White House Answers Latta Request With Veto Threat

By Mikey Hothi

In a letter to President, Rep. Robert Latta (R-Ohio) urged Obama to support his amednment to the TRAIN Act, a measure that would ensure the EPA considers economic effects when updating air quality standards.

On September 2, President Obama asked EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to withdraw a draft of the Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards, which requires the EPA to set standards for pollutants considered harmful to public health and the environment, saying the uncertainty in regulations could have a negative impact on the economy.

The TRAIN Act is expected to be considered on the House floor this week and Latta believes that, with the inclusion of his amendment, the bill will receive bipartisan support because of its potential impact on job creation.

“[I] agree that the economy should be considered when implementing regulations and standards with such far reaching effects,” Latta said.

Despite Latta’s confidence, the White House issued a statement threatening to veto the TRAIN Act, saying the bill would undermine two landmark regulations under the Clean Air Act aimed at reducing public exposure to harmful pollutants. 

“While the Administration strongly supports careful analysis of the economic effects of regulation, the approach taken in [the TRAIN Act] would slow or undermine important public health protections,” the stamement reads. “If the President is presented with H.R. 2401, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill.”

Boehner Claims Obama Consumed By Reelection

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) accused President Barack Obama Wednesday of paying too much attention to the upcoming Presidential election.

“Watching the President here over the last couple of weeks has been a bit disappointing,” Boehner remarked during an appearance before the National Automobile Dealers Association. “It’s disappointing because it is pretty clear that the President has decided to forget his role as President and leader of our nation in a time of economic uncertainty to begin to campaign for his reelection some 14 months away.” 

Boehner dismissed Obama’s newly released debt plan as simple politics, adding that it will kill American jobs by raising taxes and make it more difficult for businesses to enhance the economy.

“I have been talking to the President all year about the need to do something big - the need to work together to solve our deficit and debt problem - and the fact that we could attempt to do this together would show the American people that both parties could work together on their behalf,” Boehner stated.

But the bipartisan effort did not work, according to Boehner, because Obama would not make the requested changes to entitlements that would ensure they would remain intact for future generations.

“It is time for us to lead and if the President won’t lead I can tell you that the Congress of the United States on both sides of the aisle will work together to do the right thing for our country,” Boehner said.

As Boehner concluded, he assured the audience that he was optimistic that both sides of the aisle would be able to work together to lead the nation through hard economic times.

“I grew up working in a bar, mopping floors, washing dishes and waiting tables. I learned to deal with every ‘jackass’ that walked in the door,” Boehner enumerated. “Trust me, I need all the skills I learned growing up to do my job today.” 

Poll: Americans Favor Jobs Plan, Taxing Rich

President Obama’s plan to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans as a method of paying for the American Jobs Act has gained some considerable support from the American public, according to recent poll figures. 

A new poll released by Gallup found that seven in ten Americans favor increasing taxes on corporations by eliminating tax loopholes. Additionally, 66 percent also favor proposed tax rate increases on individuals earning more than $200,000 and families earning more than $250,000. 

Among conservative voters, 53 percent agree on eliminating corporate tax deductions while just 41 percent favor tax hikes on individual and household incomes. Comparatively, nearly 86 percent of Democrats and those leaning to the left favor hiked taxes on both entities. 

Additionally, poll figures found that Americans generally approve of the President’s jobs plan. Most notably, a proposal that would provide tax cuts for small businesses , which includes incentives to hire workers, garnered wide bipartisan support with Republican and Democratic voters, 84 and 87 percent, respectively.  

Results are based on telephone interviews conducted between Sept. 15-18 with a random sample of 1,004 adults over the age of 18. 

Abbas Gathers Support For Statehood; Perry Panders To Neocons

By Kenneth R. Bazinet

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is meeting today with international leaders at the United Nations, drumming up support for his bid to get the world body to recognize the state of Palestine.

The controversial move is further isolating Israel at the UN and putting the U.S. in a tough spot, since it supports the pro-democracy uprisings in the Middle East known as the Arab Spring, but will veto any effort at the UN Security Council to unilaterally declare Palestinian statehood.

“We hope the United States will revise its position and be on the side of the majority of nations or countries who want to support the Palestinian right to have self determination and independence,” Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki said at an impromptu press conference after meeting with Venezuela’s foreign minister.

Abbas is angered by two decades of talks that have failed to reach a deal leading to Palestinian statehood, especially amid what he believes is further stalling tactics by Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu.

The Palestinian leader is meeting today with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Foreign Secretary William Hague.

In an 11th-hour plea, Netanyahu now says he is ready to get back to serious negotiations to try to head off a vote on statehood, as early as Friday, when Abbas addresses the UN General Assembly.

Netanyahu also plans to address the UN on Friday.

Conservative GOP presidential candidate, Texas Gov. Rick Perry is seeking to take advantage of the international tensions, meeting with Jewish and Israeli leaders to blame Obama for the Palestinians move to get statehood.

“Simply put, we would not be here today at the precipice of such a dangerous move if the Obama Policy in the Middle East wasn’t naïve, arrogant, misguided and dangerous,” Perry said in prepared remarks released ahead of his speech today.

Despite Obama’s firm position that his Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice will veto Palestinian statehood at the UN Security Council, Perry blasted the President for his even-handed treatment of the Israelis and Palestinians.

“It must be said, first, that Israel is our oldest and strongest democratic ally in the Middle East and has been for more than 60 years,” Perry said. “The Obama Policy of moral equivalency, which gives equal standing to the grievances of Israelis and Palestinians, including the orchestrators of terrorism, is a dangerous insult.”

Perry, who has not addressed foreign policy matters very much on campaign trail, was dismissed by detractors as pandering to neo-conservative Republicans rather than adding anything meaningful to the dialogue.

Read more from Kenneth R. Bazinet at The Baz File…

Obama Proposes New Taxes On Top Earners To Slash Deficit

President Obama made an impassioned appeal to Republican lawmakers to support his latest deficit reduction plan, details of which had already been released to the press by the time he took the podium on Monday morning.

(Click here for the White House’s summary of the plan)

Speaking in the White House Rose Garden, the president said his proposal represents a balanced approach to reigning in the nation’s bloated debt level while at the same time providing a shot in the arm to a fledgling economy.

“It’s a plan,” he said, “that reduces our debt by more than four trillion dollars, and achieves these savings in a way that is fair, by asking everybody to do their part so that no one has to bear too much of the burden on their own.”

Obama added that the measure would fully offset his jobs bill, a $447 billion plan that includes a mix of tax cuts and tax credits and spending on public works projects.

Like everything these days, the biggest challenge for the president will be getting Congress to support the plan. Republicans, led by House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), have already drawn a line in the sand over tax increases, which happen to comprise $1.5 trillion of the total savings found within Obama’s measure.

In a statement put out on Sunday, Ryan called the plan an example of “class warfare” — referring to Obama’s idea to raise tax rates on those making more than $250,000 per year. The president’s plan also includes the so-called “Buffett rule,” a nod to billionaire investor Warren Buffett, who has come out in support of raising investment taxes on those making more than $1 million per year.

The president, in his remarks this morning, pushed back strongly against Ryan’s assertion.

“I reject the idea that asking a hedge fund manager to pay the same tax rate as a plumber or a teacher is class warfare,” he said. “I think it’s just the right thing to do.”

Republicans will also likely accuse Obama of using gimmicks, such as counting $1 trillion in new cuts from ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, to inflate total savings. However, as the Associated Press noted on Monday, Ryan included those future savings in his budget proposal earlier this year.