weeks ago. The move would shift the political burden of raising the debt ceiling to the White House from congressional Republicans.

Also included in the nascent proposal would be a provision calling for a vote on a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution – an element that has become a rallying point for House conservatives. But one potential sticking point in any House vote is that the plan calls only for a vote on such an amendment, not the passage of one…

The proposal starts with a bill — Reid’s plan — that was itself an enormous concession to the GOP, intended to call their bluff on raising the debt ceiling, but goes several steps farther. It would force a second vote on the debt ceiling, though with a much easier threshold for passage, even though President Obama has insisted on raising the debt limit through the next election all at once. The supposed concession to Democrats in the trigger mechanism is that it would include defense cuts, which some Republicans oppose, but would also include Medicare cuts, which all Democrats strongly oppose. The deal is lopsided, as many Republicans, especially of the Tea Party wing, have agreed that Pentagon spending should be on the table for cuts all along. The details of the trigger are still in flux, however, and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said today that he’ll push for something that will be “equally tough on Democrats and Republicans.”

Moreover, the deal includes zero revenue increases and no call for comprehensive tax reform, and achieving these things through the new bipartisan deficit commission will be almost impossible as Republicans are sure to reject it. Still, White House economic adviser Gene Sperling said today on State of the Union that the White House “fine” with the idea that the bill will be “only spending cuts.” He added that Obama won’t seek new revenues before the 2012 election anyway, and will in fact be pushing for a payroll tax cut.

As ThinkProgress’ Matt Yglesias notes, the fallout from this deal may extend far beyond the plan itself:

[A]t this point the biggest damage is to the overall system of government. Obama has successfully transformed massive debt ceiling hostage taking from an act of breathtakingly irresponsible brinksmanship into a proven effective negotiating tactic. Suppose he gets re-elected in 2012. What’s he going to do when this issue recurs in 2013? Every time the president’s party has fewer than 60 votes in the Senate, we may face a recurrence of this crisis.

The emergence of a deal may, however, prevent a downgrade from the credit rating agencies.

Education

Matt Damon: Stop The War On Teachers

By Zaid Jilani on Jul 30, 2011 at 4:45 pm

ThinkProgress filed this report from the Save Our Schools March in Washington, D.C.

Actor and activist Matt Damon spoke at the Save Our Schools rally today. Before he spoke, Damon granted ThinkProgress an exclusive interview. We asked him about how teachers unions are being demonized in much of the media and teachers are being blamed as the root of all problems in public education. Damon told us that the attacks on teachers unions are part of a larger “war on unions over the last decade” and condemned “punitive policies” that punish teachers without looking at the social factors that lead to student achievement.

Towards the end of his statements, Damon joked about the right-wing meme that unionized teachers are overpaid, noting that he grew up as the son of a unionized teacher: “Granted, I did spend my summers in the Hamptons on her teacher salary and we did live on a yacht for a long time.” Watch our interview:

Damon also told us earlier that he supports the recall of Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI).

Even After Proposed Hike, Reagan Increased Debt Ceiling Twice As Fast As Obama

By Guest Blogger on Jul 29, 2011 at 7:30 pm

Despite recent rhetoric from GOP lawmakers, Republican presidents have raised the statutory limit on U.S. debt by a much greater percentage than either of the two Democrats elected since 1981. According an analysis of historical data compiled on the statutory limit by the Office of Management and Budget, former President Ronald Reagan outstrips all other executives to date, increasing the debt ceiling by 199.5 percent during his eight years in office. He is followed by President George W. Bush, Jr. at a 90.2 percent increase over eight years and by President George H. Bush, Sr. at a 48.0 percent increase over only four years in office.

Democratic Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, on the other hand, have only raised the debt ceiling by 43.6 and 26.3 percent, respectively. It remains to be seen whether or not Congress will reach a compromise and pass legislation to increase the statutory limit again by the Aug. 2 deadline issued by the U.S. Treasury. Even if Congress does pass the proposed $2.4-trillion increase, Obama will still be looking at a total increase of 47.5 percent over his first term — less than half of the increase that Reagan oversaw during his first four years. See the OMB’s historical figures charted:

–Sarah Bufkin

NEWS FLASH

GOP Rep. Hensarling: It’s ‘Contrary To Our DNA’ To Raise Debt Ceiling — Except Under Bush | Appearing on Fox News this afternoon to discuss Republicans’ opposition to raising the debt ceiling, House Republican Conference Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) said it is “contrary to our DNA” to raise the debt ceiling. Watch it:

Hensarling must have changed his DNA in the past few years, as, like 97 of his House GOP colleagues, the potential mutant-congressman has voted for a clean increase of the debt ceiling under President Bush.

By Alex Seitz-Wald on Jul 29, 2011 at 6:50 pm

NEWS FLASH

Boehner’s Debt Ceiling Bill Passes The House | Speaker of the House John Boehner’s (R-OH) debt ceiling bill, complete with its requirement that Congress approve a balanced budget amendment before raising the ceiling again in six months, passed the House moments ago by a vote of 218-210. 22 Republicans voted against the bill, along with all the Democrats. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has said that the bill is “dead on arrival” in the Senate.

Justice

Sen. Jon Kyl: Don’t Tie Debt Ceiling Hike To Amending The Constitution

By Ian Millhiser posted from ThinkProgress Justice on Jul 29, 2011 at 5:35 pm

Earlier today, Speaker John Boehner revealed that he is caving to the most radical elements of his caucus and adding a requirement to his debt ceiling plan that will allow the United States to default in six months unless Congress passes a balanced budget amendment. This proposal, which would permanently disable America’s ability to respond to economic recessions, is dead on arrival in the Senate.

Shortly before Boehner announced his new plan to place political grandstanding before preventing economic catastrophe, however, Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-AZ) went on Fox News to explain why Boehner’s new plan is a terrible idea:

The problem is that my Democratic colleagues…say “no” to a balanced budget amendment, and we have a deadline approaching of Tuesday. So I’m just not sure how realistic it is to demand our Democratic colleagues that they change their position on the balanced budget amendment over the next couple of days. [...]

The question is: what can be crafted that Senate Democrats will say “yes” to, because they are half of the legislative equation here, and then you have the President in the White House, also a Democrat.

Watch it:

Sen. Kyl is right. The American people elected 53 Democratic senators and they put a Democratic president in the White House. John Boehner made it absolutely clear that he does not respect Barack Obama or the Democratic Senate majority’s right to govern long before he became speaker, but the Constitution disagrees with Boehner’s belief that he can simply ignore entire branches of our government simply because they won’t indulge his tantrums.

Next week, the United States will enter a catastrophic economic death spiral unless Republicans take Kyl’s advice and stop insisting on outlandish Tea Party fantasies as the price of saving America from disaster. John Boehner and just a handful of his fellow House Republicans have the power to end this crisis today — and they’ve chosen instead to send ransom note after ransom note to the American people.

Judge Deals Final Blow To Milwaukee’s Paid Sick Days Law: ‘It’s Over’

By Pat Garofalo on Jul 29, 2011 at 4:35 pm

In 2008, Milwaukee, Wisconsin became the third U.S. city — after San Francisco and Washington, DC — to require paid sick leave for workers, thanks to a referendum overwhelmingly approved by the city’s voters. However, back in May, Wisconsin’s Republican legislature passed, and notoriously anti-worker Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) signed, a bill that took away the ability of cities to decide for themselves whether they want to mandate paid sick leave.

The sick days law has been tied up in the courts ever since, but yesterday, the Milwaukee County Circuit Court officially said that the state is within its rights to nullify Milwaukee’s law:

After three years of legal and political wrangling over the Milwaukee paid sick-day law that voters approved but business groups denounced, Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Cooper declared Thursday afternoon: “It’s over.”

In doing so he found the city law, passed by 69% of voters in November 2008 and upheld by the state Court of Appeals in March, was moot because of state legislation approved in April that voided it.

“I don’t feel real good about how this happened politically,” he said in announcing his ruling.

Judge Cooper said the bill was perfectly targeted to negate Milwaukee’s paid sick days law. “You put a bull’s-eye on paid sick days,” he said. The ruling comes on the heels of a few wins by proponents of paid sick days, as Connecticut became the first state to require them and residents of Denver got the issue onto November’s ballot. Philadelphia’s city council also approved a sick days bill recently, only to see it vetoed by Mayor Michael Nutter.

At the moment, the U.S. is all alone in the industrialized world in not mandating some form of paid time off for workers, and the U.S. economy as a whole loses $180 billion in productivity annually due to sick employees attending work and infecting other workers. Lack of sick days is a particularly acute problem in the food services industry (where sick workers attending work is obviously even more problematic). It’s a shame that the anti-worker fervor of Wisconsin’s Republicans goes so far as to nullify a law that the people of Milwaukee clearly wanted.

Politics

Ex-GOP Sen. Voinovich On House GOP: ‘They’re Playing Russian Roulette And All The Chambers Have A Bullet’

By Alex Seitz-Wald posted from ThinkProgress Politics on Jul 29, 2011 at 3:45 pm

Echoing his former colleague Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), former Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH) teed off on House Republicans’ brinkmanship on the debt ceiling, saying intransigent GOP congressmen are willing to risk destroying the county’s economy to get what they want. Voinovich told Rolling Stone’s Tim Dickinson:

“They’re playing Russian roulette and all the chambers have a bullet.” [...] “They’re flamethrowers. ‘We’re going to get what we want or the country can go to hell.’”

Meanwhile, Bruce Bartlett, a former policy adviser to Presidents Reagan and H.W. Bush, lambasted House Republicans yesterday on MSNBC’s Hardball for playing with fire on the debt ceiling:

I think at this point, there’s nothing that can pass the House of Representatives. … I think a good chunk of the Republican caucus is either stupid, crazy, ignorant or craven cowards, who are desperately afraid of the tea party people, and rightly so.

Watch it:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Even House Speaker John Bohener (R-OH) admitted that “a lot” of his caucus members are willing to unleash economic “chaos” to get their way on the debt ceiling.

GOP Senator Concedes It Wouldn’t Be ‘Healthy’ To Have To Raise The Debt Limit Again In Six Months

By Marie Diamond on Jul 29, 2011 at 2:35 pm

Even as the GOP leadership is caving to the outrageous demands of Tea Party members, some Republicans are also becoming more amenable to Democrats’ insistence that there be a long-term debt ceiling increase that goes through the 2012 election. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) reiterated today that the Democratic caucus is completely opposed to a short-term deal that would force Congress to raise the debt limit again in six months, when political divisions will be even more stark because of the upcoming election.

Republicans had initially insisted on a short-term increase, but today on MSNBC, Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) conceded that it wouldn’t be “healthy” to have to go through this excruciating process again in six months — something the latest version of Speaker John Boehner’s (R-OH) plan still requires:

CORKER: I would love to see us go ahead and achieve all the savings that we can get right now…But I do agree with the fact that having these debates in the middle of the economic downturn that we’re having right now is not healthy. And there’s no question that business people…watch this and become uncertain. So in a perfect world, and I know we’re not in a perfect world, but if we can get worked out over the next several days something that actually achieves all those savings on the front end and also extends the debt limit beyond this next election, to me that would be the perfect solution, and I hope we can do that.

Watch it:

Corker’s position was echoed by a Senate GOP leadership aide who told CNBC’s John Harwood that the party would be comfortable extending the debt ceiling past the 2012 elections, “provided that they had some sort of guarantee that a second round of spending cuts and entitlement reforms would take place.”

The Huffington Post notes that “the softening of the Senate GOP’s position is a breakthrough of sorts in the debt ceiling debate.” Republicans have been arguing that they will only approve a short-term increase because Congress has traditionally voted for small incremental raises. But that’s not actually true: in May 2003, Congress passed the equivalent of an 18-month increase, putting the issue off past the 2004 elections. That extension was roughly the same length of time of the increase President Obama is requesting. Twenty GOP senators currently in Congress voted for that 2003 bill.

NEWS FLASH

Apple Inc. Has More Cash On Hand Than The U.S. Has Spending Authority | With a cash reserve of nearly $76 billion, Apple is the latest company to report having more available funds than the U.S. government, which has an operating balance of $73.768 billion due to the imminent exhausting of the nation’s borrowing ability. As ThinkProgress previously reported, there were 29 companies whose holdings dwarfed those of the U.S. government earlier this month. While these numbers are surprising, the U.S. balance represents the government’s spending authority before bumping up the debt ceiling limit, so it’s unlikely yet Apple will have to bail out the U.S. government anytime soon — as long as congress raises the debt ceiling.

– Jen Kalaidis

By Guest Blogger on Jul 29, 2011 at 1:35 pm

Hundreds Of Thousands Of Boehner’s Constitutents Would Be Hurt By His Debt Ceiling Plan

By Pat Garofalo on Jul 29, 2011 at 12:25 pm

House Republicans met today in an attempt to scrape together votes to pass House Speaker John Boehner’s (R-OH) plan for raising the debt ceiling. Boehner pulled the bill from the floor last night when it became apparent that he didn’t have to votes to proceed, and has made it even more right-wing today in an attempt to drum up support.

As we’ve been noting, Boehner’s plan would batter the social safety net, forcing trillions of dollars in entitlement cuts and the passage of a balanced budget amendment, in order to raise the debt ceiling again when such a move becomes necessary in six months. As the New York Times put it, “Because the first round of cuts [in Boehner's plan] would eviscerate discretionary programs…the second round of cuts would need to come from Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and other safety-net programs. To get cuts that deep in 10 years would require cutting the benefits of current retirees and beneficiaries or gutting health care reform, or savaging the safety net for low-income Americans, or some combination of the three.”

According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Boehner’s plan could cause one of the most dramatic increases in poverty and hardship of any law in history. Boehner’s bill actually eliminates a 26-year-old measure protecting the poor from budget cuts. This would have an adverse effect all across the country, including in Boehner’s district where, as Half in Ten’s Melissa Boteach and Jessica Liu found, hundreds of thousands of people rely on the social safety net that Boehner wants to eviscerate:

– 180,000 people are on Medicare or Medicaid, comprising 27 percent of his district.

– 4,000 households access some form of public housing assistance.

– 90,000 or 13.9 percent of the district lives below the poverty line.

– Approximately 70,000 households receive Social Security benefits.

– Over 30,000 households are eligible for the SNAP (food stamp) program and 20,000 low-income children are eligible for food and nutrition services.

“The House plan would result in an enormous increase in poverty and hardship while keeping Congress mired in a never-ending debate over default crises instead of a focus on jobs,” Boteach and Liu wrote. And Boehner’s constituents would certainly not be spared the pain.

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ThinkProgress Vote Count Finds 267* House Votes For A Clean Debt Ceiling Hike

By Zaid Jilani and Travis Waldron on Jul 29, 2011 at 10:30 am

Congress has the votes to raise the debt ceiling and avert catastrophe!

The congressional debate over various deficit-cutting plans appears to have reached a stalemate, with the plans from both Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) currently lacking the votes they need to pass the House of Representatives.

However, a special vote count conducted by ThinkProgress found that there are more than enough votes for a third option — a clean debt ceiling hike. ThinkProgress has concluded that there are 267 votes in the House for a clean hike, with almost all Democrats in support and a large number of Republicans. Here are the Republicans we have found who support a clean debt hike:

Rep. Jo Bonner (R-AL) Rep. Michael (Mike) Rogers (R-AL) Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-AL)
Rep. Spencer Bachus, III (R-AL) Rep. Donald (Don) Young (R-AK) Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ)
Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) Rep. Walter (Wally) Herger (R-CA) Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA)
Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-CA) Rep. Howard (Buck) McKeon (R-CA) Rep. David Dreier (R-CA)
Rep. Edward (Ed) Royce (R-CA) Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA) Rep. Gary Miller (R-CA)
Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA) Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-CA) Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA)
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) Rep. Jeff Miller (R-FL) Rep. Ander Crenshaw (R-FL)
Rep. Clifford (Cliff) Stearns (R-FL) Rep. John Mica (R-FL) Rep. C. W. Bill Young (R-FL)
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA)
Rep. John (Phil) Gingrey (R-GA) Rep. Michael (Mike) Simpson (R-ID) Rep. Judy Biggert (R-IL)
Rep. Donald Manzullo (R-IL) Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL) Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN)
Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) Rep. Thomas (Tom) Latham (R-IA) Rep. Steve King (R-IA)
Rep. Edward (Ed) Whitfield (R-KY) Rep. Harold (Hal) Rogers (R-KY) Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-LA)
Rep. David (Dave) Camp (R-MI) Rep. Frederick (Fred) Upton (R-MI) Rep. Michael (Mike) Rogers (R-MI)
Rep. Candice Miller (R-MI) Rep. Thaddeus (Thad) McCotter (R-MI) Rep. John Kline (R-MN)
Rep. W. Todd Akin (R-MO) Rep. Samuel (Sam) Graves (R-MO) Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO)
Rep. Dennis (Denny) Rehberg (R-MT) Rep. Lee Terry (R-NE) Rep. Charles (Charlie) Bass (R-NH)
Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ) Rep. Christopher (Chris) Smith (R-NJ) Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ)
Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ) Rep. Peter (Pete) King (R-NY) Rep. Howard Coble (R-NC)
Rep. Sue Myrick (R-NC) Rep. Steven (Steve) Chabot (R-OH) Rep. Michael Turner (R-OH)
Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) Rep. Patrick (Pat) Tiberi (R-OH) Rep. Steven LaTourette (R-OH)
Rep. John Sullivan (R-OK) Rep. Frank Lucas (R-OK) Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK)
Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR) Rep. Jim Gerlach (R-PA) Rep. William (Bill) Shuster, Jr. (R-PA)
Rep. Joseph Pitts (R-PA) Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA) Rep. Todd Platts (R-PA)
Rep. Addison (Joe) Wilson (R-SC) Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) Rep. Samuel (Sam) Johnson (R-TX)
Rep. Ralph Hall (R-TX) Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX)
Rep. John Culberson (R-TX) Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX)
Rep. William (Mac) Thornberry (R-TX) Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-TX) Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX)
Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX) Rep. John Carter (R-TX) Rep. Peter (Pete) Sessions (R-TX)
Rep. Rob Bishop (R-UT) Rep. J. Randy Forbes (R-VA) Rep. Robert (Bob) Goodlatte (R-VA)
Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA)
Rep. Shelley Capito (R-WV) Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr. (R-WI)
Rep. Thomas (Tom) Petri (R-WI) Rep. Tim Johnson (R-IL)

The list includes 98 House Republicans. In addition to these Republicans, there is support for a clean hike from 169 Democrats. This means that a clean debt ceiling bill could net 267 votes — 51 votes more than House leadership needs to raise the debt ceiling and avoid catastrophe.*

*Just kidding — kind of. ThinkProgress tabulated this vote count by looking at debt ceiling votes in 2004, where 98 currently serving House Republicans voted for a clean debt ceiling hike, and 2009, where 169 currently serving House Democrats voted for a clean debt ceiling hike. Additionally, 31 Senate Republicans voted for such a hike in 2004. All of these Members of Congress can vote for a clean hike again and avert disaster — saving discussions about deficit reduction (and more importantly, jobs) for appropriations debates that take place once America’s financial future is safe. They’ve done it before, and they can possibly do it again.

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Cyndie Harper- Williams writes, “Send this to everyone you know including your Representative in Congress.

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NEWS FLASH

Hoyer Backs Constitutional Solution To Default Crisis | House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) became the highest ranking current elected official yesterday to say that President Obama should invoke the 14th Amendment to invalidate the debt ceiling if Republicans continue to hold the nation’s economy hostage until it is too late. “Very frankly, if it came down to his looking default in the eye on Tuesday or taking this action, as President Clinton said, it would be better to take the action and find out later that perhaps he went beyond his authority but … protected the creditworthiness of the United States of America.”

Econ 101: July 29, 2011

By Pat Garofalo on Jul 29, 2011 at 8:15 am

Welcome to ThinkProgress Economy’s morning link roundup. This is what we’re reading. Have you seen any interesting news? Let us know in the comments section. You can also follow ThinkProgress Economy on Twitter.

  • The Treasury Department “intends to wait and see how Congress plans to move ahead [with legislation to raise the debt ceiling] before getting into details of how it would prioritize expenses and make a $29 billion interest payment to bond holders on Aug. 15th.” [Politico]
  • House Republicans plan to meet at 10 a.m. today “to assess their options after they delayed a vote on their debt-ceiling bill [last night] due to a lack of support.” [Reuters]
  • The Federal Reserve plans to provide financial firms with guidance on “how to handle the potentially turbulent financial waters if the United States exhausts its borrowing authority.” [Reuters]
  • The CEOs of some of the nation’s largest banks “sent a letter to the White House and Congress on Thursday urging them to hurry up and reach a debt agreement.” [CNN Money]
  • Labor unions plan to run ads in the districts of eight Republicans, including House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), criticizing their positions on raising the debt ceiling. [The Hill]
  • Business groups are considering filing lawsuits to block some aspects of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law. [Wall Street Journal]
  • The Obama administration has reached a deal with major auto manufacturers “to raise fuel efficiency standards for cars and light trucks between 2017 and 2025, resolving a contentious negotiation over how to cut vehicles’ greenhouse gas emissions.” [Washington Post]
  • The ratings agency Moody’s today put Spain on notice for potential downgrade, “adding to concerns that a Greek rescue package has done little to halt the spread of Europe’s debt crisis.” [Reuters]
  • The Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing on Richard Cordray’s nomination to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Thursday. Republicans have vowed to filibuster any CFPB nominee. [The Hill]
  • Will Gorver Norquist’s anti-tax pledge hold? Maybe not. [BusinessWeek]
  • Sen. John McCain said last night that Speaker of the House John Boehner’s leadership of the GOP “is clearly at stake” in the debt ceiling debate. [NBC's Chuck Todd]
  • States across the country “are bracing for plummeting high school graduation rates as districts nationwide dump flawed measurement formulas that often undercounted dropouts and produced inflated results.” [Associated Press]
  • Advocates are pressing lawmakers to preserve K-12 education funding in any debt ceiling deal. [Education Week]
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Bachmann Defends Using Federal Loans She Denounced: ‘It’s Almost Impossible To Buy A Home’ Without Them

By Marie Diamond on Jul 28, 2011 at 7:20 pm

GOP presidential contender Michele Bachmann (R) has been in hot water in recent weeks for personally taking advantage of hundreds of thousands of dollars in government aid while denouncing the very programs she benefited from. Most recently, the Washington Post discovered that Bachmann and her husband signed for a $417,000 home loan backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac just weeks before she called for the two mortgage giants to be entirely dismantled.

Bachmann has been a consistently fierce critic of mortgage lending programs and has advocated abolishing the government sponsored mortgage enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Yet she took out the maximum possible loan from those programs to finance her family’s move to a lavish 5,200-square-foot home on a golf course.

During an appearance this afternoon at the National Press Club, Bachmann gave a highly ironic defense of her use of federal home loans:

MODERATOR: I got a lot of questions from people asking is it fair for you to call for dismantling federal programs you ultimately have been a beneficiary of? So in terms of guaranteeing home mortgages, do you think the federal government has a role in that…?

BACHMANN: Now unlike all of you, who I’m sure pay cash for your homes, there are people out there like myself who actually have to go to a bank and get a mortgage. And this is the problem. It’s almost impossible to buy a home in this country today without the federal government being involved. Whether it is with the FHA, whether it’s with Fannie, whether it’s with Freddie, it’s almost impossible to buy a home…What’s important is that we do dismantle a number of these federal programs that everyone agrees are clearly out of control.

Watch it:

Bachmann’s disapproval of federal home loan programs obviously didn’t stop her from using them to buy an enormous house for herself. During recent campaign stops, Bachmann has bragged that her family simply “did without” government aid when times were tough, but apparently this time they couldn’t help themselves.

Bachmann said she wants the federal government to get out of the business of guaranteeing mortgages and leave it to the private sector. But Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac currently insure around 90 percent of home loans, and it’s unlikely that homeownership would be as widely accessible without some sort of government backing for home loans. If Bachmann had her way, the U.S. would go back to an era where only the very rich could get mortgages.

At the event, Bachmann also largely dodged questions about her personal finances and her husband’s use of Medicaid funds for his clinic which uses a discredited form of “ex-gay” therapy.

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NEWS FLASH

Pelosi supports clean vote on debt ceiling increase | During a question-and-answer session yesterday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said, “If we don’t come to a conclusion soon, Democrats in the House are saying, we must pass a clean debt ceiling bill while continuing our discussions, as we know we must to reduce the deficit.” The Congressional Black Caucus has also said that a clean vote is the path out of the current stalemate. Today, the Congressional Progressive Caucus announced its support of Rep. Peter Welch’s (D-VT) clean vote proposal to get out of the current crisis. Read our view on the need for a clean vote here.

By Faiz Shakir on Jul 28, 2011 at 6:48 pm

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GOP Shuts Down FAA To Aid Delta’s Anti-Union Efforts, Delta Collects Millions In Extra Profits

By Pat Garofalo on Jul 28, 2011 at 6:20 pm

As the debt ceiling showdown continues to suck all of the oxygen out of Washington, the fact remains that the Federal Aviation Administration is shutdown due to a lack of funding, and House Transportation Committee Chairman John Mica (R-FL) says he has “no idea” when the FAA might be reauthorized. Due to the shutdown, 4,000 federal employees have been furloughed, the more than 150,000 airport construction projects have been halted (idling 70,000 workers) and the government is unable to collect more than $200 million per week in airline taxes.

House Republicans shut down the FAA over their insistence that any bill to reauthorize the agency also include an anti-union provision that would make it harder for employees at airlines and railroads to organize. One of the biggest corporate proponents of this anti-union provision is Delta Airlines, which has been fighting for years to stave off unionization (and is currently under investigation for tampering with union elections). Ironically, the GOP shut down the FAA due to Delta’s anti-union demands, and Delta is now profiting off of the FAA shutdown:

Delta Air Lines Inc. said on Wednesday it will keep pocketing millions in additional daily revenue from federal taxes that disappeared last week because of the Federal Aviation Administration’s shutdown…The FAA’s inability to collect a variety of levies including domestic ticket sales taxes and segment fees is allowing Delta to reap between $4 million and $5 million in additional daily revenue. The taxes had added 10% or more to an airline ticket’s price. Most—but not all—airlines have raised ticket fares by a similar amount.

Several airlines, Delta included, have increased their ticket prices following the suspension of federal airline taxes, and are simply pocketing the difference, rather than passing the savings on to customers. Yesterday, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) took to the senate floor to excoriate the GOP for letting Delta dictate policy:

I wish I understood why the policy objections of one company — Delta Air Lines — mattered more than the livelihoods of thousands of people. Last year, the CEO of Delta made $9 million. Delta paid its top executives almost $20 million. Yet, it is fighting to make sure its employees cannot organize for fear that they may secure a few extra dollars in their paychecks. At the same time it is pushing for special interest provisions in the FAA bill, Delta announced it was abandoning air service to 26 small rural communities—leaving many of them without air service.

Adding one last bit of insult to injury, Delta announced yesterday that it will be cutting 2,000 jobs, while increasing fares and cutting back on services. Last month, Delta found itself in hot water for charging troops who were returning from Afghanistan $2,800 in baggage fees.

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NEWS FLASH

BREAKING: Boehner postpones vote | Official word sent to House members:

**Members are advised that the House GOP Leadership has postponed the votes on the motion to recommit and final passage of S. 627 – Speaker Boehner’s Short Term Default Act (amending the Faster FOIA Act of 2011). Following general debate on S. 627, the House will consider the eight bills listed for consideration under suspension of the Rules.

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