Progressive drumbeat for government shutdown grows
Buried beneath all the headlines about a “deal” or “agreement” to end the Federal Aviation Administration shutdown is the fact that the Senate Democrats flat out caved to House Republicans. Again. All that actually happened yesterday was that Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., announced that the Senate would pass the temporary House FAA funding bill by voice vote. This is the exact same bill that Sens. Reid, Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., John Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. all said they couldn’t support just this Wednesday. Boxer explained:
Boxer’s sentiment is shared widely among progressives in and outside of Congress. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., similarly hinted at a shutdown yesterday. Now even establishment liberals like The Washington Post’s Jonathan Capehart are urging President Obama to shut the government down during next month appropriations fight.
The progressive base is tired of seeing their leaders get pushed around. Their leaders are tired of being pushed. But will Democrats in elected office actually have the guts to shut down the federal government till they win? Especially at a time that markets are tanking, unemployment is high, and economists are predicting a double-dip recession? The brief FAA shutdown suggests not.
Around the Bigs
The Wall Street Journal, Stocks Nose-Dive Amid Global Fears: “It was an absolute bloodbath,” John Richards, head of strategy at RBS Global Banking & Markets, tells The Journal. The Dow Jones Industrial Average posted its worst point drop since the financial crisis in December 2008, falling 512.76 points, or 4.31%. Commodities, even oil and gold, also fell sharply. “The market sold off 500 points, it’s not a crash, it’s a small correction,” said Stephen Holden, a floor trader at the new York Stock Exchange. “It’s overdue…I think there’s more to go.”
The Wall Street Journal, Jobless Claims Remain Elevated: According to the Labor Department, 400,000 Americans filed new claims for unemployment insurance last week. The Journal notes: “Economists generally think the economy is adding more jobs than it is shedding once the weekly claims figure falls below the 400,000 level. That hasn’t happened since early April.”
Reuters, U.S. incomes fell sharply in 2009: According to Internal Revenue Service data, U.S. incomes have plummeted 15.2 percent since 2007.
The Hill, Hatch, Coburn seek $600 billion in savings by cutting federal workforce: Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Tom Coburn, R-Okla., introduced legislation Tuesday that save $600 billion over ten years by freezing federal salaries and bonuses, cutting employees and contractors by 15 percent and cutting the federal travel budget by 75 percent.
The Washington Examiner, Obama proposes jobs program for veterans: President Obama proposed a $4,800 tax credit to firms that hire veterans that have been out of for more than six months.
The Washington Post, Congress agrees on stopgap funding for FAA workers: Senate Democrats caved again yesterday, agreeing to pass a temporary Federal Aviation Administration funding bill that the House passed weeks ago. The Senate is expected to meet Friday and approve by unanimous consent the House extension of FAA funding.
The New York Times, Shell Gets Tentative Approval to Drill in Arctic: Royal Dutch Shell won conditional approval for its plan to begin drilling exploratory wells in the Arctic Ocean next summer from the Interior Department. Shell still must win a number of secondary permits before it can actually begin drilling.
Campaign 2012
Pawlenty: Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty will end his Iowa television ad campaign next Wednesday, three days before the Ames Straw Poll.
Romney: Questions are being raised about a firm that was formed in March, gave $1 million to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s Super PAC in April, and then dissolved in July after never having conducted any other business. A single Boston lawyer who specializes in managing wealthy estates managed the entire transaction.
Righty Playbook
Hot Air‘s Allahpundit flags White House spokesman Jay Carney’s admission yesterday, “The White House doesn’t create jobs.” Allahpundit comments: “I don’t remember Gibbs being quite so eager to share credit with Congress when unemployment was ticking ever so slowly downward, which the White House naturally attributed to jobs “created or saved” by the stimulus.”
Ed Morrissey embeds House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy’s, R-Calif., new video “Where Are the Jobs?” and comments: “Republicans plan to keep the pressure on Barack Obama during the August recess, especially on jobs.”
RedState’s Ben Howe details how Lisa Jackson is Using the EPA to Destroy the Coal Industry.
Lefty Playbook
The Washington Post’s Jonathan Capehart says it is Time for Obama to be feared by the Tea Party: “In the coming fights over the next budget, unemployment benefits and payroll tax cuts, I want Obama to show the Republican Party in general and the Tea Party in particular that he isn’t afraid to out-crazy the crazies. If that means vetoing bills, taking the fight to individual districts, shutting down the government, so be it.”
ThinkProgress posts video of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, R-Calif, telling progressive bloggers: Republicans Aren’t Interested In Deficit Reduction, They Are Interested In Destroying Government. ThinkProgress also asks readers to sign a petition demanding Pelosi only appoint Super Congress member who will insist on new revenues that exceed any new cuts, and a jobs creation program.
The Washington Post‘s Fareed Zakaria makes the case for defense cuts: “Defense budget cuts would also force a healthy rebalancing of American foreign policy. Since the Cold War, Congress has tended to fatten the Pentagon while starving foreign policy agencies.”
