http://blogs.geniocity.com/rosenberg Just another WordPress weblog Tue, 16 Mar 2010 14:11:57 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Outrageous as it sounds, if you only have time to read ONE article about the 2010 Census, best to make it Mark Blumenthal's fascinating, link-filled little piece at National Journal. http://blogs.geniocity.com/rosenberg/2010/03/taking-the-census-seriously/ Not only will Republican budget guru Paul Ryan's proposed budget raise taxes on almost everyone, it will also not balance the budget -- the one thing it was designed to do! Here's the problem. That Congressional Budget Office score that Ryan cites as proof? It doesn't estimate how much revenue his plan ... http://blogs.geniocity.com/rosenberg/2010/03/paul-ryan-will-not-balance-the-budget/ Last month, during a little back-and-forth with a commenter, I conceded that although I completely disagree with it, Paul Ryan's budget "roadmap" is serious and in good faith (unlike most recent GOP "plans" for major issues). What I didn't know at the time was that if you run the numbers, as ... http://blogs.geniocity.com/rosenberg/2010/03/paul-ryan-wants-to-raise-your-taxes/ Following up on my last post, I'd just like to point out an excellent graphic the Times ran yesterday showing that, despite what the GOP would have you believe, use of budget reconciliation for major legislation is not even remotely uncommon. http://blogs.geniocity.com/rosenberg/2010/03/truth-and-reconciliation/ One of the more annoying tropes of the past few weeks, as it has become more and more likely that the Democrats will finally get their act together and inch past the goal line on health care reform, is the idea that budget reconciliation is somehow "unprecedented" and "extreme" and "jamming it ... http://blogs.geniocity.com/rosenberg/2010/03/irreconcilable-differences/ Not to beat a dead horse, but can we not agree there's something seriously wrong with the US Senate? Senators are literally not doing their jobs anymore! The Hill has a list of the 290 -- yes, 290 -- bills the House passed that the Senate has not yet acted on. ... http://blogs.geniocity.com/rosenberg/2010/02/where-bills-go-to-die/ I hope to have more original analysis in the next few days (before the Blair House summit), but in the meantime Jonathan Chait has a great, great post countering all the claims that health care reform is dead. Update: More. http://blogs.geniocity.com/rosenberg/2010/02/the-road-ahead-on-hcr/ As David Leonhardt points out in a great column that's making the rounds. http://blogs.geniocity.com/rosenberg/2010/02/the-stimulus-worked/ Evan Bayh announced his retirement from the Senate today. Good riddance. Even though, per Nate Silver, Bayh is a relatively valuable vote when he bothers to vote with his party (rather than undermine it), he's actually the worst kind of entitled "centrist" whose principles change with the political winds; the worst kind of legacy ... http://blogs.geniocity.com/rosenberg/2010/02/good-bayh/ Since we can't just get rid of the damn thing (outrageous!), Christopher Beam offers eight ways to reform Senate rules, none of which will ever happen, because of Senate rules: [T]he odds of streamlining the Senate anytime soon are low, thanks to a central paradox: Changing the rules surrounding the supermajority (60 ... http://blogs.geniocity.com/rosenberg/2010/02/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-the-senate/