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Austerity is Dead
It’s Time to Focus on Jobs & Growth
For the better part of three years Washington has been gripped by an obsession with the deficit, but a new paper out from the Center for American Progress today argues that it’s time to abandon austerity, ditch deficit hysteria, and instead focus on jobs and economic growth.
What’s changed since Washington caught deficit fever in 2010? A lot, as it turns out.
- The deficit has been significantly reduced and stabilized.
- We have already enacted significant deficit reduction: $2.5 TRILLION worth, three-quarters of which has come from spending cuts.
- Health care spending has grown much more slowly than expected, due in part to Obamacare.
- The intellectual argument in favor of austerity collapsed in a somewhat spectacular fashion.
- The implementation of austerity in Europe has been nothing short of disastrous. Unemployment in the Eurozone is at a record high and the UK’s austerity almost resulted in triple-dip recession and has actually resulted in more, not less debt.
- What hasn’t changed? We continue to have tepid growth and the economy is not creating nearly as many jobs as it could or should be.
In fact, we don’t even need the painful and ill-conceived sequester cuts to achieve the level of deficit reduction that we originally set out to, hence the report calls for replacing it for the next three years.
So instead of painful austerity and needless hysteria about the deficit and debt, we ought to be making investments in order to grow the middle class and the economy along with it. The report identifies $82 BILLION worth of pro-growth investments:
- $50 BILLION to fix our crumbling infrastructure.
- $20 BILLION for early childhood education.
- $12 BILLION for the “Pathways Back to Work Fund,” which would help provide opportunities for the long-term unemployed, young people, and low-income people.
Now is the perfect time to make these kinds of investments as interest rates on government bonds are unusually low right now.
In addition to all of these key facts, it’s also time to recognize some political realities. Since Republicans refuse to negotiate in good faith toward a so-called “grand bargain” there is no point in continuing to pursue one. Instead, we ought reset the debate, replace the sequester for three years with an achievable package of cuts and revenue increases, and turn our attention toward making the investments we need to fuel jobs and growth.You can read the entire report in all of its wonky goodness HERE.
In addition to all of these key facts, it’s also time to recognize some political realities. Since Republicans refuse to negotiate in good faith toward a so-called “grand bargain” there is no point in continuing to pursue one. Instead, we ought reset the debate, replace the sequester for three years with an achievable package of cuts and revenue increases, and turn our attention toward making the investments we need to fuel jobs and growth.You can read the entire report in all of its wonky goodness HERE.
BOTTOM LINE: Austerity is dead — or at least it should be.
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Taking on the Patent Trolls
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| Taking on the Patent TrollsOur patent system is meant to encourage innovation and invention. But in recent years, companies called “patent trolls” have used abusive patent litigation designed to threaten innovators in order to extract settlements based on questionable claims.
It costs the economy billions of dollars and undermines American innovation, and today President Obama issued five executive actions and seven legislative recommendations designed to protect innovators from unnecessary litigation and improve the quality patents in our system. Learn how the Administration is taking on patent trolls to protect American innovation. |
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the Senate considers S.744,Immigration Reform & S.954,Farm bill :::::: Congress :::::: the House is out until 6/10
- The Senate stands in adjournment until 9:30am on Friday, June 7, 2013.
- Following any Leader remarks, the Senate will resume the motion to proceed to S.744, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill. The time until 1:30pm will be for debate on the motion to proceed with Senator Sessions, or his designee, controlling three hours and the Majority Leader, or his designee, controlling the remaining time.
- There will be no roll call votes on Friday.
- The next roll call vote will be at 5:30pm on Monday, June 10th on passage of S.954, the Farm bill.
- WRAP UP
- No ROLL CALL VOTESLEGISLATIVE ITEMS
Began the Rule 14 process of H.R.126, the Corolla Wild Horses Protection Act. (Republican request)
Began the Rule 14 process of S.1121, the 4th Amendment Restoration Act. (Paul)
No EXECUTIVE ITEMS
- ***********************************************************************************
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June 2013 S M T W T F S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 - **********************************************************************************
Last Floor Action: 6/6/13
3:15:33 P.M. – The House adjourned
pursuant to a previous special order.
The next meeting is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. on June 10, 2013.
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