With 35 days to go till the crucial mid-term elections, now is the time, and this is the place.
Presidential contendah, Bernie Sanders, is quoting Daily Kos on his official Senate webpage.
White House ’16 "Bernie might do a lot better in a Democratic primary than the powers that be think," wrote Phoebe Loosinhouse of Daily Kos. She cited a Salon interview in which Sen. Sanders discussed Democratic efforts to reach out to working-class voters who have swung Republican. |
How cool is that? High fives all around! Good work, Phoebe Loosinhouse!
The thought of Bernie on the ballot in 2016 makes me so happy I could cry. That’s still two years off. The crying will start much sooner if the Republicans take the Senate this year and the tears won’t be tears of joy.
With a Republican majority in the House and Senate, there would be no way to stop them from passing any concurrent budget resolution they like.
The Congressional Budget Resolution
The budget resolution is a “concurrent” congressional resolution, not an ordinary bill, and therefore does not go to the President for his signature or veto. It also requires only a majority vote to pass, and its consideration is one of the few actions that cannot be filibustered in the Senate. |
What kind of budget would the Republicans pass? For a preview, take a look at the budget the House Republicans passed this year with 219 votes.
There was not a single Democratic member of the House who voted for it. None. Zero.
When Howard Gleckman of the Tax Policy Center reviewed it, he said, “The tax section is not serious.” After all, it was written by Paul Ryan.
The Social Security section is where the real worries are.
"First, any value in the balances in the Social Security Trust Fund is derived from dubious government accounting. The trust fund is not a real savings account. From 1983 to 2010, it collected more Social Security taxes than it paid out in Social Security benefits. But the government borrowed all of these surpluses and spent them on other government programs unrelated to Social Security. The Trust Fund holds Treasury securities, but the ability to redeem these securities is completely dependent on the Treasury’s ability to raise money through taxes or borrowing." |
There's reason to be alarmed by this language. Even for an accomplished liar like Paul Ryan, a falsehood of this magnitude is noteworthy.
As most people know, Social Security has been running a surplus for many years. Each year the surplus was accumulated in the Federal Old-Age And Survivors Insurance Trust Fund where it is held in US Treasury securities that earn interest with a guarantee against loss. The balance as of August 31 was $2.7 trillion, a considerable sum. It is pure nonsense for Ryan to claim that the redemption of “these securities is completely dependent on the Treasury’s ability to raise money through taxes or borrowing,” as if that ability were in doubt.
The US Government is an issuer of its own currency, which is what guarantees the Treasury securities backed by the full faith and credit of the United States.
The budget that Obama submitted to Congress this year reflects different priorities:
- Expand the earned income tax credit for workers without qualifying children by doubling maximum credit and expanding age eligibility;
- Expand the child and dependent care tax credit for families with young children under 5;
- Exclude Pell Grants from income and tax credit calculations;
- Limit the value of itemized deductions to 28 percent;
- Enact the Fair Share tax rate on the highest incomes;
- Impose a financial crisis responsibility fee;
- Tax carried interests as ordinary income.
|
The effect of these changes would make the income tax more progressive by shifting more of the burden to the highest incomes. This table shows how
the distribution of income taxes would change at each income level.
Income Level |
Average pre-tax income |
Average Federal Tax Burden |
Average Federal Tax Change |
Less than $10,000 |
6,076 |
270 |
-133 |
$10,000-$20,000 |
15,744 |
375 |
-128 |
$20,000-$30,000 |
25,753 |
1,262 |
-4 |
$30,000-$40,000 |
36,289 |
2,860 |
30 |
$40,000-$50,000 |
46,641 |
4,835 |
40 |
$50,000-$75,000 |
64,010 |
8,785 |
43 |
$75,000-$100,000 |
89,951 |
14,369 |
56 |
$100,000-$200,000 |
142,712 |
26,188 |
114 |
$200,000-$500,000 |
296,335 |
67,084 |
1,450 |
$500,000-$1,000,000 |
700,375 |
198,974 |
7,141 |
More than $1,000,000 |
3,264,593 |
1,153,221 |
69,269 |
Keystone XL
Another public policy issue that the Republicans could win if they had a Senate majority is the approval of the Keystone XL pipeline to cross the border from Canada bringing tar sands crude south to the Gulf Coast.
Recently, 217 Republican House members voted to transfer responsibility for the pipeline’s approval from the State Dept. and the President to Congress. They’d approve as many Keystone XLs as needed to accommodate increasing Canadian tar sands production. The bill also called for an increase in US production by at least 3 million barrels of crude oil a day. It’s hard to figure how that requirement on the private sector would be consistent with the Republicans’ reverence for the free market. It sounds more like a Soviet-style command economy.
Only nine Democrats voted for the pipeline measure. The bill that would move the approval process to Congress was sponsored and introduced by Rep. Terry Lee (R |NE-02) and all 15 co-sponsors were Republicans. The State Dept. postponed any action on its part since the project is being challenged by opponents in the Nebraska State Supreme Court. Last weekend, Willie Nelson and Neil Young performed before a crowdin a field owned by a farmer who doesn’t want the pipeline to cross his land. Handing the approval process to Republicans isn’t a risk that anyone should take.
On the Gulf Coast of Texas where the Keystone XL pipeline would terminate, the local population would be at risk from environmental pollution that results from the tar sands refining process, as explained here:
|
|
Immigration
On August 1, 222 Republicans voted for a bad bill that would strip due process rights from immigrant children to expedite their deportations. This is a dangerous precedent. The lone Democrat who voted for the bill, carries a heavy burden of shame. Rep. Henry Cuellar (D | TX-28) is Latino, a self-avowed blue dog, and he represents a majority Latino district that stretches along the Mexican border, and north across the Eagle Ford shale formation where widespread fracking has taken hold. The White House issued a statement promising to veto the bill he voted for, if it ever gets to Obama's desk.
Also on August 1, 212 House Republicans voted to prohibit the expansion of the President’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA,) program which began two years ago. DACA has been available to immigrants who entered the US without notifying federal authorities before age 16, if they meet other qualifications. The bill would prevent the program’s participants from renewing their work permits which would be nearing their two-year expiration for those who were in the program since its inception. It also disallows participants from keeping their driver’s licenses. Four Democrats voted for the bill, as well.
|
There are clear and obvious differences between the Democrats and Republicans to keep in mind as election day approaches. I'll return again to summarize other public policy areas with reminders about the Democratic party positions.