Mileage Tax Gaining Speed in Congress

By Rob Hotakainen | McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — Despite opposition from the White House , a proposal to tax motorists on the number of miles they drive each year is gathering speed on Capitol Hill .

Its popularity is increasing as Congress searches for alternatives to the federal gasoline tax, which isn’t indexed to inflation and hasn’t been raised since 1993.

Supporters say that a mileage tax would be a more reliable source of funding for the upkeep of the nation’s roads and bridges. Many environmentalists endorse it, saying that it would lead to less driving and less pollution.

However, the proposal is raising privacy concerns — particularly if GPS devices were to monitor mileage — and opponents say that the last thing people need is a new tax, particularly in the middle of a recession. Some critics, moreover, fear that it would have a disproportionate impact in states such as California , which has longer-than-average commutes …

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Both Parties Love Big Government, Just Different Programs

By Steven Thomma | McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — Strip away the political finger pointing over President Obama’s proposed budget and the fight boils down to a clash of values. Both major parties are really for big government — just big in different places.

Republicans say they’re outraged that Obama would “borrow and spend” his way to a new behemoth government. But they borrowed and spent their way through the ’80s and the current decade. And they love big government — when it’s at the Pentagon .

Democrats from Obama on down insist that they don’t like big government, that they’re just forced into a temporary spending spree by the recession. But Democrats love big government as well, when it’s for social programs such as universal health care.

“The basic difference between Democrats and Republicans in recent decades is which aspect of government spending they prefer,” said Steven Schier , a political scientist at Carleton College in Northfield, Minn. “With the Republicans, it’s defense. With the Democrats, it’s education, environment, health care etc. That’s been the major difference between the two parties going back to Reagan.”

The numbers tell the tale …

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Obama’s Plan to Hike Taxes Meets Fierce Opposition

By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER | Associated Press

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama’s call to raise taxes on high earners and greenhouse gas polluters met fierce opposition Tuesday from congressional Republicans and also a few Democrats. “I would never want to adversely affect anything that is charitable or good,” Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, said of Obama’s call to limit high-income taxpayers’ itemized deductions for charitable donations and mortgage interest.

Republicans said the president’s plan to charge fees to industries that spew greenhouse gases amounts to a stealthy tax increase for all Americans that will far exceed the new $400 annual tax cut for workers that he wants to extend beyond 2010.

“The president’s budget increases taxes on every American, and does so during a recession,” said Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan, the top Republican on the Ways and Means Committee …

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Budget Winners and Losers

By JOHN WARD ANDERSON | Politico

In a $3.7 trillion budget, there should be something for everyone. And there is, including — as hard as it may be for some to believe — pain.

In shifting the nation’s spending priorities, President Barack Obama highlights his plans for the rich to pay more and for the poor to get more. And he also focuses on key campaign pledges to make the country greener and more energy independent, to expand access to affordable health care, and to improve the nation’s schools.

The full details will not be known for weeks, but the 134-page snapshot of Obama’s 2010 budget that was released Thursday gives a clear indication of who gets the elevator, and who gets the shaft. So herewith, five big losers and five key winners in Obama’s spending blueprint …

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More Fact-Checking of Obama’s Speech

The president gets facts wrong about oil imports, mortgage aid and the transcontinental railroad, and more.

FactCheck.org

President Obama’s first speech to a joint session of Congress was stuffed with signals about the new direction his budget will take and meant-to-be reassuring words about the economy. But it was also peppered with exaggerations and factual misstatements.

He said “we import more oil today than ever before.” That’s untrue. Imports peaked in 2005 and are substantially lower today.

He claimed his mortgage aid plan would help “responsible” buyers but not those who borrowed beyond their means. But even prominent defenders of the program including Fed Chairman Bernanke and FDIC chief Bair concede foolish borrowers will be aided, too.

He said the high cost of health care “causes a bankruptcy in America every 30 seconds.” That’s at least double the true figure.

He flubbed two facts about American history. The U.S. did not invent the automobile, and the transcontinental railroad was not completed until years after the Civil War, not during it.

He claimed that his stimulus plan “prevented the layoffs” of 57 police officers in Minneapolis. In fact, it’s far more complicated than that, and other factors are also helping to save police jobs.

The president also repeated some strained claims we’ve critiqued before …

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Related News: FACT CHECK: Obama’s Words on Home Aid Ring Hollow

Breaking it Down: Obama 2010 Budget Highlights by Agency

By The Associated Press

Available details of President Barack Obama’s proposed government spending for the 2010 budget year that begins on Oct. 1. A more extensive budget outline is expected in April. In most cases, the figures are for discretionary spending and do not include mandatory entitlement programs like Social Security. The percentage change is based on what Obama wants to spend next year compared with what he anticipates the government will spend in 2009 once Congress completes appropriations for this year.

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Health budget aims toward universal coverage

Agency: Health and Human Services

2010 proposal: $821.7 billion ($78.7 billion for discretionary spending, plus $453 billion for Medicare and $290 billion for Medicaid)

Change from 2009 estimate: 7.5 percent increase

Highlights: The government’s gargantuan health insurance programs for the elderly and poor would grow more slowly under Obama’s proposed health care budget …

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Obama’s Proposes Up to $750 Billion More for Bank Aid

By Roger Runningen and Brian Faler | Bloomberg.com

Feb. 26 (Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama’s first budget request would provide as much as $750 billion in new aid to the financial industry, as well as overhaul the U.S. health-care system and launch a program to cut carbon-dioxide emissions.

The spending blueprint, being sent to Congress today, anticipates the government will run a deficit totaling $1.75 trillion in the year ending Sept. 30, equivalent to about 12 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product. Obama has promised to cut the shortfall — the biggest since World War II – - in half by the end of his first term.

“It’s only by restoring fiscal discipline” that the U.S. can produce growth and prosperity “over the long run,” Obama said during remarks this morning. “That means cutting what we don’t need” to pay for necessary programs.

Obama pledged that his administration will “go through our books page by page, line by line” to cut wasteful or inefficient spending, and said officials have already found $2 trillion in deficit reduction …

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Energy Update: 60% Stress Need For New Sources of Energy, 32% Favor Conservation

Rasmussen Reports

Sixty percent (60%) of U.S. voters say finding new sources of energy is more important than reducing the amount of energy Americans now consume.

Thirty-two percent (32%) say reducing U.S. energy consumption is more important, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Eight percent (8%) are not sure which is more important.

Generic support for developing new energy sources is up four points from a month ago.

Republicans (71%) and unaffiliated voters (63%) more strongly support placing the priority on finding new energy sources than Democrats (50%).

On a related topic, 51% say more nuclear power plants should be built in the United States, while 31% disagree …

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How the Economic Stimulus Plan Could Affect You

By The Associated Press An examination of how the economic stimulus plan will affect Americans. Taxes: The recovery package has tax breaks for families that send a child to college, purchase a new car, buy a first home or make the ones they own more energy efficient. Millions of workers can expect to see about $13 extra in their weekly paychecks, starting around June, from a new $400 tax credit to be doled out through the rest of the year. Couples would get up to $800. In 2010, the credit would be about $7.70 a week, if it is spread over the entire year. The $1,000 child tax credit would be extended to more low-income families that don’t make enough money to pay income taxes, and poor families with three or more children will get an expanded Earned Income Tax Credit … Continue Reading

Clean-Coal Debate Pits Al Gore’s Group Against Obama, Peabody

By Daniel Whitten | Bloomberg.com

Feb. 4 (Bloomberg) — Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and his Alliance for Climate Protection say clean-coal technology is a fantasy.

Peabody Energy Corp., the biggest U.S. coal producer, says another prominent Democrat has pledged to make the technology a reality: President Barack Obama.

The Gore-Obama split illustrates a growing debate in the U.S. as the new president attempts to deliver on his promise to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the country 80 percent by 2050. Depending on who’s speaking, coal is either the villain or part of the solution …

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