Outside groups trying to stop former Sen. Chuck Hagel from becoming the next Defense Secretary have poured more than $100,000 into attack ads aimed at convincing Democratic senators who are up for reelection in 2014 to vote against Hagel at his Senate confirmation hearing Thursday. Hagel, a former Republican Senator from Nebraska, faces strong opposition from Conservatives who fear Hagel will further slash the Pentagon’s already shrinking budget. - See the report here
PERRY WANTS TO REFUND UNUSED TAX DOLLARS Gov. Rick Perry, R-Tex., wants to send unused state taxes back to Texas citizens, he told the Texas state legislature during his "state of the state" speech today. "Today, I'm calling for a mechanism to be put in place so when we do bring in more than we need, we'll have the option of returning tax money directly to the people who paid it. Currently, that's not something our constitution allows. We need to fix that,” Perry said. "If we don't need taxpayer money for that purpose, let's not collect it at all.” - Read more at CBS
CONSUMER CONFIDENCE TAKES A HIT Consumer confidence dropped to its lowest level since November 2011, thanks to the payroll tax increase increase that hit virtually all income earners at the beginning of the year. The Fiscal Times’ Yuval Rosenberg reports “the index of consumer attitudes came in at 58.6, down from a revised 66.7 in December. Economists had been expecting a reading of 64.” - Read more at The Fiscal Times
