Ron Brownstein has an excellent column out today that shows why progressives should be worrying, above all else, about the economy. First, Brownstein points out something progressives probably don’t mind hearing: the GOP has faced a key post-election test — moving to the center — and so far they are earning a failing grade. As Brownstein puts it, “For Republicans, the key question [after the election] was whether a congressional caucus rooted in the nation’s most conservative areas could court the broader coalition the party needs to regain the presidency.” The problem is that many GOP members are focused on their conservative and often very white constituents’ desires, which often alienate the Democratic base. “The GOP’s struggle to culturally connect with the coalition of the ascendant will help Democrats sustain it,” Brownstein adds.

But he also points out something progressives may not want to hear: the Democrats have also faced a key post-election test — fixing the economy — and so far they too are earning a failing grade. The main task is to deliver a growing economy, or at least a credible path to get there, but many groups are feeling pessimistic:

[C]ollege-educated white women [in the National Journal poll] expressed dim opinions of his economic performance (only 28 percent thought his agenda would increase their opportunities), and minorities and millennials were much more likely than others to describe their economic situation as poor or only fair. Last fall, Obama won the support of just over seven in 10 Hispanics, but roughly as many in the new poll described their economic standing in those grim terms.

Although the confrontations over guns and immigration that Obama has pressed create cultural hurdles for the GOP, they may also prompt voters to conclude, as they did in his first two years, that he is focusing on priorities other than their economic concerns…If growth remains lackluster….Democrats can never be entirely secure about their hold on voters who see neither economic gains nor a clear plan to deliver them.

In other words, despite the GOP’s failure to move to the center, the Democrats’ ability to capitalize on this failure is fundamentally compromised by their own failure to fix the economy. What should be a rout for the Democrats is turning into a grinding stalemate with the possibility of a 2010-style political disaster always looming on the horizon.

But if the situation is difficult here for progressives, it is far more dire in Europe. There, the economy is in much worse shape. As just one example, check out this list from the IMF of the world’s slowest growing countries: six of the top eleven slowest-growing countries are Eurozone countries.

And in Europe the left is not in a stalemate. It is in free fall. Social democrats and labor parties in France, Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, and Ireland have dismal poll numbers, and the UK Labour Party is also seeing its popularity fall. At the same time, many voters are turning to center-right parties in Iceland, Italy, France, and Ireland.

A common slogan in progressive street protests in Europe has been “Austerity Kills.” Turns out the slogan also applies to the left itself. That’s why there is no bigger problem for progressives today than fixing the economy.

For two months now, Congress has ignored reports about how the sequester is causing kids to be kicked off Head Start and seniors to lose their Meals on Wheels services. But after just a few days of reports that passengers had to wait longer before boarding their flights, Congress rushed to pass a last minute fix for the Federal Aviation Administration. Now, the Pentagon is clamoring for its fix. Before Congress hurries to save yet another agency with a well-funded special interest group supporting it, we must ask, what are they doing about our kids getting tossed out of classrooms?

The sequester doesn’t just impact passengers on the tarmac, but has ramifications throughout the nation. Just yesterday, the Federal Reserve hinted that our fiscal policy of cuts-cuts-cuts is restraining economic growth. Other economists fear that the sequester is dragging down our economy. While Congress seems open to more flexibility as a way to solve the sequester, economists have laid out very clearly why shifting funds around does not stop its impact. The right response to this would be for Congress to stop the entire sequester immediately. But it has been either unwilling or unable to muster the political will to do so.

Congress’ failure is hurting everyone. Take, for example, our children. Because of the sequester, 70,000 children are being kicked off Head Start, a critical program providing low-income preschoolers with education, health, nutrition, and family-support services. Another 1.2 million disadvantaged students will see the funds eliminated for over 2,700 schools. Low-income families will also lose a total of $115 million in child care subsidies. These are subsidies that enable low-income families to take care of their children and work to make ends meet.

Although politicians like Rep. Billy Long (R-MO) are clamoring for more sequestration, the reports are coming in and it’s our children that are losing out. Even if we looked only at Head Start, we’ll see how the youngest are bearing the burden of sequestration:

• In Indiana, at least two Head Start programs are conducting random drawings to determine which kids to drop. A total of 1,000 kids are estimated to be kicked off the program statewide.
• In Alton, Illinois, 2,000 children will have their school year shortened by two whole weeks.
• In Fostoria, Ohio, more than 1,100 children will have their school week cut by a week.
• In Seveille, Florida, 977 children will have their school year shortened by two weeks.
• In Forrest County, Missouri, 812 young children will have their school year cut by five to ten days.
• In Palm Beach Country, Florida, 2,300 low-income children will lose their bus service, forcing them to find other ways to get to pre-school.

Read more

Our guest blogger is Anna Chu, Policy Director for the ThinkProgress War Room at the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-KS) on Friday tried to use the positive jobs numbers over the last month to argue that America can handle the devastating budget cuts known as sequestration.

Pompeo tweeted at House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), “America did fine. We can survive spending cuts.” But actually, his district isn’t doing so fine: He represents Wichita, KS, where this month preschools announced they had to cut 10 teachers and 74 students from their program for low-income kids thanks to budget cuts.

Kansas has also cut $750,000 from federal courthouses, public defenders, and prosecutors. While Congress last month voted to restore funding to the Federal Aviation Administration — because flight lines were too long — they have done little to help with devastating cuts impacting programs for low-income communities around the country.

Pompeo made a similar claim a few weeks ago when he said, “In my judgment, the pain [from the sequester] has not been too great.” Before the law even passed, he deemed it “A Home Run For America.”

While sequestration was meant to be a last resort, it was originally created to force lawmakers to take action to reduce the deficit. Yet now that it’s gone into effect there are some parts that will likely do the opposite. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will take a hit just like all other agencies, and cuts to its budget could hamper its ability to collect tax revenues, pulling in less money to fund the federal government.

In April, the agency announced it would furlough more than 89,000 employees to cope with sequestration cuts. Operating at normal capacity, the agency collected $2.5 trillion in government revenues last year, $50 billion from enforcement activities. But reducing operations will bring in less money. Every dollar invested in its enforcement, modernization, and management system reduces the deficit by $200, and every dollar it spends on audits, liens, and seizing property from tax evasion nets $10. One estimate calculated that furloughing just 1,800 enforcement positions could mean losing $4.5 billion in revenue.

On top of regular collection activities, sequestration cuts could take some teeth out of the IRS’s efforts to crack down on tax evasion in offshore havens. As Zach Carter reports, “Since 2009, the IRS has recovered roughly $5.5 billion in unpaid taxes and penalties through amnesty programs targeting Swiss banking customers.” These programs have allowed the IRS to collect important data on which banks help people illegally hide their money as well as the accountants and advisers who help move the money over, which it could use to open new investigations. But budget troubles have kept it from taking advantage of this information. Its funding has been decreased in recent years, allowing it to only audit about 1 percent of tax returns. Sequestration will mean even fewer resources to after evasion.

The idea that spending cuts will get our economy going is misguided, given that government spending has fallen and austerity is acting as a drag on the recovery. As the case of the IRS shows, some spending cuts may end up leading to an even bigger loss in funds.

RACINE, WI — At a town hall meeting on Wednesday, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) was confronted by one of the more than 1 million federal workers affected by across-the-board spending cuts known as sequestration.

David Novak, who works for the Environmental Protection Agency in Wisconsin, confronted Ryan over the impact the sequester is having: For Novak and hundreds of thousands of federal employees, it’s meant shorter hours and less pay. “I’ve already lost $6,000 in pay. I’ve got another 47 hours to lose,” he said. “You’re taking away our pay.”

Ryan’s response to Novak reinvented his long standing position on budget cuts. Not only did Ryan disavow any responsibility for helping create the sequester, he also omitted how his budget plan similarly shrinks the EPA:

This was is something the president has done through the Budget Control Act. We didn’t like it so we passed two bills to replace it. Twice. I passed a bill twice. I passed a bill in December that said instead of doing the sequester, here’s how the government should cut to pay for it. They rejected it. Then this last March we passed a bill funding the government and giving the executive branch the authority and flexibility on top to implement the sequester.

The EPA chose to implement it this way to affect you as you described. The Department of Transportation, they chose — chose, I’m using this word intentionally — they chose to furlough air traffic controllers when they could have cut other [inaudible]. They slated the Kenosha/Janesville airport for closure when they had the authority by Congress, signed into law.

Watch it:

Although he now blames President Obama, Ryan was a key Republican involved in creating the sequester in the first place. Congress passed the Budget Control Act in response to Republican demands for spending cuts without new revenue in exchange for raising the debt ceiling, which Ryan fully supported. The sequester’s broad cuts to social programs and defense spending were meant to motivate the Super Committee to reach a deficit reduction deal, but none was reached. All along, Republicans have refused additional revenue to reduce the deficit and Ryan even bragged about the law, calling the law “a victory for those committed to controlling government spending.”

But Ryan included another omission. In his 2014 budget, the House Budget chair calls for deep budget cuts to the EPA as well, which would severely handicap its oversight of the environment and public health. Ryan’s budget also incorporates the sequester in practically all non-defense spending.

When ThinkProgress spoke to Novak afterward, the military veteran said he “agreed with what he came back with, that there were bills proposed that would take care of this, but it’s still unfair.” “The job’s not getting done,” he said. “I work with the public. I can’t go out and work with the public.”