Happy Wednesday folks,
In order to address the fiscal situation that has been causing Americans to shriek, Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson released a new plan called “A Bipartisan Path Forward To Secure America’s Future.” They advocate for a multi-step process with a list of several bipartisan ideas in order tosack our annual deficit and national debt. They consider two of their four steps already completed within the last few years due to the enforcement of continuing resolutions, while the next steps include some innovative ways to reduce spending.
From the healthcare component, Simpson and Bowles recommend that we “Reduce Medicare and Medicaid spending by improving provider and beneficiary incentives throughout the health care system, reducing provider payments, reforming cost-sharing, increasing premiums for higher earners, adjusting benefits to account for population aging, reducing drug costs, and getting better value for our health care dollars” and “Require additional reforms of federal health care programs if necessary to limit the growth of the per beneficiary federal health commitment to close to GDP growth.”
Other reforms including taking steps to make Social Security solvent (say that ten times fast), and that by 2014, a highway bill gets passed in order “to bring transportation spending and revenues in line.”
These reforms, while bold and innovative, will likely be difficult to pass because of the U.S. Senate’s inability to pass anything (and you thought it was just a budget!). In an article this morning from The Atlantic, Molly Ball has a theory about legislative hangups: “Obama’s problem may actually be with the house of Congress his party controls.” The last major legislation that the Senate passed was 951 days ago, when Democrats controlled the House, Senate, and presidency. Albeit, her definition of “major legislation” is within the lens of Obama’s liberal agenda, but her underlying message is still poignant: that a Senate controlled by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is a toxic one, unwilling to let things pass, and unlikely to consider bold reforms (e.g. the new Simpson/Bowles plan).
Seize the day,
Mark Bednar
@MarkBednar
Important Things On Tap For Today
11:00 AM: Secretary Of State John Kerry gives speech regarding foreign policy and diplomatic efforts vis-a-vis our economy and security.
1:50 PM: HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius holds media availability after meeting with Philadelphia mayor.
2:30 PM: Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano holds media availability with Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, to discuss ongoing Homeland Security Department efforts to facilitate lawful travel and trade.
Tweet Tweet
@GStephanopoulos “She’s back!!!!! Robin here bright and early – Our prayers answered!!!! #WelcomeBackRobin”
@ClotureClub “Your weather alert for #DC! The day’s High is 39F with a Low of 26F.”
@EJDionne “Dexter Filkins asks: “If the Assad regime falls, can Hezbollah survive?” Result: A very good @newyorker piece.http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/02/25/130225fa_fact_filkins?mbid=social_tablet_t&pink=fAX7w0 …”
@RealCJ10 “Thx to the Braves for giving me the honor of retiring my number and induction into the Braves hall of fame. Mom and dad made it happen. XO”
@CNNbrk “Gen. John Allen to retire, end pursuit of #NATO commander job.http://on.cnn.com/WUT1It #johnallen”
On The Radar
Economic Growth
Gas Prices Are On A Mysterious Climb from The Washington Post by Steven Muson. “The average price of a gallon of regular gasoline has jumped 45 cents in the past 31 days, according to AAA, the fastest run-up since 2005. Retail gasoline prices have climbed for 33 days in a row. A month ago, a gallon of regular gasoline cost $3.30; on Tuesday it stood at $3.75 nationwide.”
Drone Makers Take Aim At U.S. Market from The Wall Street Journal by Dion Nissenbaum. “American firms that make drones are aiming their sights on the U.S. market as the next frontier for the controversial technology. With a declining defense budget expected to limit spending on the vehicles, used primarily to monitor and target combatants on foreign battlefields, manufacturers are seeking opportunities on the domestic front, where universities, police departments and border patrol agencies—as well as commercial enterprises— could use unmanned aircraft, known as drones.”
Some Technology Wasted On IRS Employees, Audit Finds from The Washington Post by Eric Yoder. “Some IRS employees have been provided with BlackBerrys and laptop computer aircards without a proven job need for them and some of that technology is underused or not used at all, an audit has found. A report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration released Tuesday said that nearly $6 million could be saved over five years by tightening the policies.”
Immigration
The Tight Market For Farmhands from The Wall Street Journal by Miriam Jordan and Mark Peters. “The tight labor market explains why farm groups are pressing Congress to include, in any immigration overhaul, provisions that would ensure a steady flow of workers and prevent an exodus of newly legalized laborers from the sector. Under one possible scenario, agriculture workers would earn permanent legal residency by working a certain number of days on farms each year; those who worked longer would get a green card sooner.”
Obama Works the Phones to Calm Tensions on Immigration Plan from The New York Times by Ashley Parker. “After a Presidents’ Day weekend whodunit of who leaked what and why — not to mention a he-said, she-said back-and-forth on the Sunday shows and in news releases — President Obama took to the phones Tuesday afternoon to quell rising tensions with Senate Republicans after a draft of a White House immigration plan was somehow leaked to the news media.”
Health Care
Baltimore VA Office Gets Help With Backlog from The Washington Post by Doug Kapustin. “Teams of claims handlers and new technology are being deployed to help the troubled Baltimore Veterans Affairs office, where veterans face some of the longest waits in the country to have their cases handled, VA Secretary Eric K. Shinseki said Tuesday.”
X-Factor
Karzai’s Dig At Menendez? from The Washington Post by Al Kamen. “Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai is not exactly known for a droll sense of humor. But when new Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) came calling Tuesday in Kabul — his very first stop on his first trip abroad as chairman — Karzai seemed to be trying to tweak Menendez.”
This & That
Nationals Mascots Visit Mount Rushmore, Taft Still Skinny from DCist by Benjamin R. Freed.
Kim And Kate: Battle Of The Bumps from the New York Post by Kristen Fleming.
THE NUMBER: $595,360,493 from The New Yorker by Nick Traverse.
Rihanna & Chris Thumbs Up From Evelyn Lozada from TMZ.
Bryce Harper On Sports Illustrated Cover: Is He Cursed? from DCist by Benjamin R. Freed.