And why the next Foreign Policy crisis for the worlds number one power might well involve the worlds number two power. But first heres my take. Now that president obama has won reelection, the debate in washington has shifted from whether we should raise taxes to how and by how much. This makes sense. With a deficit over a trillion dollars, we will need a combination of increased tax revenues and spending cuts. The president and his allies including robert rubin have made the case that eliminating deductions simply will not get you enough money. You will actually have to raise tax rates. Thats probably true as well. But lets not give up entirely on the issue of deductions and all those other hidden subsidies that the simpsonbowles report accurately called backdoor spending hidden in the tax code. In order to sound like theyre not spending money, congress often tends to grant special exemptions to pace taxes. In hids excellent book red ink David Russell points out if you get a 1,000 exe
Now that president obama has won reelection, the debate in washington has shifted from whether we should raise taxes to how and by how much. This makes sense. With a deficit over a trillion dollars, we will need a combination of increased tax revenues and spending cuts. The president and his allies including robert rubin have made the case that eliminating deductions simply will not get you enough money. You will actually have to raise tax rates. Thats probably true as well. But lets not give up entirely on the issue of deductions and all those other hidden subsidies that the simpsonbowles report accurately called backdoor spending hidden in the tax code. In order to sound like theyre not spending money, congress often tends to grant special exemptions to paying taxes. In his excellent book red ink David Russell points out if you get a 1,000 exemption, its exactly the same as being paid a thousand dollars by the government. Yet one is recorded as government spending, which is bad, the
Consequences, there will be consequences if the assad regime makes a terrible mistake by using these chemical weapons on their own people. Earlier today, leon panetta. Well have a report from the pentagon on syria in a moment. First, shock waves in washington. A powerful republican senator suddenly calling it quits. South carolina senator jim demint will step down december 31st to lead the heritage foundation. Its a powerful conservative think tank in washington. Demint says he can be more effective outside the senate. A lot of my role in the senate has been stopping bad things and saying no to bad things. But we need to do more than that and tell americans what were for. One of the mistakes i think the Republican Party made the last two years is trying to make obama the issue without sharing with america bold reform ideas that get people inspired to get behind us. Senator demint, huge tea party supporter. Sometimes clashes with his own partys leadership. He is leaving with four years
125 other countries ratified this, but in the full senate 38 republicans voted no leaving the treaty five votes short of ratification. What we learned today thats interesting is some of these same senators actually supported the treaty before they voted against it. Some even pledged their support very publicly. Senator roy blunt of missouri was a flipflopper and Kay Bailey Hutchinson of texas and senator jerry moran of kansas. We asked them all to come on the program and they declined. Theyre silent on this. Senator moran was a cosponsor of the measure to ratify the treaty. He even put a press release back in may proclaiming his support. Here he is with bob dole in june. Dole, a war veteran, former Republican Senate leader is a longtime supporter of disability rights and a strong advocate of this treaty. Just before tuesdays vote he came to the Senate Chamber 89 years old frail in his wheelchair. He thought it was that important to make a difference. It didnt. Some of the senators like
A single shred of evidence that might support the inflammatory flames heard on the floor of the u. S. Senate used to block a u. N. Treaty. A treaty meant to improve the lives of millions of disabled people around the world. Hundreds of millions. The treaty is called the United Nations conventions on the rights of persons with disabilities. It was modeled on the americans with disabilities act. The treaty was meant to encourage other countries to be more like the u. S. On the issue of equal rights for the disabled. Also disabled americans who visit or live in other countries could potentially benefit from the u. N. Treaty. 125 countries ratified it. But on tuesday, 38 u. S. Republican senators voted against it. There names are right there. Some of them flipflopped at the last minute. Some had signaled support for the treaty and then indicated theyd vote for it only to vote against it. One of the measures cosponsored, jerry mirrand, actually voted against it. So the guy who cosponsored i