Happy Wednesday folks,
Turns out this Wednesday isn’t a snow day like last week.
There are glimpses of the opportunity of a grand bargain, at least from the White House (which doesn’t happen very often). Liberals in the Senate though, are trying to jam the wheels of bipartisanship. Yesterday, according to The Hill, President Obama was trying to negotiate with several senators in order to throw in entitlement reform as a part of a grand bargain. However, “behind closed doors, liberals in the Senate caucus raised concerns about Obama’s readiness to consider cuts to Social Security benefits and his support for a deficit-reduction package evenly split between spending cuts and tax increases. Obama did not back down from a proposal to switch to the chained consumer price index formula for calculating Social Security benefits, according to lawmakers.”
It’s encouraging to see that President Obama is getting serious about getting things done, let’s just hope the rest of his entourage can get on board.
Seize the day,
Mark Bednar
@MarkBednar
Important Things On Tap For Today
1:30 PM—President Obama meets with the House Republican Conference.
6:30 PM—President Obama delivers remarks to Organizing for Action donors and activists.
Tweet Tweet
@politico “White House dumps Donald Trump tour offer: http://politi.co/14VW570”
@espn “Ticket, PUNCHED. Valparaiso wins an intense game against Wright State to head back to the dance.”
@onfaith “Watch live video updates from Rome with our @CatholicTV stream: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/03/13/live-coverage-of-day-two-of-papal-conclave/?hpid=z3 …”
@todayshow “New owners hope to have Twinkies in stores soon. Story: http://on.today.com/16rrCRO”
@OldSpice “Done playing Call of Duty. I lost two games which is pretty good considering the controller was specifically made to not work with wolf paws”
On The Radar
Economic Growth
Obama’s Approval Drops As Americans Take A Dimmer view Of His Economic Policies from The Washington Post by Jon Cohen and Karen Tumulty. “Obama’s overall job-approval rating stands at 50 percent, down five points from before he took the oath of office in January. Looking along partisan lines, the slippage since then has been particularly pronounced among political independents.”
Obama To Release Budget The Week Of April 8, Two Months Late from The Washington Post by Rachel Weiner. “President Obama likely will release his budget the week of April 8, two months behind schedule, spokesman Jay Carney told reporters Tuesday. Carney said the proposal would be a “balanced approach” with a mix of new revenue and spending cuts, but that that does not mean it would balance the budget. He said it would be ‘a useful and valuable contribution to’ bipartisan negotiations. By law, the president is supposed to submit his budget request to Congress on the first Monday in February, kicking off the legislative process.”
Paul Ryan, Patty Murray Unveil Dueling Energy Deficit Plans from Politico by Darren Goode. “Murray’s budget outline does not specifically offer any policies on energy, but it echoes Obama’s overall approach to balancing the budget. More details of the Senate Democratic plan will be unveiled Wednesday. … The Obama administration and some Senate Democratic leaders have repeatedly called for the repeal of some tax incentives used by major oil and gas companies. Democratic Sens. Carl Levin of Michigan and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island also have introduced a bill targeting ‘unjustified tax loopholes,’ including the exclusion of oil produced from ‘tar sands’ from having to contribute to the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund.
If College Leads To Jobs, Why Are So Many Young College Grads Unemployed? from The Atlantic by Derek Thompson. “It’s easy to debate the value of college, but it’s impossible to doubt the clear difference between the unemployment rates of those with a college degree and those without a college degree. Just 4 percent of America’s bachelor’s holders (in blue in the graph below) are unemployed today. For high-school grads who skip college (in purple), the jobless rate is twice as high.”
Immigration
‘No Irish Need Apply’ Couldn’t Stop Them from Fox Business by Rohit Arora. “The Fiscal Policy Institute analyzed data from U.S. Census’ American Community Survey and found that 18% of small businesses in the U.S. are owned by immigrants, up from 12% in 1990. The latest census figures available show that immigrants comprise 13% of the U.S. population and that the majority of these small business owners do not have college degrees. In New York, 36% of small businesses are owned by immigrants, including myself. Miami and Los Angeles have the highest share of immigrant-owned businesses.”
Health Care
Arizona Governor Introduces Bill To Expand Medicaid from The New York Times by Fernanda Santos. “Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona stepped to the lectern on Tuesday under blazing sunshine and before a mostly friendly audience to introduce a Medicaid expansion bill she has championed. In her brief remarks, Ms. Brewer twice used the word ‘conservative”’to describe Arizona’s Medicaid program, a managed-care system whose cost per patient is $680 less than the national average, and the bill she was endorsing, which would extend Medicaid coverage to anyone who made up to 133 percent of the federal poverty line. Politically, it is a risky proposition in a state where Republicans are the majority in the legislature and where ideals like small government and small taxes are enough to carry people into elected office. And the proposal puts Ms. Brewer, an aggressive opponent of President Obama’s policies, in a position of advocating one of the central pillars of his health care law.”
Study: Job Burnout Associated With A 79% Increased Risk Of Heart Disease from The Atlantic by Lindsay Abrams. “Do you like your job? If your answer is “No, really, I do not. At all. Oh, wow, yeah I hate it. Is it suddenly hot in here? I hate it!” then it may be worse for your heart than smoking, being inactive, or having high cholesterol.”
Obama Stands Firm On Entitlement Reform In Talk With Senate Dems from The Hill by Alexander Bolton and Justin Sink. “But behind closed doors, liberals in the Senate caucus raised concerns about Obama’s readiness to consider cuts to Social Security benefits and his support for a deficit-reduction package evenly split between spending cuts and tax increases.
Obama did not back down from a proposal to switch to the chained consumer price index formula for calculating Social Security benefits, according to lawmakers. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) insisted that just because Obama and Vice President Biden had offered such concessions in prior negotiations with Republicans, it did not mean congressional Democrats would agree.”
Difference In What Medicare Spends On Cancer Care May Not Affect Survival Rates from KHN by Alvin Tran. “Although Medicare spending for patients with advance cancers varies regionally, a new study suggests that those differences are not related to survival rates. … The researchers found that Medicare spending varied widely: For patients who did not die from their cancers, there was a 32 percent difference in spending among the regions. For patients who died, the spending difference varied 41 percent among regions.”
X-Factor
George P. Bush Will Run For Texas Land Commissioner from The Washington Post by Rachel Weiner. “George P. Bush, the eldest son of former Florida governor Jeb Bush and nephew of former president George W. Bush, is running for Texas land commissioner in 2014. Bush had already announced that he intended to run for statewide office. The 36-year-old lawyer and Naval Reserve lawyer has been raising money across the state. But there was some speculation that he would challenge Gov. Rick Perry in the Republican primary.”
Tunisian Dies After Torching Himself, Unrest Could Follow from Reuters by Tarek Amara. “A jobless man who set fire to himself in the Tunisian capital died in hospital on Wednesday, a development which could provoke renewed anger against the Islamist-led government.”
This & That
Baby Meerkats Beat The Odds from The Huffington Post by Hannah Bricker.
D.C. Man Convicted Of Pretending To Be City Employee In Order To Steal Old Lady’s Car from DCist by Benjamin R. Freed.
Epic Soccer Goal GIF
Riding A Bike Without A Seat: Unwise And Illegal from DCist.