New York Times — 45 Centrist Democrats Protest Secrecy of Health Care Talks
The sense is growing in Congress that the massive costs associated with a federal health care program could gobble up everything else – that the $2 trillion in savings touted by Obama and his backers in the managed care industry will not likely materialize and if it does, won’t offset the incredible expense the nation would incur.
Blue Dog Democrats – who style themselves as the fiscal conscience of their party in the House – have so far bounced along with the president’s big-spending ways, and even done some recent pork barreling of their own.
But it’s on health care that the key coalition is threatening to finally show some gumption. As writer Robert Pear shows, the complaint now is the same one candidate Barack Obama made about Hillary Clinton’s 1993 health-care plan – the process is too closed off and too partisan. The Senate efforts are more collaborative, but the Dogs know that if House version of the plan will be the high side starting point for negotiations.
“Representative Mike Ross, an Arkansas Democrat who is chairman of the coalition’s health task force, said: “We don’t need a select group of members of Congress or staff members writing this legislation. We don’t want a briefing on the bill after it’s written. We want to help write it.”
Mr. Ross and eight other lawmakers who signed the letter are on the committees responsible for writing the legislation.
Centrist Democrats said they fully endorsed President Obama’s goal of guaranteeing access to health insurance and health care for all. But, they said, they are concerned about the cost of the legislation, which could easily top $1 trillion over 10 years. And they want to be sure that the role of any new government-sponsored insurance program, expected to be a centerpiece of the bill, is carefully delineated.”
Wall Street Journal — White House Unveils Tax-Rate Details
Writer John McKinnon provides a wonderfully helpful guide to the first Obama administration tax increase and how it stacks up.
On the minus side for the president – he’s already broken his $250,000 a year promise by putting his new 40 percent rate on families making $235,000. And the plan sticks with a decreased deduction for charitable giving.
On the political plus side – the most of the $966 billion in new taxes will be paid over the next decade, with the hardest hit up front will be companies using tax shelters.
But wait, if that adds to unemployment, middle class voters won’t like that either.
“Business leaders have been sharply critical of the administration’s proposed crackdown on offshore tax avoidance, including limits on companies’ ability to defer U.S. taxes on their overseas income. The deferral system was intended to put overseas operations of U.S. companies on the same footing as their foreign counterparts.
‘The proposed tax increases on U.S. companies by the Treasury threaten the jobs of tens of millions of U.S. workers and our future economic growth,’ said John Castellani, president of the Business Roundtable. ‘Adopting these changes will hamstring American competitiveness.’”
Miami Herald — Gov. Charlie Crist’s run for Senate to set off a scramble
In the wacky world of politics, things are about to get a lot weirder.
Gov. Charlie Crist is expected to announce today that he will seek the Senate seat being vacated by retiring Republican Mel Martinez.
Writers Beth Reinhard and Adam Smith point out that if Crist moves up, it will create turmoil across the state as statewide officials and members of Congress try to move up a rung on the ladder.
While Florida has become increasingly Republican and Crist is very popular, rolling this many dice is bound to bring up some losers.
“Crist’s bid could also leave the Republican Party of Florida in the lurch, putting at risk its control of the governor’s mansion and Florida’s
Cabinet. And with Crist running for federal office, he no longer can raise corporate contributions or unlimited ‘’soft money’’ for the state party. That means that the state GOP, already cutting staffers and facing fundraising challenges with the sour economy, loses its top money-raiser.
”It’s a huge problem for Republicans, and it certainly plays into the other side’s hands,” said Republican consultant Brett Doster of Tallahassee. `’It’s going to put the party in a more defensive posture than it has been in a couple decades.’’”
Wall Street Journal — Cuts Loom in California if Propositions Fail
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger gave Californians a look at what he’ll do to them of they don’t vote to increase their own taxes and deficits in a May 19 referenda election.
The delightfully named writer Stu Woo explains what the governor has in mind – including cuts to firefighting, education and dumping 46,000 criminals out of state prisons immediately.
As the Obama administration has already made clear to Schwarzenegger, California’s acceptance of stimulus funds won’t allow for any changes to the pricey union contracts the state is paying. A difficult proposition for a state facing real bankruptcy.
“The warning comes as California’s fiscal plight is worsening. In a letter sent Monday to the state’s legislative leaders, the governor said the Golden State now projects a new $15 billion shortfall, up from a previous estimate of $8 billion, because of plummeting tax revenue amid the recession. That figure would jump to $21 billion if Californians next week defeat the propositions, Mr. Schwarzenegger said.”
New York Times — Egypt to Be Center Stage in Obama’s Address to Arabs
Writer Michael Slackman shares the scene in Cairo, where in a month’s time President Obama will be making his promised address to the Muslim world.
The regime of Egypt’s Hosini Mubarak is exultant, believing that this helps re-establish the country as the center of the region as it was in time of Nasser. It is also putting the pro-democracy efforts in the country back substantially.
Free speech, the rule of law, and equal rights are still dreams in Egypt where large factions of radical Muslims have been the pretext for Mubarak’s human rights crackdowns. Obama has backed off even the limited pressure the Bush administration applied for human right reform.
The White House is also bolstering Egypt’s argument that the Israelis must first make peace with the Palestinians before the issue of Iran’s nuclear program can really be addressed. The Obama administration has suggested resolving the 3,000-year-old Arab-Israeli conflict also needs to come first.
“But even if Mr. Obama manages to satisfy on the Palestinian question, he will have to step carefully around the issue of human rights and democracy. It is a treacherous subject, almost a no-win situation for any outsider.
If he presses Cairo on freedom issues, he risks alienating a government he needs for strategic reasons. He could also incite anger among average Egyptians who almost instinctively recoil at outsiders’ telling them what to do. And yet, if he does not raise the issues, he could be taken to task for conveniently overlooking a serious point.
‘We have not seen any American commitments in supporting democracy and respecting the wishes of Arab and Muslim people,” said Essam el-Arian, a spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood, a banned but tolerated organization that is the only real opposition movement in the country and supports the application of Islamic law.”
