UPDATE (3:53 p.m.): Talking Points Memo reports Democratic leadership saying the widely cited memo reported in Politico is a fraud. Politico has pulled the report until it can verify its accuracy.

______________________

This leadership memo instructs House Democratic communications staff how to handle questions and criticism of the CBO scoring of the health care bill.

(Via Hot Air)

In other health care developments, the American Farm Bureau Federation has sent a letter to House members stating the organization’s strong opposition to the health care legislation. From the Farm Bureau’s news release:

In a letter sent Thursday to all members of the House, AFBF President Bob Stallman said the legislation’s “negatives of new taxes, mandates, growth in government programs and overall cost far outweigh its benefits.” Stallman said Farm Bureau strongly favors health care reform, but it must be “workable, sustainable and balanced against the overall cost of doing business.”

Stallman told lawmakers that America’s agricultural producers are trapped in a broken insurance marketplace with few options and high insurance costs. “Farmers and ranchers need market-based reform that lowers costs and increases choices for private health insurance,” Stallman wrote.

UPDATE (3:20 p.m.): Retail Industry Leaders Association opposes health care legislation. John Emling, senior vice president, is quoted in RILA’s news release.

RILA has actively supported and constructively engaged in the effort to reform America’s health care system to reduce costs and expand retailers’ ability to tailor the plans they offer to the unique needs of their employees; this legislation does neither. RILA urges members of Congress to oppose this bill, and to start over on a bill that better addresses the needs of employers and individuals alike.

Dow-Jones covers the developments, “US Business Groups Opposing Health Bill As Vote Nears.”

John Engler, president of the National Association of Manufacturers, testified Thursday before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee Subcommittee on Energy and Environment hearing, “HomeStar: Job Creation Through Home Energy Retrofits.” From his testimony (available here):

Along with recoveries in other parts of the domestic economy as well as the global economy, a sustainable upturn in the housing sector will be a key ingredient for getting manufacturing back on track, expanding production and creating high-paying jobs. In fact, NAM estimates that if a healthy rebound in housing takes place over the next few years (2010-2013), it likely will create 128,000 manufacturing jobs in the industries connected to this sector.

As currently drafted, the HomeStar proposal would spur consumer demand for the purchase and installation of energy-efficient products and building materials by providing significant and immediate rebates for home energy-efficiency retrofits. In addition to promoting residential energy efficiency, the program will quickly create jobs in the manufacturing, distribution and sale of energy-efficient products.

Larry Laseter, president of the Masco Corporation subsidiary WellHome, testified (statement here), and the company sent out a news release beforehand.

“The HOME STAR program will get our nation’s skilled construction force working again, benefit homeowners coast to coast and from all socio-economic backgrounds through comfort and energy efficiency improvements to their homes, and result in long-term energy and environmental gains. We urge Congress to expedite approval of this program so that Americans can get back to work.

Also on the panel was Mike Thaman, chairman and CEO of Owens Corning. His testimony is here. Earlier this month, reacting to comments by President Obama, Owens Corning issued a news release in support of the HomeStar program, “Owens Corning Supports President Obama’s HOMESTAR Program to Create U.S. Jobs and Improve Energy Efficiency in America’s Homes,” in which Thaman commented:

The current condition of the U.S. housing market provides a unique opportunity to take advantage of available product and skilled worker capacity to get this done. We will work to support the President’s HOMESTAR initiative and its many benefits.

The Burlington (Vt.) Free Press covered the hearing, “Welch’s energy efficiency program faces GOP skepticism.”

Sitting here in Washington, one could think the entire nation is obsessively following the health care debate, shouting at the TV for interrupting House whip counts with that stupid March Madness.

But people do have other things on their mind, and you don’t even have to travel to flood-threatened Fårgo to realize that. The corners of 13th and F Street NW are close enough.

The lead headlines in the newspaper boxes indicate differing interests. Yes, health care, but also escalators and Sunday’s pro-immigration march on Washington.

• Washington Post, “House unveils $940 billion health accord”
• Washington Times, “Democrats make final reform push“
• El Tiempo Latino, “Llega el dia de la marcha” — The day of the march arrives.
• Washington Hispanic, “Immigrantes salen a las calles” — Immigrants take to the streets.
• USA TODAY, “Upsets Rattle the Brackets” — Hoya Saxa?
• Washington Examiner, “Death by iPod” — It’s dangerous to jog and bike when wearing headphones.
• The Express, “Broken Down and Fed Up” — Washington Post’s commuter tabloid highlights Metro’s infuriating escalator breakdowns.

The Spanish-language newspapers have been promoting Sunday’s immigration march on Washington for quite a while, but other D.C.-based media have paid little attention.

John Engler, president of the National Association of Manufacturers, spoke via conference call with NAM members Tuesday from small- and medium-sized manufacturers, one of a series of quarterly webinars used to bring folks up to date on Washington activities.

On health care, the boss had lots to say. We’ve transcribed some of his comments, with only light editing:

Our priorities at the NAM are unchanged. We came to the health care debate in good faith, saying, “Look, it’s time we have health care reform because we need to reduce health care costs, and we ought to respect all the employer plans that are out there.”

The NAM membership, mostly everybody, provides health insurance to their employees, so we were in the category of “doing the right thing.” Now we’re in the category of “no good deed goes unpunished.”

Our priorities are the same:

• Let’s maximize for manufacturers the widest possible set of opportunities and choices to have different options, some of those very much more affordable than what we have today.
• Let’s improve for the entire system and reform the way we deliver health-care services.
• Let’s increase the transparency on the costs and the quality of that health care, regardless of who’s providing it.

We’ve long been at the manufacturers part of employer-based coalitions, which have sought to educate members of Congress and the public on what we think are the significant economic consequences of what’s being proposed up on the Hill.

Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood was hailed by activists who support more federal funding for bicycling infrastructure for his remarks last week at the National Bike Summit 2010. Unfortunately, in winning points with the bicycle lobby, the Secretary departed from economic reality.

Secretary LaHood reported his Bike Summit comments at his FastLane blog today, “My view from atop the table at the National Bike Summit“:

Today, I want to announce a sea change. People across America who value bicycling should have a voice when it comes to transportation planning. This is the end of favoring motorized transportation at the expense of non-motorized.

Reading this jaw-dropping policy announcement, we thought the Secretary had let his enthusiasm get the best of him. Alas, no, his comments were actually reinforced in what he described as a “major policy revision” posted at the Federal Highway Administration website, Policy Statement on Bicycle and Pedestrian Accommodation.”

Treating bicycles and other non-motorized transportation as equal to motorized transportation would cause an economic catastrophe. If put into effect, the policy would more than undermine any effort the Obama Administration has made toward jobs. You can’t have jobs without the efficient movement of freight.

On Oct. 29, 2008, National Association of Manufacturers President John Engler testified on the economic stimulus bill at a hearing of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. Engler stated:

Eighty-percent of our nation’s freight, by value, moves across our nation’s roads, highways, and bridges by truck. The deteriorating condition of our surface transportation infrastructure and the challenges associated with traffic congestion have a negative effect on the manufacturing economy beyond wasted time and fuel. Nearly 20 percent of our small and medium-sized manufacturers recently reported to us in a survey that they risked losing a customer due to bottlenecks and other traffic delays over the past five years.

Pedicabs will not overcome those bottlenecks.

Now normally here we’d put in a statement about how bicycles are great, we need to fund infrastructure for bikes, federal support, blah, blah, blah. And, sure, more power to them. But c’mon! A great nation and modern industrial economy cannot operate if executive branch agencies are incapable of making a distinction between bicycles and trucks.

The House Appropriations Committee, Transportation and HUD Subcommittee, holds a hearing this Wednesday, “Strengthening Intermodal Connections & Improving Freight Mobility.” Scheduled to testify are Roy Kienitz, DOT’s under secretary for policy, and Victor Mendez, administrator of the Federal Highway Administration. Committee members would do everyone a service by posing this question: “Secretary LaHood last week declared it was now federal policy that motorized transportation should not be favored over non-motorized transportation. What in the world?”

For approving coverage of Secretary LaHood’s comments from bike-oriented outlets, see the extended entry.

The health care debate reaches its history-changing, make-or-break, climatic moment this week in Congress. Or is it next week? Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) unveils his financial regulatory legislation today.

President Obama travels to Strongsville, Ohio, this afternoon to declare that, on health care, the time for talk is over. On Wednesday, he meets with the Taoiseach of Ireland, Brian Cowen, at the White House with various other St. Patrick’s Day goings on. The President now departs on Sunday for Guam, Indonesia and Australia.

The House convenes at 12:30 p.m. today, with the health care debate moving forward when House Budget Committee marks up some kind of reconciliation package at 3 p.m. (Story and legislation.) According to the Majority Leader’s floor schedule, the House considers 24 suspensions and then the House turns to H.R. 1586, the Federal Aviation Administration’s reauthorization, and possibly legislation that purports to be a jobs bill.

The Senate convenes at 2 p.m., with debate on the motion to concur in the amendments of the House of Representatives to the amendment of the Senate to the amendment of the House to the amendment of the Senate to H.R.2847, that is, the “jobs bill.” A cloture vote is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Also expected this week is debate on H.R. 1586, the FAA reauthorization.

For the week’s full list of committee hearings, see the Daily Digest starting here.

Senate Hearings:  WEDNESDAY — The full Senate HELP Committee holds a hearing on the Obama Administration’s priorities in reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, with Secretary Duncan testifying. (Details.) A Commerce subcommittee considers FTC’s role in protecting consumers who use financial services and products. Senate EPW reviews , “GAO’s Investigation of EPA’s Efforts to Protect Children’s Health.” A Judiciary subcommittee considers bankruptcy reform and its effect on small business jobs. THURSDAY — The full Judiciary Committee committee holds a business meeting on nominations and markups, including S. 148, Discount Pricing Consumer Protection Act, to overturn the Leegin decision. Senate EPW looks at “Mobility and Congestion in Urban and Rural America.” You’re out of luck, suburbia. A Senate Commerce subcommittee assesses commercial space capabilities.

House Hearings: TUESDAY — House Ed&Labor, the Workforce Protections subcommittee, holds a hearing, “Protecting America’s Workers Act: Modernizing OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) Penalties.” Modernize must be the new Washington term for “increase.” A House Science subcommittee holds a hearing on broadening participation in STEM education. A separate Science subcommittee ponders rare earth minerals and industry. (Details.) A House Judiciary subcommittee considers federal rulemaking and the regulatory process. Appropriation considers the budget and economic outlook, with Treasury Secretary Geithner testifying. An Appropriations subcommittee, “Strengthening Intermodal Connections & Improving Freight Mobility: An Outside Perspective.” Well that would be “outermodal,” wouldn’t it? WEDNESDAY — An Appropriations subcommittee hears from organized labor on its priorities for K-12 education. The full House Science Committee holds a hearing on the federal government’s role in supporting innovation by U.S. manufacturers; executives from General Motors and Procter & Gamble are among the witnesses. House Transportation and Infrastructure, a subcommittee hearing, “Capacity of Vessels to Meet U.S. Import and Export Requirements.” Transportation’s aviation subcommittee considers FAA oversight of on-demand aircraft operators. The Energy and Water Development appropriations subcommittee considers the Department of Energy’s various department budgets. Another Appropriations subcommittee hearing on intermodal connections and budgets for FHWA, FMCSA, MARAD, and FRA. The full Ed&Labor Committee holds a hearing on the Obama Administration’s views on reauthorizing the Elementary Secondary Act, with Sec. Duncan testifying.  THURSDAY – An Energy and Commerce subcommittee considers HomeStar and job creation through energy retrofits. The defense subcommittee of Appropriations looks at U.S. transportation command, including mobility acquisition. The energy and water development subcommittee considers DOE’s science budgets, including ARPA. Education Secretary Arne Duncan testifies on his department’s budget before an Appropriations subcommittee. FAA Administrator Babbitt and other aviation officials testifying on their budgets before the relevant Appropriations subcommittee. House Energy and Commerce, a subcommittee considers H.R. 4805, formaldehyde standards for composite wood products. An Appropriations subcommittee considers the views of aviation’s stakeholders, including the General Aviation Manufacturers Association. Interior Secretary Salazar testifies on his budget before yet another appropriations subcommittee.

Executive Branch: The National League of Cities meets in Washington today and Tuesday, with Cabinet secretaries Chu (Energy), Duncan (Education), LaHood (DOT), Locke (Commerce), Vilsack (USDA), Donovan (HUD) and EPA Administrator Jackson all scheduled.

Economic Reports: Industrial production figures for February are released this morning. On Tuesday, we’ll see U.S. housing starts and building permits for March. The Federal Open Markets Committee’s interest rate announcement is scheduled for 2:15 p.m. ET. On Wednesday, it’s the Producer Price Index; Thursday, it’s the Consumer Price Index, and the Philadelphia Fed reports on manufacturing conditions. The Washington Post’s Neil Irwin has his version of The Week Ahead here.

The Senate just this afternoon cleared final passage by a vote of 62 to 36 of a Jobs/Unemployment Benefits/Tax Extenders bill (H.R. 4213) that restores the proven tax incentive to keep jobs here in the United States and place our country in the global race for investment dollars. 

How does it keep jobs here?  The credit cuts the cost of doing R&D here in the United States.  More than 70 percent of credit dollars are attributable to R&D wages (remainder is used for supplies & materials).  What race?  The race that has 20 OECD countries, many of which are our major trading partners, offering an R&D tax incentive while the U.S. watches R&D drift offshore attracted by more generous and often permanent R&D tax incentives.

Manufacturers, which must be high-tech to survive in a fiercely competitive global market, are innovators, using R&D to develop new products and increase productivity.  Manufacturers lead innovation, create opportunity, and pursue progress.  R&D drives all three of these characteristics of a modern manufacturer.

Next step:  Congress should send ASAP to the President a tax bill that fully restores the R&D tax credit. 

Monica M. McGuire is senior policy director for taxation at the National Association of Manufactures and serves as executive secretary of the R&D Credit Coalition.

News coverage of the new ad campaign by Employers for a Healthy Economy — to which the National Association of Manufacturers belongs — used lots of combative terminology to describe the effort. Assault on Congress?

Well, OK. But judge yourself. Here are the ads, and here’s the text.

“Afford”
Americans still losing jobs… more businesses struggling…

We thought Washington understood.

But this week Congress is trying to use special rules…

to ram through their same trillion dollar health care bill.

Billions in new taxes… more mandates on businesses.

Health care costs will go even higher, making a tough economy… worse.

Washington’s not getting the message.

Tell Congress. Stop this health care bill we can’t afford to pay.

The business alliance issued a news release Tuesday, Business Coalition Releases New Television Ad on Health Care Legislation.”

• Washington Times, “Business groups target lawmakers“
• Roll Call, “Groups Aim One Last Time at Reform Bill“
• Seattle Times, “Businesses to fight health bill with huge ad campaign“

Matt Sundquist of the legal affairs blog, Scotusblog, examines two public opinion surveys taken after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. FEC, which held that incorporated entities—businesses, unions and nonprofit advocacy groups—have a First Amendment right to spend money from their general treasuries to fund independent advertisements urging people to vote for or against candidates for public office.

We had already critiqued one, a Washington Post/ABC survey, for the tendentious phrasing of its questions. The other survey Sunquist writes about was conducted for the self-styled campaign finance reform advocates, Common Cause, Change Congress, and the Public Campaign Action Fund, which seek to limit campaign spending and abridge First Amendment Rights.

[Neither] of the surveys mentions important distinctions between federal laws, which previously banned corporate contributions, and state laws, which in many cases have permitted it for years.  And in all three of the questions, the broad language seems to affirmatively mislead respondents.  Although respondents would assume that the survey used accurate, clear language and provided all of the information needed to form an opinion, the survey did neither.

Although the language of these polls is flawed, it is possible to design an improved poll.  Future Citizens United polls ought to distinguish between state and federal laws and eschew mistaken categorical claims.  Knowing that respondents will apply conversational definitions to words, the polls’ creators should use precise language, clarify what types of corporate and union spending are permitted, and accurately contrast the new scope of campaign laws with previous laws.

As we noted in a Saturday post, a survey conducted by the Center for Competitive Politics — which supported the Citizens United ruling — posed specific questions that elicited more informative responses.

Bret Jacobsen in Forbes.com, “Everyday Higher Prices,” a commentary on the “high road” federal contracting standards:

It’s just the latest effort to increase costs on taxpayer projects in the name of pushing more money to labor unions.

Reports this week of the new proposal are raising eyebrows. Though details are sketchy, here’s the general idea: The Obama administration is attempting to alter the scoring system currently used to evaluate government contractors and suppliers.

The new system would provide additional points for so-called “high road” employers who pay wages and benefits above minimum standards. (Note that the new requirement is not about providing quality above minimal standards; employers simply have to pay more.) Thus, competition in bidding becomes a tangled race to see who can charge the most to cover higher labor costs.

The costs of this favor to Big Labor would be borne by the taxpayers, paying the direct costs of more expensive contracts and indirect costs from inefficiency.

The recent report from the White House Task Force on the Middle Class foreshadowed this major change in federal contracting. From page 23, the section entitled “Responsible Federal Contracting.”

The Federal Government spends over half a trillion dollars a year on contracts for goods and services, generating employment for tens of millions of workers. However, there are inadequate controls on the records of firms who get these contracts and on the quality of the jobs these contracts create.Ignoring these factors has negative implications, not only for the workers on these contracts, but for the quality and efficiency of services rendered. For these reasons, the Task Force has participated in a review process to identify ways to reform the procurement process to increase the quality of both the services procured and the jobs created under Federal contracts.

The Task Force recognizes that contracts should not be awarded to irresponsible sources with unsatisfactory records of business ethics, including noncompliance with labor and employment, tax, fraud, and consumer protection laws. We also recognize that substandard wages and benefits can have negative impacts on employees’ productivity and stability, which in turn can reduce the quality of performance on Federal contracts.

We expect to produce shortly some new recommendations to bring these ideas into practice.

• Associated Press, “‘Living wage’ could be factor in govt contracts”
• New York Times, “Plan to Seek Use of US Contracts as a Wage Lever“
• Bloomberg, “Plan to Seek Use of US Contracts as a Wage Lever“