Governor Beshear's budget

Governor Beshear wrote a guest column in today's Herald-Leader:

Kentucky must begin breaking its reliance on one-time solutions to balance our budget. I admit that my proposed budget includes some of those one-time solutions, such as debt restructuring, alternative borrowing and fund transfers. Is this the best practice? No, but it's necessary at this, the worst economic time in our recent history, to keep from making damaging cuts to our core priorities.

Already we have cut almost $1 billion in spending and have shrunk the executive branch to the smallest it's been in two decades. Along with cuts we've been steadily and quietly remaking government — including a new round of efficiencies called the Smart Government Initiative that could save some $77 million over the biennium — to create a stronger, leaner and more sustainable operation. My budget also requires an array of initiatives to hold down increasing costs of prisons and Medicaid.

The new, recurring revenue my plan produces is actually revenue that already exists. Kentuckians are already gaming, but the taxes on those recreational dollars are traveling across our borders to fund roads, schools and health care in other states.

Editorial comic roundup

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President Obama's weekly address

The President praises the Senate for restoring the pay-as-you-go law, discusses his proposal for a freeze in discretionary spending, and calls for a bipartisan Fiscal Commission to hammer out further concrete deficit reduction proposals.

The President's Nuclear Vision

Vice President Joe Biden penned a column in today's Wall Street Journal. Here's an excerpt:

The United States faces no greater threat than the spread of nuclear weapons. That is why, last April in Prague, President Obama laid out a comprehensive agenda to reverse their spread, and to pursue the peace and security of a world without them.

He understands that this ultimate goal will not be reached quickly. But by acting on a number of fronts, we can ensure our security, strengthen the global nonproliferation regime, and keep vulnerable nuclear material out of terrorist hands.

For as long as nuclear weapons are required to defend our country and our allies, we will maintain a safe, secure and effective nuclear arsenal. The president's Prague vision is central to this administration's efforts to protect the American people — and that is why we are increasing investments in our nuclear arsenal and infrastructure in this year's budget and beyond.

Governor Beshear's weekly address

Click here for a version of this video with closed captioning for the hearing impaired.

The State of the Union

Did you miss President Obama's State of the Union speech last night? Here's the video:

Republicans: Another Year of No?

State of the Union Watch Party

NKY Organizing for America is hosting a State of the Union Watch Party tomorrow evening. Come on down to Chez Nora to watch President Obama's speech with like-minded folks!

Mitch's faulty talking points

Think Progress does a great job deconstructing Mitch McConnell's latest talking points:

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), on Meet the Press yesterday, said, “the message in Massachusetts was absolutely clear. The exit polls that I looked at said 48 percent of the people in Massachusetts said they voted for the new senator over health care.” McConnell added: “The people are telling us, ‘Please don’t pass this bill.’”

This “referendum” on health reform meme has become near-conventional wisom, with the media and even some Democrats echoing it. But a new Washington Post/Kaiser/Harvard poll undermines this assertion. The poll suggests that while the election was a “protest of the Washington process,” it was not a rejection of progressive policy. Only 11 percent of voters, including 19 percent of Brown voters, want Brown to “stop the Democratic agenda.”

Obama stimulus reduced our pain, experts say

USA Today has the story:

President Obama's stimulus package saved jobs — but the government still needs to do more to breathe life into the economy, according to USA TODAY's quarterly survey of 50 economists.

Unemployment would have hit 10.8% — higher than December's 10% rate — without Obama's $787 billion stimulus program, according to the economists' median estimate. The difference would translate into another 1.2 million lost jobs.