Lobbyists Win Again In Securing Tax Break For Home Builders

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/business/economy/15gret.html?_r=1
The New York Times's Gretchen Morgenson points out that lobbyists have won another victory that will lead to billions in taxpayer dollars being handed over to firms that helped spur the economic crisis.

The Worker, Homeownership and Business Assistance Act of 2009, which President Obama just signed into law, contains "a tax break that lets big companies offset losses incurred in 2008 and 2009 against profits booked as far back as 2004," Morgenson reports. (Read the full story here.)

The administration estimates that the tax breaks will be worth some $33 billion, and home builders -- who analysts say were key players in the financial crisis by building and financing too many homes -- stand to benefit enormously.

One of the more shocking elements of Morgenson's piece is just how large a rate of return these home builders got for the money they spent on lobbying for this tax break:

Securing this tax break was a top priority for home builders, lobbying records show. The Center for Responsive Politics reports that through Oct. 26 of this year, home builders paid $6 million to their lobbyists. Last year, the industry spent $8.2 million lobbying...

...Among individual companies, Lennar spent $240,000 lobbying while companies affiliated with Hovnanian Enterprises spent $222,000. Pulte Homes spent $210,000 this year.

That's some return on investment. After spending its $210,000, Pulte will receive $450 million in refunds. And Hovnanian, after spending its $222,000, will get as much as $275 million.


Even as unemployment continues to rise and the Obama administration's foreclosure plan appears to be failing, Congress and the White House are signing off on tax breaks that reward those who are partly responsible for our financial predicament.

Jon Stewart blasts Democrats over public option

On the Daily Show last night, Jon Stewart blasted Senate Democrats for failing to get a public health care option through the Senate Finance Committee despite having a super majority.

Here's the clip via Comedy Central:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Democratic Super Majority
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Ron Paul Interview

Rep. Bachmann Warns of Abortion Field Trips

Sigh...

Wednesday night on the House floor, Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-Minn.) said the latest Democratic health care bill would allow school officials to take girls out for an abortion during the day and send them home on the school bus that night with their parents being "never the wiser."

On the Take: How much were Senators paid for yesterday's health care vote?

On average, Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee who voted FOR a public option to be included in the health care overhaul took home $3 million given to them by insurance companies and other health care industry lobbyists.

Those handful of Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee who voted AGAINST the public option took home more than $10 million.

Now, we're just talking about those members on the committee. Money given to the entire Senate and House of Representatives isn't included in this amount.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus alone got about $1.8 million in campaign contributions from health care lobbyists, according to a report released by The Sunlight Foundation. The foundation is a nonpartisan organization that seeks to make the workings of government more transparent.

You can use the report below to compare how much money members of the Senate Finance Committee got from unions, which favor a public option, versus the amount of money they received from insurance companies and other industry lobbyists.

Just in case you wanted to know what members are on the take - and how much money was stuffed into their pockets - see the chart below. Using campaign finance disclosure forms that members of Congress are required by law to submit, the Sunlight Foundation compiled this report. The info is straight from the horses' mouths, so to speak.

Go ahead, take a look for yourself, and make up your own mind.

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

Name	Party	Labor Contributions (2005-2010)	Health Contributions (2005-2010)	Ratio (Health:Labor)	Rockefeller Amendment	Schumer Amendment
Mike Crapo	R	$2,000	$243,226	121.6:1	N	N
Jon Kyl	R	$13,000	$1,188,238	91.4:1	N	N
Chuck Grassley	R	$11,500	$651,627	56.7:1	N	N
Jim Bunning	R	$2,500	$112,650	45.1:1	N	N
John Cornyn	R	$27,250	$1,226,469	44.6:1	N	N
John Ensign	R	$12,000	$521,575	43.5:1	N	N
Orrin Hatch	R	$31,100	$1,020,334	32.8:1	N	N
Pat Roberts	R	$12,000	$343,849	28.7:1	N	N
Blanche Lincoln	D	$36,100	$641,004	17.8:1	N	N
Mike Enzi	R	$26,500	$423,749	16.0:1	N	N
Maria Cantwell	D	$22,500	$353,342	15.7:1	Y	Y
Ron Wyden	D	$39,000	$370,175	9.5:1	Y	Y
Max Baucus	D	$207,925	$1,763,799	8.5:1	N	N
Olympia Snowe	R	$103,750	$367,549	3.5:1	N	N
Kent Conrad	D	$253,750	$652,178	2.6:1	N	N
Debbie Stabenow	D	$284,125	$737,243	2.6:1	Y	Y
Bill Nelson	D	$241,890	$613,594	2.5:1	N	Y
Jay Rockefeller	D	$240,800	$605,400	2.5:1	Y	Y
Chuck Schumer	D	$140,500	$298,650	2.1:1	Y	Y
John Kerry	D	$103,248	$188,558	1.8:1	Y	Y
Jeff Bingaman	D	$229,500	$366,414	1.6:1	Y	Y
Tom Carper	D	$180,010	$287,406	1.6:1	N	Y
Robert Menendez	D	$400,100	$603,343	1.5:1	Y	Y

** Both Senators Chuck Schumer and Jay Rockefeller each introduced public option plans. Both were voted down by the U.S. Senate Finance Committee.

Public Says Voice Not Heard on Health Care

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=3
A new poll by NPR, the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Harvard school of Public Health says while lawmakers bicker and deal, the public feels largely shut out. Despite public support, the Senate Finance Committee voted down the public option Tuesday.

Issa Ramps Up Probe of Mortgage Company Phone Taps

http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?parm1=1&docID=cqmidday-000003211930&mp=Most_Viewed
The revelation that Countrywide Financial recorded phone conversations as part of a specialized “VIP” mortgage loan program has added another twist to a Republican-led inquiry on Capitol Hill.

Republican Rep. Darrell Issa , who has aggressively pursued the now-defunct Countrywide program for much of this year, said Monday that a call-recording system put in place as early as 2003 could contain evidence of wrongdoing by prominent public officials.

He requested a raft of new information about the program and the taping system from Bank of America, which purchased Countrywide in July 2008 as it struggled with mounting losses amid the collapse of the housing market.

The Wall Street Journal reported the existence of the taping, and that the recordings had been destroyed, on Sunday night.

The program became a lightning rod for controversy when it was revealed that two prominent senators, Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad , D-N.D., and Banking Chairman Christopher J. Dodd , D-Conn., received loans through the program.

Should Taxpayers Bailout Newspapers?

Without newspapers I would have no memories of sitting on my grandmother’s lap learning how to read. I wouldn’t have had one of the most interesting careers on the planet nor a way of finding out what’s really going on in the world.

I have spent all of my adult life in the business, so it would be dishonest of me to say that I wasn’t heartened to read President Obama’s words about journalism and that he would consider bailing out newspapers.

But the side of me with “bailout fatigue” has to wonder if saving newspapers is the best use of taxpayers’ money.

Declining readership, dwindling advertising dollars and the growing popularity of Web sites and cable news shows have all put enormous financial pressures on newspapers, which threatens the industry’s survival — and some newspapers have already gone under .

With more and more Americans turning to YouTube or “The Daily Show” for news these days, bailing out newspapers probably isn’t one of the soundest investments to make right now.

In praising newspaper journalism, Obama added: “I am concerned that if the direction of the news is all blogosphere, all opinions, with no serious fact-checking, no serious attempts to put stories in context, that what you will end up getting is people shouting at each other across the void but not a lot of mutual understanding.”

The president’s worries underscore the findings in a Pew Research Center survey released this month that shows public assessment about the accuracy and independence of news stories is now at its lowest level in more than two decades.

Just days after Obama made his comments about a bailout, Congress held a hearing on the future of newspapers.

The hearing, coincidentally, came on the very same day the parent company of the publication you’re reading right now laid off 44 workers.

“ . . .  the government can help foster solutions for this industry in ways which protect the independence of newspapers and enables their objective reporting to thrive in a new economic and media climate,” said Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney , D-N.Y., who chaired the Sept. 24 hearing. Maloney has also introduced legislation she says will enable local newspapers to take advantage of nonprofit status as a way to preserve their place in communities nationwide.

If attendance at the hearing is an indication for how much appetite members of Congress have for saving newspapers, then the industry just might be doomed. Only three of the 20 House and Senate members showed up for it, and the Democratic chairman left early to vote on a House bill, putting the ranking Republican in charge, The Washington Times reported.

Since the days of Alexander Hamilton, the Founding Fathers insisted on a free press.

“[It] would be quite as significant to declare that government ought to be free, that taxes ought not to be excessive, etc., as that the liberty of the press ought not to be restrained,” Hamilton wrote in The Federalist Papers, No. 84.

Click to keep reading.

The Money Trail: Martinez follows other lawmakers straight to K Street

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0909/27560.html
It used to be that lawmakers were coy about any ideas they had about heading for K Street, waiting until their terms ended before announcing they were beginning a more lucrative career.

But in recent years, members of Congress planning to become lobbyists have not been able to wait. In fact, when Florida Republican Mel Martinez this week accepted a position with the mega-lobbying and law firm DLA Piper — less than two weeks after resigning from the Senate — it brought to five the number of former lawmakers since 2007 who have abandoned their constituents midterm and almost immediately resurfaced with lobbying firms, according to data provided by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

“This used to be considered unacceptable, but it really is a growing phenomenon,” said Meredith McGehee, who lobbies for stricter lobbying and ethics regulations for the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center. “The reality is that the money has gotten so big and so tempting these days, that I think a lot of these members are saying, ‘I don’t think I’ll go back into political office, first of all, and, the money is just too big to turn down.’”

For Congressional Black Caucus, joy is tempered by worry

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0909/27465.html
For the Congressional Black Caucus and its 42 members, these should be the best of times.

The nation’s first black president, Barack Obama, now resides in the White House.

“This is a triumphant moment,” said Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), the CBC’s chairwoman. “After all, a member of the CBC was elected president.”

Yet for many CBC members, there’s also an underlying sense of nervousness and concern about the shifting political landscape in the eight months since Obama was sworn in. The sudden explosion of tea party groups, with right-wing protesters carrying signs depicting Obama as an African witch doctor or in a Nazi uniform, has infuriated some black lawmakers, who say such behavior wouldn’t be tolerated for a white president.

August a $3 Million Month for DCCC, NRCC

http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docid=news-000003206342
Positioning for the 2010 Elections...

The National Republican Congressional Committee took in $3.1 million, raising more from individual donors than the DCCC — but significantly less from its much smaller membership.

The DCCC, which will be defending its 256-178 edge in the House in the November 2010 elections, has raised significantly more than the NRCC this year, $37.4 million to $23.8 million, and has more than twice as much money in the bank, $10.7 million to $4.2 million.

Marissa Mayer, an executive at Google, was one of four individuals who gave the DCCC $30,400 last month. That is the maximum annual contribution allowed under the law.

Phil Ruffin, a Las Vegas casino owner, was one of two donors who gave $30,400 to the NRCC last month.

Study: Tweets by Lawmakers Boastful or Boring

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/19/AR2009091902389.html?wprss=rss_politics
You mean they needed a study to tell them this?

Democrats Run Away From ACORN

http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=news-000003205222
Democrats in Congress are abandoning an embattled community organizing group after Republicans stepped up attacks on the liberal-leaning ACORN and the federal funding it receives.

Majorities of Senate and House Democrats voted Thursday in favor of separate Republican proposals to block federal funding for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.

The group has come under heavy criticism following the release Monday of a video showing ACORN employees apparently advising a couple, posing as a prostitute accompanied by her pimp, about how to conceal their line of work, evade taxes and handle undocumented, under-age sex workers.

On this day in 1986: Congress selects the rose as U.S. national flower

Start:	Sep 23, '09
Location:	Washington, DC

The House of Representatives passed a joint resolution naming the rose as the "national floral emblem" of the United States. The Senate had passed the resolution in 1985.

The measure then went to President Ronald Reagan. He signed the resolution into law on October 7, 1986 in a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden.

.

Wall Street Goes to Washington

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/12/AR2009091202932.html
The banks are at it again!

New Disclosures Show Joe Wilson Deep in Debt

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/notepad/2009/09/debtburdened-joe-wilson-amends.html
This is what happens when you make yourself the news...

Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., is heavily leveraged and his debts may even exceed his assets, according to an amended financial disclosure form for 2008 that for the first time reveals hundreds of thousands of dollars in previously unreported loans from federal credit unions and banks.

Wilson made headlines Wednesday night for yelling "Lie. You lie," at President Obama during an address to a joint session of Congress. Now, it turns out that the personal financial disclosure form Wilson filed with the House of Representatives in May was grossly inaccurate. (Turns out he really did lie.)

More @the link.

Is It Time for Rangel to Resign?

House Ways and Means Chairman Charles B. Rangel has had a pretty good run.

First elected in 1971, the Democratic representative from New York rose from being a high school dropout to leading one of the most influential committees in Congress. He is one of a handful of members of the Congressional Black Caucus who have amassed power and influence that resulted last year in seeing one of its own catapulted to the White House.

As Ways and Means Chairman, Rangel is one of the highest ranking black members — and one of the most powerful members, period — in Congress. Ways and Means is the chief tax-writing committee in the House, and is in charge of all taxation, tariffs and other revenue-raising measures, as well as a number of other programs including Social Security, unemployment benefits and Medicare.

Rangel has been a role model and confidant for congressional staffers and members alike. But lately he has come under increasing pressure to resign.

For a second time, The Washington Post is calling for Rangel to step aside as Ways and Means chairman. Earlier, The Buffalo, N.Y. News called for Rangel to step down. Both editorials came on the heels of a recent disclosure that the chairman massively underreported
his assets.

It’s not the first time.

Last year, a House ethics panel looked into allegations Rangel paid below-market rents for four apartments in a Harlem high-rise as well as his use of congressional letterhead to contact potential donors to an educational center that bears his name. He also failed to report income from a Florida condominium, and failed to pay taxes on a house in the Dominican Republic.

Conservatives, of course, have been calling for Rangel’s head for a while now.

“The arrogant elitist Rep. Charlie Rangel ... has proven to epitome [sic] of a scumbag politician. This arrogant New York politician should be made the poster child for corrupt politicians and Americans need to demand he made a [sic] example of,” writes Gregory Dail in the Washington Examiner, who went on to label Rangel “Crooked Charlie.”

That might come off as more than a little harsh. But even some Democrats are quietly questioning whether Rangel, who has trouble paying his own taxes, should be in charge of overseeing tax laws for the rest of us.

Continued Here.

Obama, Give Us the Diagnosis Straight

There’s a no-nonsense woman on Capitol Hill who trains newly elected members of Congress on how to become legislators. Her name is Judy Schneider, and one of the first lessons she teaches is that to move legislation, members need to be intimately familiar with the bill’s politics, policy and procedure — especially procedure.

She also tells newcomers that if lawmakers aren’t skillful in all three of these areas, the policy is always the first to go. (I know this because I took her class as a legislative fellow a year ago.)

Looking at how President Obama and other Democrats have handled the current health care debate, it appears a lot of them might have missed Schneider’s class, or at least are in need of a refresher course.

This week, Obama will address a joint session of Congress on Sept. 9, in which he will try to get his health care efforts back on track.

It’s about time, too.

The past month has been filled with rancor, half-truths and outright lies — all from opponents. Part of the reason Obama and Democrats have been unable to frame the debate on their terms is because the majority party failed to understand the politics. They also have been unable to introduce a single plan or resonant message of its own. The void has unfortunately been filled by a vocal minority, well-financed by the health care industry.

The number of plans being talked about in Congress has only added to the confusion.

The result: Two out of three Americans say they are confused about the health care options being discussed in Congress, according to a CBS News poll. Only 36 percent of those polled said that government would do a better job than private insurers in providing medical coverage, down from 50 percent in June, the Christian Science monitor reported.

So, what should Obama say this week to Congress — and by extension the American people?

First: The president needs to shoot straight with the American public and tell them the public option is dead. His administration has been signaling this development for weeks, but nobody has come out and stated it directly; instead the administration has waffled. Disclosing the truth — that the option is off the table — will stop liberals from walking around with false hope, and at the same time give conservatives less to complain about (not that they really will stop, but the less the rest of us have to hear about “socialist medicine” and “death panels,” the better).

Continued Here...

ObamaCare Supporter Bites Off Finger Of Protester...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090903/ap_on_re_us/us_finger_severed
Liberals have just gone crazy! I am worried about the safety of the average blue collar person in this country with the Obama Zombies inciting violence everywhere!

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – California authorities say a clash between opponents and supporters of health care reform ended with one man biting off another man's finger.

Ventura County Sheriff's Capt. Frank O'Hanlon says about 100 people demonstrating in favor of health care reforms rallied Wednesday night on a street corner. One protester walked across the street to confront about 25 counter-demonstrators.

O'Hanlon says the man got into an argument and fist fight, during which he bit off the left pinky of a 65-year-old man who opposed health care reform.

A hospital spokeswoman says the man lost half the finger, but doctors reattached it and he was sent home the same night.

She says he had Medicare.

O'Hanlon says the attacker fled but authorities have a good description.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (AP) — California authorities say a clash between opponents and supporters of health care reform ended with one man biting off another man's finger.

Ventura County Sheriff's Capt. Frank O'Hanlon says about 100 people demonstrating in favor of health care reforms rallied Wednesday night on a street corner. One protester walked across the street to confront about 25 counter-demonstrators.

O'Hanlon says the man got into an argument and fist fight, during which he bit off the left pinky of a 65-year-old man who opposed health care reform.

The victim retrieved the finger and went to a hospital. There was no immediate word Thursday on whether doctors reattached his finger, or whether the man had health insurance.

O'Hanlon says the attacker fled but authorities have a good description.

Public Hasn't Been This Unhappy With Congress In 20 Years

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/polltracker/2009/09/new-pew.html
The news isn't good at the moment for members of Congress hoping to hang onto their jobs next year. A poll conducted Aug. 20-27 by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found favorable public opinion toward the Congress, now at 37 percent, to be at its lowest point in more than 20 years.

The poll also found that 52 percent of respondents had an unfavorable opinion of Congress.

Time for Rangel to Go?

Should Charles Rangel, D-NY, step down or be removed from the House Ways and Means Chairmanship?

Yes, definitely. He's a tax cheat.

 

 3

No. Everybody else does it, why not him?

 

 0

Maybe, somebody is probably setting him up.

 

 0

It doesn't matter whether he stays or goes

 

 0

Buffalo News: Rangel should resign

The Buffalo News has had enough of Charlie Rangel, following the disclosure that the House Ways and Means Chairman massively underreported his assets.

It'll be interesting to see if other papers follow suit. If the Times eventually draws the same conclusion [which they aren't likely to do prior to the conclusion of the interminable Ethics Committee probe], look out.

It’s the same old story for Rangel, who last year reluctantly acknowledged what he described as an inadvertent failure to report $75,000 in rental income for a beachfront property in the Dominican Republic. Then, many critics—including this page—called on him to step down from his chairmanship, at least until his professed innocence could be established. He didn’t.

Now, it gets worse. Newly-filed disclosures show that Rangel failed to report at least half a million dollars in assets in 2007. They also show that his net worth is between $1 million and $2.5 million, or about twice what he claimed in 2008.

This would be cause for uproar over any elected official, but when that official heads Congress’ finance—and tax— committee, it is intolerable. Once could be a mistake; an unlikely one, to be sure, but it is possible. The odds of simple error fall to near zero when it happens twice, and when both times are in your financial favor. We’d feel better about it if he accidentally paid taxes on more than he is worth, rather than less.

This is no longer just a problem for Rangel. It’s a problem for Pelosi and all House Democrats, including Brian Higgins of Buffalo and Louise Slaughter of Fairport. It’s a management problem now because Rangel’s shortcomings can— and will—be used to undermine the Democratic majority’s claim to power. And why not? If Democrats are willing to put up with this kind of behavior from one of the chamber’s most powerful members, they will have asked for an Election Day spanking.

This is Pelosi’s sternest test. She should give Rangel a week to do the right thing and then, if he doesn’t, she must.