Obama’s olive branch? “President Barack Obama is extending a new proposal to Republicans that he hopes will break the political gridlock on budget negotiations, offering to cut corporate tax rates in exchange for job investments,” the AP reports. “White House officials say just because they’re at an impasse with congressional Republicans over a grand bargain on reducing the deficit doesn’t mean they shouldn’t look for other areas of agreement. So Obama plans to use a trip to an Amazon.com distribution center in Chattanooga, Tenn., on Tuesday to propose a ‘grand bargain for middle-class jobs’…..Obama long has called for a cut in corporate tax rates, but previously insisted such business tax reform be coupled with an individual tax overhaul. He’s dropping that demand and says instead that he’s open to the corporate tax cut that that businesses crave. But he wants it to be coupled with a significant investment on some sort of job creation program, such as manufacturing, infrastructure or community colleges.”
House Republicans don’t seem inclined to bite. From House Speaker Boehner spokesman Michael Steel: “The President has always supported corporate tax reform. Republicans want to help families and small businesses, too. This ‘grand bargain’ allows President Obama to support President Obama’s position on taxes and President Obama’s position on spending, while leaving small businesses and American families behind.”
New York Times backs Yellen for Fed chair. In an editorial that’s really more against former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, the Times writes that Summers “is not the best person for the job, as a group of Democratic senators made clear in a letter to President Obama last week calling for the nomination of Janet Yellen, the vice chairwoman of the Fed’s board of governors….Nothing that has occurred in the past week changes the fact that no one else can match Janet Yellen’s combination of academic credentials and policy-making experience. And no one ever confirmed to the job has come to it with as deep a grounding in both the theory and practice of monetary and regulatory policy as Ms. Yellen would bring.”
GOP donors: back immigration overhaul. “More than 100 Republican donors — many of them prominent names in their party’s establishment — sent a letter to Republican members of Congress on Tuesday urging them to support an overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws,” the New York Times reports. “The letter, which calls for “legal status” for the 11 million immigrants here illegally, begins with a simple appeal: ‘We write to urge you to take action to fix our broken immigration system.’ The effort was organized by Carlos Gutierrez, who was secretary of commerce under President George W. Bush and was a founder of a ‘super PAC,’ Republicans for Immigration Reform.”
Filner wants city to foot legal bills. “The drive to recall Mayor Bob Filner began in earnest Monday as the beleaguered politician made a formal request for taxpayers to pick up the tab for his legal fees stemming from a sexual harassment lawsuit,” the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. “While the recall movement was expected to take off this week, it surprised many that Filner would ask taxpayers to foot the bill for his legal troubles.”
McDonnell lawyer bills state. “The firm of Gov. Bob McDonnell’s state-appointed attorney has billed the state $53,530 for roughly a month’s work,” the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports on the latest in the mounting investigations into the governor. “That covers the initial services of former Attorney General Anthony F. Troy and some other staffers from his firm. Troy was appointed by Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli to represent McDonnell in legal matters related to a criminal case alleging embezzlement by the former chef at the Executive Mansion.” Kentucky Dem: stop playing favorites! “Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Ed Marksberry thinks his party is not playing fairly with his campaign,” the Lexington Herald Leader reports. “Marksberry, an Owensboro contractor who lost a bid for Congress in 2010, filed a lawsuit Monday in Franklin Circuit Court against state Democratic Party chairman Daniel Logsdon, alleging the party is favoring the candidacy of Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes….Marksberry said in the four-page lawsuit that he was surprised and shocked when the state Democratic Party released an email July 1 about Grimes’ announcement of her candidacy and mentioned her fundraising efforts. Daley kicks off for Illinois governor. “Former White House chief of staff Bill Daley is making his Illinois gubernatorial bid official,” AP reports, with the Democrat set to file paperwork on Tuesday to challenge incumbent Gov. Pat Quinn in the 2014 Democratic primary. “In a video on his campaign website, Daley says the fact that the General Assembly adjourned in May without finding a solution to the pension crisis or voting on same-sex marriage represents a ‘dysfunction.’” Gomez joins GOProud board. “Republican Gabriel E. Gomez, who lost last month’s special US Senate election, is set to join the board of directors of GOProud, a national conservative group that bills itself as a coalition of gay and lesbian conservatives and their allies,” the Boston Globe reports. “In a statement released by GOProud, Gomez said he was honored to join the board of the organization and looks forward to getting out the group’s message of ‘free markets, limited government, and personal responsibility.’”
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