The best evidence that Washington has forgotten about the jobs crisis is to look at the plans emerging to address it. Yesterday's House GOP plan was a perfect example. It was, as MIT economist David Autor told me, a classic case of "now-more-than-everism": Everything on the agenda was also on the GOP's agenda in 2006, in 2002, in 1987, etc. It's lower taxes, less spending, fewer regulations, more trade agreements, more domestic oil production. You can argue about whether these proposals are good for the economy. But as Autor says, there's "no original thinking here directed at addressing the employment problem."

But that's because the document doesn't admit the existence of a particular unemployment crisis that might require a tailored response. The only problem it admits is, well, Democrats. “For the past four years, Democrats in Washington have enacted policies that undermine these basic concepts which have historically placed America at the forefront of the global marketplace," the document explains on its first page. "As a result, most Americans know someone who has recently lost a job, and small businesses and entrepreneurs lack the confidence needed to invest in our economy. Not since the Great Depression has our nation’s unemployment rate been this high this long.”

You don't have to admire the Democratic policy agenda to wonder if someone in Speaker Boehner's office shouldn't have raised his hand and pointed out that George W. Bush was president four years ago and he was a Republican, and perhaps there should be a pro forma mention of Wall Street and the financial crisis somewhere in this narrative. Sadly, the most significant employment crisis in generations has stopped generating new thinking and has become simply another opportunity to bash the other party while pushing your perennial agenda. That's a shame, because with 15 million unemployed and the recovery sputtering slight, we really do need new thinking and a sense of urgency on behalf of both the unemployed and the economy. In fact, we need it now more than ever.

Five in the morning

1) The House GOP announced its jobs plan, reports Zachary Goldfarb: "House Republicans...offered a proposal that would lower the top tax rate on individual and corporate income to 25 percent from 35 percent. The plan would also strengthen patent protections against some lawsuits, require congressional approval of significant new regulations, increase domestic oil protection and promote the party’s effort to make large cuts in government spending. 'House Republicans know you can grow your way into economic prosperity. You can grow your way into jobs,' said Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Tex.)."

My take: "You could read this jobs plan without knowing the financial crisis ever happened. You could read it without knowing the past decade ever happened."

2) Senate Republicans will block Obama's recess appointments, reports Susan Crabtree: "Republicans will block President Obama from making any recess appointments during the Senate's Memorial Day break -- including a long-awaited nomination of Elizabeth Warren to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The Senate will remain in pro-forma session because Republicans plan to object to the unanimous consent required to adjourn. The parliamentary maneuver will prevent the Senate from officially going into recess next week, denying Obama a chance for recess appointments even though Republicans openly acknowledge that they don't expect any. 'Senate Republicans are doing this just in case,' said a House GOP aide."

3) House Republicans want to privatize Amtrak, reports Ashley Halsey: "House Republicans want to dismantle Amtrak, giving private investors the task of building and operating high-speed rail service between Washington and Boston. They believe that an infusion of private capital would enable the system to be built in 10 years, a third of the time that Amtrak projects for completion of the $117 billion project, and that service would improve if operations were put in the hands of a for-profit company. At a hearing Thursday, House Transportation Committee Chairman John L. Mica (R-Fla.) condemned Amtrak as having 'one of the most dismal records on earth for any rail service, particularly in the Northeast Corridor.'...The Republican proposal would strip Amtrak of the most heavily used portion of its system, with almost 250,000 weekday passengers, and the only rail real estate it owns."

4) Wisconsin's famous anti-union bill was blocked by a a judge, reports Amy Merrick: "A circuit-court judge in Wisconsin issued a permanent injunction Thursday that bars a controversial bill curbing public-employee bargaining rights from going into effect. The decision, which was based on how the law was passed and not its substance, may be re-examined by the state Supreme Court. Fourteen Democratic state senators fled Wisconsin for three weeks this spring to block the measure. Thousands of protesters came to the state capitol in Madison to oppose it. Republican legislators passed the bill, and Republican Gov. Scott Walker signed it March 11. Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne, a Democrat, sued to block the bill from going into effect, arguing that the state open-meetings law was violated."

5) We should be less sanguine about the economic recovery, writes David Leonhardt: "The latest economic numbers have not been good. Jobless claims rose last week, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Another report showed that economic growth at the start of the year was no faster than the Commerce Department initially reported -- 'a real surprise,' said Ian Shepherdson of High Frequency Economics. Perhaps the most worrisome number was the one Macroeconomic Advisers released on Wednesday. That firm tries to estimate the growth rate of the current quarter in real time, and it now says annualized second-quarter growth is running at only 2.8 percent, up from 1.8 percent in the first quarter. Not so long ago, the firm’s economists thought second-quarter growth would be almost 4 percent...Are any policy makers paying attention?"

Late night cover interlude: Bon Iver plays "I Can't Make You Love Me" by Bonnie Raitt on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

Got tips, additions, or comments? E-mail me.

Still to come: Republicans are tabling an overly confusing jobs bill; cutting Medicaid is unpopular too; remembering the day in 1979 when America accidentally defaulted; poorly performing federal workers could get denied raises; New Jersey is scrapping its cap and trade program; and a kitten who can be telekinetically controlled.

Economy

Republicans have pulled one of their jobs bill, report Jake Sherman and Jonathan Allen: "House Republicans yanked a bill to tweak unemployment insurance after Republican lawmakers raised concerns that the legislation was too confusing and would be dead in the Senate. The GOP planned to vote after Memorial Day on Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp’s (R-Mich.) JOBS Act, a bill which sought to give states flexibility in spending federal unemployment funds. Camp came to Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) weekly meeting with freshmen Wednesday to talk about the bill, and later briefed a broader swath of the conference where the concerns were amplified. Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said there was an 'education' issue with the bill. The House Rules Committee postponed setting the bill’s parameters for debate late Wednesday evening."

A minor default in 1979 had a large effect, writes Donald Marron: "The United States defaulted on some Treasury bills in 1979. And it paid a steep price for stiffing bondholders... And the nation still stands. But that hardly means we should run the experiment again and at larger scale. Zivney and Marcus examined what happened to T-bill interest rates as a result of this small, temporary default. They find a surprisingly large effect. As best they can tell, T-bill interest rates increased about 60 basis points after the first default and remained elevated for at least several months thereafter...One should take care not to make too much of a single data point. But it’s the only data point we have on a U.S. default. Not surprisingly it shows that even temporary default is a bad idea."

Republicans should make a grand offer on raising the debt limit, writes David Brooks: "Republicans have to make a grand offer on raising the debt ceiling. This offer should include a bipartisan commitment to reduce the growth of Medicare spending. Republicans need Democratic fingerprints on a plan to restrain entitlements. In exchange, Republicans should offer to raise tax revenues on the rich. They should get rid of the interest deductions on mortgages over $500,000 and on second homes. They should close corporate loopholes and cap the health insurance deduction. They should offer a plan that follows the outline of the Simpson-Bowles report and what the now 'Gang of Five' in the Senate is working on. (Senator Mark Kirk has a proposal roughly on this latter point.)"

Adorable animals being telekinetically controlled interlude: A man makes a kitten roll over with a wave of the hand.

Health Care

Cutting Medicaid is unpopular too, reports Julie Rovner: "This month's health tracking poll from the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation finds that only 13 percent of those polled support major reductions in Medicaid spending as part of congressional efforts to reduce the deficit. At the same time, 60 percent want to keep Medicaid as it is. That means having the federal government guarantee coverage and set minimum standards for benefits and eligibility for every state. Perhaps even more striking, although maybe it shouldn't be given how much Medicaid has grown in recent years, is that more than half of respondents said they had a personal connection to the Medicaid program. That was defined as the respondent or a friend or family member having received assistance from the program at some point."

The truth about Ryancare is sinking it, writes Paul Krugman: "the reality is that the Ryan plan is turning into a political disaster for Republicans, not because the plan’s critics are lying about it, but because they’re describing it accurately. Take, for example, the statement that the Ryan plan would end Medicare as we know it. This may have Republicans screaming 'Mediscare!' but it’s the absolute truth: The plan would 'eplace our current system, in which the government pays major health costs, with a voucher system, in which seniors would, in effect, be handed a coupon and told to go find private coverage. The new program might still be called Medicare -- hey, we could replace government coverage of major expenses with an allowance of two free aspirins a day, and still call it 'Medicare' -- but it wouldn’t be the same program."

Medicare cuts aren't created equal, writes Jonathan Cohn: "The key distinction between Democrats and Republicans -- er, one of the key distinctions -- is that Democratic cuts to Medicare focus on the providers and producers of Medicare. The most obvious and well-known among these are reductions in payments to private insurance companies that offer seniors coverage through what's known as the Medicare Advantage program. This is basically an effort to eliminate some corporate welfare. Less well-known but equally important are the Democrats' proposed reductions in payments to the rest of the health care industry. These reductions will take place alongside a series of experiments, offering financial bonuses to doctors, hospitals and other providers who can learn to operate more efficiently or effectively."

Domestic Policy

The Supreme Court upheld an Arizonan anti-immigration bill, but not that Arizonan anti-immigration bill, reports Robert Barnes: "Arizona, the state at the forefront of efforts to crack down on illegal immigration, may revoke the business licenses of companies that knowingly employ undocumented workers, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday. In a 5 to 3 vote, the court rejected arguments that control over illegal immigration is solely a federal responsibility and endorsed narrowly drawn state efforts to regulate the employment of those in the country illegally...Thursday’s decision does not not necessarily shed light on how the justices would view a more controversial Arizona law, S.B. 1070."

Raises for low-performing government employees are set to be blocked, report Ed O'Keefe and Eric Yoder: "Federal employees whose job performance is rated as unacceptable would not be eligible for annual pay raises under a House bill expected to pass Thursday. The pay provisions are part of the annual Defense Authorization bill, which sets spending levels and policy for the Pentagon, the largest single employer of federal employees. Lawmakers regularly add government-wide personnel provisions to the bill despite its focus on military matters...Most federal employees have their performance rated annually, commonly on four- or five-level scales in which 'unacceptable,' or a similar term, is the lowest rating."

AT&T and T-Mobile turned up the charm for Congress, reports Cecilia Kang: "The chiefs of AT&T and T-Mobile appeared before increasingly skeptical lawmakers Thursday to defend their proposed $39 billion union as critics warn that consumers could expect higher prices from the deal. At a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing, Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) warned of what he said was the greatest wireless industry consolidation he’s ever seen. 'There are legitimate questions about whether this merger could move the wireless market past the anticompetitive tipping point,' Goodlatte said. The mega merger would form the nation’s largest wireless carrier, with 130 million users. It would assign eight out of 10 U.S. mobile phone customers to just two carriers, AT&T and Verizon Wireless."

Why not keep electing judges, asks Chris Bonneau: "There is no evidence that elections cause voters to view judicial institutions as less legitimate...There is no difference, other things being equal, in the quality of judges who emerge from elections as opposed to appointments. Law professors Stephen Choi, Mitu Gulati and Eric Posner recently found that appointed judges not only do not perform at a higher level than elected judges in terms of opinion quality and output but also that elected judges do not appear to be less independent than appointed judges. The authors were appropriately cautious in interpreting their findings, but any fair reading of their results suggests that elected judges are, at worst, equal to appointed judges in quality and independence."

Presidential hijinks interlude: Obama takes a woman's phone in Dublin, says hi to her friend.

Energy

Gov. Chris Christie has pulled New Jersey out of a cap and trade program, reports Juliet Eilperin: "New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) announced Thursday that he would pull out of a regional climate pact by the end of the year, delivering a political setback to the fledging effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions linked to global warming. In a news conference, Christie said the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a 2005 accord in which 10 states agreed to cut greenhouse gas emissions from power plants 10 percent by 2018, would not be able to meet its goals. The program requires plants in the region that burn fossil fuels to buy pollution allowances for the carbon they emit, which they can trade among themselves. It took effect in 2008, making it the first cap on greenhouse gas emissions implemented in the United States."

Federal agencies are buying more alternative energy cars, reports Lisa Rein: "The Obama administration is buying 101 Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid cars and 15 battery-powered electric vehicles as it moves closer to its goal of greening the federal vehicle fleet. The White House has ordered that all new cars or light trucks leased or purchased by federal agencies run on alternative fuels by Dec. 31, 2015, whether their power source is hybrid, electric, compressed natural gas, biofuel or fuel cells. 'We owe a responsibility to American citizens to lead by example and contribute to meeting our national goals of reducing oil imports by one-third by 2025 and putting one million advanced vehicles on the road by 2015,' President Obama said in a memo on federal fleet performance issued this week."

Closing credits: Wonkbook is compiled and produced with help from Dylan Matthews and Michelle Williams.

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May 27, 2011