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New Congress, same Republicans

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 15:18:00 +0000

The new Congress was sworn in today, which was cause for various writers to note the abysmal performance of the last Congress. Here’s Ezra Klein, for example, on the many, many failures of the 112th:

What’s the record of the 112th Congress? Well, it almost shut down the government and almost breached the debt ceiling. It almost went over the fiscal cliff (which it had designed in the first place). It cut a trillion dollars of discretionary spending in the Budget Control Act and scheduled another trillion in spending cuts through an automatic sequester, which everyone agrees is terrible policy. It achieved nothing of note on housing, energy, stimulus, immigration, guns, tax reform, infrastructure, climate change or, really, anything. It’s hard to identify a single significant problem that existed prior to the 112th Congress that was in any way improved by its two years of rule.

The 112th, which was gaveled into being on Jan. 3, 2011, by newly elected House Speaker John Boehner, wasn’t just unproductive in comparison with the 111th. It was unproductive compared with any Congress since 1948, when scholars began keeping tabs on congressional productivity.

Nearly a year after stroke, Kirk returns to Senate

Thu, 03 Jan 2013 19:38:00 +0000

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly a year after a debilitating stroke, Sen. Mark Kirk is back at work in the Senate.

The Illinois Republican climbed the steps of the Capitol on Thursday and claimed his Senate seat.

Kirk was greeted at the foot of the Capitol steps by Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday. Biden and Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia were at Kirk's side as Kirk used a four-pronged cane to climb the 45 steps.

He earned rousing applause from fellow senators, the Illinois congressional delegation and others.

Kirk waved and smiled. He paused several times to greet well-wishers.

During his recovery from the stroke, the senator endured an intensive, experimental rehabilitation regimen that is often compared with military boot camp because of its intensity.

4 painful lessons from the “fiscal cliff”

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 14:45:00 +0000

Well, I’m glad that’s over.

Now that the House has passed the Senate compromise bill, the full spate of tax increases and spending cuts that went into effect yesterday will be shut off (though the sequester was just suspended for a couple of months). Still, I don’t mean to be a downer, but any relief you feel should be analogized to how much better you feel when you stop banging a hammer on your head. We’ve avoided, for the moment, a self-made trap. Now, of course, we’re on to the next one—the debt ceiling, which really is a cliff in that to go over it (can you “go over” a ceiling?) is to default.

The resolution of the fiscal cliff was much as I and others predicted—a very short trip over the cliff—more of a bungee jump, really. As we said, once House R’s could label a vote for the compromise a net tax cut, enough of them could vote for it. In fact, one of their leaders, Dave Camp (R-MI) sold the measure to his caucus as the “largest tax cut in American history.”

The “fiscal cliff” deal is simply awful

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 14:34:00 +0000

So, we have a modest deal in place to avert the contrived crisis known as the fiscal cliff. Washington is celebrating the fact that Congress averted the disaster that it created out of thin air last year.

Some say that it's not a bad deal on its merits, but we'll have to await final judgment until we see what happens with the debt ceiling, which has to be raised in the next two months. If the White House stands firm on its refusal to negotiate over the debt ceiling again, and doesn't give any more concessions, then we can look back at this deal as a pretty good one, on balance.

I suspect this will become the center-left conventional wisdom, and only dirty hippies will be bitching. So pass the patchouli, because I hate this deal.

Prepare for the mini-cliffs: Wind and dairy on the brink

Mon, 31 Dec 2012 18:20:00 +0000

For the umpteenth day in a row rhetoric and speculation about the fiscal cliff dominated the news cycle. No one knows exactly what will happen if this unholy marriage of tax hikes and spending cuts takes effect, but a few industries are facing their own mini-cliffs and it's easier to predict the aftermath.

First, there's what might be called the windy cliff. In 1992 the government created a production tax credit to incentivize the use of clean, domestic wind power. The subsidy is a 2.2 cent credit per kilowatt hour of energy produced over ten years, amounting to about $1 million per large turbine. Since the initial credit was enacted, it has been renewed seven times and has been allowed to expire three times.

The tax credit expires for the fourth time at midnight tonight. That's too bad for fans of clean, domestic power since this tax credit works. It has been in place since 2004 and U.S. wind generating capacity increased almost six-fold between 2006 and 2011 and now accounts for about three percent of electricity generation nationwide.

Report: Obama to propose compromise package to avoid cliff

Fri, 28 Dec 2012 16:54:00 +0000

With all of Washington in a panic about the tax hikes and spending cuts that make up the so-called "fiscal cliff," Bloomberg reports that President Barack Obama will propose a compromise in today's 3 p.m. meeting with Congressional leaders:

The scaled-back offer Obama plans to make to Republican congressional leaders includes renewing George W. Bush-era tax cuts for middle-class earners, most likely for those making $400,000 and below, according to a Senate aide close to the talks. Both aides spoke on condition of anonymity.

The plan would extend unemployment insurance benefits set to expire at the end of the year, prevent a cut in Medicare reimbursements to doctors and head off an expansion of the alternative minimum tax, said the aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The plan would delay or replace part of scheduled federal spending cuts, most likely the defense portion, the aide said.

The article quotes Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) saying yesterday that he anticipated a deal but is not optimistic about its prospects. “It’s feeling very much like an optical meeting, not a substantive meeting,” he said.

For the Democrats, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) still favors a deal that would raise taxes on households earning more than $250,000.

Meanwhile, John Harwood of CNBC tweets from the other side:

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In other words, this could go on indefinitely.

Republicans just don’t care what the nation thinks

Fri, 28 Dec 2012 14:17:00 +0000

Are House Republicans – now summoned back to Washington by Speaker John Boehner — about to succumb to public pressure and save the nation from the fiscal cliff?

Don’t bet on it.

Even if Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell cooperates by not mounting a filibuster and allows the Senate to pass a bill extending the Bush tax cuts to the first $250,000 of everyone’s income, Boehner may not bring it to the House floor.

On a Thursday conference call with House Republicans he assured conservatives he was “not interested” in allowing such a vote if most House Republicans would reject the bill, according to a source on the call.

Democrats are confident that even if the nation technically goes over the cliff January 1, Boehner will bring such a bill to the floor soon after January 3 — once House Republicans have reelected him Speaker – and it will get passed.

But this assumes Boehner and the GOP will be any more swayed by public opinion than they are now.

Salon’s Joan Walsh describes right wing honcho Dick Armey in plain English

Fri, 28 Dec 2012 03:16:00 +0000

Salon editor at large Joan Walsh cuts through the nonsense to discuss the right's internecine (but profitable) feuds in unusually frank terms, even for cable. The sparks start to fly around the 3:20 mark:

Bush aide: “Please put the harps back in the closet”

Thu, 27 Dec 2012 22:46:00 +0000

An aide for George H.W. Bush said today that despite his month-long hospital stay, the former president says "he has every intention of staying put."

CBS News reports that Jean Becker wrote an email to Bush's family and friends, saying that he will be hospitalized for "a while."

"He is 88 years old, he had a terrible case of bronchitis which then triggered a series of complications, partially brought on by the fact that he also has a form of Parkinson's disease," Becker said.

"Is he sick? Yes. Does he plan on going anywhere soon? No. He has every intention of staying put," Becker added. "He would ask me to tell you to please put the harps back in the closet."

Minister and activist to officiate first marriage since 2003

Thu, 27 Dec 2012 19:18:00 +0000

On Saturday Todd Eklof, minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Spokane, Wash., will perform his first marriage in almost a decade.

Eklof was a part-time minister at a church in Louisville, Ky., in 2004 when the state voted to amend the state constitution to define marriage as between one man and one woman. Eklof responded by announcing that he wouldn’t perform marriages until same sex couples could wed.

“I had really looked at this as a free speech issue as much as a human rights issue,” he told Salon. It was a violation of the “First Amendment guarantee to religious expression...It would be the equivalent of someone coming into my restaurant and saying you can no longer serve blacks.”

Eklof's stance cost him his job as a video producer for the Kentucky Farm Bureau, a lobby representing and supporting agricultural interests. He sued and the Bureau eventually admitted to firing him for his views. The lawsuit settled for an undisclosed sum, “Enough to make my attorneys and Uncle Sam happy,” Eklof said. (The Kentucky church has continued to follow his example and does not “allow weddings of non-members to be held on its premises until it can open its doors equally to all couples, including gays and lesbians.”)

Sen. Crapo “consumed several shots of vodka” before DUI arrest

Thu, 27 Dec 2012 14:58:00 +0000

Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, had "consumed several shots of vodka" prior to getting arrested and charged with a DUI, according to court documents obtained by the Washington Post.

The Post reports that Crapo, a Mormon who has said that he abstains from alcohol, was pulled over after making a left turn on a red light in Alexandria, Va.

From the Post:

“When I spoke with the driver I immediately detected a strong odor of alcoholic beverage on his breath, which became stronger as he spoke,” the arresting officer wrote.

Crapo said he drank the vodka hours earlier, and hadn’t had anything to drink since, documents show.

Crapo failed a field sobriety test and agreed to take a breath test, which resulted in a level of .11, exceeding Virginia’s legal limit of .08, according to the documents.

Crapo's court date is set for January 4.

Oklahoma GOPer introduces bill targeting “Agenda 21″

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 22:18:00 +0000

A Republican legislator in Oklahoma is introducing a bill intended to target Agenda 21, a supposed conspiracy by the United Nations to usurp private property rights in America.

From the Tulsa World:

Sen. Patrick Anderson, R-Enid, said his Senate Bill 23 is based on a bill that was passed by Alabama lawmakers last year and is aimed in part at cutting off state support for the groups pushing limits on property owner rights.

As a farmer, Anderson said he is concerned about the federal government -- pushed by the U.N.'s agenda of sustainability --forcing rules on a wide variety of things, including the creation of dust and how land can be used.

"There's a place for all that, but we also need to make sure we're not infringing on the property owners' rights to use their own land," Anderson said.

Obama has long work list to tackle when he returns

Mon, 24 Dec 2012 18:46:00 +0000

WASHINGTON (AP) — It's hardly a secret that Barack Obama, like every president no doubt, muses about his ultimate legacy and spot in the presidential pantheon. He approaches his second term confronting tough and shifting challenges that will play big roles in shaping the rest of his presidency and his eventual place in history.

In the coming months, Obama will have to decide where to be ambitious, where to be cautious, and where to buy time.

He draws political strength from his surprisingly easy re-election in a bad economy. It's partly offset, however, by Republicans' continued control of the House, plus their filibuster powers in the Senate.

Some of the big issues awaiting the president's decisions are familiar, long-simmering problems. They include immigration and the need for a tenable balance between taxes, spending and borrowing.

Another issue, gun control, jumped to the national agenda's top tier this month following the massacre of first-graders and teachers in a Connecticut school. And the issue of climate change remains unresolved.

Veteran politicians and presidential historians say it's almost impossible for Obama to "go big" on all these issues. Indeed, it might prove difficult to go big on even one. While some counsel caution, others urge the president to be as bold and ambitious as possible.

Report: Romney held off conceding until after Karl Rove’s meltdown

Mon, 24 Dec 2012 17:51:00 +0000

The Boston Globe reports that Mitt Romney held off on conceding the presidential race on Election Night during Karl Rove's infamous meltdown on Fox News over the returns in Ohio, and only made the call once Rove had been proven incorrect.

From The Globe:

Arriving at his suite in the Westin Boston Waterfront hotel, Romney received regular updates from his staff. He made small talk about the Patriots and the Celtics and played with his grandchildren. He was about to concede around 11:15 p.m when Republican strategist Karl Rove made his now-infamous appearance on Fox News Channel, insisting that his own network was wrong in calling Ohio for the president.

The concession call was canceled, followed by an hour of uncertainty. Then, after Fox executives dismissed Rove’s concerns and stood by the network’s projection, Romney said: Call the president.

Sen. Mike Crapo apologizes for DUI arrest

Mon, 24 Dec 2012 15:16:00 +0000

Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, apologized for his arrest for drunk driving in a D.C. suburb on Sunday, saying in a statement, "I accept total responsibility and will deal with whatever penalty comes my way in this matter."

Crapo was arrested at 12:45 a.m. on Sunday morning in Alexandria, Va., and charged with driving under the influence.

A statement on the Alexandria Police Department website describes the incident:

"An officer was on routine patrol when he noticed a vehicle go through a red traffic signal. The officer initiated a traffic stop on the vehicle at Hume Avenue and Mount Vernon Avenue. Sen. Crapo was identified as the driver and arrested after failing several field sobriety tests. He was taken into custody without incident and transported to the Alexandria Adult Detention Center where he was released on a $1,000 unsecured bond."

Crapo had a blood alcohol content level of 0.11 at the time of the arrest, according to the statement, and was alone in the vehicle at the time. He has a court date set for January 4, 2013.

Over the “fiscal cliff” we go!

Sat, 22 Dec 2012 17:00:00 +0000

The House Republicans have failed to pass their benighted Plan B. But other than “Republicans are in deep disarray,” what does that mean for near-term fiscal policy — should we prepare the trimmings for a Merry CLIFFMAS?

In fact, once Rep. Boehner turned away from the compromise he was hammering out with the president earlier in the week, the odds of going over the cliff significantly jumped. Plan B was nothing more than theatrics — designed to show the world that Leader Boehner could muster his troops, even if it was for a cliff solution that was going nowhere in the Senate or White House. Unfortunately for him, that little bit of theater turned out badly, and Boehner’s leadership is at risk.

Unfortunately for the rest of us, it’s impossible to imagine a plausible deal being made with these House Republicans. If Boehner decided to go for a compromise with a bunch of Democratic votes, he could likely get to 218 and passage. But John Boehner teaming up with Nancy Pelosi to pass a tax increase — even on just the top few percent — is not … um … a likely outcome.

So over the cliff we go. What happens next?

Republican House built on dark money

Sat, 22 Dec 2012 14:00:00 +0000

In the November election, a million more Americans voted for Democrats seeking election to the U.S. House of Representatives than Republicans. But that popular vote advantage did not result in control of the chamber. Instead, despite getting fewer votes, Republicans have maintained a commanding control of the House. Such a disparity has happened only three times in the last century.

(Here’s a chart comparing 2010 and 2012.)

Analysts and others have identified redistricting as a key to the disparity. Republicans had a years-long strategy of winning state houses in order to control each state's once-a-decade redistricting process. (Confused about redistricting? Check out our song.)

John Boehner: Can anyone govern the Crazy Caucus?

Sat, 22 Dec 2012 12:00:00 +0000

John Boehner may not last much longer as speaker of the House – but I wouldn’t count him out. Despite having an impossible situation, he’s probably done about as well as anyone could, this week’s Plan B meltdown notwithstanding. He may, as Steve Kornacki suggests, simply decide he’s had it and walk away. But House Republicans, whether moderate or conservative, would be foolish to encourage it.

For most of the 20th century, speaker of the House wasn’t a particularly important job – powerful committee chairs ruled, and speakers could do little about it. A long process of reform, however, removed most of the clout of those barons and strengthened party leadership, making modern speakers far more powerful than their mid-century predecessors. Since the modern speakership emerged in the 1970s, there have been three basic models of how to handle the office:

The latest war on single moms

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 20:50:00 +0000

The United States offers the worst support structure for single parents among all comparable countries -- and if anything like House Speaker John Boehner’s Plan B carries the day, it’s about to get worse.

Republicans used to love the earned income tax credit and the child tax credit, because they incentivized paid labor and used the tax code instead of cash assistance or programs to help low-income parents, most visibly single mothers. But that was before the cry against the 47 percent, a substantial portion of whom didn’t pay taxes because of such credits.

In the Washington Post, Jamelle Bouie points to an analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities showing that the two tax credits for low-income families will be slashed under Plan B: “A mother with two children who works full time at the minimum wage of $7.25 and earns $14,500 a year would lose $1,560 of her Child Tax Credit, which would plummet from $1,725 to $165.”

Texas GOPer: Ping-Pong kills more people than guns

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 18:55:00 +0000

Incoming state Rep. Kyle Kacal, R-Texas, will not support any gun control measures in Texas because people need their guns "to be safe," and, besides, "ping-pongs are more dangerous than guns."

"People know what they need to do to be safe. We don't need to legislate that -- it's common sense," Kacal said, according to the Eagle. "Once everyone's gun is locked up, then the bad guys know everyone's gun is locked up."

"I've heard of people being killed playing ping-pong -- ping-pongs are more dangerous than guns," he added. "Flat-screen TVs are injuring more kids today than anything."

Via Andrew Kaczynski of BuzzFeed.