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Campaign News
Romney Denounces "Prairie Fire Of Debt" As Boehner Threatens New Debt Limit Fight Both Mitt Romney and Speaker Boehner (the former in Iowa and the latter in Washington) yesterday issued strong criticism of the President's fiscal policies. Media reports cast the Republicans' message as an indication that they are seeking a major debate over spending before the November election. As Politico reports, "Forget the lame duck. Some top lawmakers want Congress to deal with the whole mess of expiring taxes and start up another debt-limit debate right away, in the heat of an election." And "that was...Boehner's message at the Peter G. Peterson Foundation's fiscal summit Tuesday, as he declared he's 'ready' to tackle the nation's fiscal woes and bring up the Bush tax cuts, and even another painful round of debt-reduction talks."
A quote by Romney – "A prairie fire of debt is sweeping across Iowa and our nation, and every day we fail to act we feed that fire with our own lack of resolve" – appears in the great majority of print accounts. NBC Nightly News, the only network newscast to mention the story as part of a larger piece about the President's handling of the economy, showed Romney saying, "This debt is America's nightmare mortgage. It's adjustable, no money down, and assigned to our children. These have been years of disappointment, and a decline. And soon we could put all that behind us."
Roll Call reports, "The White House would likely rather be talking about the president's plans to spur growth instead of getting dragged back into another debt limit hostage crisis -- especially with...Romney ramping up his criticism Tuesday of the debt piled up by the president." Ashley Killough, writing on CNN's website, notes that in Iowa, "Romney targeted the president over the $787 billion stimulus package Obama signed soon after taking office in 2009, a move Romney described as the 'most careless one-time expenditure by the federal government in history.'" Said Romney, "We still owe the money, we're still paying interest on it, and it'll be that way long after this presidency ends in January." Bloomberg News reports that Romney added that because of the stimulus plan, "We are now enduring the most tepid recovery in modern history."
The Des Moines (IA) Register reports that speaking in Des Moines, with "a banner stretched behind him that blared 'CUT THE SPENDING,'" Romney said, "We can't spend another four years talking about solving a problem that we know we are making worse every single day." The Register adds that "Romney's ideas for cutting the $15.67 trillion national debt -- don't raise taxes, reform entitlement programs, limit spending -- were met with strong applause from the crowd of more than 300 people. Another 100 people stood in an overflow area."
"Romney went on offense Tuesday," the Los Angeles Times reports. Romney, says the AP , "offered a far-reaching indictment of Obama's tenure and portrayed himself as a beacon of fiscal responsibility with the public and private sector experience to prove it." The White House "promptly dismissed Romney's critique," with press secretary Jay Carney saying "Romney wants to repeat policies that led to high deficits and the recession and to repeal Obama policies 'that reversed the cataclysmic decline on our economy and that now has us growing for 11 straight quarters.'"
USA Today reports that Boehner said yesterday that he "will not allow an increase in the debt ceiling to move through the House unless the amount of the increase includes an equal or greater amount of spending cuts." The Speaker's "pledge once again sets Congress on a collision course with Senate Democrats and the White House over what was once a routine vote to raise the federal debt ceiling." USA notes that at the same event where Boehner spoke, "Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said he does not support Boehner's condition, saying he hoped Washington could raise the debt ceiling 'without the drama and the pain and the damage' of last year." The Washington Times also reports that "the Obama administration pushed back, saying it was irresponsible to put conditions on the government's borrowing." Geithner said, "We hope they do it this time without the drama and the pain and the damage they caused the country last July."
On its front page, the New York Times describes Boehner as setting "the stage for a bruising election-year showdown on fiscal policy," and threatening "to throw Congress back into the debt-limit stalemate that consumed Washington in 2011, but this time at the height of a campaign that Republicans are trying to make a referendum on Mr. Obama's handling of the economy." Adds the Times, "The Boehner comments, made at a fiscal summit meeting in Washington, were the first public shot in what promises to be the most consequential budget fight in a generation."
Bill Clinton: Taxes Should Be Raised Across The Board Politico reports former President Bill Clinton said yesterday that Obama's "goal of hiking taxes on the rich alone is not enough to solve the country's fiscal woes and suggested that middle class Americans must also eventually contribute more." At the Peter G. Peterson Foundation's third annual Fiscal Summit in Washington, DC, Clinton "prefaced his comments with the warning that he was giving his personal view and was 'not speaking for the White House.'" Said Clinton, "We are all going to have to contribute to this, and if middle class people's wages were going up again, and we had some growth to the economy, I don't think they would object to going back to tax rates [from] when I was president."
Fischer Rides Late Momentum To "Upset" Win In Nebraska's GOP Senate Primary In an upset, state Sen. Deb Fischer (R) on Tuesday won Nebraska's GOP Senate primary and will now face ex-Sen. Bob Kerrey (D) in the race to succeed retiring Sen. Ben Nelson (D). Fischer won the primary with 41%, followed by state Attorney General Jon Bruning with 36%, and state Treasurer Don Stenberg with 19%. The Lincoln Journal Star reports that Fischer's "late surge, perhaps unprecedented in modern-day Nebraska political history, upended a" contest "that appeared to be settled as recently as 10 days ago with the GOP prize within the grasp of...Bruning. Fischer suddenly gained momentum with late endorsements from...Sarah Palin and Rep. Jeff Fortenberry...then rode the momentum of a weekend TV ad blitz mounted by Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts and his" super PAC, which aired spots backing Fischer and bashing Bruning.
The Omaha World-Herald reports that Fischer scored "an unlikely victory" after having been "widely perceived as a distant third just weeks ago." Fischer's ascent "came as many Republicans confronted doubts about" Bruning, who "was criticized for growing wealthy while in public office by investing in more than a dozen businesses with college and high school friends. The anti-tax group Club for Growth pummeled Bruning with ads critical of the attorney general for raising his office's budget. As Bruning's support slipped over the campaign's final week, voters fled to Fischer over Stenberg."
Democratic Super PAC Ad Buy Echoes Obama Campaign's Bain Attacks Fox News Special Report (5/15, Rosen) reported that "Priorities USA," the "super PAC led by former Obama White House aide Bill Burton," has launched a "$4 million ad buy in five battleground states and a new website, RealRomneyrecord.com. Both take aim at [Mitt] Romney's long private equity career" at Bain Capital. While "super-PACs are by law prohibited from coordinating with campaigns...the Priorities USA launch came one day after the Obama-Biden campaign unveiled its own add and website: Romneyeconomics.com, focused on the very same" issue. Added Fox, "The President on Monday night raked in $2 million at a Manhattan fundraiser at the home of Tony James of the Blackstone Group, a private equity firm twice the size of Bain Capital."
Under the headline "Anti-Romney Ads Highlight Cozy Super PAC Relationships With Candidates In New Finance World," the AP reports, "By law, campaigns and the outside groups are forbidden from working with each other. But at times like this, the lines of separation seem blurred if not crossed."
Obama Camp Hits Romney On Bain Record Ahead Of Florida Visit The Tampa Bay (FL) Times reports, "As Mitt Romney returns to Florida on Wednesday for two days of campaigning and money-raising, Democrats are trying to ensure Floridians keep two words in mind: Dade Behring. It's the name of a former medical equipment manufacturer in Miami that Romney's venture capital firm," Bain Capital, purchased "and then closed in the late 1990s, walking away with $242 million in profits."
Washington News
Congress Reauthorizes Export-Import Bank In Bipartisan Vote Media coverage of the 78-20 Senate vote to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank's charter through 2014 cast it as a rare instance of bipartisanship on Capitol Hill. The legislation passed in the House last week by a 330-93 margin. USA Today reports "the legislation had strong support from the business lobby, including the US Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers." Conversely, it was "opposed by a small but influential number of fiscal conservatives as a form of corporate welfare."
According to Bloomberg News , five Republican amendments were defeated before the bill passed, "including a proposal by Tea Party-backed Utah Senator Mike Lee that would have phased the bank out of existence and barred new loans as of June 1, 2013." On the Senate floor, Lee said, "We need to end the corporate welfare that distorts the market and supports crony capitalism. What's best for American businesses is getting the federal government out of their way."
The Hill reports that the "other amendments would have limited the bank's financing of certain products, stopped the bank from lending to projects in countries that held government debt instruments, funded the bank only if there was progress in talks to end it and kept the bank from funding energy projects that competed with similar projects in the United States, respectively."
The New York Times reports that while the Export-Import Bank has historically been renewed without issue, conservative groups such as the Tea Party, the Heritage Foundation and the Club For Growth this year pushed for its elimination. The Washington Post quotes Club for Growth spokesman Barney Keller as saying, "What this shows is that members of Congress in both parties are opposed to subsidies -- except when it affects a favored industry. Democrats won't eliminate welfare for supposed green jobs. And the Republicans won't eliminate it for massive multinational companies that don't need it."
Obama Declines To Grade His Handling Of The Economy NBC Nightly News reported, "No matter who the President sits down with for interviews or where he does them, the subject always goes back to the one that will make or break his chances at re-election, the economy. Even in a softer setting like 'The View,' it was a question on the economy that seemed to strike a chord." Elisabeth Hasselback, 'The View': "How do you grade yourself honestly in terms of how you've done in terms of economics?" President Obama replied, "I won't give us a letter grade. It's incomplete, we have work to do, and we still have some head winds out there." NBC added, "The President is pinning his hopes on the election not being a referendum."
Politico reports that instead of giving himself a letter grade, Obama "leaned on what's become his crutch when asked to grade his presidency." Politico notes that this was "not the first time Obama's given himself a non-grade when faced with the question."
DOJ Launches Probe Into JPMorgan Losses JPMorgan Chase shareholders gave CEO and Chairman Jamie Dimon a vote of confidence on Tuesday, but the Justice Department announced that it has launched a criminal investigation into the $2 billion in losses suffered by the company through questionable investments. The news generated heavy media coverage, with nearly four-and-a-half minutes of coverage on network newscasts.
ABC World News reported, "Now that $2 billion blunder by JPMorgan Chase": On Tuesday "their CEO, the nation's top banker, Jamie Dimon got a vote of confidence from shareholders who decided to keep him running the company as he has, but there is more trouble brewing. Word today that the Justice Department is launching a criminal investigation."
The CBS Evening News adds, "Both the FBI and the Securities and Exchange Commission are looking into whether JPMorgan Chase or its top executives violated Federal securities laws."
NBC Nightly News reported that shareholders "did overwhelmingly approve Dimon's $23 million pay package last year, as well as the $15.5 million pay package given to Ina Drew, the now retired Chief Investment Officer who oversaw the unit responsible for the trading losses. Shareholders at the meeting seemed more angry about the ongoing mortgage mess, saying the losses caused by delays in refinancing, problems with foreclosures, they said they're costing the bank much more than these trading losses. Also today the Department of Justice opened an investigation into the trading losses, JPMorgan declined to comment."
The Wall Street Journal reports that the Justice Department probe is in its early stages, and it was unclear what exactly investigators are looking into. The Journal notes that the Securities and Exchange Commission last week began its own investigation into the company's accounting practices and investor disclosures.
Obama Has Up To $1 Million In JP Morgan Account Financial disclosure forms released by the White House Tuesday show that President Obama and his wife have total assets ranging from $2,566,000 to $8,265,000, including "between $500,001 and $1 million dollars in a JPMorgan Chase account," Politico reports. The Obamas have a joint checking account with JPMorgan's Private Client Asset Management division as well as a second checking account "with assets between $1,001 and $15,000."
USA Today reports that financial disclosure statement shows that Obama "is a wealthy man" who "has a hefty stake in JPMorgan Chase, the megabank that just made a bad $2 billion bet." USA Today also notes, "Despite the nation's $15.6 trillion debt, he is a believer in government paper. More than half his assets are in Treasury bills and notes."
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