President Obama's new budget is likely to include cuts to Medicare and Social Security. About the only details being leaked are:

• a change in the way inflation is calculated which is likely to result in social security recipients receiving less
• cuts in payments to medical providers and drug companies (which will mean fewer doctors for the elderly, a group that is rapidly increasing in size)
• Medicare premiums will be higher for those in upper income brackets.

In exchange for the cuts, Obama is said to be demanding Republicans agree to the tax increases he proposed last year, including higher taxes for wealthier Americans.

Another Obama suggestion: More taxes on cigarettes to cover making pre-kindergarten free nationwide.

One of the interesting aspects of the ongoing budget negotiations is that while Paul Ryan's proposal is an attack on the social safety net with a huge tax giveaway for the rich, the one thing it is not is a call to cut Social Security:

Here is Paul Ryan’s path to a balanced budget in three sentences: He cuts deep into spending on health care for the poor and some combination of education, infrastructure, research, public-safety, and low-income programs. The Affordable Care Act’s Medicare cuts remain, but the military is spared, as is Social Security. [Emphasis supplied.]

Obama had discussed entitlement reform with a dozen Senate Republicans over a private dinner last week. “I urged him not to cut Social Security and benefits for disabled veterans,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.), an independent who caucuses with Democrats. [...] “At this point I think he is more inclined to cut benefits, which I strongly disagree with,” Sanders said.[Emphasis supplied.]

At this point it is impossible to deny that the idea of cutting Social Security is on Obama's wish list, not the GOP's.

Due to the sequester, doctors face a 2% cut in Medicare reimbursements:

The bottom line is that doctors who treat Medicare beneficiaries will only be reimbursed 98 cents on every dollar for a vast array of services. Reimbursement for low-income beneficiaries is exempt.

...The cuts could make it harder for patients to get care, [AMA President Jeremy] Lazarus added. "One in five Medicare patients already is facing difficulties in finding a doctor to take them. If you cut their pay, this access problem will only get worse."

[More...]

President Obama granted 17 pardons today. The list is here. Most are low level offenders who got probation.

There are only two drug offenders in the group:

Michael John Petri – Montrose, South Dakota.
Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribution of a controlled
substance (cocaine), 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a), 846.
Sentence: Five years imprisonment, three years supervised release.

Lynn Marie Stanek – Tualatin, Oregon.
Offense: Unlawful use of a communication facility to distribute cocaine, 21 U.S.C. § 843(b).
Sentence: Six months in jail, five years probation conditioned on residence in a
community treatment center for a period not to exceed one year.

On this day of sequester, why not commute the sentences of non-violent offenders serving double-digit sentences, and those under deportation orders who will be deported from prison when their time is up? At least we'd save some money -- $25-30,000 per inmate per year. Or seriously medically ill elderly inmates who cost even more to warehouse in medical prisons? If there were fewer inmates, we wouldn't need to spend so many billions on new prisons and contracts with private prisons.

Republicans today filibustered the nomination of Chuck Hagel as defense secretary. Will it matter?

Both sides still think the former GOP senator from Nebraska will be confirmed, but the filibuster brought stark condemnations from Obama and Senate Democrats, who decried it as an unprecedented partisan move against a nominee to lead the Pentagon.

President Obama is about to deliver his State of the Union Address. Here's a thread to discuss it.

No ABC for me. They started out showing all the people there supporting more gun control. And then said they will show updates of Dorner on the bottom of the screen.

You can watch online here, free of talking heads and news anchor commentary. [More....]

The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence will hold a hearing at 2:30 pm ET today on the nomination of John Brennan as CIA Director.

Yesterday, President Obama announced that the Office of Legal Counsel's targeted kill memo(s) will be provided to the members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees.

Brennan's answers to pre-hearing questions are here. His answers pertaining to rendition, detention and interrogation begin on page 21.

Brennan, who is expected to be confirmed, will face some tough questioning, especially by Democrats. [More...]

Speaking in Las Vegas today, President Obama outlined his new immigration plan, including a path to citizenship for most of the 11 million undocumented residents currently present in the U.S.

The White House has issued this fact sheet on the plan.

Immigrants living here illegally must be held responsible for their actions by passing national security and criminal background checks, paying taxes and a penalty, going to the back of the line, and learning English before they can earn their citizenship. There will be no uncertainty about their ability to become U.S. citizens if they meet these eligibility criteria. The proposal will also stop punishing innocent young people brought to the country through no fault of their own by their parents and give them a chance to earn their citizenship more quickly if they serve in the military or pursue higher education. [More...]

It's official. The Senate voted today 94 to 3 to confirm John Kerry as Secretary of State.

DOJ's Criminal Division Chief Lanny Breuer is reportedly stepping down although no formal announcement or departure date has been released. Main Justice writes:

Coincidentally, Breuer’s impending departure comes after “Frontline” broadcast a harshly critical report Tuesday night. The PBS program, entitled “The Untouchables,” was full of assertions that under Breuer the DOJ went after small fish in the mortgage-market abuses that nearly paralyzed the country’s financial system, while the big fish swam free.

If you missed The Untouchables, check it out here. The transcript is here. [More...]

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Today President Obama will be inaugurated for the second time (ceremonially to be sure, as he was formally inaugurated yesterday, January 20, as the Constitution requires.) Daily Kos Radio, with Netroots Radio, will be covering it.

Starting at 10:00 a.m., I will be offering an hour of thoughts on President Obama's challenges for his second term, the history of second inaugural addresses, from Lincoln to FDR to Clinton, and the "civil war" that the president will face at the outset of his second term (a civil war on our very philosophy of government.)

Please join us.

President Obama today released his gun control plan.

Obama's plan calls on Congress to renew a prohibition on assault weapons sales that expired in 2004, a requirement for criminal background checks on all gun purchases, including closing a loophole for gun show sales, and a new federal gun trafficking law - long sought by big-city mayors to keep out-of-state guns off their streets.

He also announced 23 steps he intends to take immediately without congressional approval. These include improvements in the existing system for background checks, lifting the ban on federal research into gun violence, putting more counselors and "resource officers" in schools and better access to mental health services.

Obama also named Todd Jones will be the chief of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, "quietly abandoning Andrew Traver." The cost of Obama's plan: $500 million.