“In a briefing with reporters today at House Republicans’ retreat in Williamsburg, Va., Rep. Paul Ryan said that the House GOP is discussing a possible “short-term debt limit extension,” but that the “worst thing for the economy” would be a lift in the debt ceiling without any spending cuts.

Ryan suggested the lift in the debt ceiling could be extremely short, so that it could be addressed with another fiscal battle — the sequester — in March.

Ryan also urged President Barack Obama to prioritize payments under the debt limit to ensure there is no default on the country’s obligations….”

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[youtube://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxXUwufCBug 450 300]

“Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) gave an interview to the Christian Broadcasting Networkin which he rather strongly denounced President Obama’s threats to impose gun control through executive orders.  ”I’m against having a king,” said the Senator.  ”I think having a monarch is what we fought the American Revolution over, and someone who wants to bypass the Constitution, bypass Congress, that’s someone who wants to act like a king or monarch.”… ”

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“President Obama’s pick to run the Treasury Department isn’t much of a financial reformer. And it looks like his potential pick for Treasury’s No. 2 spot might not be, either: She actively lobbied for Wall Street.

Obama is reportedly considering tapping Morgan Stanley chief financial officer Ruth Porat to be the “number two” at Treasury under his pick for Treasury Secretary, Jack Lew. Picking Porat would address two problems for Obama: the notable lack of women named so far to his second-term cabinet, and Lew’s professed lack of financial expertise.

But it might create yet another headache: Though Porat is accomplished and apparently knows financial markets, she has also frequently lobbied regulators over the rules in the Dodd-Frank financial-reform law, according to an incomplete tally by the Sunlight Foundation.

Of course, a new job might bring a new attitude about financial reform. It also seems that Porat’s primary role will be as the glue that binds banks and the White House together during the debt-ceiling fight and other fights ahead, according to Bloomberg. No need for a lot of financial-regulatory zeal in such a job.

Still, a strong regulator might have made a good deputy for the budget-focused Lew. It is hard to imagine that Porat, who has spent the past couple of years arguing Wall Street’s case to regulators, will be that regulator….”

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“Northeastern lawmakers hoping to push a $50.7 billion Superstorm Sandy aid package through the House face roadblocks by fiscal conservatives seeking offsetting spending cuts to pay for recovery efforts as well as funding cuts for projects they say are unrelated to the Oct. 29 storm.

The amendments by budget hawks set up a faceoff Tuesday, with Northeast lawmakers in both parties eager to provide recovery aid for one of the worst storms ever to strike the region as the House moves toward expected votes on the emergency spending package.

The base $17 billion bill by the House Appropriations Committee is aimed at immediate Sandy recovery needs, including $5.4 billion for New York and New Jersey transit systems and $5.4 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster relief aid fund….”

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“A key New York Senate leader and the Assembly speaker said they expect the state Legislature to vote Monday to enact what would be the nation’s first gun control measure following last month’s Connecticut school shooting.

“I think when all is said and done, we are going to pass a comprehensive gun bill today,” Sen. Jeffrey Klein told reporters Monday morning. “I’m very excited about it. I am very confident we are going to vote on a comprehensive bill that will be agreed on by the governor, the Senate and Assembly.”

“My understanding is the vice president’s going to provide a range of steps that we can take to reduce gun violence,” said Obama. “Some of them will require legislation, some of them I can accomplish through executive action. And so I will be reviewing those today, and as I said, I will speak in more detail to what we’re going to go ahead and propose later in the week. But I’m confident that there are some steps that we can take that don’t require legislation and that are within my authority as president, and where you get a step that, has the opportunity to reduce the possibility of gun violence, then i want to go ahead and take it.”

Full article and video

Furthermore, threatening to go over the cliff is a tactic that will not get him to negotiate….

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“Yesterday, Citigroup floated the idea that a temporary government shutdown once the full array of debt ceiling extension measures expires some time in mid/late February, is possible, which would also mean the first technical default of the US depending on the prioritization of US debt payments. Now, Politico reports that this idea is rapidly gaining support within the GOP and that “more than half of GOP members are prepare to allow default unless Obama agress to dramatic cuts he has repeatedly said he opposes.” It gets better… or worse depending how many ES contracts on is long: “Many more members, including some party leaders, are prepared to shut down the government to make their point. House Speaker John Boehner “may need a shutdown just to get it out of their system,” said a top GOP leadership adviser. “We might need to do that for member-management purposes — so they have an endgame and can show their constituents they’re fighting.”” Of course, at this point not even a US government bankruptcy may send the ES more than one or two ticks lower. After all, there is no risk of anything happening anywhere, any time.

More from Politico….”

Full article

“The Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee proposed powers to alter the amount of capital banks hold against real-estate assets as well as derivatives and bonds as it seeks to strengthen the financial system.

While the FPC will seek to act at the “highest level,” it also sees a potential need to target capital at a “more granular level,” it said a draft paper published in London today. “Such an approach might help to tackle threats to stability before they spread, particularly by leaning against exuberance in specific subsectors,” it said, noting high loan- to-value mortgages as an example.

The FPC has sought powers over so-called sectoral capital requirements — along with countercyclical capital buffers and leverage ratios — from the government as the Bank of Englandprepares to take over the role of ensuring financial stability. The committee, led by BOE Governor Mervyn King, is currently operating on an interim basis as legislation passes through Parliament.

The FPC said the use of the countercyclical capital buffer and the sectoral capital requirements “will improve the ability of the financial system to withstand shocks.” King is due to appear at a Parliament hearing in London tomorrow to answer lawmakers’ questions on the BOE’s semi-annual Financial Stability Report. FPC membersAndrew Haldane and Michael Cohrs will also attend the hearing….”

Full article

“from the we-have-one-thing-to-do-and-that-is-[tbd] dept

The problem with large government agencies is “feature creep.” If given a broad enough area to cover, years of territorial expansion and absorption of “related” entities will render the agency nearly unrecognizable from its original form. Not only that, but any stated directive or focus will have been lost, abandoned or hopelessly mutated as well.

If the government agency was crafted in “response” to a tragic event, the problem is both magnified and accelerated. As Wired reports, slightly more than a decade on from its formation,the Department of Homeland Security is having trouble defining the very thing it’s in charge of.

What is “homeland security?” The federal bureaucracy doesn’t know, and that’s problematic for a government that has been fighting the ill-defined “war on terror” following 9/11, according to a new report from the Congressional Research Service.

In short, “homeland security” is whatever the government says it is.

Thirty federal entities — among them agriculture, education, labor, treasury and social security — are receiving “homeland security” funding. The actual Department of Homeland Security, created in the aftermath of 9/11, receives 52 percent of the “homeland security” money pie, according to the Tuesday report.

“Ten years after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the U.S. government does not have a single definition for homeland security,” the report said. “Currently, different strategic documents and mission statements offer varying missions that are derived from different homeland security definitions.”

The varied definitions given by the DHS and the White House still put the main focus on “terrorism,” but others list “Homeland Security” responsibilities as including border/maritime security, immigration, natural disasters and “other hazards.”

According to the Congressional Research Report, posted at Secrecy News, this lack of definition undermines the very “security” the agency is supposed to be providing….”

Full article

“As a state senator in Illinois, President Obama opposed legislation providing an exception to handgun restrictions if the weapon was used in the defense of one’s home.

Obama’s vote would have maintained the status quo, which made it a violation of municipal gun ban law to use a firearm to save your own life in your own home. But the bill was passed anyway without his support.

The vote is a sign of how committed Obama may be to strict gun control measures.

The Illinois vote is hardly ancient history, having occurred in 2004 as Obama was running for election to the U.S. Senate. In opposing the measure, Obama lined up well to the left of the mainstream, as the Illinois Senate included 32 Democrats to 26 Republicans but approved the bill by an overwhelming margin and subsequently overrode a veto by then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich….”

“(NaturalNews) One of the primary drivers behind President Obama’s quest for Uncle Sam to take over one-seventh of the U.S. economy by engulfing the healthcare industry was that such a huge usurpation of the private sector would at least lead to lower insurance premiums for Americans.

Like so many other aspects of “Obamacare” over which the public was hoodwinked, now comes news that the promise of lower premiums will be, shall we say, elusive, for millions of consumers.

“Health insurance companies across the country are seeking and winning double-digit increases in premiums for some customers, even though one of the biggest objectives of the Obama administration’s health care law was to stem the rapid rise in insurance costs,” The New York Times reported recently.

Who are the most vulnerable to the increases? That would be small businesses and people who don’t otherwise have employer-provided insurance and who will be forced, thanks to a summer ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court upholding as constitutional the law’s individual mandate requiring everyone – and every business with more than a few employees – to buy coverage.

Face it – premiums are heading higher, period

In California, insurance giants Aetna, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield are proposing to hike rates by 22, 26 and 20 percent respectively for some policy holders, according to the companies’ filings with the state for 2013. “These rate requests are all the more striking after a 39 percent rise sought by Anthem Blue Cross in 2010 helped give impetus to the law, known as the Affordable Care Act, which passed the same year and will not be fully in effect until 2014,” the Times reported.

In other states such as Ohio and Florida, insurance companies have managed increases of at least 20 percent for some policy holders – increases which can amount to as much as several hundred dollars per month.

Those compare with an average of about 4 percent increases for those with employer-based policies, said the Times.

The double-digit increases come even as some estimates put overall healthcare costs on the decline in recent years as more Americans put off treatment for a variety of conditions due to the economic effects of the Great Recession.

“Growth in health care spending in the United States has slowed considerably since 2009,” says a report from PricewaterhouseCooper, a financial consulting company. “PwC’s Health Research Institute projects medical costs will increase 7.5 percent for 2013, the fourth year in a row of relatively flat growth.”

So at a growth rate of 7.5 percent per annum – which is still high – why are insurance companies requesting double-digit rate increases? Well, insurers say that medical costs for some policy holders have risen much faster than the average….”

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“Several Wyoming lawmakers are proposing legislation designed to protect gun-owners from any potential federal firearm ban. The “Firearms Protection Act” bill, introduced this week, would make any federal law banning semi-automatic firearms or limiting the size of gun magazines unenforceable within the state’s boundaries.”

Full article

“Obama says Lew “a low-key guy” and “master of policy”

* Lew, 57, appears likely to win Senate confirmation

* Faces Republican questions about spending reforms

* Chamber president says Lew is “tough dude,” will do “just fine”

By Roberta Rampton

WASHINGTON, Jan 10 (Reuters) – President Barack Obama on Thursday nominated his chief of staff, Jack Lew, as the next Treasury secretary, praising him as a expert on the pressing national issues of spending cuts and deficit reduction.

Lew will succeed Timothy Geithner and take the lead on difficult negotiations with Congress on how to cut the nation’s massive debt and rein in spending – a central challenge for Obama’s second term.

Lew, a 57-year-old New Yorker who has previously served as White House budget chief, is likely to face tough questioning from Republicans in his Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing after a bruising year-end battle over tax increases on the wealthy. He appears likely to win Senate confirmation.

Obama described Lew as “a low-key guy who prefers to surround himself with policy experts rather than television cameras, and said the son of a Polish immigrant had a deep belief in public service.

“Over the years, he’s built a reputation as a master of policy who can work with members of both parties and forge principled compromises,” Obama said…”

Full article 

Source

“Jan 10 (Reuters) – Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Thursday he had directed the U.S. military services to began taking “prudent” steps to offset the impact of huge budget cuts that could take effect on March 1, including curtailing some facilities maintenance and freezing civilian hiring.

“I’d like to believe that ultimately Congress will do the right thing,” Panetta said. But “we simply cannot sit back now and not be prepared for the worst.”

Panetta told a news conference he also directed the services to begin planning now in case the department has to put its nearly 800,000 civilian employees on unpaid leave for up to a month during the remaining months of the 2013 fiscal year.”

“WASHINGTON — In case you thought there was no risk of your taxes going up again, think again. Washington isn’t done with you yet.

Democrats, led by President Barack Obama, want lawmakers to consider a fresh set of tax increases in the next several weeks when they discuss whether to cut spending.

Republicans oppose raising tax rates, especially after they just raised some of them for the first time in two decades in the New Year’s deal that extended most – but not all – of the expiring Bush tax cuts.

But much of what Obama is talking about is raising tax revenue without actually raising tax rates. In Washington-speak, lawmakers will try to collect more tax money by closing tax loopholes, perhaps limiting popular tax deductions and to some degree changing the way citizens pay into the popular Medicare and Social Security programs.

The New Year’s deal raised income tax rates for individuals’ taxable income above $400,000 and family income above $450,000. That’s less than 1 percent of all U.S. taxpayers. The deal is projected to raise about $600 billion over 10 years, not enough to significantly chip away at deficits that still will total more than $6.8 trillion over the same period. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill will be looking to trim $2 trillion over 10 years from projected future deficits as part of any deal to raise the nation’s debt ceiling by the end of February and prevent $109 billion in deep spending cuts from occurring in March.

Democrats say Obama will continue to push for an equal split between revenues and cuts – $1 trillion in new tax revenues and $1 trillion in spending cuts….”

“WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama has decided to nominate Jacob Lew, a central behind-the-scenes figure in the Clinton and Obama White Houses, to be the 76th U.S. Treasury Secretary, elevating the White House chief of staff into the administration’s most important economic post, a Democratic official familiar with the matter said.

Mr. Lew, if confirmed by the Senate, would break the mold of recent Treasury chiefs, as he is known more for being a loyal democratic lieutenant and budget wonk rather than a financial-market guru with broad contacts in the business world….”

Full article

“President Barack Obama nominated two new members to his administration on Monday, endorsing current counterterrorism advisor John Brennan and former Sen. Chuck Hagel to serve as CIA director and secretary of defense, respectively.

The president, who will be formally sworn in to begin his second term in office in just two weeks, announced his nominations Monday afternoon from the White House in Washington, DC.

“These two leaders have dedicates their lives to protecting our country,” said Pres. Obama. “I’m confident they will do an outstanding job.”

Both Brennan and Hagel have been rumored in recent days to take on new roles within the Obama administration, but only with Monday’s announcement from the president himself did the news become official. A confirmation battle in the Senate is expected to follow the choice for these key posts, although Pres. Obama asked lawmakers to confirm both men “as soon as possible” after making his announcement.

Hagel, a 66-year-old former Republican senator from Nebraska, will replace the current US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta at the Pentagon, if confirmed by the Senate. He will also be the first veteran of the Vietnam War to hold the post.

“To this day, Chuck bears the scars and the shrapnel” of service in Vietnam, the president said on Monday.

Accepting the nomination, Sen. Hagel replied, “I am grateful for this opportunity to serve our men and women in uniform again.”

Known as an outspoken critic of the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as an opponent of the “Jewish lobby” in Washington and of the possible strike against Iran, Hagel has faced tough criticism for his remarks. On Monday, however, Pres. Obama saluted Sen. Hagel’s “willingness to speak his mind” in Congress, “even if it wasn’t popular.”

“That’s exactly the spirit I want on my national security team,” said the president…”

Full article

“The campaign to get around the debt ceiling by using a Trillion Dollar Platinum Coin has reached a new level of intensity today.

Earlier today, Paul Krugman hopped on board and said Obama must be ready to mint the coin if the GOP decides to try to force the country into defaulting on its obligations.

And now a US Congressman has come out against the coin idea and is proposing a law to ban it (via Matthew O’Brien). Ironically, this action actually legitimizes the coin option.

To take a step back, the US is about to hit the debt ceiling limit that Congress set in 2011, at which point it will be illegal for the country to issue more debt to pay its bills–unless the Congress agrees to hike the ceiling again….”

Full article