Two influential seniors advocacy groups are battling on national television for influence over seniors’ support of the GOP Medicare reforms.
A new ad campaign, sponsored by the 60 Plus Association, a self-described conservative alternative to the AARP, began airing Friday on national cable channels and on broadcast television in key swing states Florida and Ohio. See the ad below.
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) stars in the ad, defending his own plan before a voice-over declares that “only one plan reforms Medicare and protects seniors.”
The campaign marks the latest show-down between 60 Plus and AARP, the largest senior lobbying organization in the U.S.
AARP released a new national ad on Thursday accusing Congress of spending seniors’ money on trivial projects such as “pickle technology” in exchange for cutting seniors’ benefits.
60 Plus also waged a TV ad campaign against the Democrats’ reform bills in 2009 and 2010, while AARP largely supported the Affordable Care Act.
Ryan’s Prosperity PAC slammed AARP last week, calling it a "left-leaning pressure group." The powerful lobby sought to “intentionally mislead seniors” about Ryan’s plan’s effect on Medicare, according to a letter to Ryan’s supporters.
Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl
(R-Ariz.) on Tuesday said a process should be agreed to in dealing with the
estate tax before the Senate takes up future legislation. Read more...
Alan Blinder, the former Clinton White House economic
adviser tipped earlier this week as a possible replacement for Federal Reserve
Chairman Ben Bernanke, said he would be interested in the job but that Bernanke
should remain.
Asked by The Hill whether he'd be interested in the position
Bernanke now holds, Blinder said, "Sure, but the Fed has a very good
chairman."
Blinder was scheduled to speak to Senate Democrats about the
economy on Thursday. The Senate voted 70-30 to confirm Bernanke to a second
term as Fed chairman.
Earlier this week, when the Senate's confirmation of
Bernanke was in question, Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman and Foreign Affairs mentioned
Blinder as a leading candidate as Fed chairman.
Blinder, who also defended Bernanke's renomination in a New
York Times op-ed Thursday morning, blamed the unprecedented opposition to Bernanke's nomination on the broader
dissatisfaction with the economy. Thirty senators voted Thursday to reject
Bernanke, the most ever for any Fed nominee.
"I think there is tremendous unhappiness with let's
just call it the bank bailout," Blinder said. "It was bigger than the
bank bailout. A number of people and a number of politicians are looking for
someone, probably more than one person, on whom to vent their
frustration.
"The frustrations are very understandable, absolutely
understandable," Blinder added. "Basically the American public got
hit by a freight train, and they'd like to know who put that freight train on
the track. It wasn't Ben Bernanke."
Blinder, who also served as Fed vice chairman in the 1990s, said
Bernanke's recent record in dealing with the financial crisis has been
"absolutely splendid."
Blinder and Moody's economist Mark Zandi both attended a
lunch with Senate Democrats on Thursday to talk about ways to create jobs. Blinder
has called for a tax credit for firms who hire new workers, and proposal also
backed by President Barack Obama, and senators from both parties.
The Senate FInance Committee should be able to craft a bipartisan healthcare bill, as long as they're not "overruled" or "undercut" by President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said Thursday.
Grassley told Iowa reporters during a regular press call that he believes Senate Democrats could probably pass a bill using budget reconciliation rules requiring only a simple majority vote, but that bipartisanship could succeed if given time.
Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) will be able to eventually reach a bipartisan agreement on a healthcare bill "if he doesn't get overruled by the leader or the president," argued Grassley, the ranking member of that committee.
"Sen. Baucus has always been talking about 70 or 80 votes," Grassley later added. "We're still going down that direction, but we could be undercut by anybody."
Both Baucus and Grassley have worked throughout August with the so-called "group of six" centrist senators on healthcare reform, though Baucus -- backed up by Senate Democratic leaders -- has imposed a September 15th deadline by which a bipartisan bill must be reached.
After then, Democrats have left the door open to using the budget reconciliation process to pass a preliminary healthcare bill, which may be a version including a public (or "government-run") option as written by the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) committee.
Grassley said he believed Democrats could be able to pass a bill in that circumstance, but not any one he or any other Republican would support.
"I think the Democrats could pass one under a process called reconciliation," he said. "If they do that, one would pass for sure without any Republican support whatsoever, and I couldn't vote for it."
The Senate has too many priorities on its agenda to handle "card check" legislation anytime soon, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said yesterday.
Reid told a lunch crowd at the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday that the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) would have to wait for the meanwhile.
The Senate is expected to focus intently on healthcare upon returning to Washington in September, with an intense climate change bill debate expected to follow before the end of the year.
AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka acknowledged earlier this week that EFCA would have to wait until after healthcare reform is finished, but it's unclear how long labor groups would be willing to wait for the Senate to take action on their top legislative priority.
"We WILL PASS EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE ACT legislation, we will not allow our 'friends' to pass on this essential part of an economic recovery solution!" he said.
Former President George W. Bush isn't to blame for the current budget situation, one freshman Republican lawmaker argued Tuesday.
"It's not George W. Bush's fault," conservative Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) argued during an appearance on a conservative radio news program.
Chaffetz blamed Democrats and insufficiently conservative Republicans in Congress in recent years for having driven up the deficit to record levels this year.
"This 'credit card Congress' has done absolutely nothing under Democratic control to curb spending," he said.
"Look, and I am very critical of the Bush administration, but fundamentally we need to remember that it's Congress that authorizes and spends money, not the president," Chaffetz added. "The reality is that Democrats have been in control -- and believe me, when the Republicans were in control, it was bad then -- but now it's literally four times worse than what it was, with no end in sight."
The first-term congressman's claims take a slightly different tack than the Obama administration, which saw its Treasury secretary, Tim Geithner, argue in an interview with the Wall Street Journal posted today that the Bush administration was fundamentally to blame for current deficits.
The previous administration's failure to pay for tax cuts, an expansion in Medicare benefits, and extended military engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan largely explain the current budget situation, Geithner asserted.
Count at least one Republican in favor of confirming Ben Bernanke to a second term as Fed chairman.
Sen. Bob Corker (D-Tenn.) says Bernanke has "earned the right" to help steer the Fed through the financial crisis.
"Chairman Bernanke has earned the right to see this through and lead the Federal Reserve through these volatile times," said Corker.
"I'm sure he hasn't made all the right calls, but he doesn't have a political cell in his body, and that's what you need in a Fed chairman," the Tennessee Republican added. "I believe he wakes up every day trying to focus on what ought to be done for the good of the country--not politics."
The enmity toward Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke shared by both some Republicans and some Democrats probably show he's a good choice to continue to lead the Fed, Sen. Ted Kaufman (D-Del.) said Tuesday.
"He has probably as many problems with my colleagues on the Democratic side as he has Dick Armey's problems on the Republican side," Kaufman said this morning during an appearance on CNBC. (Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey [R-Texas] was among the guest panelists.)
"But that may be a sign he is independent, he's doing a good job, and I am definitely going to vote for him, I think he's a wonderful selection," Kaufman added.
The freshman Democrat said he expected Bernanke to win confirmation to a second term as chairman of the Federal Reserve, but cautioned "you never know with the Senate."
Kaufman praised Bernanke's work at the height of the financial crisis, saying the Fed chairman did "some incredibly smart things" to stave off a collapse in the financial system.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) praised President Obama today for nominating Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke to a second term and said he expects Bernanke to win Senate confirmation.
"Chairman Bernanke has played an important role in our nation's economic recovery efforts. His expertise and leadership as Federal Reserve Chairman have been crucial as our nation has endured this financial crisis," Reid said.
"His re-nomination will bring continuity to the Federal Reserve that will send the right signal to the marketplace. I support President Obama's decision to re-nominate Chairman Bernanke and expect the Senate to re-confirm him," Reid added.
Bernanke has been criticized for helping to orchestrate bank bailouts and for allegedly pressuring Bank of America to go through with its acquisition of Merrill Lynch despite the doubts of some top executives.
Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.) said on Tuesday that President Barack Obama's decision to re-appoint Federal Reserve chairman Benjamin Bernanke shows that "all that criticism of the Bush administration last time around wasn't all correct."
It was reported on Monday night that Obama would recommend Bernanke for a second four-year term. The Senate must vote to confirm Bernanke for him to remain at his post.
But the Energy and Commerce Committee Republican said on CNBC's Squawk Box that Bernanke has been "too interventionist" and recommended that Congress reduce Fed's role in the economy.
Shadegg said that the Federal Reserve is simultaneously controlling monetary policy and directly bolstering the economy by advocating for such measures the economic stimulus. He preferred that the Fed stick to its traditional role regulating the money supply.
The Fed increased its presence in economic policy under Bernanke during last year's credit crisis. The rapid tightening of credit was part of the reason the economy nearly plunged into a Depression-like state.
"[Bernanke is] seen as safe and as changing the topic quite frankly from what's dominated the news lately which is healthcare, which is not going well for the president," Shadegg added.
Rep. Vic Snyder (D-Ark.), who sits on the Joint Economic Committee, praised Obama's decision to re-appoint Bernanke as a display of bipartisanship.
"If he sees talent, he goes after it, even if they were former Bush administration appointees," he said in the same interview.
Snyder agreed that the Fed should reduce its role in the economy.
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