President Obama and Vice President Biden have released their tax returns for 2012.
Roll Call: 15 fun facts about the Obamas’ and Bidens’ taxes.
Is the GOP Really Willing to Take on Entitlement Reform?
NRCC Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) touched a nerve when he savaged the entitlement changes in President Obama’s budget as a “shocking attack on seniors,” Roll Call reports.
But “it’s the lack of fallout” that may be more revealing.
The debate Walden’s remarks “has set off inside the GOP shows many Republicans harbor deep-seated fears about publicly supporting the entitlement cuts they supposedly back and have demanded Obama and other Democrats embrace since taking control of the House in 2011.”
The Week: Why Obama just can’t win on Social Security.
A New Budget for a New Party
Ron Brownstein: “The keening on the left about President Obama’s budget proposal this week suggests that large portions of the Democratic base still don’t understand the political and economic dynamics of the party’s changing electoral coalition.”
Extra Bonus Quote of the Day
“This guy is a clown. He’s a fool, so was his father and so was his grandfather.”
— Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), interviewed on Fox News, dismissing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Rubio Goes All In on Immigration Reform
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) “is preparing to go all in to support sweeping immigration legislation, offering himself up as the public face of a bill that will split the Republican Party — but that his allies hope will propel him to the front of the GOP presidential sweepstakes,” Politico reports.
“Rubio is planning a media blitz to promote the bill — which is expected to be released early next week — making the rounds on all of the Sunday political talk shows starting this weekend, wooing skeptical conservative radio hosts and pitching the plan to Spanish-language news outlets.”
The Week: “What prompted this change of heart? Just a few days ago Rubio’s office issued a statement calling reports of an immigration deal ‘premature,’ prompting pundits to wonder whether he was trying to deliberately stall the process. It’s not like the political dilemma that Rubio faces has changed from what it was just days ago.”
Tweet of the Day
Our campaign bumper sticker: If babies had guns, they wouldn’t be aborted. stockman2014.com #gosnell #tcot twitter.com/ReElectStockma…
— Rep. Steve Stockman (@ReElectStockman) April 12, 2013
The Old Cuccinelli Haunts the New One
Beth Reinhard:
“It’s not easy to be the new Ken Cuccinelli. The new Cuccinelli, the
Republican frontrunner in the Virginia governor’s race, is more likely
these days to be calling for job growth and education reform than he is
to be railing against abortion and gay marriage. But the old Cuccinelli,
the state attorney general who crusaded for conservative values, keeps
cropping up, offering a steady stream of fodder for opponents determined
to frame him as a right-wing ideologue.”
McAuliffe Rakes In Over $5 Million Last Quarter
Terry McAuliffe (D) raised roughly $5.1 million for his Virginia gubernatorial bid in the first three months of the year, including a $100,000 check from a longtime friend — President Bill Clinton, the Washington Post reports.
Bonus Quote of the Day
“In our part of the country, this isn’t an issue. This is a way of life. This is how people feel, and it is extraordinarily difficult to explain that, especially to grieving parents.”
— Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), quoted by the New York Times, rejecting appeals to support limits on the capacity of gun magazines and universal background checks, adding, “I’m going to represent my state.”
Cohen Gets Into Twitter Trouble Again
Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) tweeted that he thinks singer Cyndi Lauper is “hot” and then quickly deleted it 12 minutes later, the Washington Post reports.
Of course, the Sunlight Foundation tracks politicians’ deleted tweets and saved a copy.
Earlier this year Cohen unintentionally disclosed on Twitter that he had a 24 year old daughter that he only found out about three years ago.
How to Get Your Perk Into a Bill
Jack Abramoff: “Whether you’re a company, a union, or an individual, to get your bennie–your perk–into a bill, the first thing you need to do is find a bill that’s going to get signed by the president. Ninety-nine percent of what’s proposed in Congress doesn’t make it to the White House, so you’re looking for one of the few bills that’s going to make it all the way through the House, the Senate, the conference committees, and wind up on the president’s desk. We call that a moving train. If you’re a lobbyist pushing something like this, you want your moving train to be a 2,000-plus-page bill. You want to find a way to sneak your bennie into a teeny boxcar in the back that nobody’s going to notice.”
Washington Republicans to Auction AR-15 Rifle
“When the Washington State Republican Party holds its annual fundraising dinner this weekend, one of the items up for auction will be an AR-15 style rifle — the type of semi-automatic weapon targeted by many gun-control advocates since Adam Lanza used one to rapidly kill 20 children and six adults at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school,” the Seattle Times reports.
O’Malley Admits He’s Mulling White House Bid
Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) finally admitted to the Baltimore Sun that he’s considering a presidential bid.
Said O’Malley: “I need to be spending a lot more energy and time giving serious consideration and preparation to what– if anything–I might have to offer should I decide to run for president in 2016.”
Harry Enten: “O’Malley will likely need progressives’ money to overcome his lack of national name recognition. He’s currently polling at 0% in an Iowa caucus ballot test, even when Clinton isn’t on the poll question. He’s also currently at 0% in a New Hampshire primary ballot test… [The problem is] O’Malley doesn’t have a history of attracting a liberal donor base.”
Daily Beast: “Weighing O’Malley’s chances is something of an academic exercise at this point because if Hillary Clinton enters the race, she will likely clear the field as, to a lesser degree, would Joe Biden, and the chances that both of them sit out ’16 is a decided long shot.”
McCotter Says Former Aides Conspired to Keep Him Off Ballot
Former Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI) has sued a former top aide and an ex-intern, “saying they deliberately submitted forged nominating petitions in his name to keep him from seeking re-election,” the AP reports.
McCotter’s lawyer said the two men “purposefully submitted forged petitions in order to keep McCotter off the ballot and, thereby, denying him the opportunity to appear on the August 2012 Republican Primary ballot.” He also pledged to use subpoena power to “get to the bottom of what really happened to sabotage … McCotter.”
Garcetti Pulling Away in Race for Los Angeles Mayor
A new SurveyUSA poll in Los Angeles finds Eric Garcetti with nearly a double-digit lead over Wendy Greuel in the race for mayor, 49% to 40%. That’s a 2-percentage-point increase from two weeks ago.
Jenny Sanford Will Not Make Endorsement
Former South Carolina first lady Jenny Sanford told Roll Call she has no plans to endorse in the South Carolina special election that includes her ex-husband, former Gov. Mark Sanford (R).
Said Sanford: “I don’t have any thoughts on the race that I am currently interested in sharing with the public and I have no plans to endorse. I remain completely focused on the four wonderful men in my life and happily so.”
Put Congress in Your Pocket
App of the day: Pocket Congress.
Social Conservatives Urged to Halt Donations to GOP
Family Research Council President Tony Perkins “is calling on social conservatives to stop donating to national Republicans until the GOP stops going wobbly on gay marriage,” Politico reports.
Said Perkins: “Until the RNC and the other national Republican organizations grow a backbone and start defending core principles, don’t send them a dime of your hard-earned money.”
