Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC)

House Republicans have faced strong internal divisions over Hurricane Sandy, as northeastern Republicans have demanded quick relief to victims while much of the rest of the party has balked at the price tag.

Both the House and Senate passed a $9.7 billion relief package last week, but the House is expected to take on a larger $51 billion package next week. Appearing on Fox News, Rep. Trey Growdy (R-SC) cast doubt on the passage of the larger bill by saying that “at least half of it is pork”:

GROWDY: The bill we’re going to vote on January 15th? At least half of it [is pork.] […] Rooftops in the District of Columbia. At least half of what Harry Reid calls an “emergency” is pork. Frankly, Governor Christie wants to bully and berate and badger people into passing a bill no matter how pork-laden it is. Ai??[…] I don’t think it’s asking too much that we find an offset. […]

Watch it:

Recall that “rooftops” in Washington, D.C. are very much related to Hurricane Sandy — the nation’s capital city was directly in the path of the super storm.

An anti-fracking protest sign in New York. (Photo credit: Flickr user Bosc d’Anjou)

This week, Matt Damon’s drama Promised Land releases in theaters nationwide. The film showcases one town’s struggle to stop the controversial dirty energy process of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in their vicinity.

In Pennsylvania, the fracking industry is fighting back against the message of Damon’s film by buying a pro-frackingAi??propagandaAi??message in 75 percent of theaters in the state:

Before many Pennsylvania moviegoers settle in for Matt Damon’s film about the fight over natural gas drilling, they will see a message from the energy industry offering “straightforward facts” about hydraulic fracturing. […] The on-screen ad that will be shown in 75 percent of Pennsylvania theaters lasts 16 seconds and refers the audience to an industry-sponsored website,Ai??www.learnaboutshale.org, for “a community conversation on natural gas.” It’s sponsored by the Marcellus Shale Coalition industry group in Pittsburgh.

Supporting the fracking industry has in recent years become a political liability. Blue Dog Democrat Tim Holden (D-PA) was defeated in his primary late last year partly because he supported expanding the use of fracking.

This morning, President Obama announced that he will be picking former Nebraska Republican Senator Chuck Hagel as his nominee for Secretary of Defense.

There are many different issues that Hagel will face during his confirmation hearings, and progressives can be expected to question him on his past conservative opposition to gay rights.

Here’s one area where he’s more progressive. In a 2011 interview with the Financial Times, he said that the budget is “in many ways bloated” and said that it must be “pared down.”

“War costs money and Hagel understands that. Many believe Hagel wants to dramatically reduce the Department of Defense budget,” writes defense analyst and veteran Kerry Patton. “How many critics realize how much fraud, waste, and abuse rests within the DOD? Any level-headed individual can go into any government office and find wasteful spending. There is no better time than now to take a close look at wasteful spending and start making cuts.”

This would put Hagel to the left of the current Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, who resisted major defense cuts.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX)

On Wednesday, we reported that Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) said on MSNBC that Republicans should be willing to shut down the government to get Democrats to agree to radical cuts to Social Security and Medicare benefits.

Today, BondBuyer’s Jen DePaul reports that Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) made a similar threat:

We can only imagine what Cornyn means by “the long-term fiscal health of our country,” but it seems he is willing to go to incredible lengths to secure his right-wing ideological vision.

Democrats should not fear staring down Republicans over a government shutdown. Recall that in the 1990’s, Speaker Newt Gingrich’s (R-GA) shut down of the government resulted in a dive in the polls.

When Massachusetts Democrat Elizabeth Warren and the rest of the 2013 class of liberal senators start work this month, they’ll have to do more than figure out the byzantine ways of getting things done in Washington. They’ll also have to decide how seriously to engage a progressive movement that sees their assent a historic opportunity to shift the Democratic Party to the left.

“The cavalry is arriving,” said Adam Green, cofounder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. “A lot of news coverage after the election focused on Democrats winning two seats, but the big story for us is the composition of the Democratic caucus has moved in a massively progressive direction.”

Image from Americans for Tax Fairness

The corporate front group “Fix The Debt” still wants to cut Social Security benefits and lower the corporate tax rate. Former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell is working with the group, and he appeared on MSNBC today and made the remarkable claim that Obama needs to hike the Medicare age and cut Social Security benefits with a chained CPI, comparing it to President Lincoln leading on the 13th amendment and freeing the slaves:

RENDELL: Give the President credit, he said he would consider chained CPI, he said back in 2011 that he would raise the Medicare age, with carveouts. […] Those are things he’s going to have to deliver. […] He has to lead. And boy I’d love the whole Congress, this new Congress and the President, they should all go see a screening of Lincoln together, because Abraham Lincoln led on the 13th amendment when everybody on both sides told him he was crazy.

Watch it:

Hiking the Medicare age to 67 would cost seniors 11 billion dollars every year. Meanwhile, a chained CPI would cut a senior’s benefit by over $1,100 every year by time they hit age 85.

It is simply difficult to see the comparison between harming our seniors and freeing the slaves.

Click hereAi??to pledge to hold any Democrat who agrees to a deal that cuts Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid benefits accountable.

Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY)

Newly-elected Republican Rep. Andy Barr (KY) loves Big Coal. During his campaign, he even had a coal company executive pose as a miner for a commercial he cut.Ai??We’ve just been passed on a list of Congressional swearing-in and inaugural parties today, and it turns out Barr is having his party today from 5:30-7:30 PM ET at the National Mining Association (NMA), one of the chief lobbying organizations for Big Coal.

Big Coal was the single largest corporate donor to his campaign, with NMA pitching in $5,000.

Al Jazeera’s buyout of progressive channel Current TV has sent shockwaves around the world, and many are anticipating the launch of Al Jazeera English U.S., the resulting merged channel.

But following theAi??announcementAi??of the buyout, TimeWarner Cable announced that it will abruptly be dropping Current TV, which would deny millions of customers the access to this new channel that promises to give “voice to the voiceless.”

This move will prevent many Americans from being exposed to the progressive views of Current TV anchors and the award-winning coverage of global affairs that Al Jazeera has pioneered.

But while Time Warner doesn’t think its customers need access to this important knowledge, it does continue to offer dozens of channels dealing with pornography, high-end shopping, and other less-informative networks:

Porn: If you’re a Time Warner customer, you’ll have access to the television channels run by Hustler, Playboy and Penthouse (and the high definition versions). Who needs the Arab Spring when you have Hugh Hefner?
High-end Shopping: The “Gem Shopping Network” will continue to be offered, Ai??and for those who don’t like that, there’s Shop Zeal 1-5.
Movie Trailers: Time Warner doesn’t want to give space to Al Jazeera English U.S., but it will offer “Movie Trailers On Demand.” Yes, an entire channel dedicated to airing movie trailers.

You don’t have to wait for your cable or satellite company to decide that you don’t need to be informed. Go here to use Al Jazeera’s tool to demand to your television provider that they carry their network.

We reported earlier that the fiscal deal that was passed by Congress signed by President Obama included last-minute tax subsidies to NASCAR and Goldman Sachs’s New York City headquarters.

Here is another unfortunate giveaway in the deal. The New York Times reports:

The fiscal legislation just passed by Congress, known as theAi??American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, makes permanent a little-known tax break for people who send their children to private or religious schools for kindergarten through 12th grade. […]

TheAi??CoverdellAi??lets you deposit up to $2,000 each year in an investment account. The contributions are not tax deductible, but you do not pay taxes on the earnings you take out, as long as you use them for tuition or other qualified expenses ai??i?? including those for elementary or secondary education at independent and religious schools, as well as college tuition. Although the contribution limit is low, the tax savings can add up to thousands of dollars for diligent savers.

The tax break was scheduled to expire on Dec. 31. ButAi??it was retained, as part of the fiscal legislationai??i??s permanent extension of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (P.L. 107-16), according to the financial aid expert Mark Kantrowitz.

The full text of the fiscal deal, known as the “American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012,” is here. Are there any other unfair provisions you find in it?

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA)

Republicans are already threatening to refuse to raise the debt ceiling unless their demands are met. On MSNBC this morning, Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) said that Republicans should be willing to shut down the government if Democrats don’t agree to a “restructuring the entitlement programs” — code for cuts to benefits:

TOOMEY: We Republicans need to be willing to tolerate a temporary, partial government shutdown, which is what that could mean. And get off the road to Greece because thatai??i??s a road that weai??i??re on right now. We can only solve this problem by getting spending under control and restructuring the entitlement programs. This president doesnai??i??t want to go there. Weai??i??re going to have to force it, and weai??i??re going to have to force it over the debt ceiling.

Watch it:

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Toomey has been an advocate of raising the retirement age to cut benefits for seniors.

Click hereAi??to pledge to hold any Democrat who agrees to a deal that cuts Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid benefits accountable.

Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA)

Last night, the House approved President Obama’s fiscal deal, which would extend tax breaks for individuals earning up to $30,000 a month and enact a weak estate tax without resolving the debt ceiling or sequestration issues.

One of the lone progressive Democrats who opposed the deal was Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA). He gave an impassioned speech about how the deal is setting up three additional hostage situations because it does not resolve the debt ceiling, the expiration of the continuing budget resolution, or the sequestration. “We will look back on this night and regret it,” he thundered:

MORAN:Ai??Many of us feel, certainly on this side, that the deficit does not matter, but it does matter because we have another deficit — a deficit in the investment and education of our children, a deficit in the training and skills of our work force, and the physical infrastructure of our country. We will have none of those resources to make that investment after we make this vote tonight. And the problem is, we have set up three more fiscal cliffs. We ‘re gonna have to deal with the debt ceiling, We’re gonna have to deal with the continuing resolution expiration, and we’re gonna have to deal with the sequester. And all that’s left is spending cuts. And all that’s left to ask ourselves is, what programs do we cut and how deep do we cut them? We have to look back on this night and regret it, notwithstanding the fact that 95% of us will vote for it.

Watch it:

Recall that, under the terms of the deal, middle class Americans will actually see a larger tax rate increase than Americans earning $400,000 a year, thanks to the expiration of the payroll tax cut …

The criticism from the left mirrors past complaints when Mr. Obama included tax cuts in his stimulus package, gave up on a government-run option in health care negotiations and temporarily extended Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy two years ago. Liberals said Mr. Obama should have capitalized on his re-election victory and the expiration on New Year’s Day of all of the Bush tax cuts to force Republicans to accept his terms. “The president remains clueless about how to use leverage in a negotiation,” said Adam Green, a co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, a liberal advocacy organization. “Republicans publicly admitted they lost the tax debate and would be forced to cave, yet the president just kept giving stuff away.”

Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK)

Today on MSNBC, leading House Republican Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK) said that Obama’s tax deal — that extends tax cuts even for people making $30,000 a month and enacts a weaker estate tax than otherwise would’ve gone into law — has resulted in the President giving away all his leverage:

TOM COLE: Again, I would prefer not to raise taxes on anybody. But we protected almost every American. We did it at a higher income level than the President campaigned on. And again, frankly, we’ve denied him I think his most important piece of leverage in any negotiation going forward.Ai??So I particularly like that part. I understand unemployment extension. I prefer, you know, a more focused effort in that regard. But we do have parts of the country where that’s necessary and it’s a fair compromise. The entitlement issue, just too much to deal with I think in one piece of legislation. But again, still sequester is in front of us. The continuing resolution runs out the end of march and obviously the debt ceiling. All of those things honestly are Republican leverage not Democratic so I think there will be opportunities to deal with the spending issue next year. Honestly I expect that will be the dominant issue along with trying to overhaul the tax code going forward. So that’s usually pretty good ground for Republicans.

Watch it:

Also note that Cole says he specifically thinks that now that Obama has given away his leverage, Republicans can go after “entitlements” — meaning Medicare and Social Security benefits — during the debt ceiling and sequester negotiations.