MORNING MESSAGE
Silicon
Valley companies, many run by stock-billionaires, pay a lot at the top, and
squat at the bottom. There are the lucky employees, and a huge number of
“contractors” – employees who are not called employees. The employees that reach
over a certain age are discarded ... In the midst of all this, a number of
labor, faith and community groups have joined together to address income
inequality, create affordable housing and urge corporate responsibility among
tech companies ... Silicon Valley Rising ... will engage in a comprehensive
campaign to “raise wages, create affordable housing and build a tech economy
that works for everyone.”
Republicans Cave
Republicans
back down, fund Homeland Security. The Hill: “Tuesday’s roll call allows
Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to finally turn the page on an ugly chapter in his
leadership that consumed the opening months of the new Republican-controlled
Congress. But it also highlighted once again the tenuous power Boehner enjoys
over his conference. The spending bill cleared the House on a 257-167 vote only
because of the unanimous support of House Democrats.”
Republicans
“shaken” at their inability to govern. Politico: “The fear among House
Republicans is that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will be too quick to
heed Democratic demands and push through watered-down bills on education, trade,
health care and the budget. And the worry among Senate Republicans is that their
House counterparts will scuttle hard-fought compromises that offer the only way
to overcome filibusters and get bills to President Barack Obama’s desk.”
Debt
limit estimated to be reached in the fall. The Hill: “Just minutes after
lawmakers averted a partial government shutdown by agreeing to fund the
Department of Homeland Security, the CBO released a warning about the need to
lift the debt ceiling. In a new report, the CBO estimated that the government
would default on its obligations some time in October or November if Congress
fails to act.”
SCOTUS Hears Obamacare Case
Supreme
Court hears arguments in suit over Obamacare subsidies today. Bloomberg: “A
decision halting the credits might unravel the Affordable Care Act, making other
core provisions ineffective and potentially causing the market for individual
insurance policies to collapse in much of the country. Hospitals would
potentially be left with billions of dollars in unpaid bills … The court will
rule by the end of June.”
TNR’s
Abigail Moncrieff predicts “the Supreme Court Will Rule in Favor of
Obamacare”: “Several questions have recently emerged over the legitimacy of
the plaintiffs’ case, including issues of jurisdiction and congressional intent,
but there’s an even deeper flaw: The plaintiffs’ interpretation would render the
statute unconstitutional.”
Summers Goes Populist
Policy
ideas from Larry Summers winning progressive economist praise. NYT: “[He]
calls for tax and regulatory policies to encourage employee ownership, the
strengthening of collective bargaining rights, regulations requiring
corporations to provide fringe benefits to employees working for subcontractors,
a substantial increase in the minimum wage, sharper overtime pay enforcement,
and a huge increase in infrastructure appropriations – for roads, bridges,
ports, schools – to spur job creation and tighten the labor market. Summers also
calls for significant increases in the progressivity of the United States tax
system.”
Sen.
Marco Rubio looks to end a business tax break while eliminating capital gains
tax. Politico: “On the chopping block is a widely used business deduction
for interest paid on debt … The Tax Foundation found that the plan could raise
$94 billion from economic growth after a 10-year transition … [But] scored with
the traditional methods … the proposal would mean $414 billion in revenue
losses.”
Senate Seeks To Kill Union Election Reform
GOP
will vote to scrap NLRB rule expediting union elections. The Hill: “If the
bill gets to his desk, however, the White House says President Obama will veto
it … If it goes into effect next month, it would shorten the amount of time
employers have to prepare for union elections from 38 days to 11 days.”
ProPublica
and NPR investigate “The Demolition of Workers’ Comp”: “Over the past
decade, state after state has been dismantling America’s workers’ comp system
with disastrous consequences for many of the hundreds of thousands of people who
suffer serious injuries at work each year … The cutbacks have been so drastic in
some places that they virtually guarantee injured workers will plummet into
poverty. Workers often battle insurance companies for years to get the
surgeries, prescriptions and basic help their doctors recommend.”
Breakfast Sides
Obama
knocks China on rules for tech firms. NYT: “The rules, among other things,
require companies that sell computer equipment to Chinese banks to turn over
secret source code, submit to invasive audits and build so-called back doors
into hardware and software … [Obama said to Reuters,] ‘Those kinds of
restrictive practices, I think, would, ironically, hurt the Chinese economy over
the long term…'”
Mayor
Emanuel “in the fight of his life.” Politico: “With local and national
progressive groups lining up behind Garcia and promising to pour cash into the
effort to deny Emanuel a second term, the mayor … plans to launch an ad campaign
in the coming days intended to discredit Garcia and cast him as a do-nothing pol
… A pair of liberal groups, Democracy for America and MoveOn.org, are partnering
on field efforts, and a third, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, is
raising money for the cash-starved Garcia.”
Progressive
Breakfast is a daily morning email highlighting news stories of interest to
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