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Moderate Democrats Frustrated by
Reids Failure to Produce Budget
Politico.com
The Democratic-led Senate on Wednesday is expected to reject all four GOP budget plans, including the contentious House-passed proposal authored by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI). A fifth budget, offered by Republicans and based on President Barack Obama 2013 spending blueprint, also will likely fall short of the 50 votes needed to pass, dealing the White House an embarrassing election-year blow. But Democratic leaders have defiantly refused to lay out their own vision for how to deal with federal debt and spending, arguing that last summer’s debt-ceiling deal essentially serves as an actual budget. While a budget resolution is non-binding, they say, the Budget Control Act was signed into law. But a few centrists in the 53-member Democratic conference expressed frustration with their party’s budget inaction.
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Senate Reauthorizes Export-Import Bank
RollCall.com
The Senate approved legislation today that would reauthorize the Export-Import Bank after rejecting five Republicans amendments, including a proposal to shut down the bank. The bill was approved 78-20 -- with all 20 “no” votes cast by Republicans -- and now goes to President Barack Obama for his signature. The House passed the measure last week 330-93. Passage of the legislation came after the Senate defeated an amendment 12-86 from Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) that after one year of reauthorization would terminate the bank, which is designed to facilitate the purchase of US exports by foreign buyers. While many Republicans back the bill, conservatives see the bank as a form of corporate welfare that comes at a time when the annual deficit has been more than $1 trillion in recent years.
Dems Attack Romney Over
Layoffs Made by Obama Bundler
BigGovernment.com
President Obama's campaign has released a two-minute ad slamming Mitt Romney for layoffs made at a company controlled by Bain Capital. The ad is built around interviews with former steelworkers at GST Steel, a mill in Kansas City, who were laid off as the company collapsed in the wake of a downturn in the steel market. The ad is certainly gripping and emotional. It is also, however, completely wrong. The company was shut down in 2001. Romney left Bain in 1999, long before the plant closing, to run Winter Olympics. Two years is an eternity in the business world. Blaming Romney for decisions made two years after the left the company is at best disingenuous. However, there was a political power-player serving as a director of Bain at the time of the company's bankruptcy and layoffs -- an Obama bundler.
Jarrett’s ‘Chicago Connections’
Led to Obama’s Solyndra Visit
The Daily Caller
Revelations from a new unauthorized biography of President Obama called “The Amateur,” continue to trickle out. The latest involves White House adviser Valerie Jarrett. According to the book, written by former New York Times Magazine editor Edward Klein, many of Obama’s most liberal and costly political mistakes stemmed from Jarrett’s advice. Jarrett reportedly hatched the idea of Obama flying to Copenhagen to “make a dramatic presentation to the International Olympic Committee” for Chicago’s Olympic bid -- and also encouraged Obama’s visit to “the Bay area solar company Solyndra” -- despite the protestations of Lawrence Summers (who in 2009 warned against the loan guarantee) and others. Klein implies Jarrett’s pro-Solyndra position was a result of her “Chicago connections.”
Judge Strikes Down NLRB
Sanctioned Union Election Rules
AP/The Washington Times
A federal judge Monday struck down new regulations governing union elections, saying the National Labor Relations Board did not follow proper voting procedures when it approved the rules last year. US District Judge James Boasberg said the board never had a quorum when it voted on the rules that speed up the pace of union representation elections. He did not address the merits of the rules and said the NLRB could simply take a new vote to approve them. Business groups and Republicans had vigorously challenged the rules, which took effect April 30, claiming they didn’t give company managers enough time to counter union organizers. Unions contend the new rules curb needless litigation that companies use to stall the election process. A NLRB spokeswoman said lawyers were still reviewing the decision.
Obama Pushes Another
Multi-Billion Dollar Stimulus Plan
The Washington Times
Putting pressure on Congress to approve parts of his latest economic stimulus plan, President Obama urged Americans Saturday to push lawmakers to approve his multibillion-dollar “to-do list” for creating jobs. “Each of the ideas on this list will help create jobs and build a stronger economy right now,” Mr. Obama said in his weekly address. “Let’s push Congress to do the right thing. Let’s keep moving this country forward together.” The president’s list includes an expanded program to help homeowners refinance their mortgages, a proposal to give small businesses tax breaks for hiring more workers, a program that would help veterans find jobs, and an extension of tax credits for clean-energy companies. All told, the proposals on the president’s list could cost up to $34.7 billion.
HHS: Insurers Must Credit
ObamaCare When Giving Rebates
FOX News
Health insurance companies must tell customers who get a premium rebate this summer that the check is the result of the Obama administration's healthcare law, according to federal guidelines released Friday. The move is the latest sign the Obama administration is trying to draw attention to the law's benefits before the fall elections, even though the law faces an uncertain future. The Supreme Court is expected to decide in June whether its central plank-a mandate that everyone carry insurance-violates the Constitution. Under the 2010 legislation, insurers that don't spend a specified amount of revenue on actual medical care, as opposed to administrative costs, must refund the difference to customers. Rules finalized by the HHS on Friday instruct insurers to notify recipients of rebates in the first paragraph of the mailing.
FDIC Outlines Strategy for Seizing Failing Banks
AP/Yahoo! Finance
Regulators plan to employ a strategy for handling big failing banks that would help stabilize the financial system by preserving the banks' healthy operations, the head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. says. FDIC Acting Chairman Martin Gruenberg outlined the agency's strategy in a speech Thursday. Under the 2010 financial overhaul law, the agency has the authority to seize and dismantle big financial firms that could collapse and threaten the broader system. The aim is to avoid another taxpayer bailout of Wall Street banks in another financial crisis. Gruenberg said that under the strategy, the FDIC would take over a failing bank's parent company but allow its healthy subsidiaries to continue operating. He said that would reduce disruption and permit normal financial transactions.
House Votes to Prohibit DoJ from
Using Funds to Defend Obamacare
CNS News
The GOP-led House of Representatives approved an amendment to a 2013 appropriations bill on Wednesday that would prohibit the Department of Justice from using its departmental funds to defend against legal challenges to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare. “The Supreme Court has heard arguments and is set to reveal their decision on the constitutionality of the president’s health care mandate next month,” said Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN). “The Supreme Court is the highest court in the land and DoJ should not need additional resources for any future defense.” It was approved, 229 to 194, with 17 Republican lawmakers voting against the amendment and nine Democrats voting to approve the measure.
Around World, Obama Presidency a Disappointment
AP/ABC News
In Europe, where more than 200,000 people thronged a Berlin rally in 2008 to hear Barack Obama speak, there's disappointment that he hasn't kept his promise to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, and perceptions that he's shunting blame for the financial crisis across the Atlantic. In a world weary of war and economic crises, and concerned about global climate change, the consensus is that Obama has not lived up to the lofty expectations that surrounded his 2008 election and Nobel Peace Prize a year later. Many in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America were also taken aback by his support for gay marriage, a taboo subject among religious conservatives. Obama's views on Europe's financial crisis also have rankled some on the continent.
New Budget Promises
Entitlement Reforms, Lower Taxes
The Daily Caller
A new Republican budget introduced by freshman Sen. Mike Lee this week takes a hard line against entitlement spending, high taxes and the growth of government. According to an outline, the budget promises to reduce publicly held debt to roughly 52 percent of GDP over the next decade and balance the budget by 2017. It would also reduce spending to 17.8 percent of GDP by 2022, and transform entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security into basic insurance programs that would no longer provide benefits to wealthy Americans. Lee’s “Saving the American Dream” budget is based off of a plan originally put forward by the Heritage Foundation. At its heart is a tax simplification plan that would do away with tax loopholes for special interests, estate and excise taxes, and the 15.3 percent payroll tax.
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