Thursday Open Thread [11.14.13]

So how are those budget talks going in DC? Remember, if there is no budget deal by December 15, the government shuts down again.

But the sides are stuck: Democrats want to replace the across-the-board budget cuts known as the sequester, which will chop $109 billion off the top of nearly all defense and non-defense programs in 2014, with a mix of targeted spending cuts and tax revenue generated through closing some tax deductions. Republicans believe that closing tax loopholes should take place in a broader tax reform discussion[,] [a]nd some Republicans don’t even want to replace sequestration, the primary leverage for getting a short-term fix done.

“Sequestration is working,” said Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). “Compromising on sequester for more money on the military I think is short-sighted.”

But the conference’s guest speaker, Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf, affirmed Wednesday that sequestration had been a “headwind” to economic growth, and advised that a small deal was better than no deal; he warned committee members to “not make perfect the enemy of the good.” While the conference has set Dec. 13 as the date by which to craft an agreement, the real pressure to act will be by mid-January, when the government hits its spending limit.

Delaware’s Young Farmers program has selected 10 new participants who each will receive a no-interest 30-year loan to help purchase farm land.

26-year-old Cory Atkins of Seaford says the loan does more than just buy land. “[The loan] helps me be able to purchase the farm that I did and still have money available to buy other stuff, equipment and supplies that I need to farm that and other acres,” Atkins said. “There’s getting to be less farmers around so the younger ones got to take over. And with less farmland, you’ve got to do more with less.”

State Agriculture Secretary Ed Kee agrees that its one way to ensure the future of Delaware’s farms. “The program helps with the capital to buy the farm, and then the way it’s structured it helps with their cash flow as young farmers in their first few years,” said Kee. “So, the next generation already is developing their own niche, their own enterprises.”

The land purchased through the Young Farmers program is permanently preserved as farmland by the state, and must be actively used for agricultural purposes for the life of the loan.

I know I am cynical, but I wonder how many of these young farmers downstate are also tea party Republicans decrying government handouts.

Politico:

The political calculus is straightforward, Democrats say. Voters are uncomfortable with the ACA, but private polling shows they are receptive to a “mend it, don’t end it” message. If Democratic House, Senate and gubernatorial candidates can show they want to fix the law proactively, the party believes voters will forgive some bungling by the administration. And if some Democrats are inching away from the president in an awfully public fashion, lawmakers say they have felt little pressure from the White House and other party leaders to make the existing text of the ACA a political hill to fight and die on.

“This is not about loyalty to the White House. It’s about getting the health care law right for the American people,” said Vermont Rep. Peter Welch. “This is a situation where good implementation is good politics.”

That was always going to be case. Medicare had to be amended and modified several times at the start of the program to fix glitches. Same with Social Security. I just find it rich that those who have done so much to sabotage the program are now criticizing that it is not working as smoothly as it should. I feel like those people should have their mouths stapled shut, or something.

Jonathan Cohn:

Me? Barring unforeseen developments or wrinkles in this report, I’m sticking with my story. The October numbers are low, which was to be expected given the website problems and tendency of people not to buy insurance right away. But what matters isn’t the figures for October or even November. It’s December and the months that follow—particulalry into next year, as the prospect of paying fines for uninsurance start to hit people in the face. “It’s too early to say anything useful,” says Jonathan Gruber, professor of economics at MIT. “And, really, I don’t think we can draw any significant conclusions about effectiveness of the law until March, because any firm conclusion requires effects of individual mandate to be felt.”