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Boehner Rejects Obama Cuts-Revenue Proposal
House Speaker John Boehner immediately dismissed President Barack Obama’s package of significant new entitlement cuts tied to new tax revenues, calling them “no way to lead and move the country forward.” The White House had portrayed the proposal, part of the budget it will release next week, as a compromise with Congressional Republicans that could have put them on track for another run at a grand bargain. But Boehner said he will not consider new revenues as part of the deal, arguing that “modest” entitlement savings should not “be held hostage for more tax hikes.” The budget proposal sets Obama up for major fights on his right and left. Republicans will not accept any new tax revenues and liberal Democrats have already signaled they will resist any cuts to Social Security and other entitlement programs that Obama is proposing. Source: Politico Read more
MoveOn Calls Obama’s Proposed Social Security Cuts ‘Unconscionable’
The liberal advocacy group MoveOn on Friday blasted President Barack Obama’s budget, calling the proposed cuts to Social Security “unconscionable.” Anna Galland, executive director of MoveOn, said in the statement that Obama’s proposal is especially baffling given that “Republicans in Congress aren’t even asking for this Social Security cut.” “President Obama’s plan to cut Social Security would harm seniors who worked hard all their lives. Under this plan, a typical 80-year-old woman would lose the equivalent of three months worth of food every year. That’s unconscionable. It’s even more outrageous given that Republicans in Congress aren’t even asking for this Social Security cut. This time, the drive to cut Social Security is being led by President Obama and Democrats. Millions of MoveOn members did not work night and day to put President Obama into office so that he could propose policies that would hurt some of our most vulnerable people. Just as we fought and defeated President Bush’s plan to privatize Social Security, we will mobilize and stop this attempt to diminish the vital guarantee of Social Security. MoveOn’s 8 million members will not stand by and watch a Democratic President chip away at one of the most successful government [...]
Rachel Maddow – No place for threats, intimidation in American political discourse
The liberal advocacy group MoveOn on Friday blasted President Barack Obama’s budget, calling the proposed cuts to Social Security “unconscionable.” Anna Galland, executive director of MoveOn, said in the statement that Obama’s proposal is especially baffling given that “Republicans in Congress aren’t even asking for this Social Security cut.” “President Obama’s plan to cut Social Security would harm seniors who worked hard all their lives. Under this plan, a typical 80-year-old woman would lose the equivalent of three months worth of food every year. That’s unconscionable. It’s even more outrageous given that Republicans in Congress aren’t even asking for this Social Security cut. This time, the drive to cut Social Security is being led by President Obama and Democrats. Millions of MoveOn members did not work night and day to put President Obama into office so that he could propose policies that would hurt some of our most vulnerable people. Just as we fought and defeated President Bush’s plan to privatize Social Security, we will mobilize and stop this attempt to diminish the vital guarantee of Social Security. MoveOn’s 8 million members will not stand by and watch a Democratic President chip away at one of the most successful government [...]
The Economy Added A Shockingly Low 88,000 New Jobs…And That’s The Good News
The unemployment rate dropped from 7.7 to 7.6 percent in March, according to data released this morning by the Bureau of Labor Statistics — but that was the good news. The economy only added 88,000 jobs. JanuaryFebruaryMarch500001000001500002000002500007.6%7.7%7.8%7.9%8%Jobs added or lost (blue)Unemployment rate (red) This was substantially lower than expectations, as noted by economist Justin Wolfers. Numbers for February and January were revised up 32,000 jobs and 29,000 respectively, yielding a total change of 61,000 jobs. Job growth with revisionsMarchFebruaryJanuaryRevisions04000080000120000160000 The unemployment rate dropped 0.1 percent, although that differed among various demographic groups. Unemployment rate by demographicMenWomenTeensWhitesBlacksLatinosAsiansJanuaryFebruaryMarch29162330 The sector of the economy that saw the biggest change was professional services for the second month in a row. Jobs change by sectorProfessional and businessRetailConstructionPostal serviceHealthcareFood service-250000250005000075000 One particularly interesting data point is the labor force participation rate, basically the percentage of the working-age population who are working or looking for work. As Reuters’ Cate Long notes, it’s at its lowest point in 30 years. Labor force participation rateJan 2003Aug 2003Mar 2004Oct 2004May 2005Dec 2005July 2006Feb 2007Sep 2007Apr 2008Nov 2008June 2009Jan 2010Aug 2010Mar 2011Oct 2011May 2012Dec 20126364656667percent The average workweek increased 0.1 hour to 34.6 hours. Average hourly earnings increased one cents to [...]
Victory For Womens’ Rights: Federal Judge Orders Plan B Ban Lifted, Allowing For Teenage Girls To Receive Contraception Regardless of Age
Consider this a win for women’s health advocates: U.S. District Judge Edward Korman has ruled that the U.S. government must make the “morning-after” pill available over the counter and available to all ages. Responding to suit brought to the Brooklyn court by reproductive rights groups, “which had sought to remove age and other restrictions on emergency contraception,” Reuters reports, the judge struck down a law Friday morning requiring girls 16 and under to obtain a prescription before obtaining the pill. Korman’s decision “counteracts an unprecedented move by the Obama administration’s Health and Human Services secretary who in 2011 overruled a recommendation by the Food and Drug Administration to make the pill available for all ages without a prescription,” reports The New York Times’s Pam Belluck. Korman ordered the FDA to lift restrictions on the pill within 30 days. “Women all over the country will no longer face arbitrary delays and barriers just to get emergency contraception,” Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, is quoted as saying the Reuters report. U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius was a major — and majorly controversial — part of that overruling in December of 2011, upsetting women’s heath advocates [...]
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