ECONOMY
Porky Promises

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has repeatedly made a major campaign promise to veto any bill that comes to his desk as president if it contains earmarks. "I'll veto every bill that has a pork-barrel project on it," he has said. "I am a deficit hawk," he proclaimed this week, attempting to explain how he would pay for his economic plan that includes massive corporate tax cuts. McCain has failed to note, however, that earmarks have paid for projects that he supports, such as U.S. aid to Israel. Confronted with this reality this week, McCain's campaign quickly granted an exception for Israel. McCain "will ensure America remains committed to the security of Israel, including maintaining America's assistance levels," a spokesperson said. In detailed analyses, Center for American Progress Senior Fellow Scott Lilly observes that McCain's ill-conceived earmark-cutting proposal reflects his greater concern with scoring political points than with a substantive examination of the federal budget. The issue isn't the specific earmarks, Lilly argues. Rather, "it's about whether the debate over the future of this country should be based on fluff or substance."

FOREIGN AID? JUST PORK: McCain has long labeled himself as "a very strong proponent to the State of Israel." "If we fail in Israel, where will we succeed?" he asked in July 2007. It is surprising then that McCain was unaware that his earmark plan would obliterate U.S. funding assistance for Israel. McCain's chief economic adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin has said that McCain embraces the Congressional Research Service's (CRS) definition of the term "earmarks." But under that definition, U.S. aid to Israel is considered an earmark. "[C]ongressional directives specifying spending amounts that are the same as shown in the Administration's illustrative listing for country distributions also are regarded as earmarks. Annual earmarks for economic and military aid to Israel totaling $3 billion is an example of such directives," CRS explains. CRS also counts "nearly three-quarters of the entire Foreign Operations Appropriations bill as an earmark," Lilly writes, including "more than $1.8 billion in annual funding for Egypt, nearly half a billion dollars for Jordan, and tens of millions from countries such as Haiti, Kosovo, and the Philippines. ... All tolled, $14.4 billion, or two thirds of all foreign assistance, would be eliminated if McCain stuck with this proposal."  

SHUTTING THE DOOR ON MILITARY HOUSING: U.S. assistance to Israel is not the only casualty in McCain's anti-earmark pledge. CRS's earmark definition also includes funding for military family housing. The Pentagon has said the proportion of recruits who remain in service is 15 percent higher at bases with high-quality housing. As Lilly notes, Congress has renovated or replaced worn military housing mostly "by using earmarks." CRS "counts not only the [military] family housing units added by Congress as earmarks but also those requested by the Pentagon and the White House." What's more, tens of millions in military housing are directed to McCain's home state of Arizona. Will McCain now grant another exception for much-needed military housing, further eroding his promise to veto "every bill that has a pork barrel project?" Or will he deride it as "outrageous" Washington spending?

THE FUZZY MATH: McCain's earmark numbers simply do not add up, leaving two-thirds of his tax proposal unfunded. His estimates of the costs of earmarks are based on CRS's 2005 analysis of the budget, a year in which earmarking reached a high point. But since then, earmarking has declined 23 percent below 2005 levels, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense (TCS). While McCain claims $65 billion in earmarks is "already on the books," CRS's definition adds up to $52 billion. TCS came up with only $18.3 billion; the Office of Management and Budget, only $16.9 billion. Ultimately, McCain's budget could not offset the $300 billion a year tax cuts he is also proposing. "Until he has produced a complete and plausible set of spending reductions to cover the cost of his tax proposals, he should withdraw them, or at least concede that they will be paid for by yet more borrowing and a deeper sea of red ink," Lilly charged. When confronted this week with the skepticism of experts about his budget plan, McCain retorted, "I disagree. I disagree with the experts. I disagree. I disagree. I disagree with the experts. I have experts of my own."

Under the Radar

JUSTICE -- ROVE BACKTRACKS FROM PLEDGE TO TESTIFY ON SIEGELMAN CASE: Yesterday, House Judiciary Committee chairman John Conyers (D-MI), joined by members Linda Sánchez (D-CA), Artur Davis (D-AL), and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), wrote to former White House aide Karl Rove and requested that he testify before the committee about the politicization of the Justice Department, including the prosecution of former Alabama governor Don Siegelman. On April 7, MSNBC's Dan Abrams reported that when he asked Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin, if Rove would agree to testify to Congress, Luskin said "Sure." Today, however, Roll Call reports that Rove's lawyer has reversed his position. "'Whether, when and about what a former White House official will testify...is not for me or my client to decide,' but is part of an ongoing negotiation between the White House and Congress over executive privilege issues, Luskin said." Rove has denied his alleged ties to the Siegelman case, calling it "a lie."

ENVIRONMENT -- EPA REFUSES TO ANSWER TO CONGRESSIONAL SUBPOENA: This month marks one year since the Supreme Court ordered the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to begin regulating greenhouse gases, which EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson had refused to do. On April 2, the House Global Warming Committee, in a unanimous vote, issued a subpoena for documents relating to the agency's refusal to follow the Supreme Court mandate. On April 11, the agency asked for an extension on answering the subpoena. However, in a follow-up letter yesterday, the EPA declined to respond to the active subpoena and instead asked the committee to withdraw it. The EPA is also currently defying a subpoena from the House Oversight Committee for related documents. According to a statement by the committee, "If the EPA fails to comply with [the] deadline, Johnson will have triggered a potential contempt process."

ECONOMY -- STATES TAKE THE LEAD IN POVERTY REDUCTION: A recent report released by two prominent poverty-reduction groups highlights the efforts of more than a dozen states to reduce poverty and lift Americans into the economic mainstream. The report's lead author, Jodie Levin-Epstein of the Center for Law and Social Policy, explains that there are many new factors forcing state lawmakers to take action, including "growing income inequality, a general economic insecurity, and the realization that to stay globally competitive we need a workforce that is skilled and agile. ... These add up to a new political awareness that we can not allow poverty -- and a lack of economic opportunities for people in poverty -- to continue to be largely ignored." Connecticut, Delaware and Vermont have pledged to cut child poverty by 50 percent in the next 10 years; Michigan will be holding its first statewide child poverty summit this fall; Minnesota has commissioned a legislative group to end poverty in the state by 2020; and Colorado and Iowa have established legislative caucuses devoted to eradicating poverty around the state. As the economic downturn intensifies, poverty is gaining traction in the 2008 presidential race, with all three remaining contenders pledging to take action if elected. On the Democratic side, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Barack Obama (D-IL) have called for naming a high-level poverty point person. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has pledged to make the "eradication of poverty a top priority." The Center for American Progress has developed a strategy to cut poverty in half in the next 10 years.

Think Fast

According to a new Washington Post-ABC poll, nine in 10 Americans "now give the economy a negative rating, with a majority saying it is in 'poor' shape, the most to say so in more than 15 years." Moreover, more than 60 percent reject "the notion that the United States needs to win" in Iraq "to effectively battle terrorism," and "56 percent of Americans say the United States should withdraw."

"The Justice Department is investigating whether agency lawyers improperly advised the military it could use harsh interrogation methods and concluded that President Bush's wartime authority could not be limited by domestic law or international bans on torture." A recently released March 2003 memo is being "included in an ongoing internal review about the CIA's use of waterboarding."

"Trying to stem the infiltration of militia fighters, American forces have begun to build a massive concrete wall that will partition Sadr City, the densely populated Shiite neighborhood in the Iraqi capital. The construction, which began Tuesday night, is intended to turn the southern quarter of Sadr City" into "a protected enclave, secured by Iraqi and American forces," where the Iraqis can focus on reconstruction.

A company of Iraqi troops in Sadr City abandoned their posts today, after "they came under attack from Shiite militiamen who used the cover of a sandstorm." This latest setback comes after "more than 1,300 Iraqi soldiers and police deserted or refused to fight" against Shiite militias during recent fighting in Basra.

An Air Force inspector general's report says Maj. Gen. Stephen Goldfein and others "worked inside the Air Force contracting system to favor" Strategic Message Solutions and its owners, "despite an offer by the company that was more than twice as expensive as a competing bid." As part of Goldfein's efforts to help the company, he "arranged for President Bush to record a video testimonial" on the company's behalf.

"Suicide bombers conducted 658 attacks around the world last year, including 542 in U.S.-occupied Afghanistan and Iraq." The bombings, in dozens of countries on five continents, "killed more than 21,350 people and injured about 50,000 since 1983, when a landmark attack blew up the U.S. Embassy in Beirut" 25 years ago today.

The Senate approved "a resolution asking the Justice Department to look into the circumstances surrounding the $10 million expenditure for a highway interchange in Florida backed by Rep. Don Young [R-AK]." Young has "denied that he pushed the provision as a result of receiving $40,000 in campaign donations from developers who owned 4,000 acres of land next to the proposed interchange."

With Americans focusing on the increasing job losses, "the less-noticeable shrinking of hours and pay for millions of workers around the country appears to be a bigger contributor to the decline" of the economy. Total hours worked dropped last month compared to six months earlier, the first such drop since "February 2001, when the economy was on the doorstep of recession."

An internal survey of employees at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) "found that only 58 percent were satisfied with their jobs, the same as results from a 2006 survey that measured job satisfaction across the government." DHS employee satisfaction ranked at the bottom of the 2006 poll.

And finally: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is looking forward to the next president. Yesterday he talked to reporters about the three remaining presidential candidates: "Some of the things they will be in favor of I will agree with, some of the things they will be in favor of I won't. But at least we'll have an adult in office who can lead and can accomplish something." Bloomberg refused to say whether he was criticizing President Bush.

Good News

Yesterday, the House passed a bill "aimed at ensuring that students get college loans amid credit market turmoil."

State Watch

MONTANA: Officials will let some bison migrate through a private ranch bordering Yellowstone National Park, allowing "a small number of the animals to avoid slaughter."

NEW HAMPSHIRE: "New Hampshire Senate yesterday gave teachers nearing retirement an extra year to qualify for a medical benefit."

NEW JERSEY: State weighs building first nuclear power plant since 1973.

Blog Watch

THINK PROGRESS: White House spokesman Tony Fratto attempts to rewrite the President's climate policy.

WONK ROOM: Coal's front group has a new name: American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE).

POLITICAL ANIMAL: The majority of the public in Middle Eastern countries does not believe that chaos will ensue if the United States withdraws from Iraq "quickly."

MEDIA MATTERS: Right-wing radio host Neal Boortz says teachers' unions "do more damage to this country than all the drug pushers together."

Daily Grill

"We asked this question to his attorney: Will Karl Rove agree to testify if Congress issues a subpoena to him as part of an investigation into the Siegelman case? The answer we got -- 'Sure.'"
-- MSNBC's Dan Abrams, 4/7/08

VERSUS

"Whether, when and about what a former White House official will testify...is not for me or my client to decide."
-- Rove attorney Robert Luskin, 4/17/08

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