The Edge: Middle Class Falls, Wall Street Rises ... and Washington Dithers
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Middle Class Falls, Wall Street Rises ... and Washington Dithers
"Bull Run Gets Solid Footing" read the USA Todayheadline. "Home Prices Power Optimism" – Wall Street Journal. "Country in a Buying Mood" – New York Times.
Unless you're among the wealthiest Americans, chances are this week's headlines don't square with your reality. Wall Street is faring far better than Main Street, where the middle class is losing ground and hope.
Despite signs of a durable economic recovery, a recent Allstate/National JournalHeartland Monitor Poll shows that middle-class Americans fear they're falling behind. Of all Americans, 59 percent say they're concerned about slipping out of their economic class in the next few years.
Meanwhile, Washington dithers.
The GOP-controlled House is fixated on President Obama rather than the economy, with one-third of the chamber's committees investigating White House controversies. The president's economic agenda is designed to ease the middle-class squeeze, but he has failed to translate a populist reelection campaign message into legislative success.
Obama said Friday that the recovery can't be measured in stock prices alone, "it's about how much progress ordinary families are making. Are we creating ladders of economic opportunity for everybody who works hard?"
The answer is no. Read more
Ron Fournier
rfournier@nationaljournal.com
TOP NEWS
RUBIO TO ADDRESS HOUSE CONSERVATIVES ON IMMIGRATION REFORM. House conservatives will host several influential Republican senators next Wednesday for a closed-door policy summit that will feature voices on both sides of the immigration debate, National Journal'sTim Alberta reports. As House negotiators work to finalize an agreement on comprehensive immigration-reform legislation, the Republican Study Committee has invited a handful of Republican senators, representing a range of views on the immigration debate, to Wednesday's meeting in the Capitol. As of Friday, three had confirmed their attendance: Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida, Rand Paul of Kentucky, and Mike Lee of Utah. Read more
MEDICARE TRUST FUND TO RUN OUT IN 2026, SOCIAL SECURITY IN 2033. Medicare and Social Security trustees announced in an annual report released today that the Medicare trust fund will not run out until 2026, two years later than previously projected, while the projected date for Social Security remains the same, in 2033. The revision in the Medicare estimate owes to the slower rate of increase in health care expenditures. The exhaustion of the funds' reserves would spur reductions in benefits for Medicare and Social Security beneficiaries. Read more
BACHMANN CHALLENGER DROPS 2014 BID FOLLOWING RETIREMENT ANNOUNCEMENT. Businessman Jim Graves, the Democrat who challenged Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., in 2012, told supporters in an e-mail that he will drop his campaign for the seat, Roll Call reports. "A year ago, we set out on a mission: To restore civility, functionality and honesty to Washington by removing Michele Bachmann from office," he wrote. "After struggling with this decision – agonizing over it with my friends, supporters and family, I've decided to suspend my campaign indefinitely." Read more
Bachmann's 2010 congressional campaign has settled a dispute with the FEC over the reporting of more than $400,000 in receipts and disbursements, agreeing to pay an $8,000 fine. Read more
HOLDER MEETS WITH NEWS ORGANIZATIONS, CONSIDERS CHANGES TO LEAK PROBES. Attorney General Eric Holder has begun consideration of changes to the Justice Department's policy on leak investigations, The New York Times reports. Holder began meeting Thursday with representatives of various news organizations; several organizations declined to participate due to the off-the-record nature of the conversations. One of the changes under consideration involves requiring a high-level review of potential subpoenas for journalists' e-mail correspondence; the current policy requires such a review only for subpoenas of telephone records. Read more
DEM SENATOR BLASTS OBAMA IN FIRST CAMPAIGN AD. For a sign of the challenges Southern Democrats will face on the ballot next year, look no further than Arkansas Sen. Mark Pryor, who went up with his first campaign ad today. The spot blasts President Obama for his gun-control legislation and takes aim at New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has been airing ads in the state criticizing Pryor for his vote against the Toomey-Manchin bill, National Journal's Josh Kraushaar reports. Read more
The Obama campaign released to Bloomberg Businessweekits internal polling that shows just how accurate it was in predicting the 2012 race.
FBI HAS PERSON OF INTEREST IN LATEST RICIN MAILINGS. The FBI has identified a person of interest in the mailing of ricin-laced letters to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and a threatening letter to President Obama that may contain ricin, CBS News reports. According to sources, the letter to Bloomberg read: "You will have to kill me and my family before you get my guns. Anyone wants to come to my house will get shot in the face. The right to bear arms is my constitutional, God-given right and I will exercise that right till the day I die. What's in this letter is nothing compared to what I've got planned for you." Read more
New York's WABC reports that the wife of the person of interest, a man from New Boston, Texas, contacted authorities upon discovery of a "strange material in her refrigerator" and Internet searches for ricin on her computer.
THREE NAVY FOOTBALL PLAYERS UNDER INVESTIGATION FOR RAPE. A spokesperson for the U.S. Naval Academy confirmed that three members of the school's football team are under investigation for the alleged rape of a female midshipman, Military.com reports. "Naval Academy leadership is monitoring the progress of this investigation and evaluating the appropriate options for adjudication," said Cmdr. John Schofield. Officials did not name the players, nor did they indicate when the investigation was expected to conclude. President Obama delivered the commencement address at the Naval Academy on May 24, urging the midshipmen to stem the tide of sexual assaults in the military. Read more
REID: SENATE TO VOTE ON STUDENT-LOAN RATES NEXT WEEK. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., announced in a statement today that the Senate will vote next week to maintain low student-loan interest rates and dismissed a House plan as untenable. "The House Republican proposal is a non-starter in the Senate because it would leave middle-class families with the uncertainty of seeing their rates fluctuate wildly year to year, potentially having to pay thousands more from one year to the next," Reid said. Read more
Obama on Friday: "If this sounds like déjà vu all over again, it is. We did this last year." Read more
IS OBAMA OK WITH THE STATUS QUO? Perhaps the most notable thing about President Obama's reported choice of Jason Furman to be chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers is what it doesn't portend: change. The widely respected Furman, currently deputy director of the National Economic Council under Gene Sperling, is less known as an academic economist than as a policy wonk closely identified with many of Obama's policies from the first term, National Journal's Michael Hirsh writes. Read more
QUOTABLE
"Having lost the election, I don't look at myself as the person best equipped to prescribe where the party should go, going forward." – Mitt Romney, on giving the GOP advice (Wall Street Journal)
BEDTIME READING
BUSH ON A BIKE: TALKING VETERANS, IMMIGRATION, POWER, AND FAME.Huffington Post reporter Jon Ward details his time with former President George W. Bush during the third annual Warrior 100K, which he has hosted since leaving the White House. Bush has largely withdrawn from public life, with Ward noting that "there's a frustration at the Bush Institute" because he isn't speaking out on issues more. Still, he's focused on making sure veterans are getting acclimated, with Ward writing that "an undercurrent flowing through remarks ... during the three days was a concern that returning veterans not be turned into charity cases." Bush also weighs in on immigration-reform efforts, Marco Rubio, his views on the impact of power and fame, and reaching "Ultra Zen." Read more
REALITY CHECK
WHITE HOUSE RECORDS SEEM TO CONTRADICT CLAIM ON IRS CHIEF'S VISITS. A review of visitor-access records released by the White House indicates that former IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman may have visited the White House fewer times between 2009 and 2012 than claimed by a widely circulated piece in the conservative Daily Caller, The Atlantic reports. Records indicate that Shulman was "cleared to attend" 157 meetings -- including 40 with the director of the Office of Health Reform and 80 biweekly health reform deputies meetings -- but time-of-arrival information exists for just 11 of those. Read more
SUNDAY TV
NBC's Meet the Press hosts House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Mich., Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and former Obama adviser David Axelrod.
ABC's This Week hosts former Obama adviser David Plouffe, former Bush adviser Karl Rove, and Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich.
CBS's Face the Nation hosts Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I.
Fox News Sunday hosts Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., RNC Chair Reince Priebus, and former Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind.
CNN's State of the Union hosts House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif.
Bloomberg TV's Capitol Gains hosts Russ Girling, CEO of TransCanada, discussing Keystone XL Pipeline
