PTC U/Q

The PTC is top of the agenda still but it s a fight- poll numbers prove Min Kim 2/8 (Seung, Politico political analyst, Congress Rating Drops to New Low http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0212/72625.html) Just when you didn t think Congress could get any worse in the eyes of the public, it has. Gallup said in new poll released Wednesday that a mere 10 percent of Americans approve of Congress s job performance a record low for the respected polling outfit. Congress s job approval rating was 13 percent in January and 11 percent in December. Independents, at 8 percent, are most likely to disapprove of Congress, Gallup said. And Democrats and Republicans are about equally disgusted at lawmakers, giving them a respective 11 percent and 12 percent approval ratings. The average job approval rating for all of 2011 was 17 percent, according to Gallup. The latest numbers come as Congress is again bickering over how to extend a temporary payroll tax cut that affects 160 million Americans, as well as jobless benefits and a delay of steep payment cuts for doctors who provide Medicare. The tax cut and other provisions expire at the end of the month. Lawmakers are at loggerheads over how to pay for an extension, as well as some policy changes affecting unemployment insurance. We ll win that its top of the agenda- rhetoric proves that Obama is already spending capital Epstein 2/8 (Jennifer, Politico staff writer on Obama, Messina Speaks to Senate Dems http://www.politico.com/politico44/2012/02/messina-speaks-to-senate-dems-113901.html) President Obama and his campaign manager, Jim Messina, are appearing together Wednesday to help rally Senate Democrats as they gear up for the year ahead. Messina is at the Senate Democrats' retreat at Nationals Park to offer a "campaign update," Obama 2012 spokesman Ben LaBolt said. The president, meanwhile, was planning to keep his remarks more focused on Washington. White House press secretary Jay Carney said Obama was going "to talk about the agenda going forward, to talk about the budget that he ll put forward soon, to talk about the absolute need to ensure that the payroll tax cut is extended for the calendar year . He ll talk about the other actions that he hopes to work with them on that will continue to move this economy forward, promote growth and job creation.The usual topics. Capital is key to passage- The bill is stuck between the parties and time is short Min Kim 2/7 (Seung, Politico political analyst, Payroll-tax-cut panel starting to look like supercommittee? http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0212/72586.html) Republicans have used last week s 309-117 bipartisan vote in the House last week to freeze pay for federal workers and lawmakers through the end of 2013 as evidence that the measure has broad support and should be included in the payroll tax package. But Democrats who oppose the measure dismissed the vote because the freeze for lawmakers pay was combined with the one for federal workers. So voting against the freeze, they said, could be interpreted as voting for their own salary hike. Democrats pushed for their favored ideas, with Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey proposing a 1 percent surcharge on annual incomes over $1 million to partially pay for the payroll tax package. Doing so would raise about $76 billion, Casey said, but the move was quickly shot down by Republican conferees. You re asking us to consider something that failed repeatedly, Camp said, a reference to the Senate s earlier rejection of the surtax. Conferees also clashed over whether to raise Medicare premiums for wealthier seniors, a measure that would save $31 billion. And they debated a proposal that would recover excessive federal subsidies given to consumers to purchase health care coverage, which would save about $13 billion. Camp, a lead Republican in the payroll talks, challenged Democrats to pitch their own

ideas for how to pay for the package, since they rejected the Republicans proposals. The Ways and Means chief also hinted that some proposals could be scaled back such as the length of unemployment insurance if conferees can t agree on funding. Senate Democrats said they were ready to compromise on issues related to unemployment insurance issues, such as how long to provide benefits and whether to allow states to mandate drug screenings for recipients. Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) said Republicans could expect to see an offer on those and other issues very soon. Ramping up the pressure, Baucus said that to have a realistic shot of meeting the end-of-month deadline, the panel needs to be close to a deal within a matter of days. We have to really move this before the [Presidents Day] recess, Baucus said. The reality is that as of today, we haven t made much progress, Kyl added. And time s a-wasting if we re going to get this done before the recess. Its top of Obama s agenda- Jobs numbers and upcoming election guarantee it Boak 2/3 (Josh, Politico political analyst January jobs report: Unemployment down; jobs up 243K http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0212/72409.html#ixzz1lpX4WKBQ) Stocks rocketed after the government said the economy added 243,000 jobs in January, beating Wall Street expectations by roughly 100,000 jobs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 157 points, or 1.23 percent. The NASDAQ index leaped by 46 points, or 1.61 percent, putting it back into territory it hadn t touched since the 2000 tech bubble. President Barack Obama Friday seized on the jobs numbers to pressure Congress to extend the payroll tax cut for more than 160 million Americans and keep the economy improving, warning lawmakers, Don t muck it up! The monthly increase cut the unemployment rate to its lowest point in nearly three years to 8.3 from 8.5 percent and put some wind in the president s sails as he heads into his reelection campaign. Obama said the momentum would continue if average American households were assured of receiving the $1,000 tax break through the end of the year. The economy is growing stronger. The recovery is speeding up, Obama said in remarks at an event in Arlington, Va., on Friday. And we ve got to do everything in our power to keep it going. Speaking about Congress, Obama added, We can t go back to the policies that led to the recession. And we can t let Washington stand in the way of our recovery. We want Washington to be helping with the recovery, not making it tougher. So I want to send a clear message to Congress: Do not slow down the recovery that we re on. Don t muck it up. Keep it moving in the right direction. Calling for an extension of the payroll tax cut and continuation of unemployment insurance, Obama said, They just need to get it done. It shouldn t be that complicated. Now is not the time for self-inflicted wounds to our economy. Now is the time for action. Obama has capital and the PTC is the ONLY thing he will spend it on- SOTU and election predictions GUARANTEE it Blake 1/26 (Aaron Blake, Washington Post Political Analyst, After State of the Union, Obama and cabinet hit key 2012 swing states http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/after-state-ofthe-union-obama-and-cabinet-hit-key-2012-swing-states/2012/01/25/gIQAFAQjSQ_story.html) But really, what he was saying is: I m back. The swagger which Obama rode into office with was back in his address Tuesday. The president, emboldened by some positive jobs numbers and an improving (if still not good) personal approval rating, sounded every bit the part of a president with political capital to spend. It s an Obama we haven t seen in a while. The state of our Union is getting stronger. And we ve come too far to turn back now, Obama said at the outset. On Michigan: Tonight, the American auto industry is back. On the country: America is back. Anyone who tells you otherwise, anyone who tells you that America is in

decline or that our influence has waned, doesn t know what they re talking about. Strong words from a president with an economy that is just off the brink of further collapse. And risky ones at that. By pitching the country as back on the right track, Obama is essentially counting on progress for the rest of the year. The fact is, if things get worse than they are now, Republicans have video of Obama hailing the return of the country a scant nine months before the election. Seeking to build off the momentum of his address, the President is embarking on a tour of critical swing states to bring his economic message to the fore of his reelection message. As David Nakamura explained: President Obama got to work selling his State of the Union economic proposals to the public Wednesday, launching a five-state tour that opened with a push in the American heartland to lure manufacturing jobs back from overseas. Making a first stop in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Obama told workers at the Conveyor Engineering & Manufacturing company that American productivity is rising, and he called on Congress to eliminate tax loopholes that encourage companies to send jobs and profits abroad. We are as competitive as we ve ever been, said Obama, who was due later to appear at a microprocessor manufacturing and engineering company in Phoenix. And for a lot of these companies, it s starting to make a lot of sense to bring jobs back home. We must seize the opportunity to help these companies succeed. During his State of the Union speech Tuesday night, Obama said his blueprint for a stronger economy begins with manufacturing, a message aimed at the Rust Belt voters who were wooed successfully in his 2008 bid for the White House but who have been among the most dissatisfied with the sluggish economic recovery. Many analysts see the economy as the most critical in Obama s effort to be reelected for a second term, and his emphasis on economic equality in his address seemed to be no accident. As Steve Mufson reported: For electionwatchers who think presidential races are always about the economy, stupid, it didn t matter much what President Obama said in his State of the Union address Tuesday night. One way or another, the tepid state of the economy is going to make the presidential election a nail-biter. If the economic recovery continued to putter along at its current rate, Obama probably would win 50.17 percent of the vote in November, according to a statistical model by Yale University economics professor Ray C. Fair, who has been studying the relationship between presidential elections and the economy for three decades. The only politically viable action big and immediate enough to move the needle would be an extension of a payroll tax cut, which Fair predicted would boost the economy enough to add 1.6 percentage points to Obama s electoral margin. The thing Obama doesn t have going for him . . . is that he doesn t have any real strong growth quarters, he said, adding that 2012 is really critical. It does truly matter what the per-capita growth rate is in the next three quarters. PTC is top of Obama s agenda- his capital is key to passage Parkinson 2/9 (John, ABC News Political Analyst, GOP Won t Yield on Millionaire Surtax in Payroll Deal, http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/02/gop-wont-yield-on-millionairesurtax-in-payroll-deal/) House Speaker John Boehner today urged Democrats to come to terms with Republicans on a year-long extension to the payroll tax cut, as negotiations between conferees struggle to yield progress on a path towards a deal. At his weekly news conference, the speaker once again suggested that Democrats should give up on a proposed tax hike on millionaires to pay for the extensions, which Democrats have persistently called for it to cover the cost of the extensions. They refuse to allow any alternatives at all except for a job-killing small business tax hike that they know can t pass the Senate, much less pass the House, Boehner, R-Ohio, said. If the president wants to get this done, I think he needs to let [Senate Finance] Chairman [Max] Baucus and the Democrat conferees do their work. Right now the only ones blocking an

agreement are Senate Democrats and the president. It s time for them to act. The surtax is a polarizing, but popular idea, enjoying 72 percent support from Americans in a new ABC News/ Washington Post poll. Still, four votes in the Senate on various proposals to raise taxes on millionaires failed to gain adequate support late last year. President Obama has said that passing a year-long extension of the payroll tax hike is his highest legislative priority this year. Congress has until Feb. 29 before the current two-month stop gap measure agreed to last December expires. It s certainly fair to ask does the president want to accomplish anything this year? Time s running short on the payroll issue, Boehner said. House Republicans did what the president asked us to do. We passed a full-year extension of the payroll tax credit [and] unemployment benefits fully paid for as the president said that they must be. But the president and Senate Democrat leaders will not allow their conferees to support a reasonable bipartisan agreement on spending cuts. Obama key to passage Berman 2/9 (Russel, The Hill Political Analyst, Boehner urges Obama to spur Dems on payroll tax extension, http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/domestic-taxes/209747-boehner-calls-onobama-to-spur-dems-on-payroll-tax) The president and Senate Democrat leaders will not allow their conferees to support a reasonable bipartisan agreement on spending cuts, Boehner told reporters. Worse, they ve refused to allow any alternatives at all except for job-killing small business tax hikes that they know can't pass the Senate, much less pass the House. The Speaker also referred to reports that Democratic leaders were preventing the party s chief negotiator, Sen. Max Baucus (Mont.), from making a deal. Democrats believe they have the political advantage on the issue, and Republicans are worried they will try to stall until the deadline in the hopes Democrats will buckle at the last minute. If the president wants to get this done, he needs to let Chairman Baucus and the Democratic conferees do their work, Boehner said. Right now the only ones blocking an agreement are Senate Democrats and the president. It s time for them to act. With Congress on recess after next week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has said the negotiators must reach a deal by early next week. Boehner refused to put a specific deadline on the committee but said, They need to get moving. I m not going to create some artificial deadline for me or you, he said. I ve been there, done that, not doing it again. The sooner, the better. Earlier Thursday, Republicans on the conference committee dismissed a new offer from Senate Democrats on reforming the unemployment insurance program, a GOP priority. Obama is already spending capital- loss of it derails the bill Seattle Times 2/8 ( Obama meets with Senate Democrats , http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2017455539_apusobamasenate.html) President Barack Obama met with Senate Democrats on Wednesday to discuss their annual agenda and an upcoming deadline to extend a payroll tax cut. White House spokesman Jay Carney said the president was talking to the lawmakers about the upcoming budget plan, the economy and efforts to extend the payroll tax cut for the rest of the year. The president was accompanied to the meeting at Nationals Park by new White House chief of staff Jack Lew and top aides Pete Rouse and Rob Nabors. Obama held a similar meeting with House Democrats last month. A White House official said the event was closed to the press because Obama was not delivering formal remarks and likened it to the private question-and-answer sessions Obama has held with Senate Democrats during their closed-door caucus lunches in the Capitol. Obama campaign manager Jim Messina also briefed Senate Democrats about the president's re-election campaign. The Democrats also invited billionaire investor Warren Buffett, who has argued for

tax law changes by noting that the current system lets him pay at a lower tax rate than his secretary. Obama has called for a "Buffett rule" that imposes a 30 percent tax rate on millionaires, no matter the source of their income.

China Relations
U.S. President Barack Obama is propping up the Chinese by his decision to thwart the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada, a Texas lawmaker said. House Republicans inserted a measure into a bill extending payroll tax benefits that gave Obama until mid-February to decide on Keystone XL, a pipeline planned from tar sands developments in Alberta province. Obama rejected that measure, blaming the "arbitrary" deadline. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper discussed energy initiatives during a visit to Beijing this week. His government had said it would look to Asian markets for its oil reserves if the United States wasn't interested in the pipeline. U.S. Rep. John Culberson, R-Texas, told the Houston Chronicle that Obama was giving the Chinese the upper hand by his decisions regarding Keystone XL. "It's outrageous and unacceptable to drive our friends the Canadians into the arms of China," he said. "Next to our national debt, the communist Chinese government is the biggest threat to American national security in the 21st century." Democratic leaders claim there are no assurances that oil delivered through Keystone XL would be designated for U.S. markets. Obama's critics shot down a measure ensuring oil from the project would go to U.S. markets in a bill that House leaders said takes the politics out of the Keystone XL decision.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy-Resources/2012/02/09/Critic-Obama-pro-China-onKeystone-XL/UPI-11471328790965/#ixzz1lvbtLDKh