Economy

A group of Republicans, including Rep. John Kline, will meet with reporters this afternoon to protest the Democrats’ plans to eliminate tens of billions of dollars in government subsidies to private companies that lend to students.

On issues as diverse as health care and student lending, provisions designed to rein in deficit spending have all run smack into the ubiquitous inclination of lawmakers to protect their home turf from the scalpel of budget cuts. Their message is familiar: Congress must do something to get its fiscal house in order, just don’t do it in my back yard. And party affiliation is largely irrelevant.

Sen. Jim Bunning’s (R-Ky.) recent one-man stand against legislation extending unemployment benefits offered a high-profile airing of a popular GOP message: Deficit spending, in almost any form, will cause more harm than good to a fragile economy. Standing in the way of the Republicans’ reasoning, however, has been another formidable group: budget experts.

One year after the Obama administration launched its $75 billion anti-foreclosure program, the housing market remains volatile, loan modifications have been scant, foreclosures are still sky-high — and more and more lawmakers are wondering why the White House hasn’t been more aggressive in tackling the crisis.

As job creation continues to be the caboose of economic recovery, employment experts of all stripes are hiking the pressure on Congress to tackle the crisis by encouraging employers to cut hours rather than firing workers. And more and more lawmakers are taking heed.

To hear Republicans in Congress tell it, the Grand Old Party is pretty much united against the deficit-spending approach to economic recovery. But don’t tell that to local GOP officials. Faced with the most severe budget crises in decades, state and local policymakers from across the country — including a growing list of prominent Republicans — have been only too happy to accept the additional federal funding that accompanied last year’s $787 billion stimulus bill.

Conservative group Minnesota Majority is launching an attack on 15 Republicans who votes for a $1.1 billion bonding bill in the Minnesota Legislature. Calling them the “Forgetful Fifteen,” the group is urging GOP delegates to think twice about endorsing them at the party conventions this month. The campaign comes after the Taxpayers League of Minnesota [...]

A $1.1 billion bonding bill that’s working its way through the Minnesota Legislature is becoming a political football for Republicans. On Tuesday, six Republicans joined with DFLers in the House to pass the bill, following votes for the bill by nine Senate Republicans nearly two weeks ago. Those votes have drawn the ire of the [...]

The White House wants it. Senate leaders support it. The House has already passed it. And, in the wake of the worst financial upheaval since the Great Depression, many consumer groups and state regulators say it’s vital if the country is to avoid another economic collapse. Yet the proposal to create a new consumer financial protection agency is, for all practical purposes, dead on arrival in the Senate.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s supplemental budget proposal, released on Monday morning, includes large cuts to state-sponsored health coverage for low income Minnesotans, reductions in local government aid and tax breaks and incentives for businesses and corporations. The plan pleased few, drawing criticism from urban and rural cities, the health care industry, the courts, and, predictably, Democrats. [...]