Obama’s Pivot to Jobs Will Last Almost a Whole Week
By: Jon Walker
September 7, 2011
Tomorrow will be President Obama’s big jobs speech before the joint session of Congress. This is Obama’s pivot to unemployment, which is the biggest crisis in American right now and predicted to drag on for years. Unfortunately, reports are that this pivot to jobs probably won’t even last a full week before Obama puts his focus, and therefore the Washington media’s focus, back on the issue of long term deficit reduction. From Bloomberg:
Obama will unveil a framework for the deficit reductions next week, including changes to Medicare and Medicaid, in addition to other cuts in contributions to military pensions and farm subsidies.
The current unemployment crisis is devastating and happening now. It should be the only big issue Washington is working on at this moment, but that is not the message Obama is sending with his actions.
http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2011/09/07/obamas-pivot-to-jobs-will-last-almost-a-whole-week/-------------------------------------------
Obama deficit plan to be released after jobs speech
By CARRIE BUDOFF BROWN
September 2, 2011
The deficit plan will be more specific than the framework the White House released in April. It is likely to include some unpopular measures that, until now, Obama backed only behind closed doors during the July talks with House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), according to Democratic officials familiar with proposal.
Before the “grand bargain” fell apart over tax revenues,
Obama and Boehner agreed on about $250 billion in proposed cuts to Medicare, including gradually raising the eligibility age to 67 and hiking co-pays and premiums for wealthier beneficiaries. (means testing Medicare. BBI) They also agreed to change the inflation calculator for Social Security and other federal programs — which critics call a benefit cut.
Deficit hawks have pressed Obama for a specific plan since the White House fiscal commission finished its work in December, while Republicans hammered him throughout the summer debt ceiling negotiations for a detailed proposal.
“What leaked out of the Boehner and Obama discussion was incredibly serious” in its scope, said Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a bipartisan nonprofit group. “But he hasn’t yet put his political capital on the line publicly.”
Read the full article at:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0911/62589.html
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