Noise & Notes

For the second day in a row, Democratic Leader Harry Reid and Republican Leader Mitch McConnell had a tense exchange on the Senate floor over filibuster reform.

Observers have decried gridlock in the Senate, especially since the 2010 election and many have pointed to the need to either end or change basic rules on how chamber uses the delay tactic.

Kentucky Third District Congressman John Yarmuth told MSNBC Monday that Democrats are willing to extend the Bush-era tax cut to help avoid the "fiscal cliff" but that Republicans are "dreaming" if they push for entitlement reforms before the new year.

President Obama and congressional leaders are in the midst of negotiating a new budget deal to avoid the $607 billion combination of automatic spending cuts and tax hikes set to take effect in January.

Mr. Obama has proposed an immediate extension of the Bush-era tax rates for incomes at $250,000 or less, but GOP lawmakers want the cuts to remain across-the-board. If a deal cannot be reached then all Americans will see their taxes go up, but the president has stressed that Congress can help 98 percent of Americans avoid an increase while his economic team forecasts going over the cliff would hurt the recovery overall.

Yarmuth says Congress can avoid the burden on middle-class Americans if a small number of the House GOP caucus vote with Democrats and accept a tax increase on wealthier Americans.

"That’s a real easy one if Speaker Boehner can deliver maybe 30 or 35 votes. I’d think we’d be happy to pass that and we’d avert that huge tax increase at the beginning of next year," he says. "And then we can extend the spending limits and delay the across the board cuts until a more comprehensive, balanced approach is negotiated."

The state government of Kentucky is spending $3 million on a tax amnesty program that officials hope will bring $55 million in revenue.

In 2002, Kentucky launched an amnesty initiative that garnered $40 million. Governor Steve Beshear announced this effort in October to help balance the two-year budget that will allow citizens and businesses to make restitution.

While flirting with a 2016 presidential bid, U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., also outlined how the GOP can expand its base by getting behind defense cuts, as well as marijuana and immigration reform.

Since President Obama's re-election, the political narrative has centered on the Republican Party redefining itself in the wake of a poor showing amongst key demographics. The conversation has been described as coming to terms with the party being "too white, too old" and "too male."

In September, Paul told WFPL he foresaw problems with Mitt Romney's electoral map for this reason. And a recent interview shows the Senator wants the GOP to reach out to Hispanic and younger voters.

From ABC News:

We're getting an ever dwindling percent of the Hispanic vote," Paul says. "We have to let people know, Hispanics in particular, we're not putting you on a bus and shipping you home."

(SNIP)

Paul himself does not favor legalizing marijuana, but he says individual states -- such as Washington and Colorado, which both voted to legalize in November -- should be allowed to make marijuana legal.

Louisville-based Papa John's founder and CEO John Schnatter is backpedaling on criticism of President Obama's health care law, and says his company has no plans to cut jobs as a result of the Affordable Care Act.

Last week, Schnatter told the Naples Daily News that President Obama's health care law would force him to reduce employees' hours. The comments ignited a backlash and support, with the conservative Super PAC Freedomworks urging people to take part in "National Papa John's Appreciation Day" last Friday.

But now Schnatter says those remarks were taken out of context by reporters.

From The Huffington Post:

Many in the media reported that I said Papa John's is going to close stores and cut jobs because of Obamacare. I never said that. The fact is we are going to open over hundreds of stores this year and next and increase employment by over 5,000 jobs worldwide. And, we have no plans to cut team hours as a result of the Affordable Care Act.

In a stinging editorial, Louisville Courier-Journal columnist John David Dyche rips Democratic Congressman John Yarmuth for his recent attacks on Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell.

Yarmuth made a recent television appearance on MSNBC, saying McConnell will do what's in his best interest in the face of the looming fiscal cliff. Dyche is a Louisville attorney and McConnell biographer, who is considered by man to be the Senator's unofficial spokesman in the city.

From The C-J:

It must also gall Yarmuth that McConnell ignores him. Yarmuth is to McConnell as a yapping toy poodle is to an oblivious Great Dane.

So why doesn’t Yarmuth put his practically infinite money where his practically incessant mouth is and channel his jealousy of McConnell into his own race against him? He might then get the debate with McConnell for which he mewls. Meanwhile, McConnell negotiates directly with the president, not insignificant congressmen.

Ouch!

Leaders with the Louisville Affordable Housing Trust Fund have secured about $500,000, but the fund's advocates are urging Mayor Greg Fischer to do more to secure annual funding.

The trust fund is meant to give grants and loans for affordable housing activities, such as new construction, home rehabilitation, payment assistance and emergency repair.

UCLA Professor Robin D. G. Kelley is a historian and social justice advocate, and a bit of a jazz scholar.

The award-winning author was in Louisville this week for the annual Anne Braden Memorial Lecture Series to discuss what he believes is a war on youth through punitive economic and education policies.

Kelley is also an outspoken critic of those who worship the free-market in American politics, and he says neo-liberal ideology—which rose to prominence in the 1990s—poses a threat to all progressive movements.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky, has extended congratulations to President Obama on his re-election, but argues the White House needs to moderate and that voters have not given the president a mandate.

Mr. Obama defeated Republican nominee Mitt Romney on Tuesday in the popular vote and soundly in the Electoral College, winning most of the battleground states. It was two years ago when McConnell said that his main objective was to ensure that Mr. Obama would be a one-term president.

But now McConnell says Republicans are eager to hear from the president on how to resolve problems such as the looming fiscal cliff, but he

warns Mr. Obama should propose a way for both parties to work together.

"Now it’s time for the president to propose solutions that actually have a chance of passing the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and a closely-divided Senate, step up to the plate on the challenges of the moment, and deliver in a way that he did not in his first four years in office," he says.

With Rep. Ben Chandler's loss last night to Republican challenger Andy Barr, John Yarmuth of Louisville is now the only Democrat in Kentucky's federal delegation.

But he's now working on plans to bring more of his colleagues from the commonwealth to Washington after the 2014 election.

“I welcome the opportunity to be the spokesperson for a national policy that espouses a support for the middle class in the country," Yarmuth said in an interview with WFPL News.