Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) wants House Republicans to back permanent tax cuts, not one-time tax rebates, to stimulate the economy.
Romney, who plans to appear before a House GOP hearing about stimulus plans on Thursday, will tell lawmakers that rebates, such as the one sent to taxpayers by the Bush administration last summer, won't do much to increase consumer demand, needed to jumpstart the economy.
"I do indeed believe that careful, skillfully crafted stimulus can improve the prospects for recovery. But excessive and sloppy spending and one-time refund checks could have the exact opposite effect than that which the stimulus seeks," Romney will say in his testimony, which was posted on The Corner.
Romney plans to warn Republicans against more government regulation and public programs in the stimulus and says that the emphasis in any recovery plan must be placed on private investment. He also argues against the bill backed by unions and many Democrats that would allow workers to unionize without a secret ballot vote.
"It is an idea that would have devastating impact on the economy -- short term and long term," Romney said. "It would lead investors to send their funds elsewhere, businesses to expand elsewhere and jobs to relocate elsewhere."
President-elect Barack Obama will nominate Rep. Hilda Solis (D-Calif.) as Secretary of Labor, the Associated Press is reporting.
The fifth-term congresswoman from Los Angeles serves on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and is vice chair of the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee.
Should she be confirmed, Solis would be another Latina member of Obama's cabinet, being the daughter of Mexican and Nicaraguan immigrants to the U.S.
Congressional Democrats on Thursday picked up support for plans to help U.S. automakers from a key lawmaker, Ohio Sen. George Voinovich (R). Chris Paulitz, an aide to Voinovich, said the senator would sign onto a letter to be circulated next week by Michigan Democratic Sens. Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow.
"The senator believes helping the automakers remain viable is truly putting Main Street over Wall Street," Paulitz said. "He has signaled his support to Sens. Levin and Stabenow and is working with them on a letter to their colleagues to make this a reality next week during the lame duck. He also wants to ensure that the companies qualifying for TARP funding are truly viable in order to protect taxpayers down the road."
Bloomberg news reported Thursday that President-elect Barack Obama is pushing lawmakers to greenlight as much as $50 billion in loans this year for the troubled automakers. Obama would also look to appoint a "czar" to oversee management of the companies, but the plan would need support from the outgoing Bush administration and a less Democratic lame duck Congress in order to be enacted this year.
Labor representatives watching the returns from AFL-CIO headquarters put down their beer and wine to let out a cheer at news that North Carolina state senator Kay Hagan, the Democratic challenger, would unseat Sen. Elizabeth Dole, the Republican incumbent. If the projection proves correct, it moves the unions a vote closer to a key priority next session: the Employee Free Choice Act.
That measure is intended to make it easier for unions to organize workers, and the labor movement looks to it as a way to reverse the trend of declining union membership. It would allow workers to join a union by signing a petition, ending the current requirement that secret ballots be cast. Union officials say companies make it difficult to hold votes for union membership.
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When President Bush's proposed Colombian free trade agreement came up in last night's debate, it was clear the candidates' stances couldn't be more different.
But it's not policy that the AFL-CIO and progressive interest group Americans United for Change are upset about: it's John McCain's facial expression.
McCain raised his eyebrows and rolled his eyes when Barack Obama repeated a staple attack on the agreement that has been U.S. labor unions' main argument in lobbying against it--that Colombian labor leaders have been the victims of extra-judicial assassinations at the hands of the Colombian military, making the country unsafe for unionizers and unfit for a trade agreement.
Update Friday, 10/17/2008: The Associated Builders & Contractors (ABC) deny that Wurzelbacher is an ABC member.
United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry (UA) says John McCain "manufactured outrage" over Barack Obama' tax plan last night by invoking the now-famous (or infamous) "Joe the Plumber."
"Last night John McCain made Joe the Plumber a household name. His manufactured outrage on behalf of Joe would be a lot more believable if his economic plan had anything to do with helping working people deal with the economic crisis," UA Assistant General President Steve Kelly said in a statement released this afternoon.
UA was the first union--in fact, it says, the first organization period--to endorse Obama in the presidential race. It did so Jan. 9, 2008.
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Change to Win, a federation of unions that includes the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the Service Employees International Union, is mocking John McCain with a two-part series of web videos that spoof Bud Light's long-running "Real Men of Genius" ad campaign, "saluting" McCain as a "Real McCain of Genius."
The first salutes McCain as "Mr. I Don't Know How Many Houses I Own," mocking the senator for being unable to tell reporters how many houses he and his wife own when asked in late August.
Change to Win employed a New York-based comedy troupe called Olde English to make the videos.
The AFL-CIO announced today it will send a mailer to 600,000 union members in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin aimed at dispelling rumors about Barack Obama.
The mailer offers "straight answers to real questions" such as: does he wear a flag pin, is he Christian, was he born in America, does he swear on a Bible, and does he place his hand over his heart when he says the pledge of allegiance.
The answer provided to all of the above is "yes," though the mailer notes that Obama sometimes wears other pins (e.g. breast cancer awareness) or no pin at all.
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Minnesota TV viewers will receive a special message from the Sopranos' Vincent Curatola, aka Johnny "Sack" Sacramoni, warning them that Al Franken supports the Employee Free Choice Act.
Curatola is appearing, for the second time, in an ad paid for by Coalition for a Democratic Workplace (CDW), a group founded to oppose the bill.
The Employee Free Choice Act, which Franken supports, would allow workers to form unions by obtaining signatures on a sign-up sheet. Currently, the National Labor Relations Board mandates secret ballot elections to certify the formation of unions.
CDW alleges this opens workers to pro-union intimidation; labor unions and supporters of the bill say the current system opens workers to anti-union intimidation from employers.
The ad begins airing statewide in Minnesota today. In it, Curatola appears as a bullying labor boss who doesn't like Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), whom Franken is challenging, because Coleman opposes the Employee Free Choice Act. See it below:
Barack Obama called on Congress and President Bush to take economic relief measures in response to the Labor Department's June employment numbers, which were released today.
Unemployment held at 5.5 percent in June, while 62,000 jobs were lost, the report stated. Obama called for immediate action.
"I'm calling on Congress and the President to enact real, immediate relief with energy rebates for working families this summer, a fund to help families avoid foreclosure, extended benefits for the long-term jobless, and assistance to states that have been hard-hit by the economic downturn," Obama said today in a written statement circulated by his campaign.
Obama worked in a shot at GOP rival John McCain, comparing the Arizona senator to Bush: "We can't afford four more years of more of the same," Obama said. "That is the essential issue of this campaign because Senator McCain has fully embraced the Bush economic agenda."
McCain also called for immediate tax relief in response to the report today. As small businesses struggle to grow and create new jobs, McCain said, "We cannot raise taxes, increase regulation and isolate ourselves from foreign markets."
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