GOP Hits Snag With No-Pay Plan

foxnews

House Republicans might run into a snag in trying to suspend congressional pay as a way to nudge budget negotiations along: the U.S. Constitution.

As part of a proposal to raise the debt limit for three months, the House GOP would suspend pay for members of Congress unless both the House and the Senate pass a budget blueprint for the next fiscal year.

The measure plays to public disaffection with Congress, which has been locked in a bitter spending battle, and appeals to the small-government wing of the Republican Party, which doesn’t like government spending to begin with. It is also a dig at Senate Democrats, who have gone for years without adopting a budget plan.

The problem is that immediately withholding pay from lawmakers may be unconstitutional. The 27th amendment states no law changing compensation for members of the House or the Senate can take effect until after the next House election. That means a law, even if it were to clear the Democratic-controlled Senate, which is a long shot, could not be used to withhold pay for almost two years.

To read more from The Wall Street Journal, click here >>

Preserve programs that promote democracy abroad/ Madeleine K. Albright

capitolhillcubans

melgibstein

By Madeleine K. Albright, John Podesta, Vin Weber and Daniel F. Runde in Politico:

Preserve programs that promote democracy abroad

In recent years, we have seen citizens and activists calling for change, for increased freedoms, for democratic institutions to supplant autocratic political systems around the world. But even as new constitutions are written and some governments work to increase transparency, U.S. financial and political support for promoting democracy and accountable institutions is increasingly beleaguered at home.

Every aspect of federal spending is under tight scrutiny in Congress. And in the wake of the Iraq war, some politicians and policymakers on both sides of the aisle have assumed falsely that the small amount of money we devote to democracy promotion abroad is synonymous with armed interventions and “regime change” imposed by Washington.

But our country’s modest investments in supporting democracy reflect our moral and strategic imperatives. This isn’t the time to roll back these successful programs. Instead, we should take this opportunity to further integrate the themes of democracy and good governance into our international development dialogue.

That is why we have come together, as a bipartisan group, to make the case that any budget resolution must preserve our longstanding commitment to nurturing democracy around the globe. These initiatives and efforts are good for international development, critically important for our national security, and have historically enjoyed strong bipartisan support.

Economic and political freedoms are mutually reinforcing, as Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen and other researchers have noted. This means democratic advances can have a powerful effect in making overall development efforts more effective. A wealth of academic research further substantiates the central importance of political freedom and sound governance in promoting long-term economic prosperity in the developing world.

Beyond the obvious economic benefits of a freer and more democratic world, working with fellow democracies has always been a cornerstone of our approach to strategic alliances. Democracy helps to create a virtuous circle of improved security, stronger economic growth, and more durable international alliances.

These and other reasons are why democracy promotion activities have always enjoyed broad bipartisan support. Ronald Reagan and a Democratic-led Congress established the National Endowment for Democracy and its core institutes, the National Democratic Institute, the International Republican Institute, the Solidarity Center, and Center for International Private Enterprise. Reagan argued that America was obligated to “take actions to assist the campaign for democracy” and that these actions were necessary and vital to combat the spread of communism abroad. Every president since Reagan, Republican or Democrat, has shared that view.

Certainly, the work of promoting democracy and accountable governance is often long, difficult and more prosaic than the stirring media images of protestors taking to the streets might suggest. But efforts to improve the oversight capacity of parliaments, encourage greater budget transparency, help political parties and civil society groups organize, and promote vibrant and open media are among the things our investments in democracy support.

For evidence of the results that modest, long-term, concerted democracy and governance investments can achieve, one need only look at Burma. In recent years, the government has embarked on a path of reform, releasing Nobel laureate and pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest and hundreds of political prisoners from jail, and establishing a National Human Rights Commission. In 2011, Suu Kyi ran for and was elected to parliament.

There is still considerable work to be done in Burma. Corruption and the relationship between the central government and ethnic minorities remain serious problems, and hundreds of political prisoners are still in jail. This is not the time to reduce democracy funding, which has aided the people of Burma, among so many other countries, in achieving new freedom.

As we know from our own history, democratic progress is untidy and uneven, but vastly superior to any alternative because it reflects the hopes and aspirations of the people. Democratic transitions are in process, but vulnerable, in the Middle East, large parts of Africa, and Southeast Asia.

That is why today, a bipartisan group will contact the White House and Congress to voice support for funding the programs and organizations that foster democracy and accountable governance as part of America’s international development agenda.

Washington will grapple with the budget for weeks and months to come, but we must not ignore our responsibilities to those pressing for greater freedom for themselves and for their countrymen. In this era of contention and strife, we must neither reduce our modest but indispensable investments in democracy abroad, nor walk away from our enduring commitment to government of the people, by the people, and for the people across the globe.
--------------------------------
Madeleine Albright is chair of the Albright Stonebridge Group and the former U.S. Secretary of State. John Podesta is chair of the Center for American Progress and a former White House chief of staff. Vin Weber is co-chair and partner at Mercury/Clark & Weinstock and former U.S. congressman (R-Minn.). Daniel F. Runde is the William A. Schreyer chair and director of the Project on Prosperity and Development at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Obama Bypasses Congress, Attempts to Force Companies to Reveal Political Donations Through SEC

Posted By Vince Coglianese, The Daily Caller

weaselzippers.us

The Obama administration is attempting to bypass Congress and force publicly-traded companies to reveal their political donations through regulation.

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporate Finance has begun the steps necessary to create a regulation that would in many ways mirror the DISCLOSE Act — a bill Senate Democrats have failed to pass through Congress.

Created in reaction to the 2010 Citizens United Supreme Court ruling that said corporations and unions could not have limits placed on their political expenditures, the Senate bill would require political organizations to publicly name their donors and the amounts they give.

The SEC regulation would do the reverse — force companies to disclose the political groups they support — and have a similar effect.

“The Division [of Corporate Finance] is considering whether to recommend that the Commission issue a proposed rule to require that public companies provide disclosure to shareholders regarding the use of corporate resources for political activities,” reads the proposal, as reported to the president’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.

Reacting to news that the SEC is considering adopting a similar regulation without Congress, a spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell condemned the action as a “direct assault” on the First Amendment.

“Sen. McConnell believes that in this country, there are few rights more sacred than those protected by our First Amendment,” the spokesman told The Daily Caller in a statement. “This action would be a direct assault on those rights, which is one of the chief reasons Congress has defeated similar proposals multiple times.”

McConnell has been the most outspoken Republican to condemn the Obama administration’s efforts to reveal the names of donors who give to political groups, declaring that the president is attempting to “silence [his] critics.”

“This administration claims that the goal of this bill is transparency, but the enthusiasm with which it has embraced the thuggish tactics of the left suggest that its true goal is to silence critics,” McConnell said at a speech in June of 2012.

In another speech that very same June Friday, McConnell cited a comment made by top Obama adviser David Axelrod just days earlier. “When we win, we will use whatever tools out there, including a constitutional amendment, to turn this back,” Axelrod said, referring to the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling. “I understand the free speech argument, but when the Koch brothers can spend $400 million, more than the McCain campaign and the Republican Party spent last time, that’s very concerning.”

Read more: http://nation.foxnews.com/securities-and-exchange-commission/2013/01/18/obama-bypasses-congress-attempts-force-companies-reveal-political-donations-through-sec?cmpid=NL_FiredUpFoxNation#ixzz2IM9CEMGo

Obama Refuses To Negotiate With Those Holding 'A Gun At The Head Of The American People'

AP

Brett LoGiurato

In the final press conference of his first term, President Barack Obama warned he would not negotiate with Republicans who he said were holding "a gun at the head of the American people" over raising the country's debt ceiling.

Obama's near hour-long news conference focused heavily on two topics: the looming need to raise the country's borrowing limit and the White House's plan to curb the nation's rash of gun violence.

Throughout his press conference, Obama urged Congress to raise the debt ceiling without any fanfare. It came on a morning when Politico reported that some House Republicans are willing to test the limits of defaulting on the nation's debt in order to force spending cuts from Obama. 

Sometimes, Obama did that more colorfully than others.

"I'm happy to have that conversation," Obama said of future deficit-reduction talks. "What I will not do is have that negotiation with a gun at the head of the American people."

Later, he compared it to a "dine-and-dash" situation at a restaurant.

Obama said not raising the debt ceiling would be a "self-inflicting wound on the economy," delaying payments to Social Security beneficiaries and veterans.

"I want to be clear about this," he said. "Raising the debt ceiling ... simply allows the country to pay for spending Congress has already committed to. The debt ceiling is not a question of authorizing more spending.

"The full faith and credit of the United States economy is not a bargaining chip," Obama added. "The financial well being of the American people is not leverage to be used. To even entertain the idea of this happening, of America not paying its bills, is irresponsible. It is absurd."

Signaling another revenue fight, Obama said that future deficit-reduction must be done in a "balanced" way with a mix of tax revenue and spending cuts. He noted that he was open to "modest adjustments to programs like Medicare."

"The issue here is whether or not America pays its bills. We are not a deadbeat nation. ... There's a very simple solution to this. Congress authorizes us to pay our bills."

The White House has ruled out getting involved in raising the debt ceiling, ruling out the options of minting a trillion-dollar platinum coin and the 14th Amendment as possible work-around solutions if Republicans refuse to raise the nation's borrowing limit.

Obama stressed that raising the ceiling was Congress' responsibility — saying twice that "we are not a deadbeat nation" that should be arguing about whether to pay its bills.

"There are no magic tricks here. There are no loopholes. There are no easy outs. ... The consequences of us not paying our bills would be disastrous," Obama said.

Obama blamed Republican skittishness on raising the debt ceiling on various "suspicions" — he suspected himself that their insistence on spending cuts was not about debt reduction alone.

"It seems as though what is motivating this from the House Republicans is more than debt reduction," Obama said. "They have a vision about what government should and should not do. They are suspicious about government policy commitment to make sure that seniors have decent health care as they grow older. They have suspicions about Social Security. They have suspicions about whether government should make sure that kids in poverty are getting enough to eat or whether we should be spending money on medical research."

In response, House Speaker John Boehner challenged Obama to come up with "meaningful action" to reduce future spending.

“The American people do not support raising the debt ceiling without reducing government spending at the same time," Boehner said in a statement.

"The consequences of failing to increase the debt ceiling are real, but so too are the consequences of allowing our spending problem to go unresolved. Without meaningful action, the debt will continue to act as an anchor on our economy, costing American jobs and endangering our children’s future. The House will do its job and pass responsible legislation that controls spending, meets our nation’s obligations and keeps the government running, and we will insist that the Democratic majority in Washington do the same.”

In his press conference, Obama also touched on the White House's planned steps to combat the nation's recent rash of gun violence. Vice President Joe Biden is expected to deliver his recommendations on Tuesday, and Obama said he would present the recommendations sometime this week.

"My starting point is not to worry about the politics, my starting point is to think about what works, what makes sense," he said. He hinted that a renewed assault weapons ban and limits on high-capacity magazines are things that continue to "make sense."

"Will all of them get through this Congress? I don't know. ... If there is a step we can take that will save even one child from what happened in Newtown, we should take that step," Obama said. He added that he could "accomplish" some measures through "executive action," specifying it was related to "how we gather data."

He also went after the pro-gun lobby for "ginning up fear" of gun-grabbing in the wake of the White House's planned proposals.

"It's unfortunate. But that's the case," Obama said. 

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-debt-ceiling-gun-control-press-conference-2013-1#ixzz2I3yvP4uv

INTERVIEW: We Found A Congressman Who Actually Understands Economics

Joe Weisenthal 

Wikimedia Commons

The idea of circumventing the debt ceiling via the creation of a Trillion Dollar Coin first gained momentum a couple of weeks ago after it was suggested by New York Congressman Jerry Nadler in an interview with Reid Pillifant of Capital New York.

That such an outside-the-box, yet economically sound argument came from Nadler wasn't a big surprise, as Nadler (who represents much of Lower Manhattan) has a history of showing depth in his thinking beyond that of the typical Congressman.

Watching Washington deal with the debt ceiling can be a scary proposition, given the seriousness of the issue, combined with the ignorance, but there are some who get it.

In light of the death of the Trillion Dollar Coin, we caught back up with Nadler to get his take on it, and more broadly what Congress should be doing to help the economy.

On the deficit, he says what virtually no other politician will say, that it's too small: "I think the deficit is not our immediate problem, our immediate problem is unemployment and frankly, I think right now, we should be running a higher deficit, temporarily, to get the economy into high gear."

He also characterized Europe, which has been trying austerity for two years, as a rare real-time economics experiment: "I often say in my speeches, I say, it’s rare in life that you get a controlled scientific experiment. 'Cause you can’t do controlled scientific experiments with real people, normally. But you have it, and if you grasp the economics of the economic recoveries from 2007 in Europe and the United States, they matched, until 2010, when they start to collapse. And then it diverges, and we keep going up, slowly."

Given the unpopularity of more deficit spending, can the public ever be convinced we need to spend more? Here Nadler blames Obama for ceding too much ground and accepting the GOP premise that spending cuts are needed... "Because when the presidents sets the basic terms of the argument, that defines sort of the outer limit to a lot of extent."

As for the debt ceiling, he's very concerned, and he says the best hope is that Wall Street and big business will simply bring enough pressure on the GOP to wake them up.

Big thanks to BI intern Lisa Mahapatra for transcribing the below Q&A.

-----------------------------

BI: What do you think of the coin rejection?

Rep. Nadler: I don’t understand why the president unilaterally disarmed even if he doesn’t want to use it, why not just keep it in his back pocket, follow what Carney said last week... and let them think, you know, that the threat is there.

BI: Right.

Rep. Nadler: He says he’s not going to negotiate, and god knows that I hope he won't, but when it comes to the deadline and they haven’t raised the debt ceiling, what happens then?...I hope he doesn’t negotiate at that point.

BI: So you think he’ll basically have to negotiate, having taken all these off the table.

Rep. Nadler: I don’t know. Because Wall St. and big businesses are going to push very hard on the Republican party not to go into Terra incognita, which terrifies them, and it should terrify them. And the Republicans may cave to that. They may not. I hope they do, and I hope they never get to that point. If we get to that point, it would be very good if we had that, if he had that in his backpocket.

BI: Let’s just take a step back for a minute, forgetting the current debt ceiling negotiations, and what’s your general view, I mean I know like, it seems to me that you have a higher understanding of economics than many congressmen, even the fact that you understood the coin proposal and understood that it wasn’t a joke. What do you think the government’s responsibility right now is, in terms of running deficits instead of stimulating the economy.

Rep. Nadler: I think the deficit is not our immediate problem, our immediate problem is unemployment and frankly, I think right now, we should be running a higher deficit, temporarily, to get the economy into high gear.

We’re in a very slow recovery, unnecessarily so. The deficit has come down from 10.1% percentage in 2009, to 7.1% now, without doing anything. I mean if we could have unemployment down to 5%, which it was in 2005, that would reduce the deficit by 40% by itself. I think this austerity policy of chasing this whole grand bargain thing, I don’t agree with. I don’t think we should be cutting spending at all, except the spending that is really unnecessary, like the military.

And even then, cut that, but increase resourceful (resources) spending. The real reason we have this high deficit we do is because of the counter-Cyclicals, unemployment insurance, food stamps, which is what we’re supposed to do.

I think trying to reduce the deficit right now is wrong, because this position is going to keep the economy in the doldrums and keep the depression going longer and it’s self-defeating.

You look at Europe. I often say in my speeches, I say, it’s rare in life that you get a controlled scientific experiment. Cause you can’t do controlled scientific experiments with real people, normally. But you have it, and if you grasp the economics of the economic recoveries from 2007 in Europe and the United States, they matched, until 2010, when they start to collapse. And then it diverges, and we keep going up, slowly.

BI: Do you think the public could be made to understand this argument. It’s very, economists understand this very well, and the idea that we should be running higher deficits to counteract the slump, but is this a message that can get through?

Rep. Nadler: I think the problem is, it’s practically impossible to get the public to buy that, as long as the president doesn’t. If the president buying into the notion that the deficit is a big problem or that we’re going to have a grand bargain.. Do we revenues as well as cuts, but still do cuts. Very difficult to do against that from the left.

BI: Do you think that the left cedes too much, is that what you’re saying, it cedes too many of the premises of the right about the benefits of cutting spending?

Rep. Nadler: I don’t know, I said from the left meaning... I think the president seems to have ceded the basic argument. And that’s a problem for all of us. Because when the presidents sets the basic terms of the argument, that defines sort of the outer limit to a lot of extent.

BI: Where does your understanding of economics come from, most congressmen don’t grasp the stuff and don’t seem to think about it like this. Why do you understand it so well?

Rep. Nadler: I read a lot, I don’t know.

BI: Who do you like to read?

Rep. Nadler: Who do I like to read? I certainly like to read Paul Krugman, his columns, his blogs. I read, you know various books: currently I’m reading a book, the Donald Bartlett book, The Betrayal American Dream. I’ve read most of Bob Kutner's books.

BI: Are there other people in the congress that sympathize with you? You just don’t hear many politicians talk like this.

Rep. Nadler: There are people who agree. Quite a few people in the progressive caucus that if you look at the progressive caucus budgets, that we vote on every year that we get generally 90 to 100 votes, those budgets either as an alternative democratic budget, we vote the democratic budget and the progressive caucus budget, and subsequent resolutions, those budgets are based on the premises that I’ve been articulating. Based on the fact that we should not be trudging along austerity, that we should be priming the pump and doing straight Keynesian economics.

BI: Do you believe that the US could theoretically have a debt crisis or do you think premise, just the idea that that could happen in the US is incorrect?

Rep. Nadler: I don’t know about could, I assume you could conjure up far-fetched circumstances in which it could occur, but it’s certainly not a likely scenario in the relatively near future. I mean right now, we’re selling our bonds at negative interest rates. I don’t see that.

BI: Now that the coin idea has been taken off the table, you know there’s still some people that think there might be some other loopholes, like the IOU idea. Do you think the White House has any backup options at this point?

Rep. Nadler: I don’t know, I don’t understand. I read something about the IOU thing, I don’t really understand it, I don’t know. They’ve taken the 14th amendment off the table, they’ve taken the trillion dollar coin off the table. The coin, I mean the 14th amendment, I’ve read good constitutional arguments on both sides, and there’s not decent court precedent. But the coin is so clearly legal, so clearly does the job, I don’t understand why they took it off the table, I don’t understand where they are at this point. As I said, I don’t know what actions there are at this point, other than they should have Wall St., big business gets the Republicans backing down.

I should tell you, I am sponsoring a bill, introduced last September, in the last congress, I’m going to reintroduce it this week, on Wednesday, just to repeal the debt ceiling. Because it’s obviously now become a tool of extortion. But we should have done that a long time ago.'

BI: Do you believe that, when the Republicans say that hitting the debt ceiling doesn’t necessarily imply default on interest payments specifically, what do you make of that argument? Do you think prioritization is technically possible?

Rep. Nadler: I don’t know, I’m not an economic expert in the operations of the government to be able to answer that. I do know, I think I read that there were 100 million checks written, I don’t know, that it’s mostly computerized, that even if you wanted it, tried to prioritize it, it’s not going to clear if in fact you physically could. And that may be the case but even so, to say that you’re going to prioritize, to say that you’re not in default if you’re paying the interest on the bonds, but you’re not sending out social security checks, not paying the military, you’re not sending veteran’s benefits, those are defaults on contractual obligations. And legal obligations. I don’t think, the market would look very differently, if you paid the bonds’ interests and you can get away with that for a while, by not paying all the other people, government collapsed and people starved, because they’re not getting social security checks, I suspect that the markets would not brightly on that.

BI: You think the best hope is that big business and Wall Street puts pressure on the Republicans, do you see evidence of that happening in a way you didn’t see in 2011.

Rep. Nadler: Oh yeah, I think we do see evidence that. I don’t think in 2011 anyone took seriously how limiting these people were. I know that now, and i think that they’re beginning to really try to put on the pressure. Whether they, certainly work on people like Boehner, it won’t work on some of these people we’ve seen talk about prioritizing and default and so forth … how that will work out I don’t know.

BI: Thank you.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/interview-with-congressman-jerry-nadler-on-the-debt-ceiling-deficits-and-the-trillion-dollar-coin-2013-1#ixzz2I3y6ejbv

Bloomberg Urges Obama to Defy Congress and Implement Gun Control by Executive Action

campusreform.org

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Monday told a group of John Hopkins students that President Obama ought to sidestep the wishes of Congress and order swift new executive gun control measures.

“There are steps that President Obama can take without congressional approval at any time he chooses with just one stroke of the pen,” Bloomberg told the mixed audience of students and scholars, speaking at the “Gun Policy Summit” at John Hopkins University.

Bloomberg’s remarks came hours before President Obama argued in a rare press conference that executive privileges afforded him the power to implement some federal gun control measures without the permission of Congress.

“My understanding is the Vice President is going to provide a range of steps that we can take to reduce gun violence,” President Obama told the White House Press Corps. “Some of them will require legislation, some of them I can accomplish through executive action.”

Post Continues on www.campusreform.org >>

Bernanke urges Congress to raise debt ceiling

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Top Senate Dems Urge Obama to Take Unilateral Action on Debt Ceiling

foxnews

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid

WASHINGTON –  If President Obama were to break the impasse with Republicans over raising the debt limit by taking unilateral action, such a move would have the potential to set off a firestorm of controversy and spark a protracted legal battle.
Top Senate Democrats say, go for it.
The White House has dismissed talk that Obama would rely on unusual measures to raise the nation's debt limit without Congress' approval, but administration officials also have warned that the country could default on its debt and trigger a new economic crisis if lawmakers don't increase the limit on borrowing.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is among those urging Obama to consider options like invoking the 14th Amendment to the Constitution to find ways around the $16.4 trillion legal cap on government borrowing. The amendment states that the "validity of the public debt of the United States ... shall not be questioned," which some lawmakers believe permits a way out of the debt limit jam.
The government hit the debt limit last month and is juggling the books to buy additional time for Congress to act. But those moves only buy a few weeks of wiggle room, which requires Congress to act -- likely by mid- to late-February -- to avoid a market-quaking default on U.S. obligations.
The White House has said emphatically that it does not believe that the 14th Amendment permits Obama to ignore the debt cap on U.S. borrowing, though it considered the question during the 2011 debt crisis.
"There is no Plan B. There is no backup plan," White House spokesman Jay Carney said Wednesday. "There is no alternative to Congress raising the debt ceiling."
A letter to Obama on Friday from Reid and Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Patty Murray, D-Wash., doesn't mention the 14th Amendment, but aides to the senators said that's what they have in mind in urging the president to consider unilateral action.
"We believe you must be willing to take any lawful steps to ensure that America does not break its promises and trigger a global economic crisis -- without congressional approval, if necessary," the letter said.
Battling House and Senate leaders have made virtually no progress on a strategy for legislation to lift the debt cap. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, insists that any debt increase be matched by equivalent spending cuts. Obama, buoyed by his re-election victory, says he won't negotiate as he did in 2011, when he traded a $2.1 trillion debt increase for tight spending limits on agency budgets and automatic, across-the-board spending cuts if a congressional "supercommittee" failed to reach a budget agreement.
"Senate Democrats cannot ignore their responsibilities for political convenience -- and the American people will not tolerate an increase in the debt limit without spending cuts and reforms," said Boehner spokesman Michael Steel.
The impasse has people on both sides scratching their heads over how it will be resolved. The anxiety is such that some on the left are urging Obama to mint a coin worth perhaps $1 trillion to be deposited at the Federal Reserve and drawn upon to meet government obligations.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/01/11/top-senate-dems-urge-obama-to-take-unilateral-action-on-debt-ceiling/#ixzz2HjZi3tYm

What can we expect from the 113th Congress?

PBS

El nuevo congresista [D] de origen cubano Joe Garcia sobre Cuba-EEUU

diariodecuba

martinoticias.com

En relación con la política hacia Cuba, ¿hay motivos para preocuparse por la designación de John Kerry como secretario de Estado?

No lo creo. Nadie conoce mejor a Kerry que el senador Bob Menéndez, y Bob lo está apoyando. Conozco la posición de John Kerry, en el pasado me he sentado con él a hablar sobre Cuba. Me parece que la política [hacia La Habana] está bien marcada por el presidente y va a permanecer en ese camino. No veo grandes preocupaciones. A nadie se le puede ocurrir que John Kerry es procomunista, pues luchó contra los comunistas en Vietnam. Es una persona que tiene una larga trayectoria de política de Estado, altamente respetado, aunque haya tenido sus discrepancias en algunos temas.

Sin embargo, Kerry bloqueó durante algún tiempo los programas pro-democracia…

Él ha tenido sus posiciones, pero el presidente Obama ha sido claro en estos temas. El secretario de Estado vendrá con una visión un poco diferente de la de Hillary Clinton, pero la política que implementaron Obama y Hillary ha tenido efectos. No exactamente los que todos quisiéramos, pero sí un efecto positivo en la sociedad civil cubana. Me imagino que el senador Kerry tomará las lecciones que hemos aprendido con todos esos programas, y las implementará.

En su opinión, ¿qué otra cosa debería hacer el presidente en los próximos cuatro años en relación con Cuba?

Trabajar por la amplitud de la sociedad civil, y eso no solamente desde el punto de vista político. Es también con la economía, desde el político hasta la peluquera, y todo lo que cae entre esas personas. Cuanto más sociedad civil haya, más espacio político habrá. Debemos encontrar áreas donde seguir ese impacto.

Continuar leyendo en diariodecuba >>

Boehner re-elected as Speaker

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Read on nbcnews >>

Boehner Facing Fight for the Gavel?

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Also on NBC Boehner boxed in >>

John Boehner told Harry Reid to "go f--- yourself"

foxnews/

newswhip.com

As nasty as the battle over the fiscal crisis bill looked on the floors of Congress, it was even nastier behind the scenes.

Sources confirmed to Fox News that House Speaker John Boehner told Harry Reid to "go f--- yourself" while passing by the Senate majority leader at the White House Friday.

The outburst came after Reid, on Thursday, took to the floor and likened Boehner to a dictator. Reid had claimed Boehner was holding back a bill out of concern for his speakership. 

"John Boehner seems to care more about keeping his speakership than about keeping the nation on firm financial footing," Reid said Thursday, claiming the chamber was "being operated with a dictatorship of the speaker."

Boehner did not take kindly to the accusation. Politico first reported that Boehner swore at Reid when he saw him the next day at the White House, where congressional leaders were convening for a meeting. 

Reid reportedly seemed startled, asking, "What are you talking about?" Boehner then repeated, "Go f--- yourself." 

Boehner's office offered "no comment" on the incident.

Fox News' Chad Pergram contributed to this report.

Read more: http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2013/01/02/boehner-swore-reid-after-dictatorship-comment-sources-say/#ixzz2Gqs6iBzj

Fiscal Heroes and Zeroes

huffingtonpost.ca

Jan. 2, 2013, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government, a non-partisan group dedicated to limiting the size and scope of government at all levels, blasted members of Congress who voted in favor of the tax increase measure that passed both the Senate and House of Representatives on New Year's Day.

Bill Wilson, president of the group denounced the law saying, "This so-called 'deal' is typical Washington, D.C., laden with pork including a subsidy for Obama's Hollywood buddies and even NASCAR, while increasing taxes on every working American. Incredibly the law will be classified as a tax cut because it passed after the Bush tax cuts expired, so in D.C. doublespeak, politicians will claim to have cut taxes when everyone's taxes are actually going up."

An initial analysis of the legislation utilizing estimates from the Joint Committee on Taxation conducted by ALG showed that while the tax increases on those making more than $400,000 a year will generate approximately $30 billion in revenues a year, the cost of servicing the projected increased federal debt of $1.2 trillion will actually eat away about 88 cents of every new dollar raised.

"By avoiding actually dealing with Washington's spending addiction, they have raised taxes to do little more than pay the increased interest on the debt over the next year. Meanwhile, the head-in-the-sand types on Capitol Hill will be clamoring to spend this 'new money' on their favored special interests. We are truly through the looking glass."

View online here: http://getliberty.org/fiscal-heroes-and-zeroes/ >>

Fiscal cliff deal: House OKs proposal despite GOP objections

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Details of Tentative Deal

 

foxnews

WASHINGTON –  Highlights of a tentative agreement Monday between the White House and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., aimed at averting wide tax increases and budget cuts scheduled to take effect in the new year. The measure would raise taxes by about $600 billion over 10 years compared with tax policies that expire at midnight Monday. It would also delay for two months across-the-board spending cuts otherwise set to begin slashing the budgets of the Pentagon and numerous domestic agencies.
   Highlights include:
   --Income tax rates: Extends decade-old tax cuts on incomes up to $400,000 for individuals, $450,000 for couples. Earnings above those amounts would be taxed at a rate of 39.6 percent, up from the current 35 percent. Extends Clinton-era caps on itemized deductions and the phase-out of the personal exemption for individuals making more than $250,000 and couples earning more than $300,000.
   --Estate tax: Estates would be taxed at a top rate of 40 percent, with the first $5 million in value exempted for individual estates and $10 million for family estates. In 2012, such estates were subject to a top rate of 35 percent.
   --Capital gains, dividends: Taxes on capital gains and dividend income exceeding $400,000 for individuals and $450,000 for families would increase from 15 percent to 20 percent.
   --Alternative minimum tax: Permanently addresses the alternative minimum tax and indexes it for inflation to prevent nearly 30 million middle- and upper-middle income taxpayers from being hit with higher tax bills averaging almost $3,000. The tax was originally designed to ensure that the wealthy did not avoid owing taxes by using loopholes.
   --Other tax changes: Extends for five years Obama-sought expansions of the child tax credit, earned income tax credit, and an up to $2,500 tax credit for college tuition. Also extends for one year accelerated "bonus" depreciation of business investments in new property and equipment, a tax credit for research and development costs and a tax credit for renewable energy such as wind-generated electricity.
   --Unemployment benefits: Extends jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed for one year.
   --Cuts in Medicare reimbursements to doctors: Blocks a 27 percent cut in Medicare payments to doctors for one year. The cut is the product of an obsolete 1997 budget formula.
   --Social Security payroll tax cut: Allows a 2 percentage point cut in the payroll tax first enacted two years ago to lapse, which restores the payroll tax to 6.2 percent.
   --Across-the-board cuts: Delays for two months $109 billion worth of across-the-board spending cuts set to start striking the Pentagon and domestic agencies this week. Cost of $24 billion is divided between spending cuts and new revenues from rules changes on converting traditional individual retirement accounts into Roth IRAs.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/01/01/details-tentative-deal-that-would-avert-fiscal-crisis/#ixzz2Gl5FAXwt

Republican House leaders voice serious concerns over fiscal bill

Foxnews

Washington –  House Republican leaders voiced serious concern Tuesday afternoon about the Senate's just-passed fiscal crisis bill during a closed door meeting with rank-and-file lawmakers, sources told Fox News. The response raised questions about how the House would handle the deal, which was highly touted by bipartisan officials in the Senate just hours earlier.
Doubts that the GOP-controlled House would pass the plan intensified Tuesday afternoon. Lawmakers have just two days to go before a new Congress convenes which limits the House’s options. The House can reject the plan, pass it as written by the Senate – which is unlikely given strong GOP opposition – or amend it. If the House amends it, the legislation goes back to the Senate where time constraints would likely kill it for the current Congressional session.
GOP lawmakers privately met midday Tuesday to gauge support for the accord. While Republican lawmakers expressed concern about the plan they did not directly speak out against it. Instead, Fox News has learned that House Speaker John Boehner held a venting session where members of his party voiced their concern about the legislation. Members also offered up options on what they’d like to see added in or taken out of the bill.
As Boehner listened to Republicans, Vice President Joe Biden listened to what House Democrats had to say. The outcome of Tuesday’s mini-meetings are not yet known. What is known is that time is running out for lawmakers to approve the plan or make meaningful changes to the one passed by the Senate this morning.
The Senate’s plan would prevent taxes from going up on the poor and middle class but would raise rates on households making more than $450,000 a year. It also would also put off for two months more than $100 billion in automatic spending cuts that were set to hit the Pentagon and domestic programs starting this week, and it would extend unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed.
The Senate voted 89-8 in favor of the package two hours after midnight.
Senate leaders hailed the deal as an “imperfect” but vital solution to the fiscal crisis.
“The president wanted tax increases, but thanks to this imperfect agreement, 99 percent of my constituents won’t be hit by those hikes,” Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said.
Obama praised Senate lawmakers for passing the bill and implored the House to do the same.
"There’s more work to do to reduce our deficits, and I’m willing to do it," Obama said in a statement. "But tonight’s agreement ensures that, going forward, we will continue to reduce the deficit through a combination of new spending cuts and new revenues from the wealthiest Americans."
Senate leaders assembled the vote after a marathon weekend of talks during which Vice President Biden and McConnell did much of the hard bargaining. After the White House and Senate Republicans agreed to the framework, Biden was brought in once more to sell the deal to reluctant Senate Democrats Monday night.
The late-night deal ironed out the last major sticking point between the two sides -- what to do about the $110 billion in automatic spending cuts set to kick in starting in January.
Officials said the two sides agreed to postpone the cuts by two months, in exchange for a 50-50 mix of revenue increases and spending cuts. Of those cuts, half would come from defense and half would come from other budgets.
Fox News has also learned the deal contains a repeal of an ObamaCare program called the CLASS Act. The provision, which would set up a government-run long-term care program, was never actually implemented amid concerns that it couldn't generate enough revenue to sustain itself.
Fox News' Ed Henry, Chad Pergram and Mike Emanuel contributed to this report.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/01/01/senate-leaders-aim-for-vote-on-fiscal-crisis-deal-as-congress-misses-deadline/#ixzz2Gl3muF5R

Obama: Fiscal cliff deal 'within sight'

(CNN) -- An agreement to avert the "fiscal cliff" of automatic tax increases and spending cuts appears to be "within sight," President Barack Obama said Monday.

"There are still issued left to resolve, but we are hopeful Congress can get it done," Obama said.

The deal that was taking shape included an agreement to raise the income tax rate on top earners to what it was during President Bill Clinton's last term in office, according to sources close to the process.

A GOP source told CNN negotiators are "very close" to a deal. The sticking point is $24 billion in spending cuts being sought by Republicans, according to the source.

"It's like looking under the cushions at this point," the source said. "If we can't find that at this point, we should pack this place up."

But one leading Senate Democrat warned the deal could run into trouble -- not only from House Republicans who have long opposed any tax increase, but also from liberals in the Senate who oppose allowing more high-income households to escape a tax increase.

"No deal is better than a bad deal, and this looks like a very bad deal the way this is shaping up," Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said.

President Barack Obama was expected to discuss the issue in public remarks at the White House.

Keep reading on CNN >>

Senators work behind scenes Saturday on fiscal deal, votes would come Sunday

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker John Boehner outside the White House in Washington. (AP)

Senate leaders are working off-stage Saturday to reach a final-hours deal to avert a fiscal crisis, with no official proposals or votes expected until Sunday.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, has adjourned the chamber until Sunday so Democratic and Republican leaders can negotiate on a deal to present to the House.

House members will officially return to Capitol Hill on Sunday in expectation that the Senate will present them with a plan to stop tax increases that are scheduled to kick in next week.

Senate leaders from both sides of the aisle vowed late Friday to scramble over the weekend to produce a new bill, on the heels of a high-stakes White House meeting with President Obama that is seen as the last chance to come together before the tax-hike deadline.

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said he hopes senators can come forward with a recommendation as early as Sunday. 

Several senior administration officials told Fox News late Friday night that McConnell, R-Ky., is showing strong signs that he will help seal a deal.

However, they acknowledges he will have a difficult time getting a deal passed in the Republican-controlled House, which  has so far rejected any plan that includes allowing tax rates to increase for higher-earning Americans.

Reid called the White House meeting Friday "very constructive." 

"We need to have everybody step back a bit," he said.

The pledge to work on a new bill is by no means a solution to the sweeping set of tax hikes set to hit Jan. 1, followed by steep spending cuts. Lawmakers still have to write the bill, and produce something that can pass both chambers. 

Obama, speaking from the White House briefing room late Friday, voiced a dose of doubt about the Senate leaders' final push for a deal. 

He said he's "modestly optimistic" but that if Reid and McConnell fail, the Senate should allow an up-or-down vote on a scaled-back proposal the president is pushing. 

"The hour for immediate action is here, it is now," Obama said. "We're now at the last minute, and the American people are not going to have any patience for a politically self-inflicted wound to our economy. ... We've got to get this done." 

Considering how late this effort is getting underway, lawmakers easily run the risk of missing the deadline and causing at least some uncertainty with Americans' tax bills starting next week. 

The developments late Friday, though, at least showed Reid and McConnell were beginning to work together. And it marked a decision by lawmakers that the Senate should make the first move -- for days, House Speaker John Boehner has insisted that the Senate act, but Reid has resisted and put the onus on the House. 

It's unclear what the new bill would entail. It appears the Senate wants to tweak the Obama plan, which would include an extension of current tax rates for most Americans -- but potentially adjust it so fewer earners see a tax hike, and add a provision dealing with a looming expansion of the estate tax. 

The debt ceiling, which Obama wants increased, would not be part of this bill. And a senior White House official admitted it is unclear how a looming set of spending cuts would be addressed. 

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/12/29/senators-work-behind-scenes-saturday-on-fiscal-deal-votes-would-come-sunday/#ixzz2GT2vFe9D

What leaders said after financial cliff meeting

politicalticker

Washington (CNN) - Congressional leaders spoke Friday after meeting about the fiscal cliff with President Barack Obama at the White House.

Congressional leaders attending the meeting was Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker John Boehner, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. Vice President Joe Biden was to be in attendance, the White House said, and an administration official said Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner would attend as well.

Obama was set to make a statement at 5:45 p.m. ET.
McConnell and Reid spoke on the Senate floor.
Reid said, “we had a constructive meeting. We certainly hope that something positive will come from that. The republican leader and I and our staffs are working and we’ll see what we can come up with. We shouldn’t take a long time to do that. …
“If we come up with something, it’s not that easy. We’re dealing with big numbers and some of the stuff that we do is somewhat complicated. But I think it was a very positive meeting,” he said. “There was not a lot of hilarity in the meeting, everyone knows how important it is. It was a very serious meeting and it took an extended period of time as you all know waiting for us.”
McConnell spoke immediately after Reid, saying, “I share the view of the majority leader. We had a good meeting down at the White House.
“We are engaged in discussions, the majority leader and myself and the White House, in the hopes that we can come forward as early as Sunday and have a recommendation that I can make to my conference and the majority leader [Reid] can make to his conference and so we’ll be working hard to try and see if we can get there in the next 24 hours,” he said. “And so I’m hopeful and optimistic.”
Boehner’s office issued a statement which said he “reminded the group that the House has already acted to avert the entire fiscal cliff and is awaiting Senate action.”
“The leaders spent the majority of the meeting discussing potential options and components for a plan that could pass both chambers of Congress,” the statement read. “The Speaker told the President that if the Senate amends the House-passed legislation and sends back a plan, the House will consider it – either by accepting or amending. The group agreed that the next step should be the Senate taking bipartisan action.”
In a paper statement, McConnell’s office also pointed to legislation which had passed the House.
“While the House already passed legislation in August to prevent tax hikes (a proposal Sen. McConnell supports), the President and Congressional leaders today agreed that the Senate must now act,” the statement read. “This will require a bipartisan approach. Members of the Senate will continue to work toward producing a bipartisan package in a timely manner to protect American taxpayers and jobs from a massive tax hike in January.”
Pelosi said the meeting was "constructive" and "candid."