ThinkProgress Logo

Justice

Jared Polis: Debt Ceiling Negotiations Should Include Immigration Reform

By Guest Blogger on Jul 13, 2011 at 5:40 pm

As deficit reduction discussions continue this week to raise the debt ceiling, Congressman Jared Polis (D-CO) wrote to President Obama and Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) calling on them to consider immigration reform as a way of raising revenues without raising taxes. Polis wrote:

“Studies from groups across the political spectrum have proven the economic and fiscal benefits of comprehensive immigration reform. By requiring illegal immigrants to register with the government, pay fees and back taxes, and correct their status, we can drastically expand our tax base. A report by the Center for American Progress found that passing comprehensive immigration reform would generate $4.5 to $5.4 billion in additional net tax revenue over three years. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office scored the bi-partisan 2007 comprehensive immigration reform bill that was proposed in the Senate as increasing federal revenues by $15 billion over the 2008-2012 period and by $48 billion over the 2008-2017 period. [...]

Just like our budget deficit, immigration reform is an issue that we cannot afford to ignore. Bipartisan proposals that are tough, fair, and practical have garnered support from across the ideological spectrum in Congress, as well as from President Bush and the current administration. Comprehensive immigration reform would clearly help us reduce our deficit and debt, and would do so without raising tax rates. Therefore I strongly encourage you to include an immigration reform package as part of the larger compromise.”

While forwarding a comprehensive bipartisan immigration reform bill in time to raise the debt ceiling is not feasible, Polis highlighted an important issue. As Congress pursues austerity cuts despite a struggling economy, many immigration bills have been proposed that would lower the deficit and boost our GDP.

Alternatively, if no immigration reform bills pass and enforcement proposals are advanced, it could significantly impact our deficit and depress our economy. A Center for American Progress analysis found the average cost of deportation per person is $23,148, and tracking, detaining, and deporting every undocumented immigrant could total up to $285 billion. This figure does not take into account lost revenue and economic production, a cost of up to $2.5 trillion, while immigration reform could raise the GDP by an additional $1.6 trillion.

Under the status quo, Obama has deported nearly 1 million people since taking office.

–Sean Savett

NEWS FLASH

Moody’s Warns It May Downgrade U.S.’ AAA Bond Rating | Several sources are reporting that Moody’s Investors Service is putting the U.S. government’s AAA bond rating on review for a possible downgrade. Moody’s said it “considers the probability of a default on interest payments to be low but no longer to be de minimis.” AAA is the highest rating and essentially means “good as cash,” ensuring that the dollar is a stable and trusted currency around the world. Moody’s warned on June 2 that a “review” could come by mid-July “if there were no progress on increasing the statutory debt limit.” The stalemated debt talks between the White House and congressional Republicans have caused investors and credit agencies alike to question the country’s ability to meet its obligations.

By Marie Diamond on Jul 13, 2011 at 5:30 pm

Yglesias

Public Wants Deficit Reduced Mostly, But Not Exclusively, With Spending Cuts

By Matthew Yglesias on Jul 13, 2011 at 5:29 pm

One reason for President Obama to be so aggressive in offering to do deficit reduction primarily on the spending side is that his position commands overwhelming support this way:

To clarify something, I’ve seen a few non-insane people who think they agree with the Republican position because the looming expiration of the Bush tax cuts means increased taxes are already baked into the cake. That’s a mistake. What’s under discussion is raising taxes relative to current policy rather than relative to the current law assumption that that the tax cuts will expire.

Alyssa

‘America Pacifica’ And Science Fictional Social Change

By Alyssa Rosenberg on Jul 13, 2011 at 5:21 pm

I’ve long been a fan of Anna North‘s work, so I was excited to read her debut novel, America Pacifica. It’s an unnerving novel, based on the idea that as life on the continental United States becomes unlivable, a few surviving humans fled to a tropical island, counting on the idea that they’d be able to build it out on landfill and set up a viable alternative society. And it raises an interesting question that I think more works of science fiction might usefully consider: what if we only start working on solutions to climate change and other environmental problems after we’re past the point of no return?

The interesting thing about America Pacifica is its pessimism. A lot of futurist literature involves a heroic effort, undertaken in a time of great duress for the human race, but it’s also frequently invested in arguing that wrenching societal change may be painful, but that it’s critically important. That optimism makes sense. It’s pretty difficult to convince people that they should move to a totally new energy source, or settle Mars, or establish a colony on an isolated and under-resourced island, without the promise that it’s going to pay off pretty big. There are science fiction authors who are profound pessimists of course, among them China Mieville, but I think they tend to write about worlds that are already in dire straights rather than examining the crucial periods and key decisions that made life unlivable.

North’s novel makes clear that humanity had to do something in order to continue existing. But they made a decision about what to do after humanity had been so winnowed down that weak people could become leaders, and the ranks were so thinned that ideas didn’t get questioned and tested the way they should have been. Instead of a grand dream, Pacifica turns into a nightmare world, a land that’s hideously stratified by class, dominated by a few large businesses that blacklist workers, where the only social services are provided by a few religious charities, the school system doesn’t lift anyone up, food is synthetic, and the ground is literally collapsing. The novel follows a moment when sentiment shifts on the island from a general acceptance that even if humanity’s now deeply stratified, the move to Pacifica was worth it, to a profound skepticism of Pacifica’s leaders that culminates in a coup. And even then, North has a whiff of Mieville’s Marxist skepticism about whether changing regimes actually changes life for most people ruled by them. What people really need is a completely different approach to humanity’s survival, not new leadership on an island that is at risk of actually sinking. But only a few people can make a break that radical.

And that’s a scary message, especially for a book on global warming. I don’t know that we’re going to end up with a scenario where a few hundred thousand remaining humans are living on a hugely polluted island in the Pacific Ocean. But I do think we might get to a point where we just accept huge asthma and lung cancer rates and the radical degradation of even protected spaces before we mobilize to really change anything.

NEWS FLASH

Sen. Johnson Says Debt Ceiling Crisis Is Just A ‘Self-Fulfilling Prophecy’ Created By Obama’s ‘Scare-Monger[ing]‘ | On Fox News today, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) had a unique take on the debt ceiling crisis. Despite warnings from many in his own party about the consequences of not raising the debt ceiling — Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said it would lead to “financial collapse and calamity throughout the world” and House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said it would be a “financial disaster” — Johnson argued that Obama wasn’t doing enough to “calm the markets” as we approach the debt limit deadline. With our national credit teetering on the brink of default for the first time in our nation’s history, Johnson instead argued that “it’s only going to be a crisis because it’s going to be a self-fulfilling prophecy because this administration has scare-mongered”:

Contrary to Johnson’s pronouncement, failing to raise the debt ceiling would cause GDP to drop, threaten the fragile housing market, erase the 401(k) gains of the last few years, and possibly reignite the financial crisis.

Climate Progress

After Story on Monster Heat Wave, NBC Asks “What Explains This?” The Answer: “We’re Stuck in a Summer Pattern”!

By Joe Romm on Jul 13, 2011 at 5:20 pm

U.S. bakes under extreme heat, half of population under heat advisory or warning

Temperature at 6 feet above the surface for July 12, 2011 at 5 p.m. ET

The media loves to report on stories about how public concern about global warming is waning — even if the polling data doesn’t support that view.

Ahh, but when it comes to actually connecting the dots between extreme weather we’re now experiencing and global warming, well, that story is apparently too hot to handle — even when the data does support that view.

The southwest is in an uber-hot drought, but the NY Times says no dots to connect to global warming — a story Climate Central’s Andrew Freedman also criticized.  Similarly, no dots for the Arizona wildfire story or the Dust Bowl story.  And TP Green’s Brad Johnson noted that last week’s “CBS News piece on 2011′s extreme weather ignored global warming.”

Now I don’t think that every story on extreme weather needs to mention climate change.  But it’s different if that story is on one or more record-smashing extreme events that scientists have linked to global warming AND if that story explicitly asks the question why are these events all happening at once.  Then yes, as NCAR’s Kevin Trenberth explained, “It is irresponsible not to mention climate change in stories that presume to say something about why all these storms” are happening.

Of course, monster heat waves are at the top of the list of extreme weather events  that scientists have already documented have become longer and stronger  thanks to global warming.

The PBS News Hour did a long story Tuesday night on “Sweltering Heat Wave Roasts 24 States, Feeds Wildfires,” but the only explanation they would offer up is “Meteorologists say the immediate culprit is a high-pressure system stalled over much of the country’s midsection.”

The NBC Evening News also did a long story on the “massive and dangerous heat wave” that has “half of the US population … under a heat advisory.”  Then NBC’s Ann Curry mentions the superstorms and floods the nation has experienced, along with the heat wave, and asks a “Weather Channel meteorologist” just “What Explains This?”

What follows is one of the great tautological non-answers ever seen on a major network:

Well, Ann, during the spring time we were stuck in a very active spring pattern.   Now that it’s summer, we’re stuck in a very active and persistent summer pattern.

Seriously.   With media reporting like this, we’re soon gonna be stuck in a very active and very persistent summer pattern (see Mother Nature is Just Getting Warmed Up:  “Stanford climate scientists forecast permanently hotter summers“).

Here is NBC’s must-see ‘explanation’ for the extreme heat and superstorms of 2011:

Read more

Security

Gingrich Says Panetta Is ‘Living In La-La Land’ For Thinking U.S. Is Defeating Al Qaeda

By Scott Keyes on Jul 13, 2011 at 5:03 pm

ThinkProgress filed this report from Pella, Iowa.

Last week, newly minted Defense Secretary Leon Panetta declared that the U.S. is “within reach” of defeating al Qaeda. Two months prior, then-CIA chief Panetta played an integral role in the hunt for al Qaeda head Osama bin Laden, which culminated with bin Laden’s death in a NavySEAL raid on May 2.

His work as CIA chief earned him high praise from Democrats and Republicans alike, including House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-MI), who praised Panetta for “doing an excellent job,” and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who said President Obama was “fortunate to be able to call upon” Panetta.

But when Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich got to the subject of Leon Panetta during a speech in Iowa on Monday, he minced no words. After saying the United States is “in the biggest crisis since the 1850s,” Gingrich went on to declare that we “have a Secretary of Defense who’s living in la-la land.” If Panetta “thinks we’re winning over al Qaeda,” Gingrich continued, “what I’m really frightened of is he may actually believe it”:

GINGRICH: I believe we’re in the biggest crisis since the 1850s. You look at the spiritual collapse of America, you look at the social collapse of the American family, you look at all the problems we have economically, you look at the collapse of our governmental institutions, you look at our inability to control our own border, you look at the rise of China. And you have a Secretary of Defense who’s living in la-la land. I’ve known Leon Panetta for a long time. He is a nice man. But if he thinks we’re winning over al Qaeda, what I’m really frightened of is he may actually believe it. I mean, 10 years after 9/11 — I’m going to give some speeches on this in August — we’re in worse shape today than we were 10 years ago.

Watch it:

Obviously, Panetta is in a better position than Gingrich to know intricate details about al Qaeda. But even publicly available evidence suggests the terror group’s strength has been severely diminished. While al Qaeda’s membership is said to be in the mere hundreds in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region, bin Laden himself thought his group’s influence was waning and even considered a rebranding effort. CNN terrorism expert Peter Bergen said recently:

“Between the drone program, losing the war of ideas, their relevance, the bench depleted by captures or kills, the lack of success of attacks on the West — all these things don’t suggest a great deal of strength for al Qaeda.”

But Gingrich is a lone voice of criticism amidst a sea of bipartisan praise. So widespread is the respect for Panetta, in fact, that when he was nominated by President Obama to become the Secretary of Defense and came up for a vote in the viciously polarized Senate last month, Panetta was confirmed by a vote of 100 to 0.

Indeed, Gingrich’s attack on Panetta for supposedly not understanding the al Qaeda threat, is a laughable charge. Just ask the 47 Republican senators who unanimously approved his Defense Secretary nomination.

Climate Progress

Murkowski Pumps Shell’s Dangerous Plan To Drill The Arctic Ocean

By Guest Blogger on Jul 13, 2011 at 5:00 pm

Our guest blogger is Emilie Surrusco, communications director, Alaska Wilderness League.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)

Last week in Anchorage, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) held a joint press briefing with Shell Oil. The topic was Shell’s aggressive plans to drill 10 wells in the Arctic’s Chukchi and Beaufort Seas. Sen. Murkowski –- who has taken close to $1.5 million from dirty energy companies over the course of her career — was ostensibly trying to find out if Shell really could clean up a spill in the Arctic’s treacherous and icy conditions. Lo and behold, she concluded that they could:

During questioning by reporters, Murkowski acknowledged she has “long been an advocate for responsible oil and gas development in our state” and that the presentation gave her “more assurances that Shell really is building a response community up in the Arctic.”

This kind of theater is not unusual in a state where oil literally fuels 82 percent of the state’s budget. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t Alaskans who are opposed to drilling in our pristine Arctic Ocean – in fact, those who stand to lose the most, a vocal group of Inupiat people who continue to live off the bounty of Alaska’s Arctic waters in much the same way as generations before them, are the most courageous critics of Alaska’s reliance on oil. It also doesn’t mean that the rest of us don’t have a stake in what happens to a region that is priceless in its beauty and uniqueness – and in the fact that it functions as the world’s air conditioner. As climate change causes Arctic ice to melt at an alarming rate, we can’t afford to hand our Arctic over to oil companies like Shell.

What Murkowski and Shell didn’t say at last week’s press pageantry was that there is no way to effectively clean up a spill in the Arctic’s extreme, remote conditions, as reiterated recently with a comprehensive study by the federal government’s scientific arm. Despite recent technological advances in mechanical recovery for oil spill response, with the Arctic’s extreme weather conditions and broken ice, the amount of oil that could be cleaned up is estimated at a mere 1 to 20 percent, according to the USGS report. Meanwhile, Shell’s oil spill response plan for the Arctic states that the company would be able to clean up 90 percent of the oil in the event of a spill. This from a company that was recently found to own oil rigs in the northern North Sea that caused the majority of 100 potentially lethal spills.

What’s more, Alaska’s Arctic region is so remote – there are no large roads, no hotels, no major airports, no boat docks – that the nearest Coast Guard station — a critical component to any oil spill response — is 1,000 miles away. Even after BP’s disaster in the Gulf, Alaska’s politicians and the oil cheerleaders in Congress continue to push for Arctic drilling. Shell’s plan for the Arctic’s Beaufort Sea could be approved as soon as next month.

That is why a growing coalition of concerned organizations launched a national campaign to protect our one and only Arctic. Over the next year, we will be using a combination of media and grassroots tactics to bring these facts to light. Because once the American public learns that Shell and its cronies in Congress are willing to destroy one of our nation’s greatest natural treasures to further pad their already-bulging pockets, the Obama administration will have no choice but to tell Shell – if you can’t clean up a spill, you can’t drill. We hope you will join us in the Arctic on July 4, 2012 (which also happens to be when Shell hopes to begin drilling) for a celebration of the Alaskan Arctic’s “independence” from Shell.

NEWS FLASH

DADT Repeal Certification Imminent? All Services Have ‘Provided Their Input’ | “All of the services and combatant commands have provided their input to the Defense Department in advance of the repeal of the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’” a Pentagon spokesman said today. The Defense Department has stopped discharging openly gay servicemembers in compliance with a recent Ninth Circuit injunction, but has also moved forward with the repeal certification process that Congress approved last year. Under that law, Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell cannot be lifted until 60 days after the President, Secretary of Defense, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff certify that it does not undermine unit readiness or cohesion. The Department of Justice has just several more days to announce if it plans to appeal the injunction.

Older

Newer

Switch to Mobile
ThinkProgress Signup Overlay Skip and Continue to ThinkProgress Skip and Continue to ThinkProgress

Sign Up