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Showing posts with label sequestration. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sequestration. Show all posts

16 October 2014

EBOLA VIDEO: Rencontrez les plus difficiles annonce politique en mémoire: "Cuts républicaines tuer." & Ebola Blame Game prend la scène à mi-parcours Débats électoraux 13 et 16OKT14

EBOLA est une menace que nous pouvons traiter, mais il a été rendu plus difficile en raison des compressions budgétaires forcées sur la CDC et les NIH en raison de la séquestration et le Congrès cabale gop / thé-bagger avec le soutien de troisième voie démocrates. Ce qui est pathétique, c'est découvrir les politiciens et les experts politiques qui ont exigé ces coupures ainsi que les Américains ignorants qui les soutiennent sont maintenant les plus grandes bouches qui crient à la menace du virus Ebola et la réponse "inepte" du gouvernement fédéral. Les gens, et nous tous en fait, doivent tenir compte de la réalité exprimée dans cette vidéo par le projet de l'ordre du jour + suivi de ce rapport de  + NPR .....

Rencontrez les plus difficiles annonce politique en mémoire: "Cuts républicaines tuer."

par jem6x
Le Fonds d'action Agenda projet a mis au point la plus brutale, annonce politique directe, je pense que je n'ai jamais vu. Elle lie le mantra de budget républicain couper directement à la réduction radicale désastreux de CDC et NIH fonds, puis les liens que directement à la crise de l'Ébola et la mort humaine inutile.   Jetez un oeil:

Apparemment, cette montre à la télévision dans les principaux champs de bataille Sénat déclare en ce moment. Semble être ce que le médecin a ordonné.
Entre vous et moi, je voudrais voir M. Obama faire le tour du pays reliant gouvernement conservateur à tous ces problèmes, chaque semaine, en apparence après l'apparition, rendant le message couler lentement dans ". Notre problème Ebola est le résultat de coupes conservatrices à la CDC ". «La montée de ISIS est le résultat de l'invasion conservateur, se mêler et maladroit dans le Moyen-Orient." «Nos ponts et des routes délabrées sont le résultat d'étranglement conservateur de notre budget de transport." "La stagnation de l'économie est le résultat d'étranglement conservateur de l'ensemble du secteur public." Etc, etc, je voudrais voir ce message du président et de tous nos dirigeants, à la télévision, chaque semaine. Mais cette annonce - c'est un bon point de départ solide.
lien pour faire un don au Fonds d'action du projet Agenda: http://apaction.com/ .
Ebola est la dernière question à se répandre dans les débats cette saison.  Le sénateur américain Mark Udall (à gauche) a accusé les républicains pour couper les ressources de santé du gouvernement.  Son adversaire, US Rep. Cory Gardner, dit le CDC a dépensé inutilement.
Ebola est la dernière question à se répandre dans les débats cette saison. Le sénateur américain Mark Udall (à gauche) a accusé les républicains pour couper les ressources de santé du gouvernement. Son adversaire, US Rep. Cory Gardner, dit le CDC a dépensé inutilement.
Brennan Linsley / AP
Ce fut d'abord ISIS. Maintenant, il ya Ebola.
La crise de la santé Ebola est le dernier enjeu mondial pour devenir un incontournable de cette saison de campagne, déversant dans les débats, la rhétorique de campagne -. et même quelques annonces
. arguments politiques sur Ebola peut être divisée en trois groupes
démocrates soutiennent ce budget républicains -cutting ont privé le gouvernement des ressources nécessaires pour maintenir la sécurité des Américains contre la menace du virus Ebola. C'est l'argument le sénateur démocrate Mark Udall du Colorado a fait lors d'un débat récent.
"Je peux vous dire ce que je ne vais pas faire, et c'est ce que le député Gardner a fait - qui est de voter pour près de 300 millions de dollars en coupures à l' Centers for Disease Control et le budget de la prévention qui finance des équipes d'intervention d'urgence », a déclaré Udall.
Son adversaire, Rep. Cory Gardner, propose l'argument numéro deux. Républicains accaparent la question à des questions plus vastes sur le président Obama et ses compétences. Gardner a particulièrement souligné les priorités de la CDC.
"programmes de Jazzercise, la massothérapie et les jardins urbains," at-il tiré en arrière. "Que diriez-vous nous utilisons l'argent de façon responsable pour s'assurer que nous protégeons le peuple américain au lieu de le dépenser inutilement sous cette administration?"
Troisièmement, certains républicains lien la crise de l'Ébola à la sécurité des frontières.
Thom Tillis est en cours d'exécution pour le Sénat en Caroline du Nord. Voilà comment il l'a mis dans un débat avec titulaire démocrate Kay Hagan.
«Mesdames et messieurs, nous avons une épidémie d'Ebola," at-il dit. "Nous avons de mauvais acteurs qui peuvent venir à travers la frontière. Nous avons besoin de sceller la frontière et le fixer."
Les échanges comme ceux-ci jouent dans les campagnes à travers le pays et dans les entretiens de nouvelles locales et par câble.
Mais jusqu'à présent, cette question est à peine une ondulation dans les publicités télévisées.
Une exception est issu du groupe libéral Le Fonds d'action du projet Agenda. L' annonce moûts des images de républicains dans les courses concurrentiels, y compris la minorité du Sénat Mitch McConnell, Kansas sénateur Pat Roberts, Arkansas Rep. Tom coton et d'autres à côté des images de morts ou mourants Africains de l'Ouest.
Créé par le même groupe qui a créé l' annonce montrant Rep . Paul Ryan jeter "Granny d'une falaise," l'annonce n'est pas diffusée largement encore. Mais il est un exemple de jusqu'où pourrait aller campagnes pour encaisser dedans sur la politique du moment.
"C'est une chose terrible à dire, mais la peur est un diable de motivation», explique le stratège républicain Ford O'Connell.
Même si les élections ne sont que quelques semaines, O'Connell dit qu'il est presque impossible pour un candidat de percer dans ce cycle de nouvelles, sauf si ils parlent de deux choses: ISIS ou Ebola.
O'Connell dit que la stratégie a déjà fait ses preuves pour certains candidats. Il suffit de regarder Scott Brown dans le New Hampshire.
"Il a commencé à parler ISIS ... puis il a commencé à tisser à virus Ebola et tout d'un [sénateur] plomb soudaine de Jeanne Shaheen a été réduit de moitié", a déclaré O'Connell. "Qu'est-ce qui se passe ici est Républicains font une thèse de leadership de la sécurité nationale, si vous voulez, et les démocrates font tout en régissant l'argument ordre du jour / budgets."
Pour une campagne qui a été à la recherche de la substance, le virus Ebola propose un débat sur ​​les questions fondamentales à la fois parties.
Mais Iona College professeur de sciences politiques Jeanne Zaino avertit que les questions de ce cycle ont changé rapidement.
"Si vous pensez que il ya de nouveau un an, nous parlions Obamacare être la question clé de l'élection. Ensuite, il a été question il serait peut- être Benghazi, puis il a déménagé à l'immigration ", dit-elle. Et maintenant, nous semblons avoir évolué très rapidement à virus Ebola. Ainsi, nous voyons ce genre de trains en mouvement rapide. Je ne pense pas que nous savons où ça va nous prendre à ce point. "
Et il ya moins de trois semaines, jusqu'à ce que le train arrive à la station.

EBOLA VIDEO: Conoce al anuncio político más duro de la memoria: "Cortes republicanas Kill". Y Ebola Blame Game sube al escenario de los debates electorales de mitad de período 13 y 16OKT14

EBOLA es una amenaza que podemos manejar, pero se ha hecho más difícil debido a los recortes presupuestarios forzados en el CDC y los NIH por el secuestro y el Congreso cábala gop / té-bagger con el apoyo de los demócratas tercera vía. Lo que es patético es los mismos políticos y expertos políticos que exigían estos recortes, así como los americanos ignorantes que los apoyan son ahora los mayores bocas gritando sobre la amenaza del Ébola y la respuesta de "inepto" del gobierno federal. El pueblo, y todos nosotros en realidad, deben tener en cuenta la realidad expresada en este video por el proyecto de orden del día + seguido de este informe de  NPR + .....

Conozca al anuncio político más duro de la memoria: "Los recortes republicanos matan."

por jem6x
El Fondo de Acción del Proyecto Agenda ha llegado con el anuncio político más brutal, directa Creo que he visto en mi vida. Vincula el mantra presupuesto-corte republicano directamente a la reducción radical desastroso de los fondos de los CDC y los NIH, y luego lazos que directamente a la crisis del Ébola y la muerte humana innecesaria.   Eche un vistazo:

Al parecer, esto está mostrando en la televisión en el campo de batalla clave del Senado establece en este momento. Parece ser lo que recetó el doctor.
Entre tú y yo, me gustaría ver al señor Obama va por todo el país que une gobierno conservador de todos estos problemas, todas las semanas, en apariencia después de la aparición, por lo que el mensaje lentamente hundirse ". Nuestro problema Ébola es el resultado de los recortes conservadores a la CDC ". "El aumento de ISIS es el resultado de la invasión conservadora, la intromisión y torpe en el Medio Oriente." "Nuestros puentes desmoronados y carreteras son el resultado de estrangulamiento conservadora de nuestro presupuesto de transporte." "El estancamiento de la economía es el resultado de estrangulamiento conservadora del sector público en general." Etc., etc me gustaría que este mensaje del presidente y todos nuestros líderes, en la televisión, todas las semanas. Pero este anuncio - este es un buen comienzo sólido.
Enlace a donar al Fondo de Acción del Proyecto Agenda: http://apaction.com/ .
Ébola es el último número de derramar en los debates de esta temporada.  El senador Mark Udall (izquierda) ha culpado a los republicanos para el corte de los recursos de salud del gobierno.  Su oponente, el representante federal. Cory Gardner, dice el CDC ha estado gastando pródigamente.
Ébola es el último número de derramar en los debates de esta temporada. El senador Mark Udall (izquierda) ha culpado a los republicanos para el corte de los recursos de salud del gobierno. Su oponente, el representante federal. Cory Gardner, dice el CDC ha estado gastando pródigamente.
Brennan Linsley / AP
Primero fue ISIS. Ahora hay Ebola.
La crisis de salud del Ébola es el último número mundial para convertirse en un accesorio de esta temporada de campaña, se derrama en los debates, la retórica de campaña -. e incluso algunos anuncios
. argumentos políticos sobre el Ébola o menos se puede dividir en tres grupos
demócratas argumentan que el presupuesto republicanos -Corte han privado al gobierno de los recursos que necesita para mantener seguros a los estadounidenses de la amenaza del Ébola. Ese es el argumento senador demócrata Mark Udall de Colorado hizo en un debate reciente.
"Yo puedo decir lo que yo no voy a hacer, y eso es lo que el congresista Gardner hizo - que es votar por cerca de $ 300 millones en recortes a la Centros para el Control de Enfermedades y el presupuesto de prevención que financia los equipos de respuesta de emergencia ", dijo Udall.
Su oponente, Rep. Cory Gardner, ofrece argumento número dos. Los republicanos están atando el tema a las preguntas más grandes sobre el presidente Obama y su competencia. Gardner señaló específicamente a las prioridades de los CDC.
"programas de Jazzercise, terapia de masaje y jardines urbanos", que dispararon de vuelta. "¿Qué tal si usamos el dinero con responsabilidad para asegurarse de que estamos protegiendo al pueblo estadounidense en lugar de gastarlo inútilmente bajo esta administración?"
En tercer lugar, algunos republicanos enlazar la crisis Ebola a la seguridad fronteriza.
Thom Tillis es candidato a Senado de Carolina del Norte. Aquí está la forma en que lo puso en un debate con el demócrata Kay Hagan.
"Damas y caballeros, tenemos un brote de Ébola", dijo. "Tenemos malos actores que pueden venir a través de la frontera. Tenemos que sellar la frontera y asegurarlo."
intercambios como estos están jugando en las campañas en todo el país y en las entrevistas de la prensa local y por cable.
Pero hasta ahora, este tema es apenas una ondulación en los anuncios de televisión.
Una excepción es del grupo liberal El Fondo de Acción del Proyecto Agenda. El anuncio mashes imágenes de los republicanos en las carreras competitivas incluyendo Líder Minoritario del Senado Mitch McConnell, el senador Pat Roberts de Kansas, Arkansas Rep. Tom Cotton y otros junto a imágenes de muertos o moribundos africanos occidentales.
Creado por el mismo grupo que creó el anuncio que muestra Rep . Paul Ryan lanzando "Granny por un precipicio", el anuncio no está siendo transmitido ampliamente aún. Pero es un ejemplo de hasta qué punto las campañas podrían ir a sacar provecho de la política del momento.
"Es una cosa terrible de decir, pero el miedo es una diablos de un motivador", dice el estratega republicano Ford O'Connell.
Aunque las elecciones son tan sólo unas semanas de distancia, O'Connell dice que es casi imposible que un candidato a entrar en este ciclo de noticias a menos que estén hablando de una de dos cosas: ISIS o el Ébola.
O'Connell dijo que la estrategia que ya ha demostrado su eficacia para algunos candidatos. Basta con mirar a Scott Brown en New Hampshire.
"Empezó a hablar de ISIS ... entonces empezó a tejer en el Ébola y, de plomo súbita [el senador] Jeanne Shaheen fue reducido a la mitad", dijo O'Connell. "Lo que está pasando aquí es Republicanos están haciendo un argumento liderazgo en seguridad nacional, si se quiere, y los demócratas están haciendo una agenda / presupuestos argumento de gobierno."
Para una campaña que ha estado en la búsqueda de la sustancia, el Ébola ofrece un debate sobre cuestiones fundamentales para ambos partes.
Pero Iona College profesor de ciencias políticas Jeanne Zaino advierte que los problemas de este ciclo han cambiado rápidamente.
"Si usted piensa que hace un año atrás, estábamos hablando de Obamacare es el tema clave de la elección. Entonces se habló acerca de tal vez sería ser Benghazi y luego se trasladó a la inmigración ", dijo. Y ahora parece que nos hemos movido muy rápidamente al Ébola. Así que vemos este tipo de tren de movimiento rápido. Creo que no sabemos dónde nos va a tomar en este momento. "
Y hay menos de tres semanas, hasta que el tren llega a su estación.

EBOLA VIDEO: Meet the toughest political ad in memory: "Republican Cuts Kill." & Ebola Blame Game Takes The Stage At Midterm Election Debates 13&16OKT14

EBOLA is a threat we can handle, but it has been made more difficult because of the budget cuts forced on the CDC and NIH because of sequestration and the congressional gop / tea-bagger cabal with the support of third way democrats. What is pathetic is the very politicians and political pundits who demanded these cuts as well as the ignorant Americans who support them are now the biggest mouths screaming about the threat of Ebola and the federal government's "inept" response. The people, and all of us actually, need to consider the reality expressed in this video by the +agenda project followed by this report from +NPR .....

Meet the toughest political ad in memory: "Republican Cuts Kill."

by jem6x
The Agenda Project Action Fund has come up with the most brutal, direct political ad I think I've ever seen.  It ties the Republican budget-cut mantra directly to the disastrous slashing of CDC and NIH funds, and then ties that directly to the Ebola crisis and needless human death.  Have a look:

Apparently this is showing on TV in key Senate battleground states right now.  Seems to be what the Doctor ordered.
Between you and me, I would like to see Mr. Obama going around the country linking conservative government to all of these problems, every week, in appearance after appearance, making the message slowly sink in.  "Our Ebola problem is the result of conservative cuts to the CDC."  "The rise of ISIS is the result of conservative invasion, meddling and blundering in the mid-east."  "Our crumbling bridges and highways are the result of conservative strangling of our transportation budget."  "The stagnant economy is the result of conservative strangling of the public sector overall."  Etc., etc.  I would like to see this message from the president and all of our leaders, on TV, every week.  But this ad -- this is a good solid start.
Link to donate to the Agenda Project Action Fund: http://apaction.com/.
Ebola is the latest issue to spill into debates this season. U.S. Sen. Mark Udall (left) has blamed Republicans for cutting government health resources. His opponent, U.S. Rep. Cory Gardner, says the CDC has been spending wastefully.
Ebola is the latest issue to spill into debates this season. U.S. Sen. Mark Udall (left) has blamed Republicans for cutting government health resources. His opponent, U.S. Rep. Cory Gardner, says the CDC has been spending wastefully.
Brennan Linsley/AP
First there was ISIS. Now there's Ebola.
The Ebola health crisis is the latest global issue to become a fixture this campaign season, spilling into debates, campaign rhetoric – and even a few ads.
Political arguments about Ebola can roughly be divided into three groups.
Democrats argue that budget-cutting Republicans have deprived the government of the resources it needs to keep Americans safe from the threat of Ebola. That's the argument Democratic Sen. Mark Udall of Colorado made at a recent debate.
"I can tell you what I'm not going to do, and that's what Congressman Gardner did — which is to vote for close to $300 million in cuts to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's budget that funds emergency response teams," Udall said.
His opponent, Rep. Cory Gardner, offers argument number two. Republicans are tying the issue to larger questions about President Obama and his competency. Gardner specifically pointed to priorities at the CDC.
"Jazzercise programs, massage therapy and urban gardens," he shot back. "How about we use money responsibly to make sure we're protecting the American people instead of spending it wastefully under this administration?"
Third, some Republicans link the Ebola crisis to border security.
Thom Tillis is running for Senate in North Carolina. Here's how he put it in a debate with incumbent Democrat Kay Hagan.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we have an Ebola outbreak," he said. "We have bad actors that can come across the border. We need to seal the border and secure it."
Exchanges like these are playing out in campaigns across the country and in local and cable news interviews.
But so far, this issue is barely a ripple in TV ads.
One exception is from the liberal group The Agenda Project Action Fund. The ad mashes up images of Republicans in competitive races including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts, Arkansas Rep. Tom Cotton and others alongside images of dead or dying West Africans.
Created by the same group that created the ad showing Rep. Paul Ryan throwing "Granny Off a Cliff," the ad isn't being broadcast widely yet. But it is an example of just how far campaigns could go to cash in on the politics of the moment.
"It's a terrible thing to say, but fear is a heck of a motivator," says Republican strategist Ford O'Connell.
Even though the elections are just a few weeks away, O'Connell says it's almost impossible for a candidate to break into this news cycle unless they're talking about one of two things: ISIS or Ebola.
O'Connell said that strategy has already proven successful for some candidates. Just look at Scott Brown in New Hampshire.
"He started talking about ISIS...then he started weaving in Ebola and all of a sudden [Sen.] Jeanne Shaheen's lead was cut in half," O'Connell said. "What's going on here is Republicans are making a national security leadership argument, if you will, and Democrats are making a governing agenda/budgets argument."
For a campaign that's been in search of substance, Ebola offers a debate about issues fundamental to both parties.
But Iona College political science professor Jeanne Zaino cautions that issues this cycle have changed rapidly.
"If you think back a year ago, we were talking about Obamacare being the key issue of the election. Then there was some talk about perhaps it would be Benghazi and then it moved to immigration," she said. And now we seem to have moved very quickly to Ebola. So we see this kind of fast-moving train. I don't think we know where it's gonna take us at this point."
And there are fewer than three weeks until that train gets to its station.

03 October 2014

BRING OUT YOUR DEAD!!!! Budget Cuts "Eroded Our Ability to Respond" to Ebola, Says Top Health Official & Weaponized Ebola: Is It Really a Bioterror Threat? 3OKT&25SEP14

MAYBE we'll start hearing that call across America, reminiscent of the call that echoed in the cities, towns and villages of Europe in the plague years. Not really, but there is a real danger to more people getting Ebola and dying from it in this country than necessary because of sequestration and the budget cuts demanded by the congressional repiglicans and tea-baggers, agreed to by the cowardly third way democrats and Pres Obama. Sequestration was a wet dream come true for grover norquist and his cabal of neo-con plutocrats. People are scared, but are they scared enough to remember who made this heath crisis possible in the U.S.? THINK, because it's patriotic and VOTE on 4 NOV 14 because democracy is not a spectator sport. From +Mother Jones & +Scientific American .....
| Wed Oct. 1, 2014 6:00 AM EDT
The CDC's Dr. Jordan Tappero, about to don his goggles just prior to entering the Ebola treatment unit
On Tuesday, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed the first case of Ebola diagnosed in the United States; the infected patient was a man who traveled from Liberia to visit family in Texas. It's the latest development in the ever-worsening outbreak of the virus, which so far has sickened more than 6,500 people and killed more than 3,000. The United States government has pledged to send help to West Africa to help stop Ebola from spreading—but the main agencies tasked with this aid work say they're hamstrung by budget cuts from the 2013 sequester.
On September 16, the Senate Committees on Appropriations and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions held a hearing to discuss the resources needed to address the outbreak. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) asked NIH representative Anthony Fauci about sequestration's effect on the efforts.
"If even modest investments had been made…the current Ebola epidemic could have been detected earlier, and it could have been identified and contained."
"I have to tell you honestly it's been a significant impact on us," said Fauci. "It has both in an acute and a chronic, insidious way eroded our ability to respond in the way that I and my colleagues would like to see us be able to respond to these emerging threats. And in my institute particularly, that's responsible for responding on the dime to an emerging infectious disease threat, this is particularly damaging." Sequestration required the NIH to cut its budget by 5 percent, a total of $1.55 billion in 2013. Cuts were applied across all of its programs, affecting every area of medical research.
Dr. Beth Bell, director of the CDC's National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, testified before the committee, making a case for increased funding. Her department, which has led the US intervention in West Africa, was hit with a $13 million budget cut as a result of the cuts in 2013. Though appropriations increased in 2014 and are projected to rise further in 2015, the agency hasn't yet made up for the deficit—according to Bell, $100 million has already gone toward stopping the Ebola epidemic, and much more is needed. The United Nations estimates it will take over $600 million just to get the crisis under control.
Bell also argued that the epidemic could have been stopped if more had been done sooner to build global health security. International aid budgets were hit hard by the sequester, reducing global health programs by $411 million and USAID by $289 million. "If even modest investments had been made to build a public health infrastructure in West Africa previously, the current Ebola epidemic could have been detected earlier, and it could have been identified and contained," she said during her testimony. "This Ebola epidemic shows that any vulnerability could have widespread impact if not stopped at the source."
Still, CDC officials have pledged to do everything in their power to stop Ebola in its tracks. "The sooner the world comes together to help West Africa, the safer we all will be," Director Tom Frieden says in a statement released in early September. "We know how to stop this outbreak. There is a window of opportunity to tamp this down—the challenge is to scale up the massive response needed."

15 November 2013

PETITION TO CONGRESS DEMANDING THEY RAISE THE MINIMUM WAGE 15NOV13

POLITICS aside, this is a petition calling on john boehner r OH, the US House majority leader, to secure enough votes from his party in the House to pass legislation raising the minimum wage and indexing it to inflation. Federal social safety net programs have been slashed by sequestration and more cuts are being threatened in the current budget negotiations, leaving many working poor suffering, unable to survive on their current wages. Though this petition is from the DSCC it is pretty non-partisan, the goal is to get one million signatures to show Congress the American people support raising the minimum wage. Click the link to sign....
https://www.dscc.org/-/minimum-wage 

25 October 2013

UPDATEDx3: Huff Po: Pete Sessions is House leader who said "I cannot even stand to look at you".& Harry Reid Told Caucus That Pete Sessions Was Behind Obama Insult, Senators Say 22&24OKT13

If Rep pete sessions r TX can't stand to look at Pres Obama, he shouldn't have gone to the meeting with him. Instead, he decided to publicly insult the President, fueling the rabid hatred of his tea-bagger constituency of Pres Obama. What he also accomplished is to show the sane people in his Texas district, those whose politics differ from the President's but who can at least look at him, that he (Rep sessions) plans on continuing the repiglican / tea-bagger obstructionism that caused the federal government shutdown this month, that has made congress the least productive government body in the federal government system, and so the least approved part of the federal government by the American people. Pres Obama didn't take the bait, he responded as a reasonable, mature leader, something Rep sessions will never be. We can only hope the President and the Democratic caucus in congress realizes as long as there are repiglican tea-baggers like Rep sessions controlling the US House there will be no reasonable and honest negotiations on the federal budget and debt ceiling, only demands for draconian cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and to the social safety net programs that have already been severely cut by sequestration. Pres Obama and congressional Democrats MUST stand firm and reject these demands. From Daily Kos and HuffPost.....
UPDATE 3: Well, it looks like this story continues...The Huffington Post now reports it was Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) who allegedly told President Obama he could not bear to look at him at a meeting earlier this month.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) let his Democratic caucus know last week in a private meeting that a top House Republican told President Barack Obama, "I cannot even stand to look at you," according to two Democratic senators who were present, and confirmed by two Senate Democratic aides who said they independently learned of the exchange from two other senators.
More:
One of the two Democratic senators who spoke to HuffPost said that Reid told the caucus about the incident last Tuesday and named Sessions. He also told the caucus that he was "sorry" to have to tell them about it, per this senator, but gave Obama credit for his "dignified" response to Sessions. Reid reportedly told the caucus that Obama responded to Sessions by saying he understood they disagreed on many issues and he respected their differences.
Sessions' office is denying the charge and the WH is attributing the kerfluffle to a "miscommunication" made during the reading back of the meeting's transcript. UPDATE 2: Hmmmm...now Chad Pergram of FOX is tweeting that he contacted Durbin's office and the Senator is sticking with his story:
Durbin's office says the sen stands by his comments that Hse ldrshp R said they can't stand to look at Obama, even after Carney debunked it
TPM has it, too (h/t eztempo) as does Huffington Post, which included this tidbit in an article earlier this evening:
But two Democratic aides, both of whom requested anonymity, told The Huffington Post that the incident was relayed to members during a Senate Democratic Caucus meeting shortly after it allegedly happened. And Durbin isn’t backing down from the claims he originally made on his Facebook page on Sunday. “Sen. Durbin stands by his comments,” Durbin spokesman Max Gleischman told The Huffington Post.
Thanks for the find, PorridgeGun. The fact that Durbin discussed the incident with others just after it happened seems to indicate the story is legit. IMPORTANT UPDATE:  Thanks to hulibow and Paleo for pointing out WH spokesman Jay Carney denied Durbin's account at today's briefing. Here is the text:
QUESTION: Just to follow up on that. In terms of the president talking to Republicans, can you rule out -- there was the number two Senate Democrat, Dick Durbin, said on his Facebook page that someone in recent exchange with the president said he can't even stand, this member of Congress, that he can't even stand to look at the president. Can you say whether that happened? JAY CARNEY: I will say this, I spoke with somebody who was in that meeting and it did not happen.
QUESTION: Did the White House speak to Senator Durbin about this?
CARNEY: I don't know. My understanding is that, again, from participants in the meeting that that didn't happen.
QUESTION: Did anything like it happen that would --
CARNEY: Not that I'm aware of, Jackie.
This is just a quick diary to call attention to a story published tonight on The Hill's blog site. To put it short, this story, if true, turns my stomach, and says a lot about why Obama needs to continue to stand strong against House Republicans and FOR Democratic priorities. And why we all need to stand with him.
Summary under the jump...
According to The Hill, Sen. Dick Durbin said:
...a leading House Republican told President Obama that they could not 'even stand to look at you' during negotiations over the government shutdown. ...Durbin (D-Ill.) said in a Facebook post that the alleged confrontation happened during a meeting between Republicans and the president.
"Many Republicans searching for something to say in defense of the disastrous shutdown strategy will say President Obama just doesn't try hard enough to communicate with Republicans," Durbin said. "But in a 'negotiation' meeting with the president, one GOP House Leader told the president: "I cannot even stand to look at you.'"
"What are the chances of an honest conversation with someone who has just said something so disrespectful?" the Illinois Democrat added.
Like most of you, I've become sick to death of the "both sides do it" false equivalency thing our press does so well. I used to be a reporter. And an editor. What I was taught in J school was that stories needed to be balanced in that both sides got a say, as in a chance to respond to bad news or allegations. I was never taught not to tell the truth, only to allow comment on both sides, and to present the facts objectively. This is not what has been happening in our media at a national level and I hope stories like this might penetrate a bit. How CAN Obama "negotiate" with people who say they can't even look at him? How is there any equivalency in position when it is so clear one side just "cannot stand" him?
This is a bit of a mess as a diary, but I think this small story deserves discussion and I hope that posting it here will give it some national mention.
Please don't read The Hill comments, which are run over by teabaggers. I did my best trolling as a Virginia indy, but that place is infested.
UPDATE: Here is the link to Durbin's comments. So Durbin stands by them and this is more than gossip.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/10/23/1249847/-House-leader-tells-Obama-I-cannot-even-stand-to-look-at-you-How-will-CNN-spin-it?detail=email

Harry Reid Told Caucus That Pete Sessions Was Behind Obama Insult, Senators Say

Posted:   |  Updated: 10/24/2013 4:15 pm EDT
WASHINGTON -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told his Democratic caucus last week in a private meeting that a top House Republican said to President Barack Obama, "I cannot even stand to look at you," according to two Democratic senators who were present.
The account was confirmed by two Senate Democratic aides who said they independently learned of the exchange from other senators.
A White House official said Thursday that the administration did relay such a message to Reid, but that it was the result of a miscommunication.
“While the quote attributed to a Republican lawmaker in the House GOP meeting with the President is not accurate, there was a miscommunication when the White House read out that meeting to Senate Democrats, and we regret the misunderstanding," the official said in a statement.
Asked to clarify, then, what the White House meant to tell Senate Democratic leaders about Obama's meeting with House Republicans, the official said only, "Not going to read out the details of private meetings with the President, or private meetings between WH and Dem leaders."
The two senators who spoke to HuffPost did not hear the Republican make the remark, but said a top White House aide who was present later told Senate Democratic leaders that the lawmaker who made the remark was Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas), the chairman of the House Rules Committee.
Reid then told the caucus about the incident on Tuesday and named Sessions, according to one of the two Democratic senators who spoke to HuffPost. Reid also told the caucus that he was “sorry” to have to tell them about it, per this senator, but gave Obama credit for his “dignified” response to Sessions. Reid reportedly told the caucus that Obama responded to Sessions by saying he understood that they disagreed on many issues and he respected their differences.
Two Senate Democratic aides told HuffPost that White House deputy chief of staff Rob Nabors was the one who told Democratic leaders about the Sessions incident.
The revelation from the senators sheds new light on a Capitol Hill whodunit that burst into the public sphere when Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) shared the exchange on his Facebook page on Sunday. The alleged incident took place in the throes of the government shutdown, when Obama was meeting with different factions of lawmakers to try to find a resolution to the debacle. (Neither of the two senators who spoke to HuffPost are Durbin.)
On Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney flatly dismissed the story.
“I looked into this and spoke with somebody who was in that meeting and it did not happen,” Carney said during his daily briefing.
Sessions spokeswoman Torrie Miller said Thursday that the lawmaker never made those comments.
“He did not,” Miller said. “I think it was made clear yesterday from Jay Carney that the exchange you are referring to did not happen.”
Brendan Buck, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), has been demanding an apology from Durbin.
“Senator Durbin’s accusation is a serious one, and it appears to have been invented out of thin air," Buck said in a Wednesday statement. "The senator should disclose who told him this account of events, retract his reckless allegation immediately, and apologize."
But Durbin isn’t backing down from his original claims.
"Sen. Durbin stands by his comments," Durbin spokesman Max Gleischman told HuffPost Wednesday.
A request for comment from a spokesman for Reid was not returned.
This story has been updated with comment from a senior White House official.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/24/harry-reid-pete-sessions_n_4156453.html 

16 August 2013

Wonkbook Roundup: Two gamechanging NSA stories you must read 16AUG13

FRIDAY'S Wonkbook roundup with a lot of articles on the nsa, government spying on Americans, the fisa courts, Obamacare, congress and the federal budget, sequestration, recession and recovery, and solar panels on the White House. From the Washington Post....
Welcome to Wonkbook, Ezra Klein and Evan Soltas’s morning policy news primer. Send comments, criticism, or ideas to Wonkbook at Gmail dot com. To read more by Ezra and his team, go to Wonkblog.
“If you look at the reports, even the disclosures that Mr. Snowden's put forward, all the stories that have been written, what you're not reading about is the government actually abusing these programs and, you know, listening in on people's phone calls or inappropriately reading people's e-mails.”
That was President Obama at his press conference last week. The implication was clear: You’re not reading about these infractions because they didn’t happen.
Well, now you are reading about them.
“The National Security Agency has broken privacy rules or overstepped its legal authority thousands of times each year since Congress granted the agency broad new powers in 2008, according to an internal audit and other top-secret documents,” writes Barton Gellman in a blockbuster new story.
The May 2012 audit “counted 2,776 incidents in the preceding 12 months of unauthorized collection, storage, access to or distribution of legally protected communications.” In general, these weren’t malicious or severe breaches. “Most were unintended,” the report says. But they happened — and, yes, they resulted in the NSA “listening in on people's phone calls or inappropriately reading people's e-mails.”
My personal favorite: “In one instance, the NSA decided that it need not report the unintended surveillance of Americans. A notable example in 2008 was the interception of a ‘large number’ of calls placed from Washington when a programming error confused the U.S. area code 202 for 20, the international dialing code for Egypt.”
To be fair to Obama, what the report details isn’t systematic abuse so much as repeated mistakes. But the report is a reminder that we don’t know what we don’t know. And a companion story today makes clear that we can’t trust that the courts providing oversight — weak as they are — know it either.
Even though this was a friendly audit produced with the cooperation of the NSA — and so, by the way, might not have uncovered systemic abuse if indeed it existed — Gellman reports that these kinds of details are “not routinely shared with Congress or the special court that oversees surveillance.”
In a companion story today, the chief judge of the U.S. surveillance courts made clear how much he doesn’t know, telling the Washington Post that "The FISC is forced to rely upon the accuracy of the information that is provided to the Court. The FISC does not have the capacity to investigate issues of noncompliance, and in that respect the FISC is in the same position as any other court when it comes to enforcing [government] compliance with its orders."
This is the reality of the NSA spying programs: Aside from Snowden’s leaks, we only know what the government is telling us. Of course, that’s always the case with intelligence operations. What’s scarier is that the oversight bodies only know what the government is telling them, too.
At his press conference, Obama tried to calm the furor over these programs by positing the absence of information about abuses as proof of the absence of abuses. It’s nothing of the kind.
Wonkbook’s Number of the Day: $67 million. That’s the amount awarded yesterday by the Obama administration to 105 “navigator” groups for the president’s health law.
Wonkbook’s Graphs of the Day: Check out the ones at the top of today’s Barton Gellman scoop.
Wonkbook’s Top 5 Stories: 1) The Washington Post breaks two big NSA stories; 2) when good news is bad news; 3) solar panels return; 4) $67M to navigate Obamacare; and 5) who sequestration hurts.
1) Top story: Two NSA stories you must read
NSA broke privacy rules thousands of times per year, audit finds. “The National Security Agency has broken privacy rules or overstepped its legal authority thousands of times each year since Congress granted the agency broad new powers in 2008, according to an internal audit and other top-secret documents. Most of the infractions involve unauthorized surveillance of Americans or foreign intelligence targets in the United States, both of which are restricted by law and executive order…The documents, provided earlier this summer to The Washington Post by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, include a level of detail and analysis that is not routinely shared with Congress or the special court that oversees surveillance.” Barton Gellman in The Washington Post.
Court: Ability to police U.S. spying program limited. “The chief judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court said the court lacks the tools to independently verify how often the government's surveillance breaks the court’s rules that aim to protect Americans' privacy. Without taking drastic steps, it also cannot check the veracity of the government's assertions that the violations its staff members report are unintentional mistakes…"The FISC is forced to rely upon the accuracy of the information that is provided to the Court," its chief, U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton, said in a written statement to The Washington Post. "The FISC does not have the capacity to investigate issues of noncompliance, and in that respect the FISC is in the same position as any other court when it comes to enforcing [government] compliance with its orders."” Carol D. Leonnig in The Washington Post.
Primary documents: NSA report on privacy violations in the first quarter of 2012.And you have to see the statements NSA gave The Washington Post.
Remember when Obama said the NSA wasn't "actually abusing" its powers? He was wrong. “At a news conference Friday, President Obama insisted that the threat of NSA abuses was mostly theoretical…[T]hat makes it extremely difficult for the FISC to check the court's work, since the NSA can -- and, apparently, did -- hide misconduct from the court that's supposedly supervising its activities.” Andrea Peterson in The Washington Post.
How Ron Wyden nearly became an NSA leaker. “One of the intelligence community's most outspoken critics says he considered talking about the National Security Agency's bulk surveillance program on the Senate floor. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said he felt pressure from others to disclose the classified information in a way that would have protected him from prosecution. Under the Speech or Debate Clause of the U.S. Constitution, lawmakers receive immunity from lawsuits or trials for acts committed during the process of legislating. If Wyden had spoken out about the NSA, his comments would have become part of the Congressional Record.” Brian Fung in The Washington Post.
Music recommendations interlude: Alan Parsons Project, “Eye in the Sky,” 1982. (I am the eye in the sky / Looking at you / I can read your mind / I am the maker of rules / Dealing with fools / I can cheat you blind…)
Top opinion
NOONAN: What we lose if we give up on privacy. “A loss of the expectation of privacy in communications is a loss of something personal and intimate, and it will have broader implications. That is the view of Nat Hentoff, the great journalist and civil libertarian. He is 88 now and on fire on the issue of privacy. “The media has awakened,” he told me. “Congress has awakened, to some extent.” Both are beginning to realize “that there are particular constitutional liberty rights that [Americans] have that distinguish them from all other people, and one of them is privacy.”" Peggy Noonan in The Wall Street Journal.
KRUGMAN: Moment of truthiness. “We have an ill-informed or misinformed electorate, politicians who gleefully add to the misinformation and watchdogs who are afraid to bark. And to the extent that there are widely respected, not-too-partisan players, they seem to be fostering, not fixing, the public's false impressions. So what should we be doing? Keep pounding away at the truth, I guess, and hope it breaks through. But it's hard not to wonder how this system is supposed to work.” Paul Krugman in The New York Times.
SOLTAS: Kevin Brady, not Rand Paul, is the Republican to follow on monetary policy. “Brady wants to form a 12-member commission to look over the Fed's last 100 years and make recommendations for a new legislative mandate…It would be a shame to go through the worst slump since the Great Depression and not do some radical thinking about monetary policy…Lately the Fed has chosen to reinterpret its mandate unilaterally — by adopting an explicit target of 2 percent inflation. Independence in carrying out the mandate is one thing; freedom to redefine it is another…[I]t’s Congress's job to set the Fed’s goals, and the central bank shouldn't be changing them on the fly, as it did last January.” Evan Soltas in Bloomberg.
2) Good news: The economy is healing. Bad news: The good news is bad news.
Strong economic data might be hurting stocks, as it raises expectations of a Fed exit. “U.S. stocks stumbled Thursday after a series of strong economic data raised investor concerns that the Federal Reserve could begin to withdraw some of its economic stimulus next month. Claims for jobless benefits unexpectedly dropped last week to the lowest level in almost six years, signaling a continued recovery in the employment market. Confidence among U.S. home builders also rose in August, reaching its highest level since 2005. Consumer prices, a reflection of inflation, rose 0.2 percent last month.” Katerina Sokou in The Washington Post.
Fed’s Bullard floats ideas of small cuts to bond-buying. “[H]is comments were notable because they were the first by a central-bank official on the tactics the Fed might employ when it does begin to wind down the bond purchases…He didn’t elaborate on what amount would constitute a small pullback or a larger one.” Victoria McGrane in The Wall Street Journal.
Foreigners dump US Treasuries, equities. “Private foreign investors sold a net $81.6 billion in long-term securities in June, nearly double the previous record selloff in May, according to a U.S. Treasury Department report released Thursday. That included net selling of $25.5 billion of U.S. equities-the biggest monthly pullout since August 2007--and $40.1 billion of U.S. Treasury bonds and notes…The two months of record sales mark a reversal after several years in which investors around the globe plowed money into U.S. Treasurys as a safe investment. The flows, aided by the Fed's bond buying, pushed Treasury yields to record lows.” Ian Talley in The Wall Street Journal.
Explainer: This chart might make you feel better about American inequalityDylan Matthews in The Washington Post.
Homebuilders’ confidence is highest since 2005. “The National Association of Home Builders, an industry trade group, saidThursday that its housing-market index increased three points to 59 in August, though the July figure was revised down by one point. This level is the highest since November 2005, marking a rapid climb in recent years. Two years ago the index stood at 15.” Eric Morath and Jonathan House in The Wall Street Journal.
US industrial production stalls in July. “Industrial output last month was unchanged on a seasonally adjusted basis from the prior month, while the use of available production capacity fell 0.1 percentage point to 77.6%, the Federal Reserve said in a reportThursday. Economists had forecast a 0.2% rise in output and capacity utilization of 77.8%. Manufacturing, the biggest and most closely watched component of industrial production, fell 0.1% in July, partially reversing gains posted in May and June. The mining component rose while utility output fell.” Jonathan House and Eric Morath in The Wall Street Journal.
Job data look good. “First-time applications for state unemployment benefits dropped 15,000 to a seasonally adjusted 320,000, the lowest level since October 2007, the Labor Department said. Economists had expected initial claims to come in at 335,000 last week. The four-week moving average of new jobless claims, which irons out week-to-week volatility, fell to its lowest level since November 2007.” Reuters.
…And US consumer prices rise in July, maybe showing strengthening demand. “The Labor Department said on Thursday its Consumer Price Index rose 0.2 percent as the cost of goods and services ranging from tobacco to apparel and food increased. The CPI had increased 0.5 percent in June. July’s increase in consumer inflation was in line with economists’ expectations. In the 12 months through July, the CPI advanced 2.0 percent, the largest increase since February, after increasing 1.8 percent in June.”Reuters.
Explainer: Five facts about household debt in the United StatesNeil Irwin in The Washington Post.
Auto loans and risky borrowers. “A new analysis from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York finds new auto loans to borrowers with low credit scores have indeed risen, but are still well below the levels seen during the credit bubble years leading up to the financial crisis. In the second quarter of this year, about 23 percent of new auto loans were issued to borrowers with credit scores under 620. Historically, the share of newly issued auto loans going to this riskier group was about 25 to 30 percent. The share of newly issued auto loans going to the borrowers with the best credit - scores over 720 - peaked at more than half during the recession. It's about 45 percent now.” Catherine Rampell in The New York Times.
3) Solar panels return to White House roof
White House solar panels being installed this week. “The Obama administration had pledged in October 2010 to put solar panels on the White House as a sign of the president's commitment to renewable energy. The White House official, who asked not to be identified because the installation is in process, wrote in an e-mail the project is "a part of an energy retrofit that will improve the overall energy efficiency of the building."” Juliet Eilperin in The Washington Post.
Intermittent nature of green power is challenge for utilities. “[A] recent Vermont episode, which set off a debate among government officials, the New England grid executives and the wind farm producers, highlights a broader struggle taking place across the country as utilities increasingly turn to renewable sources of energy. Because energy produced by wind, for example, is intermittent, its generating capacity is harder to predict than conventional power's. And a lack of widely available, cost-effective ways to store electricity generated by wind only compounds the complex current marketplace.” Diane Cardwell in The New York Times.
Stories you should care about if you’re a human being interlude: Spoon in underwear saving youths from forced marriage.”
4) $67M to navigate Obamacare
Having more doctors might increase or decrease health spending. We don’t know. “[E]conomists are divided about the role that the supply of doctors plays in health spending because health care is a funny market, given information asymmetries and third-party payers. That is, doctors can sell tests and procedures that may not be totally necessary or helpful both because patients are not good at determining the value of those services, and because patients are not bearing the full cost. The end result is that physicians can "induce demand," to use economic parlance.” Catherine Rampell in The New York Times.
$67M awarded to groups helping with health law. “The Obama administration on Thursday awarded $67 million to 105 groups around the country that will serve as "navigators" to help the uninsured understand their options under the new health care law and sign up for coverage…The stakes are high for the navigator effort, because for the law to succeed, millions of people, particularly the young and healthy, need to buy insurance through the new markets. Many will qualify for federal subsidies to help with the cost. But there will be wide discrepancies from state to state in spending on navigators, and in how many people they can reach.” Abby Goodnough in The New York Times.
Adorable animals interlude: Cat barely survives massive puppy attack.
5) Who sequestration hurts
Puzzle awaits the Capital: How to solve 3 fiscal rifts. “The showdown encompasses three interlocking fiscal disputes that will challenge Mr. Obama and his Republican interlocutors to bridge seemingly irreconcilable goals. Perhaps easiest to resolve is the effort by some conservative Republicans to eliminate financing for the new health care law in return for keeping the government open beyond Sept. 30…A second challenge is determining the fate of the across-the-board budget cuts known as the sequester if Congress avoids a shutdown by extending government financing.” John Harwood in The New York Times.
Sequestration hurting science. “You wouldn’t know from his giddy, optimistic tone that Dutta is currently navigating the biggest obstacle of his career. Five years after he received a $1.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to undertake this microRNA project, he’s nearly out of cash. His proposal was placed in the 2nd percentile of all grants reviewed by NIH in 2007, meaning that it was deemed more promising than 98 percent of the proposed projects. When he asked for the same amount of money in 2012, his proposal was scored in the 18th percentile. In years past that score may have been good enough, but in the age of sequestration, NIH is supporting a much smaller pool of applicants. Late last month he was told that there would be no funding.”Sam Stein in The Huffington Post.
Judges urge Congress to drop sequestration. “Top federal judges in 49 states are urging lawmakers to avoid another round of automatic spending cuts that they say would have a "devastating and long-lasting impact" on the federal courts. The unusual letter from the chief judges of trial courts in every state but Nevada says that the $350 million reduction in the judiciary's lower budget for this year has dramatically slowed court proceedings and jeopardized public safety. The judges say there are fewer probation and other law enforcement officers to deal with record numbers of convicts who have been released from prison or given alternative sentences.” Mark Sherman in The Washington Post.
Sen. Cardin sees end to sequestration coming. “Lawmakers will work to end sequestration during the next few months, but not before Oct. 1, a Democratic senator predicted on Wednesday…That prediction might be optimistic. There are nine legislative days before Oct. 1, the start of fiscal 2014, and Congress needs to pass legislation, likely a temporary spending measure, to keep the government open. Then there's the debt ceiling fight.” Kellie Lunney in Government Executive.
Reading material interlude: The best sentences Wonkblog read today.
Wonkblog Roundup
Et Cetera
DC in its summer doldrumsJennifer Steinhauer in The New York Times.
Wonkbook is produced with help from Michelle Williams.