George Wenschhof
President Obama is off to Canada to attend the G-20 meetings - most important will be the discussion surrounding the world economy. Disagreement exists as to how much governments should cut public spending and how fast.
In particular, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has stated Germany will continue to cut public spending which have some economists worried their action may prompt a downturn in the world economy. The Washington Post has more here.
President Obama is off to Canada to attend the G-20 meetings - most important will be the discussion surrounding the world economy. Disagreement exists as to how much governments should cut public spending and how fast.
In particular, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has stated Germany will continue to cut public spending which have some economists worried their action may prompt a downturn in the world economy. The Washington Post has more here.
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House-Senate conference Committee agree on Wall Street Reform bill - compromises were reached in the so called "Volcker provision" and the Derivatives amendment put forth by Senator Blanche Lincoln.
Politico.com has a good read here.
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Finance Disclosure Act narrowly passes House, passage in Senate uncertain - Representative Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) effort to counteract the 5-4 Supreme Court decision "Citizens United barely passed the House with 36 Democrats opposing and only two Republicans voting in favor. The vote was 219-206. The NY Times has more here.
The bill calls for corporations and unions to disclosure spending on political campaigns and prohibits them from coordinating spending with political parties or candidates.
Progressive Democrats were upset over recent amendments allowing exclusion of the NRA and other organizations and felt the bill wasn't strong enough. Passage in the Senate will not be easy as Republicans are sure to filibuster.
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Third time not the charm for extension of Unemployment benefits - Senate Democrats failed for the third time to pass a 100 billion extension of unemployment benefits which would have added another 33 billion the the deficit. It is unlikely Senate Democrats will try again.
The vote was 57-41 with Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Al.) absent. Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska was the only democrat to vote no. TheHill.com has more here.
For some time, I've been calling for a federally funded public service employment program that would put the unemployed to work. it's way past time to implement this program.
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