Congress -- The GOP's Budget With No Numbers

March 30, 2009

by Faiz Shakir, Amanda Terkel, Satyam Khanna, Matt Corley, Benjamin Armbruster, Ali Frick, and Ryan Powers

CONGRESS

The GOP's Budget With No Numbers

On Feb. 26, President Obama delivered an ambitious $3.6 trillion budget that would "finance vast new investments in health care, energy independence and education by raising taxes on the oil and gas industry, hedge fund managers, multinational corporations and nearly 3 million of the nation's top earners." Obama acknowledged that the proposal would "add to our deficits in the short term to provide immediate relief to families and get our economy moving," but he said that these investments had been put off for too long and could not face more delays. Republicans immediately attacked the plan. "The era of big government is back, and Democrats are asking you to pay for it," said House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH). "The administration's plan, I think, is a job killer, plain and simple." When a recent National Journal poll asked how Congress should "respond to the recent deficit projections," zero percent of Republican lawmakers said that Congress should pass "something close to President Obama's budget." So what is their alternative? As the AP summarized, it's "a glossy pamphlet short on detail and long on campaign-style talking points."

THE GLOSSY PAMPHLET: Last week, reporters excitedly gathered for a GOP press conference where House leaders said they would announce their alternative to Obama's budget. The proposal that GOP leaders presented, however, was a huge disappointment; basically, it was nothing more than a "brochure." Annoyed at being summoned for this non-event, reporters quizzed Boehner on specifics of the plan: "Are you going to have any further details on this today?" "What about some numbers? What about the out-year deficit? What about balancing the budget?" Reporting on MSNBC, host Contessa Brewer exclaimed, "Give me some substance!" The GOP "budget," in fact, contains almost no numbers -- except where they criticize the Obama administration's figures. The few ideas their plan does have include undoing the economic recovery package (which would be hard to do since some of the money is already out the door), and lowering the 35 percent, 33 percent, and 28 percent income tax brackets to 25 percent (regressive cuts that would gut government revenue). According to a Citizens for Tax Justice analysis, more than a quarter of all taxpayers -- mostly low-income families -- would pay more in taxes under this plan than they would under Obama's. On the other hand, "the richest one percent of taxpayers would pay $100,000 less, on average, under the House GOP plan." Additionally, although Republicans claim to be so concerned about the rising deficit, their income tax proposals "would cost over $300 billion more than the Obama income tax cuts in 2011 alone." "The party of 'no' has become the party of no new ideas," quipped White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs in response to the GOP proposal.

TAX WINDFALL FOR CORPORATE EXECUTIVES: According to the Republican leadership, the reason that lawmakers didn't release numbers last week is because they intend to do so this week. "The numbers will come next week with a multi-hundred page piece of legislation" that Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) is currently drafting, Boehner's office told First Read. Ryan's bill will still likely be short on new, deficit-cutting ideas though. As the Wonk Room's Pat Garofalo has noted, his plan "consists almost entirely of massive tax cuts for corporations and the rich," including lowering the top marginal tax rate to 25 percent, lowering the corporate tax rate to 25 percent, and completely eliminating the capital gains tax. Not only are these tax cuts regressive, but they will result in significant lost government revenue. According to a Center for American Progress Action Fund analysis, Ryan's plan gives the average CEO a $1.5 million tax break, while doing nothing for minimum wage workers.

THE RECONCILIATION HYPOCRISY: Republicans are also standing firm against allowing Obama to use the reconciliation process to pass key parts of his budget, such as health care and energy reform. This 25-year-old procedure "allows for the passage of a budget by a simple majority vote rather than the usual 60 votes needed to prevent a filibuster." Republican senators have said that they are prepared to go "nuclear" -- essentially shutting down the Senate through the use of parliamentary maneuvers -- if budget reconciliation is pursued. Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) compared reconciliation to "an act of violence" against the GOP. However, Republicans employed the same procedure to pass major Bush agenda items, including the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts, the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, and the Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005. In fact, in 2005, Gregg defended using the reconciliation procedure, arguing, "The president asked for it, and we're trying to do what the president asked for."

TORTURE -- SPANISH COURT CONSIDERING CRIMINAL CHARGES AGAINST FORMER BUSH OFFICIALS: A Spanish court "has agreed to consider opening a criminal case against six former Bush administration officials" who "participated actively and decisively in the creation, approval and execution of a judicial framework" for torture at Guantanamo Bay. The former Bush officials named in the case are Alberto Gonzales, David Addington, Douglas Feith, William Haynes, John Yoo, and Jay Bybee, who are accused of "allow[ing] for the deprivation of fundamental rights of a large number of prisoners" and "the protection of the people who participated in illegal tortures." The 98-page complaint was brought to Judge Baltasar Garzon, a "crusading investigative judge who ordered the arrest of the former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet" in 1998. Garzon has "referred the case to the chief prosecutor before deciding whether to proceed," but officials called it "highly probable" that the case would go forward. According to the New York Times, "Spain can claim jurisdiction in the case because five citizens or residents of Spain who were prisoners at Guantanamo Bay have said they were tortured there." Feith, the former undersecretary of defense, is the only one of the accused to comment on the case, saying that the charges "make no sense." But Gonzalo Boye, one of the four lawyers who wrote the lawsuit, "predicted that Garzon would issue subpoenas in the next two weeks." "If I were them, I would search for a good lawyer," he said.

CIVIL RIGHTS -- GATES ON REPEALING DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL: 'LET'S PUSH THAT ONE DOWN THE ROAD': Days before being inaugurated, Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs was asked whether the Obama administration would end the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) policy, banning gays from the military. "You don't hear politicians give a one-word answer much. But it's 'Yes,'" Gibbs replied. However, the administration is putting the issue on the back burner. Yesterday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates admitted that "dialogue" about the issue "has really not progressed very far at this point in the administration." He said the administration would delay any new decisions: "I think the President and I feel like we've got a lot on our plates right now and let's push that one down the road a little bit." However, the DADT policy is hurting the military's readiness. In fact, 11 Army soldiers were discharged for being gay in January alone. Releasing the figures, Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) asked, "[H]ow many more good soldiers are we willing to lose due to a bad policy that makes us less safe and secure?" "A full place is no excuse for discrimination," Center for American Progress Action Fund Fellow Matthew Yglesias wrote, noting that Gates could start by simply refusing to enforce DADT. Earlier this month, Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-CA) introduced legislation repealing the DADT law.

AFGHANISTAN -- OBAMA SAYS HE WILL NOT 'ASSUME THAT MORE TROOPS ALWAYS RESULT IN AN IMPROVED SITUATION': Since President Obama announced his new strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan last week, he and his administration have been careful to distinguish it from President Bush's surge in Iraq. Yesterday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates stressed that the focus of the mission in Afghanistan has been "narrowed": "I think what we need to focus on...is making headway and reversing the Taliban's momentum and strengthening the Afghan army and police, and really going after Al Qaeda." Yesterday in an interview with CBS's Bob Schieffer, Obama underscored this point. He pointed out that the reason he has increased troops in Afghanistan is because levels there are "greatly underresourced." However, he is not going to "simply assume that more troops always result in an improved situation." "There may be a point of diminishing returns in terms of troop levels. We've got to also make sure that our civilian efforts, our diplomatic efforts, and our development efforts are just as robustly encouraged," Obama said. Obama added that if this strategy doesn't work, the answer won't necessarily be more troops. "It's not going to be an open-ended commitment of infinite resources," he said. While the increase in U.S. forces has received the majority of media attention, Obama's Afghanistan-Pakistan strategy is actually a "comprehensive civil-political effort to improve basic services, accountability, and overall governance in order to defeat the hard-core Taliban and al Qaeda fighters at the heart of the insurgency," the Center for American Progress's Peter Juul noted.

The Obama administration will force GM head Rick Wagoner to resign and has "rejected as untenable the business plans" that GM and Chrysler submitted to restructure their companies. Wagoner, who oversaw more than $73 billion in losses since 2005, will not leave immediately because, if he does, "he is entitled to a multimillion-dollar pension that the government does not want to pay."

"By the time President Barack Obama'’s $3.6 trillion budget proposal comes up for a vote in the Senate later this week, the high-pitched opposition from Democratic moderates is expected to give way to a chorus of support." The hesitation to oppose a popular president, combined with Sen. Kent Conrad's (D-ND) changes that made the budget “more palatable" to the centrists, have left Democratic leaders confident they will receive unified support for the budget.

"Fewer than 800 homeowners in the North Dakota and Minnesota communities most threatened" by an overflowing Red River “hold insurance policies covering flood damage despite a decade-long push by state and federal officials to get people signed up," the AP reports. The residents without insurance are now "exposed to huge losses, and they can't count on a government bailout" to help them.

Last week, top Democrats in the House fired off a letter to President Obama calling on him to take "urgent action" to stop Iran from possessing a nuclear weapon. Earlier this month, National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair said Iran has not re-started its nuclear weapons program.

Since Fidel Castro has stepped aside as Cuba's leader, "there is new momentum in Washington for eliminating the ban on most U.S. travel" there and "for reexamining the severe limitations on U.S.-Cuban economic exchanges." A bi-partisan group of senators, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and Human Rights Watch will reportedly "rally around a potentially historic bill to lift the travel ban" this week on Capitol Hill.

Just after Democrats won control of Congress in 2006, a top AIG executive "implored company executives and their spouses" to donate to Sen. Chris Dodd's (D-CT) re-election campaign. In an e-mail, the executive noted that Dodd was, at the time, "next in line" to be chairman of the Senate Banking committee and would "have the opportunity to set the committee's agenda."

President Obama yesterday defended his administration’s drone strikes in Pakistan. "If we have a high-value target within our sights -- after consulting with Pakistan, we're going after them," he said. "But our main thrust has to be to help Pakistan defeat these extremists." Obama also ruled out U.S. troop raids in Pakistan.

"A new and potentially worrisome fight for power and control has broken out in Baghdad as the United States prepares to pull combat troops out of Iraq next year." Over the weekend, Iraqi security forces and U.S.-backed Sunni fighters, who are both "cornerstones in the American strategy to bring stability," clashed in the Iraqi capital, raising concerns that many of the Sunni fighters could return the insurgency.

USA Today reports that "[t]he nation's immigration courts are now so clogged that nearly 90,000 people accused of being in the United States illegally waited at least two years for a judge to decide whether they must leave. The cases "are emblematic of delays in the little-known court system that lawyers and lawmakers say is on the verge of being overwhelmed."

And finally: RNC Chairman Michael Steele thinks President Obama "has got a little thing" about him. On CNN this weekend, Steele said he is "done" talking to the White House, saying he thinks Obama "has got a little thing about me, that I haven't quite figured out what that is." When asked if he was jealous of Obama, Steele was incredulous: "What would I be jealous of?" adding, "I'm chairman of the RNC, so, what’s your point? We both have leadership responsibilities and roles. I'm not equating the two. My point is: you are on your track. I'm on my track. You do your thing. I do my thing."

Tomorrow, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) will release a draft bill calling "for a cap-and-trade system that curbs midcentury U.S. emissions more than 80 percent below 2005 levels."

THINK PROGRESS: Fox News's Bill O'Reilly is scheduled to appear on The View and David Letterman this week.

WONK ROOM: Global boiling roulette: The margin for error is gone.

YGLESIAS: A full plate is no excuse for discrimination.

POLITICAL ANIMAL: Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL): Capping CO2 emissions will take away too much "plant food from the atmosphere."

KANSAS: Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D) signed legislation Friday requiring abortion clinics to "provide women a chance to see an ultrasound image and hear the heartbeat of her fetus."

TEXAS: Conservative legislators insert a provision in the budget "that would ban using funds in the budget for any research that destroys human embryos."

ILLINOIS: "Four potential candidates for President Obama's vacant Senate seat were each to be targeted for contributions by ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich's campaign as part of an aggressive, $2.3 million race for cash late last year."

"And now he [President Obama] is making some choices that, in my mind, will, in fact, raise the risk to the American people of another attack."
-- Former vice president Dick Cheney, 3/15/09, on Obama ending torture

VERSUS

"Well, I wouldn't necessarily agree with that. ... We think for the military, in particular that camp, that's [torture] a line that can't be crossed."
-- Gen. David Petraeus, 3/29/09, responding to Cheney

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The GOP's Budget With No Numbers

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