Clinton: Extend All Tax Rates

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President Bill Clinton Says That Extending ‘All The Tax Cuts Due To Expire At The End Of The Year’ Is ‘Probably The Best Thing We Can Do Right Now’

 

CLINTON: ‘They Will Have To Extend… All Of It Now’

“Former President Bill Clinton broke sharply with President Obama over the Bush-era tax cuts, calling on Congress to renew them temporarily in the face of ongoing economic malaise. “That’s probably the best thing to do right now,” Clinton said Tuesday in an interview with CNBC.” (“Clinton Pleads Ignorance In Campaign Flap,” Politico, 6/5/12)

 

“…Clinton told CNBC Tuesday that the US economy already is in a recession and urged Congress to extend all the tax cuts due to expire at the end of the year.” (“US Already In ‘Recession,’ Extend Tax Cuts: Bill Clinton,” CNBC, 6/5/12)

 

·         “Clinton did say that Congress would be best off agreeing, at least for the time being, to extend all the tax cuts that are set to expire at the end of the year, including the so-called Bush tax cuts named after Clinton’s successor, George W. Bush.” (“US Already In ‘Recession,’ Extend Tax Cuts: Bill Clinton,” CNBC, 6/5/12)

 

PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON: “I think what it means is they will have to extend… have to put everything off until early next year. That’s probably the best thing to do right now… I don’t have any problem with extending all of it now.” (CNBC’s “Closing Bell,” 6/5/12)

 

·         CLINTON: “What I think we need to do is to find some way to avoid the fiscal cliff, to avoid doing anything that would contract the economy now, and then deal with what’s necessary in the long-term debt reduction plans as soon as they can…” (CNBC’s “Closing Bell,” 6/5/12)

NOM Statement on Prop 8 9th Circuit Decision

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NINTH CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS

OVERRULES THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE

 

“This is a gross miscarriage of justice that we trust the majority of the U.S. Supreme Court will rectify.”

- Brian Brown, President of NOM -

 

Washington, D.C. – Brian Brown, President of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) released the following statement in response to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision denying an en banc hearing regarding Proposition 8:

 

“Today the full 9th Circuit Court of Appeals refused to re-hear the decision striking down Prop 8.  Millions of Californians who gave their time and treasure to protect marriage deserve better,” stated Brown.  “We are calling on the U.S. Supreme Court to preserve our democratic rights and overturn this action of judicial arrogance.  As Judge Diarmuid O’Scannlain, dissenting from the 9th Circuit’s refusal to hear the case, stated:

 

Today our court has silenced any such respectful conversation.  Based on a

two-judge majority’s gross misapplication of Romer v. Evans, 517 U.S. 620

(1996), we have now declared that animus must have been the only conceivable

motivation for a sovereign State to have remained committed to a definition of

marriage that has existed for millennia, Perry v. Brown, 671 F.3d 1052, 1082 (9th

Cir. 2012).  Even worse, we have overruled the will of seven million California

Proposition 8 voters based on a reading of Romer that would be unrecognizable to

the Justices who joined it, to those who dissented from it, and to the judges from

sister circuits who have since interpreted it.

 

“This is a gross miscarriage of justice that we trust the majority of the U.S. Supreme Court will rectify,” Brown added.

Senator Dean Heller Introduces Alternative to Paycheck Fairness Act #NVSen

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From the Hill.com:

Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) introduced an alternative to the Paycheck Fairness Act on Tuesday.

Heller introduced the legislation, the End Pay Discrimination Through Information Act (S. 3256), the same day the Senate is set to vote on a procedural move on the Paycheck Fairness Act (S.3220). The Paycheck Act, backed by Democrats, creates a federal grant program to improve salary negotiating skills for women as well as aims to strengthen protections for women filing gender discrimination lawsuits concerning salaries.

“Let me be clear, pay discrimination based on gender is unacceptable,” Heller said Tuesday. “Despite the political rhetoric around here, everyone agrees on this fact. The question is, will Paycheck Fairness Act actually address workplace inequality? And the simple answer is no.”

The Trial Lawyer Paycheck Act

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From the Wall Street Journal (opinion):

It may not be fashionable to say so these days, but three cheers for the Senate filibuster. This week the 60-vote requirement will once again help kill a nasty bit of legislating known as the Paycheck Fairness Act.

Majority Leader Harry Reid is back with this trial lawyer doozy just in time for 2012 election ads. Democrats last rolled out this attempt to equalize pay between men and women in 2010, when it also failed to get enough votes. Funny how this always seems to come up in election years.

Mr. Reid knows the bill is doomed again, and that’s more or less the point. The White House and Democrats will be happier if it doesn’t pass. Their goal is to portray GOP Senators as opposed to “equal pay for equal work,” all the better for President Obama to court women voters this fall.

The U.S. already has two broad federal laws—the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1963 Equal Pay Act—that prohibit gender-based pay discrimination. In case that wasn’t enough, Congress passed the Lilly Ledbetter Act in 2009 that as recently as March Mr. Obama said “ensures equal pay for equal work.” What changed in the last three months?

To the extent there remains a male-female wage gap, it is mostly a function of occupational and lifestyle choices. Women have tended to gravitate to professions (teachers, secretaries) that are often not as highly paid as male-dominated industries. Many also decide to leave the workforce at some point, or to work part-time, to raise children. The “pay gap” is the result of free choices in what remains of our free economy.

Democrats still see political gain in lamenting that women earn only “70 cents for every dollar earned by a man.” Their bill would rewrite labor law to require businesses to comply with a raft of new regulations in which businesses would have to justify their pay decisions. The practical effect would be to restrict flexibility in employee compensation, as employers got rid of bonus programs and other pay perks lest they open themselves up to discrimination claims.

CBO Report: Danger Ahead Unless America Charts New Course

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Chairman Ryan makes case for prosperity; President’s policies ensure European-style austerity

WASHINGTON – Earlier today, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) issued the latest update of The Long-Term Budget Outlook. This report outlines a bleak fiscal and economic future, and underscores the painful consequences for American families should policymakers fail to advance fiscally responsible reforms.

In response to yet another dire warning from CBO, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan issued the following statement:

“On the heels of last week’s dismal jobs report, today’s CBO report on the deteriorating fiscal situation underscores the obvious: The President’s policies are not working. The sobering reality of our economic challenges require leadership and action. The President and his party’s leaders have failed on both counts. The President’s own Treasury Secretary recently told the House Budget Committee: ‘We’re not coming before you today to say we have a definitive solution to the long-term problem. What we do know is we don’t like yours.’ The Democrat-controlled Senate has failed to pass a budget in 1,132 days – refusing to even propose a budget the past two years.

“Americans deserve better than the European-style austerity offered by the President’s broken promises and bankrupt policies. Repeating Europe’s mistakes, the President’s policies call for job-crushing tax increases and harsh disruptions for beneficiaries of government programs as the debt spirals out of control. House Republicans refuse to accept this diminished future. The House of Representatives passed a budget – The Path to Prosperity – that responsibly averts the looming debt crisis detailed in today’s CBO report. The House continues to advance solutions that foster a better environment for economic growth and job creation. CBO’s report is the latest is a series of warnings for policymakers to advance principled solutions that responsibly confront our generation’s most pressing challenges.”

Key points from CBO’s Long-Term Budget Outlook:[list type="arrow"] [li]

  • The Federal government’s unsustainable government spending increase likelihood of a devastating crisis: The CBO report states that “Growing debt also would increase the probability of a sudden fiscal crisis, during which investors would lose confidence in the government’s ability to manage its budget and the government would thereby lose its ability to borrow at affordable rates.”
  • The CBO report affirms that the massive health-care overhaul fails to address the explosion in health care costs. Mandatory federal spending on health care will increase by 93 percent from 5.4 percent of GDP today to 10.4 percent of GDP over the next 25 years.
  • The CBO projects that government spending as a share of the economy will increase by nearly 53 percent between now and 2037, up from its historical average of roughly 20 percent. Taxes are projected to rise to the historical average in the years ahead, yet the unprecedented growth in government spending is projected to rise much faster, driving an unsustainable explosion in debt.
  • The long-term budget outlook continues to worsen with each passing year Congress fails to act. While total debt already eclipsed the size of the entire US economy, debt held by the public is on pace to eclipse the economy shortly after 2022.
  • The crushing burden of debt is driven primarily by the nation’s largest entitlement programs – Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid – along with the compounding growth in interest payments on the debt. Government spending on health care entitlements, Social Security, and interest on the national debt will consume 100 percent of total revenues by 2025.
  • According to the CBO report, the federal government’s interest payments alone are projected to consume 9.5 percent of our entire economy by 2037, up from about 1.4 percent today.
  • The CBO reports warns of the economic consequences of the President and his party’s leaders insistence on increasing tax rates and raising barriers to job creation and economic growth. With the respect to counterproductive efforts to reduce the deficit by increasing tax rates, CBO states that “the extent that additional tax revenues were generated by boosting marginal tax rates, those higher rates would discourage people from working and saving, further reducing output and income.”

[/li] [/list]

To read the full report: http://cbo.gov/publication/43288

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#NVSen Update: GOP Takes Voter Registration Lead in Washoe County and Files Ethics Complaint Against Berkley

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In Nevada, the Reno Gazette-Journal reports that the GOP has taken the voter registration lead in pivotal Washoe County.  With the primary election a week away, Republicans in Washoe County have taken a sizable lead in registered voters and those who’ve already voted, state and county statistics show.  At the end of May and at the close of registration for the June 12 primary, Washoe County has 3,706 more Republicans registered than Democrats in the county, according to the Secretary of State.  The numbers matter because Washoe County is expected to be the critical county in a battleground state. The presidency and control of the U.S. Senate are at stake.

Meanwhile – Washoe County Republican Party filed an ethics complaint against Berkley with the FEC

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#MASen Update: Tough Headlines for Embattled Harvard Professor Elizabeth Warren

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In Massachusetts, another day of tough headlines for embattled Harvard Professor Elizabeth Warren.   NPR Boston leads this AM — Poll: Warren’s Heritage Matters To Key Voters.  In order to win this election in a state with relatively few Republicans, Sen. Brown has to win independent voters, and he has to win over some Democrats, too, as he did in 2010 against Martha Coakley. According to a poll conducted for The Boston Globe by the University of New Hampshire, Warren listing herself as Native American matters to those voters.  Andrew Smith prepared the survey and found that 43 percent of Democrats and 48 percent of independents who said they’re going to vote for Brown say the issue surrounding Warren’s heritage makes them less likely to vote for Warren.  “So among those people… this issue is having an impact,” Smith said. “It’s having an impact early on in the campaign when the Warren campaign really wants to be talking about economic issues.”

 

  • Note what even Warren’s fellow Democrats are saying as reported by Time Magazine – Warren’s lack of clarity has frustrated some Democrats. “There has to be an answer for this at some point, something that’s full and comprehensive and has some closure to it as opposed to the way it’s been dragged out — like water torture,” Democratic Rep. Stephen Lynch said last week. Mary Anne Marsh, an unaffiliated Democratic strategist in Massachusetts, says while both Warren and Brown may eventually regret losing a month to this issue, Republicans’ ability to sustain the story during a key period of the campaign was impressive. “Scott Brown could not have bought this coverage,” she says, and the halting response from Warren was indicative of “a first-time candidate [running] into her first big problem.”

 

  • Warren Accused of “Repeated Instances of Scientific Misconduct’ Before Harvard Hire — Most of their study replicates several earlier research publications. These are hardly mentioned. The writers make extravagant and false claims to originality and priority of research. There appear to be serious errors in their use of statistical bases which result in grossly mistaken functions and comparisons. Some of their conclusions cannot be obtained even from their flawed findings. The authors have made their raw data unavailable so that its accuracy cannot be independently checked. In my opinion, the authors have engaged in repeated instances of scientific misconduct. [emphasis added]

 

  • She stands alone with Democrats’ bully tactics — Elizabeth Warren may be ready to debate Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, but the cigar-store Indian from Oklahoma clearly was not ready to debate little-known fellow Democrat Marisa DeFranco.