The Year of Manufactured Crises

After all the huffing and puffing and strutting and screaming, it happened. A deal was struck. The votes were rounded up. And after weeks of mindless speculation, Congress' latest and greatest manufactured crisis finally came to an end.

How many times have we had to talk about it here? Frankly, I lost count some time in March. However, I remember that our very first conversation of 2013 was about "The Fiscal Cliff"... And what the end of that manufactured crisis revealed to us about how Congress would (not) work in 2013.

Even while "The Fiscal Cliff" has been averted, this is still just a temporary solution. G-O-TEA extremists will be demanding whole pounds of "fiscal flesh" when the debt ceiling is taken hostage yet again again up for debate. So there will be another round of insanity to witness in the new Congress this spring.

Yet even with that being said, it may just end up being a bunch of meaningless Sturm und Drang. Why, you ask? Remember that for most of the past decade-plus in Congress (that is, when Republicans have controlled the House), Republicans have operated under the "Hastert Rule" of only bringing legislation to the House floor if it has the support of most of the Republican caucus. However, that did not happen last night. Instead, this bill passed despite most House Republicans opposing it. And in letting this happen, Boehner implicitly admitted that budget solutions can now be reached by actually reaching across the aisle for a change and bringing in Democratic votes (as opposed to simply grinding Congress to a halt just so he can engage in "tea party circle jerks").

This may be the key to unlocking the potential for better productivity in the new Congress. Both President Obama and Harry Reid see it. We'll just have to see how long House Republicans try denying this "new rule"... And how long we will have to endure the next round of meaningless "tea party circle jerks" before something (else) is actually accomplished.

Actually, it is the key... But it's yet to be used to solve anything other than manufactured crises. Instead, we've seen Congress stuck in epic gridlock thanks to endless G-O-TEA intransigence.

Comprehensive immigration reform (CIR)? Oh, no. They can't do that. It's too "big and complicated" for one bill (despite the fact that the Senate passed one in June).

Farm bill? Oh, no. They can't do that. They'd rather let American consumers suffer unnecessary higher food prices than let the working poor eat.

ENDA? Oh, no. They can't do that. They still refuse to accept that LGBTQ Americans exist, let alone contribute to the American Economy. [...]

Time and time again, Republican "leaders" have chosen cheap and crass political games over real governance. It's why major policy goals, such as CIR & ENDA, are about to be left unmet. And it's why we doubt this Congress can even "succeed" at such basic tasks as passing longer term budgets.

After all, some Republican politicians are now bragging about their vision of "government that does less". Why would they want to abandon that vision to allow for a government that actually functions properly?

Never mind that we actually have real crises to solve. Because Congressional Republican "leaders" long ago lost control of their Crazy Caucus, they've manufactured crises, such as "The Fiscal Cliff", the Shutdown Shitfest, and a slew of near default debacles, in a desperate attempt to mollify them. It hasn't worked. Instead, it's revealed just how reckless and feckless the G-O-TEA has become.

We've said it before, but we must say it again today. Sharron Angle likely has more control over the Nevada Republican Party than anyone who's actually supposed to be a "leader" in Carson City or DC. As much as Brian Sandoval would like to deny it and John Boehner would like to hide it, that's the awful and crazy truth that we saw unfold over the course of this year. 

Never mind that Sharron Angle currently holds no elected office and has no official position with the Nevada Republican Party. She and her "TEA Party, Inc." BFFs have provided the ideology that's now the heart and soul of today's Republican Party. And as a result, many Republicans are still defending their crazy actions. [...]

It doesn't matter that this whole Shutdown Shitfest made for absolutely awful economics. And it doesn't matter that it ultimately made for crappy politics. For today's G-O-TEA, all that matters is that crazy is in charge. And that's what caused this whole crazy fiasco in the first place.

Ultimately, this and the other manufactured crises came to an end. Senator Harry Reid (D-The Boss) was able to find just enough not-so-crazy Republicans to force "leadership" to stand down at the 11th hour of each and every manufactured crisis of 2013. Yet with that being said, this string of crises has taken its toll on the nation. America has been forced into an era of austerity, and people are suffering as a result of this series of budget cuts. Even now, even more American families are about to become victims of the next round of austerity madness.

And speaking of austerity madness, the big 2014-15 Ryan-Murray Budget Deal is on track to pass the Senate today. It easily overcame a G-O-TEA led filibuster on a 67-33 vote. For the record, Senator Reid voted for cloture while Senator Dean Heller (R) voted to sustain the filibuster.

Even though this budget deal offers plenty of austerity, a number of Republicans (including Heller & Rep. Joe Heck) still oppose it. Why? It doesn't have enough austerity to please the Crazy Caucus, so expect another round of battles in the ongoing G-O-TEA Civil War as 2013 comes to a close.

And what about the new year? Believe it or not, 2014 may begin with (drumroll, please) yet another manufactured crisis over the debt ceiling thanks to continuing teabagger angst over the Ryan-Murray Sequester Remix. So this shitfest over manufactured crises built upon voodoo economics and political hogwash may not actually be completely over just yet. Happy Holidays!

Season of the Scrooge

It's here! It's here. And it's arrived just in time for the holiday season.

Senator Patty Murray (D-Washington) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) reached a budget deal yesterday. And so far, Congressional Republican "leaders" are signaling their approval. So are we free and clear for a 2014 (& 2015!) budget?

Not so fast. Already, G-O-TEA "movement leaders" like Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), Senator Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma), and the usual "Tea Party, Inc." agitators have been arguing against the nascent budget compromise. Why? It's a compromise! It would ever so slightly raise federal investment in the economy above Sequester levels. They still want more economy-busting austerity, not less.

Oh, and it's not just the radical right railing against the Ryan-Murray deal. Progressives aren't happy with this budget proposal, either. While it would raise 2014 federal investment from a severely austere $967 billion to a somewhat less austere $1.012 trillion (and $1.014 trillion in 2015), it would do so while screwing over public servants and kicking the long-term unemployed where it really hurts. So even as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D) has signaled his tentative approval, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-California) might as well have held her nose when she gave her statement on the tentative budget deal. And grassroots outrage is building over the possible end to the last lifeline available to those hit hardest by The Great Recession.

So both the activist right and the activist left are protesting the budget compromise. And while no top Democrats on Capitol Hill have threatened to blow it up, some Republicans are already starting to go there. While it's far from inevitable, a Shutdown S**tfest Sequel also isn't out of the equation just yet.

Unfortunately, what's starting to look probable is that at least some hard working Americans are about to get scrooged. And Congress has the gall to channel the spirit of Scrooge during the holiday season. What makes this even worse is that we're not even shocked any more.

Less Isn't More

This morning, we cut past the BS and looked at the reality behind the "Obamacare SCANDAL!!!" hype. Surprise, surprise, there's really "no there there". And what's making matters even worse is that Congressional Republican "leaders" are using this as an excuse to ditch basic governance in a last ditch effort to score more political points going into the 2014 Election Cycle.

Don't believe us? Believe the Republicans boasting of their own record of failure!

“I ran on a government that did less,” said Representative Reid Ribble, Republican of Wisconsin. “I felt the government was overreaching, and the citizens that sent me didn’t want me to be overaggressive in writing new laws. The Affordable Care Act launch is actually demonstrating the ineptitude of the federal government in handling these big programs.”

The 113th Congress has passed all of 55 laws so far this year, seven fewer at this point than the 112th Congress — the least productive Congress ever. House and Senate negotiators will meet on Wednesday to try to come to terms on a farm bill, but they remain far apart, especially on food-stamp cuts that the House is demanding. The leaders of the House and Senate budget committees will also meet this week, and they appear to be closing in on a modest deal that would set spending levels for the next two years while relieving some of the pain from the across-the-board spending cuts known as sequestration. [...]

“Republicans are using their political attacks on the Affordable Care Act as cover to do nothing else,” said Representative Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, the senior Democrat on the House Budget Committee.

Comprehensive immigration reform (CIR)? Oh, no. They can't do that. It's too "big and complicated" for one bill (despite the fact that the Senate passed one in June).

Farm bill? Oh, no. They can't do that. They'd rather let American consumers suffer unnecessary higher food prices than let the working poor eat.

ENDA? Oh, no. They can't do that. They still refuse to accept that LGBTQ Americans exist, let alone contribute to the American Economy.

Ending the nonsensical austerity regime that's only served as a solution (or more accurately, a problem) looking for a problem? Oh... Maybe?! Capitol Hill is buzzing today over talk of a possible budget deal. While it still wouldn't completely end the austerity madness that's gripped Capitol Hill (and hurt the rest of the nation), it would ease the pain a little. And frankly, even this represents major progress for this Congress.

So is it possible that the 113th Congress can finally pass a longer term budget and drop the austerity laced crack pipe? Perhaps, but let's not get our hopes too high. After all, we're still talking about the 113th Congress, the Congress that's now on track to beat the record of "Least Productive Session of Congress Ever" (set by the 112th Congress last year). And as Salon's Joan Walsh reminds us, Congressional Republican "leaders" will face intense pressure from their 21st Century Know Nothing base to put up a(nother) fight rather than compromise over anything. They'd rather force America into a Shutdown S**tfest Sequel than admit defeat.

So this is what we're facing as 2013 comes to a close. Time and time again, Republican "leaders" have chosen cheap and crass political games over real governance. It's why major policy goals, such as CIR & ENDA, are about to be left unmet. And it's why we doubt this Congress can even "succeed" at such basic tasks as passing longer term budgets.

After all, some Republican politicians are now bragging about their vision of "government that does less". Why would they want to abandon that vision to allow for a government that actually functions properly?

So much for that old saying, "Less is more"...

Grow Up

We have some good news this morning. Believe it or not, the US economy (as measured by GDP) has grown 2.8% so far this year. And the catch? It has only grown 2.8% so far this year.

Gross domestic product rose at a 2.8 percent annualized rate after a 2.5 percent gain the prior three months, a Commerce Department report showed today in Washington. The median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a 2 percent advance. Consumer spending climbed 1.5 percent, the smallest increase since 2011.

The biggest gain in inventories since the first three months of 2012 risks holding back production in the current quarter, which began with a 16-day partial shutdown of the federal government. Jobs data tomorrow are projected to show hiring slowed in October, helping explain why Federal Reserve policy makers are pressing on with stimulus.

“Growth is steady but not that great,” Jonathan Basile, an economist at Credit Suisse in New York, said before the report. “The shutdown will have a temporary effect on this quarter’s growth.”

Wonkblog's Neil Irwin dug into the numbers some more and found that an improving housing market, steady corporate investment, and increased state and local investment boosted GDP. Meanwhile, federal budget cuts and fearful consumers held back growth.

So the economy is growing... But it's growing more slowly than it should because of ongoing austerity. This is why the Federal Reserve has been holding back on "tapering" its bond buyback stimulus program.

And keep in mind that this was just before the Great G-O-TEA Shutdown S**tfest of 2013. We can't help but wonder if this was on Jon Runyan's mind recently. He was a top NFL offensive tackle who played for the Houston Oilers, Tennessee Titans, Philadelphia Eagles, and San Diego Chargers... Before getting elected to Congress in the G-O-TEA Wave in 2010. But all of a sudden and just before his 40th birthday, Rep. Jon Runyan has announced he's retiring from Congress.

Why?

[... O]ne New Jersey Republican said Runyan's frustration began early this year when conservatives blocked a vote on aid for superstorm Sandy – a storm that hammered his district – and continued during the recent government shutdown, which he opposed. Another GOP source said he had become frustrated with Washington's gridlock.

[Democrat Aimee] Belgard pointed to those same incidents in announcing her run.

"We have more political gamesmanship and irresponsible discord than I can ever remember in Washington," Belgard said in her announcement. "We need a change from the ego-driven politics that shutdown the government and brought our nation to the brink of default."

As we discussed yesterday, G-O-TEA Culture Warriors are having way too much fun grinding Congress to a halt and holding back economic recovery. While they play with their austerity fetish and refuse to accept the America of the 21st Century, the rest of us are wondering why we can't already give this economy a chance to heal and put more people back to work. Apparently, this was even becoming too tough for a former star football player to tackle.

As usual, Congressional Republican "leaders" are dismissing Senator Harry Reid's helpful advice. That may turn out to be a big mistake. Their obstruction agenda isn't impressing anyone. It's time for them to grow up.

Crazy Silly Stupid

So they're still not paying attention. They've had multiple warnings. But instead of taking heed, they're just tripling and quadrupling down on the crazy.

Of course, we're talking about Congressional Republican "leaders"... And their sordid relationship with the 21st Century Know Nothings who demand all crazy all the time. And this time, Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) accidentally told a little too much truth about G-O-TEA plans for the next year.

"Everything we do in this body should be about messaging to win back the Senate,” Sessions said. “That’s it. If you don’t want Benghazis to happen or you want an investigation for Benghazi, if you want an investigation on the IRS as opposed to the excuses that [Senate Majority Leader] Harry Reid [D-Nev.] is all about, if you do not like what’s happening at the [National Security Agency], then you gain the Senate.”

While Democrats did praise Sessions in the Roll Call story, the fact that the Republican controlling the flow of legislation into the House is primarily focused on "messaging" and wresting control of the Senate from Democrats suggests that the comatose pace of business in Washington will remain ahead of the 2014 midterm elections.

So Congressional Republican "leaders" are making bold statements about their awe-inspiring plans to accomplish... Absolutely nothing. Wow.

OK, we were perhaps a little too harsh. Congressional Republicans have accomplished something so far. They have succeeded in forcing more austerity on the nation. Never mind that austerity has led to less economic growth and continued weakness in the labor market. They're set to demand more starving families for the holidays!

Seriously, when did Republicans suddenly start following European trends this closely? Inquiring minds want to know.

But in the mean time, we just have to ask why Republican "leaders" think austerity is such a "great accomplishment". It hurts people. Yet all they do is manufacture more crises and create more unnecessary drama to demand more of it.

Why not consider pursuing great accomplishments that actually help people, like comprehensive immigration reform, action on workplace discrimination, climate action, and programs that allow for more job creation (instead of less)? They may not like what Senator Harry Reid has to say, but he is offering them some awfully good advice at exactly the right time.

Again, it's Republicans' choice to keep or ditch "The Stupid Party" label.

Cuts Aren't Smart

No one can say we didn't try to warn everyone. As the latest and greatest G-O-TEA induced manufactured crisis was underway, we were warning of the consequences it would have on an already fragile economic recovery. And now, we have a better sense of just how fragile our economy was going into the manufactured crisis.

Since that very crisis delayed the release of the official US unemployment numbers, we had to wait until this morning to see them. But now, we know that the American labor market added 148,000 jobs (non-farm) last month as the unemployment rate slipped slightly to 7.2%. The good news here is that all those jobs were added. In addition, it looks like the unemployment rate did not drop as a result of dropping workforce participation (as it has occasionally before).

Yet with this being said, these numbers indicate continued slow recovery and meddling jobs improvement. And remember, this is before the latest and greatest manufactured crisis kicked in.

We've talked about this before. Austerity is holding us back. It's difficult for the economy to grow if the federal government keeps cutting investment in the nation. That means fewer sales and fewer jobs.

After all, investment begets growth. So why is the fiscal conversation in Washington revolving around cuts and contraction? Wonkblog's Neil Irwin has been asking the same question this morning.

The sequestration policy of automatic spending cuts that went into effect in March really are having an effect. It hasn't showed up much in the jobs reports in ways that can be easily measured (though federal government employment excluding the Postal Service is down 73,000 jobs over the last year, a 3.4 percent decline).

But the workhorse economic models used in places like the Congressional Budget Office and Federal Reserve and private sector forecasters all show that the spending cuts should ripple through the economy and translate into less economic activity, and the soft job growth of the last few months fits that story to a tee.

Perhaps the best evidence for federal spending cuts as the culprit behind weak growth is this: It's the only culprit left standing when you consider the other possibilities. Financial markets have been on a tear, and business and consumer confidence has been strong this year (at least until the October shutdown). Consumers have made major progress reducing their debt burdens. The housing market has stabilized, and is no longer a drag on the economy. [...]

In other words, there's every reason to think this should have been a good year for the American economy. Yet here we are back in the doldrums, experiencing the same ambling pace of recovery that has been all too common since the technical end of the Great Recession in the summer of 2009. Americans can probably look to Washington to assign blame -- and that's before the tumultuous last few weeks exact whatever toll they will exact on growth.

So why are G-O-TEA politicians demanding even more austerity? And why is anyone in Washington taking their seriously as "smart fiscal policy"? It's not. In fact, this is the stupidi-TEA that's holding us back.

End in Sight?

It's now Day 14. And to make matters even worse, Senate Republicans filibustered a clean debt ceiling extension yesterday. So the G-O-TEA Shutdown Sh*tfest continues with...

An actual end in sight? How can this be? Fortunately for us, Brian Beutler is here to explain.

“I have had a productive conversation with the Republican leader this afternoon,” [Senate Majority Leader Harry] Reid [D] said on the floor Sunday evening. “Our discussions were substantive and we’ll continue those discussions. I’m optimistic about the prospects for a positive conclusion to the issues before this country today.”

Democrats want a large debt limit increase, and a brief stopgap funding bill. Republicans want a small debt limit increase and a funding bill that reopens the government for several months. Democrats would accept the latter, but not at the low annualized spending level ($986 billion) they agreed to for the six-week bill [House Speaker John] Boehner [R-Ohio] is refusing to put on the House floor for a vote. They want an opportunity to negotiate over sequestration, and won’t be able to do so effectively if its cuts have been locked in for half of the fiscal year with their consent.

After everything Republicans put themselves and the country through, these are the final points of contention. No Obamacare delay. No Medicare cuts. No real hostages. It would be amusing if it weren’t so dangerous. We’ve almost reached the point at which a determined senator could use the chamber’s arcane procedural rules to push a deal past October 17.

So this is what it's come to? Republicans are just squabbling over how much more austerity to subject the nation to once they allow government to reopen? And they're pushing us to the brink of Armageddon over this?

What has become increasingly obvious is that Senator Reid is taking the lead in ending the manufactured crisis because House Republicans are still a train wreck.

But if the Senate is truly so close to a final deal, then why is the world panicking? See above. House Republicans are still a train wreck, and their extortion demands are fueling fear around the world.

So what can be done? Now, it's actually more a matter of what must be done. As we had discussed two weeks ago, and as Greg Sargent explained yesterday, the insani-TEA must end... NOW.

There is no compromise that would prove acceptable to both Tea Party Republicans on one side and Obama and Senate Democrats on the other. The entire Tea Party crusade has been premised on the idea that the Dem refusal to unwind Obamacare could be broken if Republicans held firm on the government shutdown long enough, because it was only a matter of time until the American people, under duress and gripped with a feverish hatred of the health care law, rise up and force Dems to capitulate. Neither of those has happened. The American people have reached the opposite conclusion — theyblame Republicans for the government shutdown, and don’t want such tactics wielded as a weapon against Obamacare — and Obama and Dems have demonstrated they will not capitulate.

Tea Party Republicans faced with these twin realities are not giving ground, either. As Ron Brownstein details, they can’t, because in their view, this has become nothing less than an apocalyptic demographic and ideological struggle to prevent a national alliance of “takers” and their Democratic enablers from transforming the country into something no longer recognizably American. “Obama’s health care looms to them as the tipping point towards a permanent Democratic advantage built on dependency and demographic change,” Brownstein observes.

It now seems plainly obvious that neither Tea Party Republicans on one side, nor Obama and Senate Dems on the other, will give any ground on what they view as non-negotiable. No deal that is even marginally acceptable to both of those groups is feasible. Democrats are not capitulating to Tea Party demands; it just isn’t happening. By definition, then, there is only one way out of the crisis: Through an alliance of non-Tea Party Republicans (who have already shown a willingness to reopen the government) and Democrats. This would require House GOP leaders to allow a vote on something that is unacceptable to Tea Party conservatives, which will make them really, really angry, and to suffer the consequences.

Yet as the above anecdote indicates, even “responsible” leaders such as [Rep.] Paul Ryan [R-Wisconsin] continue to refuse to acknowledge this increasingly obvious reality, and refuse to level with the rank and file about it, no matter the consequences for the country.

At some point, Republican "leaders" must show some actual leadership. And if they just can't, then they need to step out of the way. This Shutdown Sh*tfest has already gone on for far too long, and we simply can't afford the consequences of allowing Armageddon to begin this Thursday.

There truly is an end in sight... If Republicans can finally drop all the irrational demands, stop the hostage taking, and allow a bipartisan vote to reopen the government & ensure the nation's bills are paid.

The End Game

What a Monday. We've seen plenty of drama from the usual suspects. And of course, they're demanding the same old disgusting ransom as they threaten to hold the nation hostage.

Of course, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D) is over the ridiculous G-O-TEA drama. However, there was an interesting twist today. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) is also over the ridiculous G-O-TEA drama. Pay very close attention to what's said below... And what's not said.

"Senator McConnell supports the House Republicans' bill and will not vote to block it, since it defunds Obamacare and funds the government without increasing spending by a penny," McConnell spokesman Don Stewart told TPM in an email Monday. "He will also vote against any amendment that attempts to add Obamacare funding back into the House Republicans' bill."

The decision clears a path for Democrats to pass a continuing resolution that funds Obamacare. Procedurally, Democrats need 60 votes (they have 54 members) to advance the House-passed continuing resolution. But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) can strike the language defunding Obamacare with 51 votes, which frees up McConnell and every other Republican to vote against such an amendment. This way he never has to actually vote to fund Obamacare but doesn't force a shutdown over an unachievable goal.

Because Senator McConnell is facing a "TEA" fueled primary challenge, he has to sound "severely conservative". But in failing to say "The [Other] F Word", Senator Reid should be able to proceed in crafting a budget agreement that all sides can live with.

And that's not all. Former Senator Judd Gregg (R-New Hampshire) couldn't stay silent as some in his party continue promoting economic destruction.

The self-promotional babble of a few has become the mainstream of Republican political thought. It has marginalized the influence of the party to an appalling degree. 

An approach to the debt ceiling that says one will not vote for its extension unless ObamaCare is defunded is the political equivalent of playing Russian roulette with all the chambers of the gun loaded. It is the ultimate no-win strategy. 

You cannot in politics take a hostage you cannot shoot. That is what the debt ceiling is. At some point, the debt ceiling will have to be increased not because it is a good idea but because it is the only idea. 

As we've discussed here many times before, there's no realistic way for the G-O-TEA gang to succeed. Obamacare is law. A budget must signed into law in a week. And the debt ceiling is not something to mess around with.

Even as the media pundits are setting each other's hair on fire, the end game is now in sight. Senator McConnell is now deferring to Senator Reid, and to the Republicans willing to negotiate with him. And sooner or later, G-O-TEA "leaders" will blink.

This week should be interesting...

Still Makes No $

Earlier this morning, we were reminded of the latest and greatest manufactured crisis to hit Capitol Hill. Never mind we still have over a month until Halloween, politicians and media pundits are already spooked. Even the high and mighty at the Federal Reserve and Wall Street are feeling the fright.

Even as we're seeing real crises develop around the world, The Beltway Pundit Class continues to obsess over the manufactured crisis that's ripping the Republican Party apart while causing jitters among economists. As we've discussed here many times before, it doesn't have to be this way. Yet for some reason, Congressional Republicans keep pushing us to the brink.

Last night, Desert Beacon had to debunk the spin coming from Rep. Mark Amodei's (R-Drama) office regarding his vote for fiscal insani-TEA. Of course, he claims he just helped the House "do its job". If he defines "do its job" as cause unnecessary drama, then he may be right. Funny enough, Rep. Amodei was the one claiming he was "tired of the drama" earlier this year.

This actually isn't the only fit of drama coming from Nevada Republicans. Over the weekend, Rep. Joe Heck's (R-TEA Curious) office sent a letter to constituents who asked about his vote to force millions of Americans to starve. Since July, he and other House Republicans have been on a mission to slash and burn the SNAP program that provides a critical lifeline to millions of food insecure Americans and our nation's economy. And once again, Rep. Heck is claiming his vote was to "reform" SNAP. He even claimed the bill provides $333 million more for soup kitchens!

OK, so what's so bad about that? Can't those pesky poor people go to soup kitchens? Nope, since soup kitchens and other private charities are already stretched beyond capacity due to post-Great Recession poverty and unemployment. An extra $333 million over ten years, or less than $670,000 per state per year, won't nearly be enough to take care of this. After all, House Republicans voted to slash $40 billion (!!!) from SNAP and throw them to already overextended private charities.

Rep. Heck also cited "fraud" as a reason to vote to gut SNAP, but the "fraud" claims he and other House Republicans cite have already been debunked. So why do they keep threatening the lives of so many Americans? Maybe Paul Krugman can explain.

[... L]ast year, average food stamp benefits were $4.45 a day. Also, about those “able-bodied people”: almost two-thirds of SNAP beneficiaries are children, the elderly or the disabled, and most of the rest are adults with children.

Beyond that, however, you might think that ensuring adequate nutrition for children, which is a large part of what SNAP does, actually makes it less, not more likely that those children will be poor and need public assistance when they grow up. And that’s what the evidence shows. The economists Hilary Hoynes and Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach have studied the impact of the food stamp program in the 1960s and 1970s, when it was gradually rolled out across the country. They found that children who received early assistance grew up, on average, to be healthier and more productive adults than those who didn’t — and they were also, it turns out, less likely to turn to the safety net for help.

SNAP, in short, is public policy at its best. It not only helps those in need; it helps them help themselves. And it has done yeoman work in the economic crisis, mitigating suffering and protecting jobs at a time when all too many policy makers seem determined to do the opposite. So it tells you something that conservatives have singled out this of all programs for special ire.

Even some conservative pundits worry that the war on food stamps, especially combined with the vote to increase farm subsidies, is bad for the G.O.P., because it makes Republicans look like meanspirited class warriors. Indeed it does. And that’s because they are.

And even worse, Reps. Heck & Amodei have been voting to continue subsidies for several of their House Republican colleagues. So "welfare" is good for Republicans with "family farms", but not for poor people in actual need?

To make matters even worse, the House G-O-TEA budget plan offers even more painful austerity. It denies chemotherapy to cancer patients, preschool to children, housing to families, and help to domestic violence victims. Oh, and did I mention it (further) threatens economic recovery?

So now, we must ask this: Why are Joe Heck, Mark Amodei, and other House Republicans threatening the lives of so many Americans? And why do they persist in pursuing the same old economy busting austerity policies? Their prescription for economic ruin makes no sense.

We Are (Still) Not a Deadbeat Nation.

Last Thursday, we looked at the reasoning behind the Federal Reserve's decision to delay plans to taper its stimulus program. Today, we have a little more insight into how and why that happened. Moments ago, New York Federal Reserve Bank President William Dudley said the decision was made partly because results of their economic tests did not suggest the US economy was ready yet for tapering... And in particular, fiscal uncertainties "looming very large right now".

Hey, G-O-TEA Congresscritters, Mr. Dudley is talking about you!

And it's not just The Fed getting fed up with the manufactured crises. Over the weekend, President Obama again urged Congress to cut the manufactured crisis crap. After all, "We are not a deadbeat nation".



We already know the G-O-TEA manufactured crisis meant to take away people's health care and cause more economic harm makes absolutely no economic sense, but that's not all. It's also increasingly making little to no political sense. A new CNBC poll shows huge opposition among Americans to a G-O-TEA fueled government shutdown. Even 48% of Republicans don't support the G-O-TEA anti-Obamacare shutdown scheme, and 36% of Republicans don't support any defund Obamacare scheme.

Yet despite the economic and political reality of now, the usual TEA flavored suspects are peddling their tired old manufactured crisis. They're even threatening other Republicans with primary challenges "negative scoring" (for conservative interest group scorecards) if they don't go along with the Lords of the Crazy in their quixotic quest to destroy America's social safety net. Unfortunately for them, at least some Republicans are still dismissing their insani-TEA.

"In the United States Senate, we will not repeal or defund Obamacare. We will not. And to think we can is not rational," Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said last Thursday on CNN. "To somehow think we are going to defund it is simply not going to happen at this time, and it will, in my opinion, as it did before, harm the American people's view of the Republican party." [...]

The government shuts down next week on Oct. 1 if Congress doesn't act. Senate Democrats believe that even if they do get six GOP votes, completing the bill may take all week, bringing the country perilously close to a shutdown by the time it ping-pongs back to the House. Polls suggest Republicans, being the party out of power, will be blamed. That means once the lights go out, they'll have no choice but to fold. The only question is whether Cruz destroys what's left of the GOP brand in the process by shining a national spotlight on its radical tactics. He's laying the groundwork to escape from the battle with his reputation in tact by preemptively blaming his colleagues -- colleagues who remain skeptical of his plan.

"Tactics and strategies ought to be based on what the real world is. We do not have the political power to do this," Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) said Sunday on CBS' "Face The Nation." "So we're not about to shut the government down over the fact that we cannot, only controlling one house of Congress, tell the president that we're not going to fund any portion of this [health care law]. Because we can't do that."

We only have one week left until the manufactured crisis turns into unnecessary economic pain. And yes, it truly is unnecessary. After all, we are not a deadbeat nation. We do not shirk our responsibility to take care of ourselves and each other.

When more Congressional Republicans actually take this to heart, maybe then we can actually take their "economic policies" seriously.

Stop the Insani-TEA!

Yesterday, we got quite the surprise. The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee voted unanimously to continue The Fed's $85 billion monthly bond buyback program. Major stock indices immediately shot up when this was announced, as many had been expecting The Fed to "taper" its buyback program.

Yet while the equity market and a whole lot of talking heads were jumping for joy over The Fed's decision to continue its stimulus program, hardly anyone noticed why this happened. Fortunately for us, Steve Benen noticed.

But as we've discussed many times, [outgoing Federal Reserve Chair Ben] Bernanke keeps urging conservative lawmakers to get smarter about economic policy, to no avail.

He has, over the last few years, occasionally abandoned subtlety and explicitly pleadedwith Congress to consider fiscal stimulus -- or at least less fiscal austerity -- but Republicans have always refused. (Indeed, GOP lawmakers haven't just been content to ignore the need for fiscal remedies, they've also demanded that Bernanke stoptrying to improve the economy through monetary measures.)

Bernanke wants Congress to act as a partner, working alongside the Fed to strengthen the economy. Instead, Congress has acted as an opponent, pushing in the opposite direction.

And now that Republicans are threatening to impose economic chaos on Americans on purpose, the Fed chair apparently figures it's a bad time to start scaling back. He's right.

We've said it here before, and we'll say it again today. Investment begets growth! It should be a simple concept for everyone to understand.

Unfortunately for us, the Congressional G-O-TEA Gang just don't get it. Instead, they're pursuing another manufactured crisis and demanding even more austerity. So of course, we now have to live on a razor's edge for the next two weeks as we await the conclusion of this latest and greatest manufactured crisis.

At least now, there are signs of the conclusion approaching. Brian Beutler reported earlier on the latest twist in the latest episode of Republican Insani-TEA. Even though House Republicans are now set to pass their nonsensical and sadomasochistic budget resolution, the Senate G-O-TEA culture warriors who had originally proposed this very plan are now developing cold feet... Just in time for their feet to meet the fire.

Make no mistake, even the likes of Ted Cruz and Rand Paul are realizing their fiscal pipe dream has no chance in hell of getting past Harry Reid. Their insani-TEA is about to crash into reality. And at this point, Republicans are left deciding whether to crash and burn with the G-O-TEA culture warriors while forcing everyone to endure a government shutdown, or save whatever is left of their faces by cutting a last minute deal with Democrats.

A favorite philosopher of ours once uttered three words that forever made their mark on pop culture. Yesterday, Ben Bernanke and The Fed shouted out these same three words when announcing continuation of The Fed's stimulus program. And now, it's time for Congressional Republicans to pay very close attention to the advice we're giving them: Stop the insani-TEA!

Return to Dysfunction Junction

Now that President Obama is pursuing a diplomatic solution to the Syria crisis, Congress is returning to the usual business. And of course, that means another G-O-TEA manufactured crisis. I'm not sure what else to say about this, so I'll leave the rest of the explaining to Ed Kilgore.

So having fought its way into the Syria debate just days ago, Congress is stepping aside—or perhaps it’s better to say it’s stepping out of one quagmire into another, the partisan fiscal conflict that’s no closer to being resolved now than it has been since 2011. Indeed, the House is about to adjourn for a long weekend, leaving itself just five working days before the end of the fiscal year. At present the GOP leadership doesn’t have the votes to pass a continuing appropriations resolution to keep the government functioning because it can’t find a formula that sufficiently “defunds Obamacare” to satisfy 30 or so conservatives.

All the earlier talk about how the Syria crisis was going to “distract” Congress from dealing with its other issues is now shown to have missed the point: time isn’t what Congress needs. It needs a Republican Party, especially in the House, that make decisions without constantly placating a faction willing to blow up the budget, the operations of the federal government, and perhaps the economy, if it is not allowed to nullify past laws and overturn past elections.

No wonder why Senator Harry Reid (D) doesn't "do social things". And now, he'll especially be needed. Why? I'll let Rep. John Dingell (D-Michigan) explain.



Oh, yes. That's right. The House G-O-TEA gang are still wasting time on their anti-Obamacare chicanery and tomfoolery! And as expected, Senator Reid has no interest in jumping on the "Defund Obamacare" train to Dysfunction Junction.

“I told [Boehner] very directly that all these things they’re trying to do on Obamacare is a waste of their time,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) told reporters. “Let’s stop playing these really juvenile political games.”

“Those in touch with reality should understand that passing a clean CR is the right thing to do,” he said. “Their direction is a direction to shut down the government. … If Republican leaders keep giving into tea party demands they must be rooting for a shutdown.”

The White House also reiterated Thursday that President Barack Obama would reject efforts to undermine Obamacare. “We will not accept anything that delays or defunds Obamacare,” spokesman Jay Carney told reporters.

While the G-O-TEA street theater may be entertaining, it ultimately accomplishes nothing. In fact, it's actually harming the nation. And we continue to suffer the awful policies that resulted from their histrionics.

So we've returned to Dysfunction Junction this week as Congress struggles to secure any kind of budget deal. What will it take for Republican "leaders" to agree to let the country escape? Maybe they like the dysfunction, but the rest of us are sick and tired of the manufactured crises and unnecessary drama.

Hot Mess on Capitol Hill

Here we go again. Congressional Republican "leaders" thought they were going to make a killing off their latest & greatest manufactured crisis. However, they ran into a problem on their way to their victory lap on the hamster wheel of drama. And as usual, their problem is their own base.

Conservative groups like FreedomWorks, Club For Growth and Heritage Actionvehemently oppose the plan and have vowed to punish lawmakers who vote to bring it up. They want Republicans to force a confrontation over defunding Obamacare at risk of a government shutdown. These well-financed groups wield tremendous influence over the GOP and have repeatedlybested — and embarrassed — the party leadership.

“This is a legislative gimmick designed to provide political cover to those who are unwilling to fight to defund Obamacare,” said Michael Needham, the leader of Heritage Action. “Any constituent who looks at this vote will know it is intended to look like a vote to defund Obamacare while failing to do so. The American people are tired of gimmicks, and it is our expectation that no conservative in Congress will try to deceive their constituents by going along with this cynical ploy.”

Well, at least the "Tea Party, Inc." spinners are correct that this is a ridiculous gimmick. However, what they fail to recognize is that Americans are sick and tired of the manufactured crises. And the more they pursue the same old manufactured crises, the less trust Americans put in Congress... And the less popular Congressional Republicans become.

This is what Salon's Brian Beutler tried to explain to them earlier this morning.

Serially picking fights with the Senate and White House over the budget is really dumb. It’s bad for the country and the economy for obvious reasons. It’s no longer a fruitful way for Republicans — who only control the House of Representatives — to achieve significant policy objectives. It remains an effective way to undermine the public’s faith in Congress and the government, which Republicans like, but it reduces their own party’s favorables more than the Democrats’. And at this point they’re doing much more internal harm to themselves than anyone else.

Indeed, routine budget fights have unified Democrats and are hastening the GOP crackup. Just yesterday, House GOP leaders fumbled (yet) a(nother) bill because the GOP is too divided over budget policy and strategy to pass anything other than completely suicidal legislation without Democratic votes.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Tang) lost control of his own caucus long ago. House Republicans are now too busy fighting each other to be bothered with figuring out what's best for the nation. We have a spiraling hot mess on Capitol Hill, and it's going to take some actual grown-up leadership to get us out of this.

So what can be done now? Republican "leaders" can starr by reaching out to Senator Harry Reid, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-California), and the President. The only way any budget can pass is with bipartisan support. That's the only way they can begin cleaning up the hot mess on Capitol Hill.

Reality Is Not on Their Side.

So far this month, we've actually had real crises to talk about. And as the world awaits resolutions to the real crises, there's even less of an appetite among the general public for manufactured crises. Perhaps this is why Congressional Republican "leaders" may now be preparing to wrap up the sabotage circus.

Wait... What?! Oh, yes. That's right. And TPM's Sahil Kapur has more details on the latest "Fiscal Cliff 2.0" chatter on Capitol Hill.

If and when they do cave, Republicans will be hard-pressed to show their base they got something in return for raising the debt ceiling. In January, they got Senate Democrats to agree to pass a non-binding budget resolution. This time around, the possibilities for symbolic concessions range from a doomed Senate vote to delay or defund Obamacare or instructions to initiate the process of tax reform.

There are a number of demands rank-and-file Republicans have urged leaders to make which could genuinely complicate the battle, such as dollar-for-dollar spending cuts or unwinding Obamacare. Cantor’s memo mentioned neither. GOP members have also called on leadership not to bring up any debt limit bill that lacks the support of half the conference. Boehner hasn’t committed to this and Cantor didn’t mention it in his memo.

There are several reasons Republicans will have a hard time extracting concessions. Back in January, when Obama held firm and refused to negotiate on the debt limit, Republicans folded and agreed to suspend the debt ceiling without substantial concessions but rather symbolic ones. And due to deep divisions within the conference, House Republicans will face enormous challenges in rounding up 218 votes to pass any conceivable debt limit hike.

As we've been talking about here, many G-O-TEA acolytes have been willing to endanger the US & global economy if their radical ideological agenda isn't passed. But now that their demands are looking increasingly far-fetched and delusional, Republican "leaders" are now desperate to find a way to calm down their nouveau Fiscal Cliff fever pitch while also diffusing their latest political stink bomb without embarrassing themselves.

Over time, the G-O-TEA austerity fetish, especially when coupled with political histrionics, has proven to be an economically dangerous addiction. And while they still don't want to give up their Sequester Madness, at least their "leaders" may be starting to realize that their party's madness isn't flattering.

For now, we may hear a few more G-O-TEA Fiscal Cliff battle cries. But just as Version 1.0 didn't end well for them, Version 2.0 probably won't as well. Why? Simply put, reality is not on their side.

What's Holding Us Back

This morning, we got some good news. No really, we have good news to discuss! Unemployment claims slipped last week to 331,000. And not only that, but second quarter GDP growth was revised upward from 1.7% to 2.5%. Both numbers indicate improved economic conditions.

Yet while these numbers indicate economic growth and lower unemployment, they also indicate continuing slow recovery. While 2.5% quarterly growth is certainly better than none, we'll have to wait several more years to finish recovering from The Great Recession if we continue at this pace. And of course, that means it will be several more years before we ever approach full employment again.

So why is this? Simple: austerity. While federal divestment from the economy has not been enough (yet?) to throw us back into recession, it's held down growth.

After their austerity program did prolong recession there, more and more voices in Europe have called for an end to it. So why do we want to repeat Europe's great mistake? Why do we want to risk double-dip recession?

We've said it before, but it's probably worthwhile to say this again: Investment begets growth. Austerity and divestment just hurt growth. Just by repealing the Sequester that G-O-TEA intransigence forced the nation into, we can create 900,000 jobs and increase real GDP by 0.7%.

Austerity is holding us back. While our economy is apparently resilient enough to grow despite it, there's no reason to manufacture these obstacles to recovery and growth. Why should we prevent economic recovery at all?

Hamster Wheel of Drama

It shouldn't be all that difficult to understand. Investment begets growth. When we invest in our people and our communities, we grow our economy.

But for the last two years, the federal government has essentially been divesting from our economy. And as a result, economic growth has been more sluggish and inconsistent than it could be. While the ongoing austerity regime has not been enough to throw us into another recession (at least for now), it has been complicating the climb out of the last one.

So why are we stuck in this seemingly endless hamster wheel of austerity? It's not about the merits of the policy. Rather, it's about the heat of the politics. And as Salon's Brian Beutler notes, Congressional Republican "leaders" are now eyeing an extension of the austerity regime as a twisted "consolation prize" for losing the other fall budget battles.

Sequestration has always been a tough problem. Democrats hate what it’s doing to investments across the government, particularly its indiscriminate cuts to programs for the poor and medical research funds. Republicans don’t like it much either. But most of them, including party leaders, are unwilling to consider a replacement that includes even a penny of revenue collected by tightening or closing tax loopholes benefiting top earners. That, and it’s also kind of a trophy for them — a totem they can point to when the tribe becomes depressed to remind of the time they really stuck it to President Obama. [...]

That won’t constitute a new concession from Obama so much as an ongoing one. But if forcing Obama to choose between the House GOP’s government spending plan and quasi-permanent sequestration is the party’s victory badge in the budget wars, they’re going to be loath to give it up in a negotiated settlement.

Since the usual G-O-TEA suspects can't do anything productive, they're lauding austerity as their greatest "accomplishment". And they refuse to let it go, regardless of its harmful effects on the economy.

So now, we're stuck in this hamster wheel of austerity. And even though we know we have to get out of it to let our economy heal, we can't figure out how to do so with so many intransigent G-O-TEA critters in Congress. It's the manufactured crisis that continues to haunt us.

For all those Republican Members of Congress who claim they're "tired of the drama", they have put us into this hamster wheel of drama. So how do we get out of it?

Dangerous Fire

It's happening yet again. We're seeing more warning signs. Last month, we saw wildfires emerge on both ends of Nevada. And now, we have a dangerous fire burning near Palm Springs, California.

Senator Barbara Boxer (D-California) now lives in that region. She spoke with local media yesterday about witnessing the fire from her house. And she spoke about the dangerous dynamics behind this dangerous fire.



And she's onto something. We've been witnessing a growing and alarming body of evidence demonstrating how climate change is changing the natural ebb and flow of wildfires. And thanks to both climate inaction and ridiculous fiscal austerity policies, we're not as prepared to fight these fires as we should be. This is a problem. And it's one being confirmed by a new study from California's Department of Environmental Protection.

The study, written by 51 scientists, tracked a variety of indicators and found widespread evidence of the toll climate change is taking across the across the state, including more frequent and intense wildfires, rising sea levels, shrinking glaciers, warmer lakes and oceans, and hotter temperatures. These ripple effects of these changes threaten communities, industry, public health, and the state’s prized natural resources. “Climate change is not just some abstract scientific debate,” said California EPA Secretary Matt Rodriquez. “It’s real, and it’s already here.”

Californians are already suffering from a growing number of heat-related illnesses and deaths and those figures are projected to rise along with temperatures. The report found that in most regions of the state, warming has accelerated over the past three decades. During the summer, heat extremes have increased and nighttime heat waves have risen across the state. As climate change drives temperatures up, it poses a serious risk to public health. As evidence of this, the report notes that “the July 2006 heat wave, unprecedented in its magnitude and geographic extent, resulted in 140 heat-related deaths in California.” [...]

As with much of the western U.S., California wildfires have grown bigger, stronger and more frequent in recent decades. The report found that annual acreage burned statewide has been steadily increasing and “the three largest fire years occurred in the last ten years.” And the average number of acres scorched every year since 2000 is almost double the average of the previous 50 years — 598,000 acres annually now, compared with 264,000 acres a year then.

Again, we've discussed this many times before. Senator Harry Reid (D-Searchlight) talked about it a year ago. And we're all living through it now.


So what will we do about it? This dangerous fire rages on. And if we don't take action soon, it will consume all of us.

Exercises in Self-promotion

So this is (August) recess. What has Congress done? Other than the usual slew of ideological circle jerks meaningless votes, the G-O-TEA run House hasn't allowed for much of anything to get done.

And now, even as August Recess is just beginning, talk of another manufactured crisis is already underway. Why? The supposed Senate G-O-TEA "leader" now fears "the base".

“I’ve watched [Senate Minority Leader Mitch] McConnell [R-Kentucky] closely and after the fiscal cliff resolution he’s taken on a very different role, including last week sabotaging Susan Collins on the transportation bill. He’s very fearful of a challenger to his renomination,” said Norm Ornstein, a scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. “And stepping in at the last minute to do a budget deal or save us from breaching the debt limit would be disastrous for him.”

Senate Democratic leaders also worry that his re-election dynamics make crisis likelier, especially with Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) more powerless than usual, having promised his ultraconservative members he won’t negotiate privately with President Obama.

“His lurch to the right and his desperation to portray himself to the Tea Party as the chief opponent of the President absolutely makes it more difficult to get a deal,” said a senior Democratic aide, speaking anonymously to discuss internal matters. “In the past he would swoop in at the end and negotiate, and now we just can’t be sure he will be able to do that.”

Of course, their latest obstruction gambit may ultimately fall apart come October. And they may not really care. After all, it's just another round of theatrics meant to rile up the "TEA" fueled base.

Indeed, we talked last week about House Republicans voting for the 40th time to repeal all or part of "Obamacare"? Why would they do this, over and over again? Some of this surely is intended to confuse the public about the stability of the health care law and some of it probably has to do with public relations.

But let's not overlook the most obvious motivation: these are politicians who want to take in a bunch of cash and see repeal votes as a reliable hook for a fundraising appeal.

Even Jennifer Rubin, a far-right writer at the Washington Post, is calling them out on the scheme: "This is a shopworn tactic: Stake out a ludicrous position, insist you are serious and then blame other pols (the sober ones) or even the public when the whole thing collapses. Really, do they imagine voters are so dim as to not realize this is purely an exercise in self-promotion and a fundraising technique?"

And that's truly what this is all about. It's an exercise in self-promotion and a fundraising technique. And unfortunately for all the rest of us, certain G-O-TEA all-stars on Capitol Hill will keep doing it so long as they think they can cash in on the latest & greatest manufactured crisis.

Well, they are in August Recess. And they are supposed to be engaging in "constituent outreach". Maybe it's time for constituents to finally ask them why they continue wasting (our) time & money on these ridiculous exercises in self-promotion.

Austerity Madness

Don't say we didn't warn you. We've been warning about the effects of Congress' latest & greatest manufactured crisis for some time. And now, we're starting to see those effects.

The 88,000 net jobs added in March, if that or a similar figure holds up through revisions, is a tragedy: Nearly four years into the economic recovery, with the unemployment rate still close to 8 percent, the nation recorded a month in which too few jobs were added to keep up with the growing American workforce (that number is more like 125,000). The headline read that the unemployment rate fell to 7.6 percent from 7.7 percent, but it was almost entirely for bad reasons. A whopping 496,000 people dropped out of the labor force, and 206,000 fewer people reported having a job, meaning that the proportion of Americans currently working actually ticked down, not up. [...]

So, what is the culprit? March was the month that the policy of sequestration, across-the-board government spending cuts went into effect. But the patterns of what sectors added and lost jobs doesn't match what you would expect if this was the major driver of the weakness. The professional and business services sector, which includes many contractors, actually added 51,000 jobs, consistent with its recent results. The federal government excluding the U.S. Postal Service shed 2,200 jobs, which amounts to a rounding error across the whole of the American labor market. It's not that the sequester won't have some negative effects on the economy eventually, but you have to squint awfully hard to see them in this report.

The more plausible case is that the increase in payroll taxes that took place in January, lopping 2 percent off of most workers paychecks, is damaging the retail sector. Retailers shed 24,000 jobs, with the steepest losses among sellers of building materials and garden supplies and of clothing and clothing accessories. It makes sense that it would have taken two or three months for less cash in customers’ pockets to translate into retailers keeping fewer cashiers and sales clerks on staff. That said, consumer spending data and reports from retailers themselves has held up reasonably well in 2013 despite the payroll tax, so it's hard to assign too much confidence the idea that the drop in retail jobs is a consequence of fiscal austerity as opposed to a routine statistical blip.

Which leaves us with this overarching conclusion: This economy isn't as strong as we thought it was. What had seemed to be a nice winter acceleration in activity may be, as it has been for the last three years, undermined by a spring-summer swoon.

We've already received warnings about the dangers of austerity. This is yet another one. Can we really afford to continue ignoring these warnings?

Remember, even this jobs report doesn't include anything close to the full effect of the latest manufactured crisis. It just includes effects from the previous one in January. So we probably don't even know yet how much more carnage we'll see in the coming months.

Meanwhile in Washington, we're seeing yet another budget brawl. "TEA" fueled Republicans are demanding more manufactured crises, while Congressional Democrats are offering more reasonable budget plans with a mix of new revenue and budget cuts.

Now, President Obama is offering his own budget plan. Basically, it's yet another attempt at a "Grand Bargain" of more far reaching tax reform... And a "chained CPI" benefit cut to Social Security. Wait, WHAT?! Greg Sargent has more details.

At a certain level, this shouldn’t surprise anybody. On entitlements, Obama is merely reiterating what he’s previously offered John Boehner, and it has long been clear that this offer is still on the table. Many liberals have long suspected that Obama actively wants to cut entitlements. So here is my understanding of White House thinking on why a Grand Bargain is a good outcome.

Obama and his advisers don’t necessarily view Chained CPI as good policy. But they think a Grand Bargain is ultimately a better outcome than continued sequestration, and the only way to the former is to peel off individual Republicans who are open to new revenues. They believe a Grand Bargain is good for Democrats in general, because it essentially would lock in a medium-term agreement over core disputes —about the safety net and about the size of government, and who should pay for it —that have produced a debilitating stalemate in Washington.

Yes, Republicans would continue railing about government spending, the thinking goes, but no one would listen, since they would have already endorsed a deal stabilizing the deficit. This would deprive Republicans of the ability to focus attention on one of their core targets —Big Government —as a way to avoid grappling with other issues, such as jobs and long-term middle class economic security, immigration, guns, and perhaps even climate change. Reaching a deal on the deficit will force Republicans to confront those problems more directly and to choose between real cooperation on them or continue to calcify as a hidebound, reactionary party incapable of addressing major challenges facing the country.

Liberals will point out that it’s folly to offer Republicans so much up front, because they’ll only denounce the offer as “unserious” and demand more, shifting the debate further in their direction. But officials insist the White House has no intention of budging on its demand for new revenues or allowing Republicans to pull Obama further towards them. (This doesn’t mean liberals shouldn’t make it clear that any further concessions on revenues are unacceptable.) The offer in the budget, the thinking goes, will drive home that Obama is the one who occupies the compromise middle ground, and if Republicans refuse to deal, it will be crystal clear in the public mind who is to blame for continued austerity. The White House doesn’t worry about putting its fingerprints on entitlements cuts, because Obama has long proposed them himself.

The President wants to end the ongoing manufactured crises that result in more and more austerity. So again, he's making a "Grand Bargain" offer with proposed entitlement cuts. He's essentially daring Congressional Republicans to oppose this.

And the beat goes on. We're now forced to endure an ongoing debate on who in the working class needs to "endure the pain". Meanwhile, we all continue to suffer from manufactured crises producing more austerity.

Our economy likely can't handle more austerity. Most American families certainly can't. So when will this madness end? What will it take for the G-O-TEA faction in Congress to stop harming our economy? And what will it take for Democrats to try something new to break this cycle of austerity madness?

Health Care: It's Complicated?

As mentioned earlier today, the Nevada Legislature talked health care when the Joint Finance Committee took on a key part in implementing the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The Silver State Health Insurance Exchange was created in 2011 to comply with the ACA's requirement to set up exchanges to provide patients with more affordable health insurance plans. So why was tjere a hearing today? Well, it's complicated.

Senator & Joint Finance Chair Joyce Woodhouse (D-Henderson) and Assembly Member Paul Aizley (D-Paradise) asked Exchange Director Jon Hager about progress on developing the Exchange. Here's some of what Hager said.



But wait, there's more. And yes, this is where Congress' latest & greatest manufactured crisis kicks in. As Steve Benen and others have noted, we're even seeing Republicans starting to decry the many harmful effects of this manufactured crisis. And as we're finding out the hard way, it may even affect our health care.





While President Obama and (federal) Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius insist they are doing everything they can to maximize the ACA even with minimal funds, it's hard to see how the Affordable Care Act will be completely unscathed in the wake of federal budget cuts. And what may make this situation even worse is how notoriously cheap Nevada's state government most often is. Can a convergence of state & federal austerity threaten health care reform?

That's what we'll have to watch for in the coming weeks and months. Rollout of the Silver State Health Insurance Exchange is slated for October. And perhaps as long as the state properly funds its end of the equation while Congress gets its act together on the federal budget, things will work out just fine.

But if American austerity continues, health care reform may have a bumpy road ahead. Again, the Obama Administration is working to find ways to deliver health care to patients even with current tight budgets. That delivery may just be made more complicated than it needs to be.