Every Republican Senator Voted No

Mitch McConnell: CityBeat's Loser of the Week

CityBeat has a weekly feature called "Winners and Losers." Our own Mitch McConnell made this week's list of Losers:

The Republican Senate leader from Louisville is urging all GOP senators to uniformly oppose President Obama’s proposed banking reforms, even if most of them (like Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts) can’t articulate why. Although McConnell says his opposition is due to the possibility of another bank bailout, we’d like to point out that A.) McConnell supported the 2008 bailout and tried to block putting any controls on the cash, and B.) McConnell recently met with two dozen Wall Street executives, including hedge fund managers, to listen to their fears about the reform and then — presto! — decides to oppose Obama’s plan.

Don’t try to pose as a populist, Mr. McConnell.

Afraid of the Sunshine

Yesterday's New York Times included this editorial:

One, and only one, Congressional Republican has decided that unregulated money should not be allowed to swamp this campaign year. Representative Michael Castle of Delaware is daring to co-sponsor a bill to repair some of the damage from the Supreme Court’s decision to give corporations and unions free rein to spend unlimited amounts on campaign ads and advocacy.

...But the rest of the Republicans are shying from the idea. This is the same G.O.P. that insisted that disclosure was far better than any campaign spending regulations. “Republicans are in favor of disclosure,” Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, declared in 2000 when he was fighting campaign reform legislation.

Has he somehow forgotten? The voters should remind him. The latest Quinnipiac poll shows the public registering 79 percent disapproval of the court’s ruling.

President Obama's weekly address

As the auto industry and financial markets begin to stabilize, the President says the government's emergency interventions can now wind down. He pledges that real reform, particularly on Wall Street, must now begin.

Governor Beshear's weekly address

McConnell: Unfit to Lead

Mitch gets fact-checked

The nonpartisan fact-checking website PolitiFact has looked into Mitch McConnell's latest talking point:

Sen. Mitch McConnell said that new financial regulations under consideration in the Senate could lead to only one thing: bailouts.

"In fact, if you look at it carefully, it will lead to endless taxpayer bailouts of Wall Street banks," McConnell said at a press conference on April 14, adding that it "actually guarantees future bailouts of Wall Street banks" and that it sets up "in perpetuity the potential for additional taxpayer bailouts of large institutions."

...In ruling on McConnell's statement, that financial reform "actually guarantees future bailouts of Wall Street banks," we base our ruling primarily on the legislation. It clearly states that the intention is to liquidate failing companies, not bail them out. To do that, it creates a fund with contributions from financial firms, not from taxpayer funds. We do not see any element of the bill that expressly permits ongoing, "endless" outlays from the federal treasury. Is it possible that liquidation may cost the government money, potentially more money than is allowed for in the bill? Yes. But even so, McConnell is using seriously overheated rhetoric. Nothing in the bill "guarantees" future bailouts of Wall Street banks. We rate his statement False.

The Wall Street Bailout Bandits

Check out the new ad from Americans United for Change:

Tell Republicans: It's Time to Reform Wall Street

Video: President Clinton on 'This Week'

In case you missed former President Bill Clinton on ABC's This Week yesterday, here's the video:

Part 1


Part 2

Moral hazard for Party of No

Today's column by Robyn Blumner is great:

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is asserting that the Senate [financial reform] bill will lead to more bank bailouts. It is an absurd claim. The bill proposed by Sen. Chris Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, would impose a host of new financial controls, higher capital levels and systemic risk oversight to prevent another too-big-to-fail scenario. And it would have been stronger had Dodd not tried to appease Republicans on his committee.

..."Everybody agrees on the need to protect taxpayers from being on the hook for future Wall Street bailouts," McConnell said in a speech on the Senate floor Tuesday. "This bill would all but guarantee that the pattern continues."

The dishonesty is so bold it borders on impressive.

Editorial comic roundup

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Bill Clinton to appear on 'This Week' tomorrow

Former President Bill Clinton is scheduled to appear on ABC's This Week tomorrow, April 18. Locally, the show can be seen on Channel 9 at 9:00 am. Please tune in!

President Obama's weekly address

President Obama lays out what Wall Street Reform is about, and questions whether opposition from Mitch McConnell might have something to do with his recent meeting with Wall Street executives.

The Fire Next Time

Today's column by Paul Krugman takes on Mitch McConnell:

...proposed [financial] reform legislation gives regulators “resolution authority,” which basically means giving them the ability to deal with the likes of Lehman in much the same way that the F.D.I.C. deals with conventional banks. Who could object to that?

Well, Mr. McConnell is trying. His talking points come straight out of a memo Frank Luntz, the Republican political consultant, circulated in January on how to oppose financial reform. “Frankly,” wrote Mr. Luntz, “the single best way to kill any legislation is to link it to the Big Bank Bailout.” And Mr. McConnell is following those stage directions.

It’s a truly shameless performance: Mr. McConnell is pretending to stand up for taxpayers against Wall Street while in fact doing just the opposite. In recent weeks, he and other Republican leaders have held meetings with Wall Street executives and lobbyists, in which the G.O.P. and the financial industry have sought to coordinate their political strategy.

Rebelling against lower taxes?

There's another great editorial in today's Herald-Leader:

This year's tax-deadline day inspired Tea Party rallies, named for the famous colonial tax rebellion, including gatherings in Lexington and Louisville at which Republican Senate candidate Rand Paul was the star.

William G. Gale, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute and co-director of Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, said "it is ironic if not bizarre that the Tea Party got going during a time when federal taxes were at their lowest in about 60 years."

...For all the conservatives out there who can't bear the thought of anyone paying more to the federal government, perhaps another widely forgotten fact will provide some solace: President Ronald Reagan raised taxes several times in the early 1980s to tame a spiraling deficit. He still became the patron saint of free marketeers everywhere.

McConnell to big banks' rescue

There's a must-read editorial in today's Herald-Leader. Here's an excerpt:

While the intricacies of financial regulation are complicated, [Mitch] McConnell's calculus is pretty obvious.

The high-stakes gamblers on Wall Street, luxuriating again in big bonuses, don't want any new oversight or regulation. Why would they, knowing that the government would have to bail them out again if their trading of worthless financial instruments goes bust and threatens to bring on the next Great Depression?

McConnell, unabashedly courting Wall Street bankers for political money, is happy to scratch their backs if they'll scratch his.

Mitch lies about Wall Street reform

McClatchy has the story:

The architect of sweeping legislation that would revamp financial regulation took the Senate floor on Wednesday to accuse the Senate Republican leader of lying about the bill and being in Wall Street's back pocket.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Ct., delivered a blistering 20-minute speech that included the revelation of a political talking points memo from a Republican strategist that was virtually verbatim to the criticism voiced Tuesday by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

McConnell had accused Dodd of drafting partisan legislation, even though the Banking Committee chairman has worked for roughly half a year with key Senate Republicans and incorporated many of their ideas into his bill. McConnell also said the bill continues controversial bank bailouts, but it doesn't.

Mitch also got called out earlier today by John Harwood of CNBC. Here's the video:

Recovery Act Responsible for about 2.5M Jobs

Today The White House issued this press release:

WASHINGTON, DC – A new report released today by the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) finds that the Recovery Act was responsible for 2.2 to 2.8 million jobs through the first quarter of 2010 – half of which are as a result of the over $200 billion in Recovery Act tax relief and financial assistance that has gone directly to mostly lower and middle-income families. The report, which is the CEA’s third quarterly analysis on the economic impact of the Recovery Act, shows that Recovery Act tax relief and income supports have had an important impact on real disposable personal income in the last year and are contributing to the program being on-track to create or save 3.5 million jobs by the end of 2010. The report can be viewed in-full HERE.

“Bolstering the purchasing power of middle class families through Recovery Act tax relief and financial assistance hasn’t just helped the hardest-hit among us – it’s also created over 1 million good American jobs,” said Vice President Joe Biden. “From tax cuts to construction projects, the Recovery Act is firing on all cylinders when it comes to creating jobs and putting Americans back to work.”

“In addition to shoring up the overall economy, this analysis shows the ways in which the Recovery Act has made a real difference in the lives of families,” said CEA Chair Christina Romer. “The broad set of tax cuts and income supports enacted last year have clearly boosted consumption and employment growth in a way that has been absolutely essential.”

More than $110 billion in tax relief and $90 billion in other income supports such as unemployment benefits and food assistance were provided directly to individuals and families through March of 2010. According to the report, without these provisions, household real disposable (or after-tax) income would have fallen substantially in 2009 and consumer spending would not have rebounded as it did. Instead, income in each of the last three quarters of 2009 actually surpassed its level in the fourth quarter of 2008 and the surge in Recovery Act tax relief this tax season is expected to yield the largest Recovery Act impact on household disposable income yet in the first quarter of 2010.

The report comes at the peak of tax season as American taxpayers are filing to collect on more than a dozen new or expanded tax benefits available this year through the Recovery Act, including an $8,000 First-Time Homebuyer Credit, an up to $2,500 American Opportunity Credit for college expenses and up to $1,500 in Residential Energy Credits for some energy-efficient home improvements. In addition, ninety-five percent of working families are also collecting the up to $800 Making Work Pay tax credit in their paychecks – making it one of the broadest middle class tax cuts in the history of the country. At the time of the report, millions of Americans had not yet filed their 2009 taxes, indicating an additional economic and employment impact of Recovery Act tax relief is likely in early April as the tax filing deadline approaches.

The White House recently launched the Tax Savings Tool on WhiteHouse.gov to help taxpayers see for themselves what Recovery Act tax benefits they are owed this year – and how to collect them. So far, more than 120,000 Americans have already accessed the Tool to generate a customized checklist of the benefits for which they are likely eligible.

The Recovery Act was signed into law by President Obama on February 17, 2009. The program is a combination of tax relief, financial assistance and infrastructure projects designed to cushion the impact of the downturn and lay a foundation for economic recovery. Since the Recovery Act began a little over a year ago, the economy has posted its largest quarterly GDP growth in six years and largest monthly job gains in three years. So far, $525 billion in Recovery Act funds have been obligated, or committed to specific projects, and, of that, $370 billion has been paid out.

Obama cut taxes for 99% of working Kentuckians

Today the Citizens for Tax Justice issued a report on President Obama's tax cuts. Here are the key points:

• 99 percent of working families and individuals in Kentucky benefitted from at least one of the tax cuts signed into law by President Obama.


• Working people in Kentucky received $1,037, on average, from these breaks.


• These tax breaks benefitted working people at all income levels.

Click here to read the full report.

Mitch issues false attacks on Wall Street reform

Media Matters catches Mitch McConnell in a fib:

A day after FoxBusiness.com reported that Sen. Mitch McConnell met with 25 Wall Street executives and hedge fund managers, McConnell took to the Senate floor to spout false attacks on Democratic efforts to hold those bankers accountable.

Sen. Mitch McConnell on April 13, 2010: "Everybody agrees on the need to protect taxpayers from being on the hook for future Wall Street bailouts. This bill would all but guarantee that the pattern continues.... The way to solve this problem is to let the people who make the mistakes pay for them. We won't solve this problem until the biggest banks are allowed to fail."

...Contrary to McConnell's remarks, the biggest banks are allowed to fail. The bill creates an "Orderly Liquidation Authority" that does not bail firms out, but safely dismantles "any failed financial company" that threatens the entire economy. This dissolution fund is financed NOT by taxpayers, but by fees levied on financial companies.

We can't afford another financial crisis

Editorial comic roundup

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President Obama's weekly address

With April 15th approaching, the President discusses several of the tax breaks for middle class families he has signed into law. Find out more about the Making Work Pay tax credit, breaks for first-time homebuyers, rewards for making your home more energy efficient and more through the Tax Savings Tool at WhiteHouse.gov.

Revisionist history

Today's Courier-Journal includes this must-read editorial:

The senators who have stood to protest the extensions [of unemployment benefits], even as they seek earmarked projects for their states, may have amnesia about their spend-happy pasts with unfunded Medicare expansion, war budgets taken off the books and horribly timed tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. And that's just the past 10 years. Other Americans don't suffer that memory loss, nor can they — and that's because they're feeling the effects and making the payments.

Cutting off unemployment benefits to out-of-work Americans?

This is a funny time for the GOP to be getting religion about deficit spending — until you consider the base, and until you consider the road to November.

Governor Beshear's weekly address

Another GOP senator blocks jobless benefits

McClatchy has the story:

WASHINGTON — An estimated 212,500 people across the United States are in danger of exhausting their federal unemployment benefits this week because a Republican senator has blocked Congress from considering an extension.

...It's the second time is as many months that a Republican has led an effort to bar the Senate from considering an extension of jobless benefits. While the money is expected eventually to be paid retroactively, the delay creates a host of problems for people who are out of work and the agencies that assist them.

...In Kentucky, 6,000 people lost coverage this week because of the delay. Nearly 130,000 Kentuckians are receiving benefits through a federal extension program and will exhaust their benefits during the next three months unless there's an extension.

A comprehensive nuclear arms strategy

Vice President Joe Biden wrote an op-ed piece for today's Los Angeles Times. Here's an excerpt:

When I joined the Senate in 1973, crafting nuclear policy meant mastering arcane issues like nuclear stability and deterrence theory. With the end of the Cold War and a new relationship between our country and Russia, thankfully these subjects no longer dominate public discourse. Today, the danger of deliberate, global nuclear war has all but disappeared, but the nuclear threats we face from terrorists and non-nuclear states seeking to acquire such weapons are graver than ever.

On Tuesday, President Obama took an important step toward addressing these threats by releasing a plan that will reduce the role of nuclear weapons in our national security strategy while ensuring that our nuclear arsenal remains safe, secure and effective for as long as it is needed. The Nuclear Posture Review outlines a strategy, supported unanimously by the national security cabinet, for greater security from nuclear dangers and implements the agenda that President Obama first outlined in Prague just over a year ago to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and to pursue the peace and security of a world without them.

This new strategy, a sharp departure from previous Nuclear Posture Reviews released in 2001 and 1994, leaves Cold War thinking behind. It recognizes that the greatest threat to U.S. and global security is no longer a nuclear exchange between nations, but nuclear terrorism by extremists and the spread of nuclear weapons to an increasing number of states. From now on, decisions about the number of weapons we have and how they are deployed will take nonproliferation and counter-terrorism into account, rather than being solely based on the objective of stable deterrence.

GOP strategist urges Steele's resignation

The Huffington Post has the story:

When Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele was suffering from one of his earlier political crises -- a series of communications gaffes that had fellow Republicans scratching their heads -- he sought to stem the bleeding by bringing in noted GOP strategist Alex Castellanos as a confidant.

The arrangement was always a bit hazy but the message was quite clear: the newby Steele was turning to the old guard for guidance. The ship, in short, would quickly be righted.

Flash forward four months and one massively embarrassing spending scandal later and it seems quite clear that even Castellanos now views the Steele tenure as unpalatable for Republicans. On Tuesday, the longtime CNN contributor went on air to make it very clear that the chairman should step down for the good of the party.

The so-called 'liberal media' at work

Daily Kos shows just how easy it is for Republicans to get away with lying on national television.

Newt Gingrich on The TODAY Show:

Do you really want to have 16,000 more IRS agents as a brand new health police?

As a matter of fact, no we don't. And that's why there is absolutely nothing in the health care bill that would do what Gingrich claims. His attack is verifiably false.

...So what were the first words out of Matt Lauer's mouth in response to Gingrich's lie?

LAUER: Right.

Health Care Suits Waste of Time and Money

Kentucky's attorney general Jack Conway wrote an op-ed piece for AOL News:

As the chief legal officer for the Commonwealth of Kentucky, it is my duty to look at the merits of any case and provide sound legal advice and representation. After careful review and consideration, I have rejected a request from Republicans in the Kentucky House and Senate to join a legal constitutional challenge of the recently passed federal health care reform law, which will provide access to affordable health care for more than 650,000 Kentuckians who are currently without health insurance.

While the lawsuits filed by other state attorneys general to block this new law may make for good Sarah Palin-style "tea party" politics, they are based on questionable legal principles. At a time when the Commonwealth of Kentucky is cutting its budget for education and social services, I will not waste taxpayer resources on a political stunt.

Unfortunately, this rush to the courthouse is nothing new. Historically, opponents of reform have turned to the courts when major legislation with which they disagree is enacted by the Congress. Challenges were brought to the Social Security Act, the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. All of those laws were upheld.

Republicans withhold confidence in Steele

Reuters has the story:

Two senior congressional Republicans on Sunday declined to express confidence in Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele after revelations that the RNC spent $2,000 entertaining potential contributors at a sex-themed nightclub.

The controversy over Steele's leadership of the Republican National Committee comes as the party is hoping to seize back control of the U.S. Congress from President Barack Obama's Democrats in November congressional elections. But Steele's stewardship of the RNC is threatening to distract Republicans at a pivotal time.

...Steele has faced criticism for lavish spending by the Republican National Committee. For example, the RNC last month was forced to explain a $2,000 tab for entertaining young Republicans at a bondage-themed nightclub in West Hollywood that ended up costing an RNC staffer her job.

It would be interesting to know what Trey Grayson and Rand Paul think. Do they believe that Michael Steele should step down as RNC chairman?

Editorial comic roundup

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President Obama's weekly address

In this week of Easter, Passover, and faithful celebration, the President uses his address to offer his holiday greeting and to call on people of all faiths and nonbelievers to remember our shared spirit of humanity.

Mitch admits health repeal is unlikely

Think Progress has the story:

Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, Republicans have been attempting to build a movement to repeal the measure. Reps. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and Steve King (R-IA), and Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) introduced gimmicky legislation to rescind the law, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said “[r]epeal and replace will be the slogan for the fall” election. Last week, he told Politico that he wants to “repeal the whole bill” and replace it with more modest reforms. But in his home state today, McConnell backtracked, admitting that Republicans will likely not be able to undo the entire law.

...McConnell’s acknowledgement reflects a growing trend of Republicans who are moving away from the repeal message after realizing that it would be almost impossible to carry out. Even if the GOP won enough seats in Congress, President Obama would almost certainly veto the effort to overturn his signature domestic policy item.

Governor Beshear's weekly address

GOP Mailer Includes Phone Sex Hotline Number

TPM LiveWire has the story:

The RNC reportedly sent out a mailer this month that mistakenly listed the number for a phone sex hotline.

The mailer, designed to look like a census form, included what was supposed to be the phone number for the RNC. Instead, the number reached a phone sex hotline recording that offered "live one-on-one with hot horny girls waiting right now to talk to you."

...This is unfortunate timing for the RNC, which has recently garnered some attention after a staffer spent donor funds at a bondage-themed club.