George Zornick | The Nation
Will the SEC Force More Campaign Finance Disclosure?
Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Mary Schapiro testifies before the House Financial Services Committee. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak.)
We’ve long been covering pressure by good-government groups on the Securities and Exchange Commission to require publicly traded companies to disclose their campaign spending, which, thanks in part to Citizen’s United, remains behind an impenetrable wall.
The Good and Bad of the Fiscal Cliff Deal
President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden make a statement regarding the passage of the fiscal cliff bill in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, Tuesday, January 1, 2013. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Many liberals are bashing the deal passed last night by Congress, and not without reason. Even Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid reportedly thought this was a bad deal, though he did buck up and support it.
Over the Cliff: Liberals Fight Back Against Bad Deal
The country will go over the fiscal cliff—that became certain late Monday when the House adjourned for the day.
But a deal is definitely forming, tentatively struck between Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Vice President Joe Biden after talks between McConnell and his Democratic counterpart, Senator Harry Reid, failed. It’s rumored to be as follows: an extension of the Bush rates up to $400,000 in annual income for individuals, and households that earn more than $450,000; a one-year extension of unemployment insurance; putting off both the military and domestic sequesters for two months (though Republicans are still trying to win commensurate cuts for that delay); setting the estate tax at 40 percent for inheritances over $5 million ($10 million for couples, and there’s still negotiations over indexing the estate tax); and capital gains and dividends rates going from 15 to 20 percent. There would be no action on the debt ceiling, and no extension of the payroll tax cut. There would be a handful of stimulative tax credits.
The White House spin on the pending agreement that it’s a good deal because it finally raises rates on top earners, which has the added benefit of finally “shatter[ing] 20 years of Republican orthodoxy on taxes, undercutting a core part of the party identity,” as Politico puts it. There are also zero entitlement cuts. The rest of the White House argument can be summed up like this: stimulus. True, the administration gave in some on the threshold for tax hikes, but it was a necessary concession to win the unemployment insurance extension and the stimulative tax credits. Also, the damaging sequester cuts are put off, at least for now. In short, this leaves the economy as untouched by austerity as is reasonably possible right now.
The Guide to Going Off the Cliff
Congress and the White House are scrambling to reach a deal to avert the expiration of the Bush tax rates, the enactment of deep budget cuts and several other measures scheduled to take effect on January 1—known, of course, as the “fiscal cliff.”
How will they solve it? (Or will they?) The Rubik’s cube has been twisted and turned for weeks now, and we’ll overview the potential solutions that realistically remain—but first let’s clear up what exactly needs to be addressed.
At midnight on December 31, the following things will happen absent Congressional action and the president’s signature:
Backfire: The Disgusting NRA Press Conference
The National Rifle Association executive vice president Wayne LaPierre walks off after making a statement during a news conference in response to the Connecticut school shooting on Friday, December 21, 2012, in Washington. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)
I fully expected the National Rifle Association to hold a press conference this morning that would help blunt the momentum for gun control legislation now building in Washington: to solemnly pay tribute to those lost at Sandy Hook; to pledge to work with all sides to stop this from happening again while subtly trying to shift the conversation more towards mental health issues and, heck, maybe video games too. It would make the NRA seem reasonable, and concerned, and give hesitant members of Congress some comfort in sticking to the NRA line.
Boehner’s Choice
Last night, the House of Representatives declined to take up Speaker John Boehner’s “Plan B”—a measure that would have simply extended the Bush tax cuts on everyone who earns under $1 million annually, and put off the rest of the fiscal cliff issues off until a later date.
Up until, Boehner had been negotiating a deal with Obama, and doing a pretty decent job, from his point of view. He got Obama off the $250,000 benchmark for extending the Bush tax cuts, and up to $400,000. He got Obama to scrap his demand for a permanent debt-ceiling fix. He got Obama to propose a Social Security benefit cut, which has enraged progressives.
But in a replay of 2011’s debt ceiling negotiations, it became clear to Boehner he probably didn’t have enough votes to pass this “grand bargain” with a majority of his caucus behind him. So on Monday evening, Boehner phoned President Obama and said the House would take up the bare-minimum “Plan B”—which was meant to be a mattress on the ground for Republicans if no deal could be reached by January 1. They could say they still protected the tax cuts for most Americans, with a small concession to Obama’s position by not protecting them for people earning over $1 million.
Real Movement on Gun Control?
President Obama made a strong opening push on actually advancing gun control legislation yesterday, calling for policy recommendations within a month, which he will then highlight in his State of the Union address and subsequently push for in Congress. While Obama has been painfully absent from the gun debate, failing to even mention the assault weapons ban for most of his first term, this is now about as proactive as he could possibly be.
At a White House press conference, he first invoked the slaughter at Sandy Hook Elementary, but then crucially expanded his scope: he spoke of “what we might do not only to deter mass shootings in the future, but to reduce the epidemic of gun violence that plagues this country every single day.” He closed by once again reminding people it’s not just Newtown:
Since Friday morning, a police officer was gunned down in Memphis, leaving four children without their mother. Two officers were killed outside a grocery store in Topeka. A woman was shot and killed inside a Las Vegas casino. Three people were shot inside an Alabama hospital. A 4-year-old was caught in a drive-by in Missouri and taken off life support just yesterday.
Don’t Be Fooled: Walmart Hasn't Changed Anything
In this week’s issue, we describe how Walmart has expanded gun sales—including military-style assault weapons—to half of its stores nationwide, and is the country’s biggest retailer of guns and ammunition in the country.
As our story was about to be published, Walmart removed a Bushmaster AR-15 style assault rifle, the same gun Adam Lanza used to carry out his attack on the Sandy Hook Elementary School, from its website. All of the other assault weapons remain. (See other examples here).
This is one of the most transparent public relations moves in relation to a dangerous product that I can recall—it was literally the least Walmart could do. To be clear, the store never actually sold the guns online. Rather, you can peruse Walmart’s gun inventory on its website, read customer reviews and product specifications and then find a Walmart near you that carries the item.
Sixteen US Mass Shootings Happened in 2012, Leaving at Least 88 Dead
President Barack Obama wipes his eye as he talks about the Connecticut elementary school shooting, Friday, December 14, 2012, in the White House briefing room in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Today’s nearly indescribable tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut, where twenty-seven people, including eighteen children, were shot to death inside an elementary school, is at least the sixteenth mass shooting to take place in America this year. The death toll is now at eighty-four.
Three Common-Sense Gun Bills That Can't Pass Congress
Ed. Note: In the light of today's tragic mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, many people are calling for an immediate discussion on gun control. Here are three places where Congress can get started--a list we published in the wake of the Aurora theater shooting that is, alas, still just as relevant. No action has been taken on any of these measures.
America’s gun laws are truly outrageous: in Colorado they allowed James Holmes to stockpile several weapons in a short period of time, including an AR-15 assault rifle with a high-capacity magazine, without ever registering the purchases with authorities. On the federal level, as we described yesterday, there are efforts underway to put guns into the hands of veterans with mental incapabilities, people on terror watch lists, and to weaken the federal bureau that enforces many gun laws.
President Obama has repeatedly relayed that he is only interested in enforcing “existing” gun laws. Even right-wing pundit Bill Kristol thinks this is misguided: he said on Fox News this weekend that “I actually think the Democrats are being foolish as they are being cowardly. I think there is more support for some moderate forms of gun control.”
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