Between The Lines - Richard Eskow: White House-Congressional Fiscal Cliff Deal Comes at a High Price (Week Ending Jan. 18, 2013)

Award-winning Investigative Journalist Robert Parry (1949-2018)

Award-winning investigative journalist and founder/editor of ConsortiumNews.com, Robert Parry has passed away. His ground-breaking work uncovering Reagan-era dirty wars in Central America and many other illegal and immoral policies conducted by successive administrations and U.S. intelligence agencies, stands as an inspiration to all in journalists working in the public interest.

Robert had been a regular guest on our Between The Lines and Counterpoint radio shows -- and many other progressive outlets across the U.S. over four decades.

His penetrating analysis of U.S. foreign policy and international conflicts will be sorely missed, and not easily replaced. His son Nat Parry writes a tribute to his father: Robert Parry’s Legacy and the Future of Consortiumnews.

Thank you for donating

If you've made a donation and wish to receive thank you gifts for your donation, be sure to send us your mailing address via our Contact form.

See our thank you gifts for your donation.

The Resistance Starts Now!

Between The Lines' coverage and resource compilation of the Resistance Movement

"The man who predicted Trump presidential win now says Trump impeachment could happen," AM Joy with Joy Reid, MSNBC, Jan. 21, 2018
"Sketchy Kazakh money finds its way into Trump dealings," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Red flags seen in many Trump real estate deals," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Secret Money: How Trump Made Millions Selling Condos To Unknown Buyers," BuzzFeed, Jan. 12, 2018
"The Scandals of Donald Trump: Presidential Edition," The Atlantic, May 15, 2017
"Here's what we know so far about Team Trump's ties to Russian interests," Washington Post's ongoing compilation
"What Comey Was Investigating, Explained," The Moscow Project, Center for American Progress

"Donald Trump's Financial Ties to Russian Oligarchs and Mobsters Detailed In Explosive New Documentary from the Netherlands," Dutch TV documentary, Alternet.org, May 12, 2017
Ongoing compilation of Trump's creeping authoritarianism," MotherJones.com
Full resource list ...

SPECIAL REPORT: "The Resistance - Women's March 2018 - Hartford, Connecticut" Jan. 20, 2018

Selected speeches from the Women's March in Hartford, Connecticut 2018, recorded and produced by Scott Harris

SPECIAL REPORT: "No Fracking Waste in CT!" Jan. 14, 2018

Jen Siskind Jennifer Siskind, local coordinator for Food and Water Watch, describes the campaign to stop fracking waste in Connecticut, which so far has led to fracking waste bans in 34 towns around the state. Interviewed by Richard Hill on Mic Check, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT

SPECIAL REPORT: "Resistance Round Table: The Unraveling Continues..." Jan. 13, 2018

Lindsay Kanaly The panel discusses Trump's long history of racism and the Republican voter suppression juggernaut confronting Democrats leading up to the 2018 elections. Special guest: Lindsay Kanaly, a lead organizer of the Women's Marches planned for Jan. 20, 2018. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill on Resistance Roundtable, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT.

SPECIAL REPORT: "Capitalism to the ash heap?" Richard Wolff, Jan. 2, 2018

Richard Wolff, Economics professor Richard Wolff declares U.S. capitalism to be beyond repair and suggests the need for a radical alternative. Interviewed by Richard Hill

SPECIAL REPORT: Maryn McKenna, author of "Big Chicken", Dec. 7, 2017

Maryn McKenna, investigative journalist and author of Big Chicken, talks about the widespread use and dangers of antibiotics in commercial poultry, beef and fruit production. Interview by Bill Duesing, Richard Hill and Guy Beardsly on WPKN's Organic Farm Stand.

SPECIAL REPORT: Nina Turner's address, Working Families Party Awards Banquet, Dec. 14, 2017

Nina Turner, president of Our Revolution, talks about the fight ahead for progressives as she receives the Working Families Organization Award for Exceptional Leadership Towards Advancing Progress. The event was held in Meriden, CT. Produced by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Dec. 12, 2017

Working Families Party of CT talks strategy and issues for 2018.
Lindsay Farrell, executive director of the Working Families Party of Connecticut, discusses the state's electoral landscape and lays out the issues and strategies that could lead to progressive victories in 2018. Interviewed by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Dec. 9, 2017

Disturbing developments in the Trump/Republican Agenda
Focus on the tax bill, destruction of our public lands, North Korea and Trump's private CIA. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill. Special guest: Jo Macallero of Rise and Resist.

SPECIAL REPORT: On Tyranny - one year later, Nov. 28, 2017

Professor Timothy Snyder, author of the highly acclaimed resistance manual On Tyranny, discusses his book and offers a fresh assessment of the state of our beleaguered republic. Timothy Snyder, history professor at Yale, is introduced by Stanley Heller, administrator of Promoting Enduring Peace, a Connecticut-based organization that sponsored this event at the United Church Parish House in New Haven on Nov. 28. A brief interview with Snyder conducted by WPKN radio producer, Richard Hill, follows his talk.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Nov. 12, 2017

Lynne Ide, director of program and policy with the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, talks about the current state of health care coverage in Connecticut. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Nov. 11, 2017

Focus on the Republican tax plan, the just-released autopsy on the Democratic Party, and Internet censorship by Google, Facebook and Youtube. Including an interview with Hilary Grant, a lead organizer with Action Together Connecticut, who discusses the local results of the recent election, with hosts Richard Hill, Scott Harris and Ruth Baumgartner WPKN producers

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Two leaders from Redneck Revolt, an anti-racist, anti-capitalist movement, talk about their work organizing with white working class people in Suffolk County, New York. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Bruce Gagnon, coordinator for the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, describes the extent of -- and motives underlying -- the vast US network of military bases around the globe. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resisting U.S. JeJu Island military base in South Korea, Oct. 24, 2017

Joyakol, South Korean peace activist and singer, discusses the crisis on the Korean peninsula and focuses on the resistance to the U.S. huge military base being constructed on Jeju Island. The event was sponsored by the Greater New Haven Peace Council and this audio was recorded by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.
Joyakol discusses Americans' biggest misconceptions about the conflict between North and South Korea and the U.S., Interview by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.

SPECIAL REPORT: John Allen, Out in New Haven

John Allen, founding director of the New Haven Pride Center, Connecticut, talks about his new LGBTQ television show, Out in New Haven, which presents a range of political and cultural issues to the community. Interviewed by Richard Hill on WPKN's Rainy Day Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018.

2017 Gandhi Peace Awards

Promoting Enduring Peace presented its Gandhi Peace Award jointly to renowned consumer advocate Ralph Nader and BDS founder Omar Barghouti on April 23, 2017.

Subscribe to our Weekly Summary & receive our FREE Resist Trump window cling

(Car window cling)

Email us with your mailing address at contact@btlonline.org to receive our "Resist Trump/Resist Hate" car window cling!

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE...

who helped make our 25th anniversary with Jeremy Scahill a success!

For those who missed the event, or were there and really wanted to fully absorb its import, here it is in video

Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 1 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.

Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 2 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.

Between The Lines on Stitcher

Between The Lines Presentation at the Left Forum 2016

"How Do We Build A Mass Movement to Reverse Runaway Inequality?" with Les Leopold, author of "Runaway Inequality: An Activist's Guide to Economic Justice,"May 22, 2016, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The City University of New York, 860 11th Ave. (Between 58th and 59th), New York City. Between The Lines' Scott Harris and Richard Hill moderated this workshop. Listen to the audio/slideshows and more from this workshop.

Listen to audio of the plenary sessions from the weekend.

JEREMY SCAHILL: Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker "Dirty Wars"

Listen to the full interview (30:33) with Jeremy Scahill, an award-winning investigative journalist with the Nation Magazine, correspondent for Democracy Now! and author of the bestselling book, "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army," about America's outsourcing of its military. In an exclusive interview with Counterpoint's Scott Harris on Sept. 16, 2013, Scahill talks about his latest book, "Dirty Wars, The World is a Battlefield," also made into a documentary film under the same title, and was nominated Dec. 5, 2013 for an Academy Award in the Best Documentary Feature category.

Listen to Scott Harris Live on WPKN Radio

Between The Lines' Executive Producer Scott Harris hosts a live, weekly talk show, Counterpoint, from which some of Between The Lines' interviews are excerpted. Listen every Monday evening from 8 to 10 p.m. EDT at www.WPKN.org (Follows the 5-7 minute White Rose Calendar.)

Counterpoint in its entirety is archived after midnight ET Monday nights, and is available for at least a year following broadcast in WPKN Radio's Archives.

You can also listen to full unedited interview segments from Counterpoint, which are generally available some time the day following broadcast.

Subscribe to Counterpoint bulletins via our subscriptions page.

BTL Blog

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Special Programming

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Progressive Resources

A compilation of activist and news sites with a progressive point of view

Share this content:

|

Subscribe to BTL

Podcasts: direct or via iTunes

Subscribe to Program Summaries, Interview Transcripts or Counterpoint via email or RSS feed

If you have other questions regarding subscriptions, feeds or podcasts/mp3s go to our Audio Help page.

Between The Lines Blog

Stay connected to BTL

Learn how to support our efforts!

Tweets by @BTLRadioNews

White House–Congressional Fiscal Cliff Deal Comes at High Price

RealAudio MP3

Posted Jan. 9, 2013

Interview with Richard Eskow, senior fellow with the group Campaign for America’s Future, conducted by Scott Harris

While the U.S. news media was hyperventilating with minute-by-minute reports on the drama surrounding the Washington-made “fiscal cliff” crisis, an 11th-hour deal between the White House and Congress was reached in the first hours of the new year, averting across the board tax hikes. The agreement allowed the Bush tax cuts to expire for families making $450,000 a year or more, marginally raised the estate tax, and tax rates on capital gains and dividends. The legislation extended unemployment benefits for a year, while continuing the Earned Income Tax Credit, the Child Tax Credit, and refundable tuition tax credits for five years.

But the agreement deferred action for two months on the $109 billion in automatic domestic and Pentagon budget cuts; failed to address the debt ceiling that must be raised between Feb. 15 and March 1, and made no provision for dealing with the March 27 expiration of appropriation bills that fund the federal government.

The lack of congressional action on these critical issues sets up at least three more fiscal cliff-type political showdowns, that threaten to damage the nation’s credit rating and/or shut down federal government operations.

Many progressive activists and legislators were critical of the compromises made by the president that limited tax increases on the wealthy, taking $3.9 trillion in revenue off the table permanently. They worry that Republicans are now empowered to focus all future negotiations on budget cuts, rather than generating additional revenue. Between The Lines’ Scott Harris spoke with Richard Eskow, a senior fellow with the Campaign for America’s Future, who assesses the negative fallout from the fiscal cliff agreement between the White House and Congress that may pave the way for benefit cuts in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

RICHARD ESKOW: One of the big complaints about this deal is that the concessions are permanent on one side, but the cessation of hostilities is only temporary. So this leaves all sorts of battles yet to come and on a slanted, tilted playing field, because if you look at the election results in November, Democrats won the presidency, and they won it on a progressive platform – no matter what they may say now – that included tax increases of about $250,000, protecting Medicare and Social Security. They won on that platform, they won the presidency, they won the Senate, not only only in numerical numbers, but overwhelmingly in the popular vote. And interestingly, they won the House of Representatives in the popular votes by more than a million votes. But because of gerrymandering, the Republicans got to keep the House.

So now all the negotiation is being done on the terms of the party that lost – at least in the popular vote – all three branches of government. Now Mitch McConnell in the Senate is saying that we're done talking about new revenue, now the next discussions are about cuts and cuts only. So all of a sudden, the winning party with the winning majority and the winning mandate is on the defensive against those who want to do wildly unpopular things.

The Republicans are also saying with some sympathy, within the White House, I might add, that they want to cut what they call "entitlements" which is Medicare and Social Security benefits which has nothing to do with our long-term deficit. Social Security doesn't contribute to the deficit and Medicare's cost problems don't have to with the benefits themselves, but with the problems with health care in this country. But that looks like that's going to be what's on the table. So this is, in my opinion, a very undemocratic with a small 'd' basis for these negotiations going forward.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Now, when it comes to tax revenue, there's been a discussion that Republicans declare any debate about more revenue is over and everything from here on in is about budget cuts. But where can the president and Democrats, progressives, more specifically, go with proposals to raise more revenue rather than cut programs for the working poor? What comes to mind are things like imposing a transaction tax on stock trades, closing loopholes for offshore tax havens and the like. Is any of that going to be on the table, you think?

RICHARD ESKOW: Well, again, I would hope so. But I'm not as optimistic as I'd like to be, because we even have some people in the White House embracing this notion that we should have lower corporate tax rates and tax "simplification" to go along with it. But, at the end of the day the lobbyists and tax lawyers usually win those fights.

Now, the president has sent ambiguous signals about taxing offshore income. We absolutely should do that, we should be pressing to do that. The financial transaction tax has not gotten a lot of play in Washington circles. A couple of people on the Hill have introduced it in a bill. But, I think it's critically important for two reasons. One, it's a source of new revenue and two, it's a very, very tiny transactional tax on each buy or sell transaction that takes place. And it would do two things. One, it would raise revenue, and two, it would make our economy more stable.

BETWEEN THE LINES: It seems that President Obama in past negotiations has offered up both an increase in the eligibility age for Medicare from 65 to 67 as well as this proposal, called "Chained CPI" which would effectively be a benefit cut for Social Security recipients by monkeying around with the way Social Security payments keep up with inflation. Do you want to talk about how your organization and other activists are working to put pressure on the White House not to go down this road?

RICHARD ESKOW: First of all, this has been something that the White House has wanted to do for a long time. And you know, this upsets certain supporters of the president and so on. But I personally was in a private, off-the-record meeting with a very, very senior administration official who said in 2009 that they wanted to cut these benefits as a way of proving to the international bond markets that were serious, that sort of thing. But the international bond markets happened to love U.S. government bonds right now, so that's irrational. But I think that they're committed to it.

These cuts are opposed by 75 percent of Republican voters, according to our own polling, 76 percent of self-identified tea party members. People don't want this done. And if the president gives the Republicans cover to do it, two things will happen. One is it will be catastrophic for all of us as we get older. And two, even from a purely pragmatic political point of view, it's going to decimate the Democratic party.

And the partisans who work for that party, who support that party should be the most upset of all, because not only will it be bad policy, it'll be catastrophic politically. Campaign for America's Future and one of our affiliated groups that we work with – Social Security Works – and a number of other organizations are working very hard to prevent those things from happening.

Find information about Campaign for America's Future at ourfuture.org