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Advocates Push Immigration Reform In Primary Aftermath

Cantor, Graham primaries "scramble" immigration landscape for Republicans, says Politico: "...Cantor’s loss Tuesday night proved how difficult a messaging challenge the issue will be for any 2016 candidate who dares to touch the rail. Advocate — even a little bit — for a deal, and you risk the ire of the base and being tagged as a supporter of 'amnesty.' Go too far the other way, and you’ll surely face trouble in November against the Democrats ... Republicans leading the pack on immigration reform train aren’t backing off ... they pointed to the example of South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham, who was a much more vocal advocate of immigration reform than Cantor ever was — yet won his primary handily on Tuesday night ... Even Rubio, who quieted down quickly after taking heat from Republicans for his role in the Senate immigration reform bill, said Wednesday that he’s still a supporter."

"Obama Will Talk to Boehner on Immigration" reports Roll Call: “'Some of you saw that there was an interesting election yesterday,' he told donors at a fundraiser ... 'And it’s interesting to listen to the pundits and the analysts, and some of the conventional wisdom talks about, oh, the politics of immigration reform seem impossible now. I fundamentally reject that. And I will tell the Speaker of the House that he needs to reject that,' Obama said."

Republicans Kill Student Loan Relief

Senate Republicans filibuster student loan reform. The Hill: "Senate Republicans blocked consideration of a bill that would allow people to refinance their student loan debt in a 56-38 vote on Wednesday. Democrats needed 60 votes to advance the refinancing measure, but Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Bob Corker (Tenn.) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) were the only Republicans to vote with Democrats ... Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) authored S. 2432, the Bank on Students Emergency Loan Refinancing Act, which would allow more than 25 million people to refinance their student loans to today’s lower interest rates of less than 4 percent. She paid for the bill with the 'Buffet Rule' — a minimum 30-percent income tax payment from people who earn between $1 million and $2 million ... Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee ranking member Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) called the bill a 'partisan political stunt' that included a 'class warfare tax.'"

Obama criticizes at Worcester, MA high school commencement. NYT: "....he chided congressional Republicans for blocking student loan relief legislation that he and other Democrats have championed. 'It is not fair to students who do everything right to get saddled with debt that they have to pay off not just for years, but in some cases decades,' Mr. Obama told the graduates."

Senate clears VA reform. The Hill: "Lawmakers voted 93-3 in favor of a nearly $2 billion bill from Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) that gives the VA secretary new authority to fire senior executives and provides veterans greater options for seeking medical care ... Both chambers of Congress have now passed legislation aimed at fixing the VA, and leaders of the push are expressing optimism that a compromise could quickly reach President Obama’s desk ..."

Economy Starving For Public Investment

Stalled economy needs public investment. NYT: "It has been five years since the official end of that severe economic downturn. The nation’s total annual output has moved substantially above the prerecession peak, but economic growth has averaged only about 2 percent a year, well below its historical average. Household incomes continue to stagnate, and millions of Americans still can’t find jobs. And a growing number of experts see evidence that the economy will never rebound completely ... Lawrence H. Summers, formerly President Obama’s chief economic adviser and now a leading member of this Cassandra chorus, has warned that growth may fall short of expectations unless the federal government increases its spending on things like upgrading deteriorating roads and bridges and the development of new technologies ... Gauti Eggertsson and Neil Mehrotra, economics professors at Brown University ... concluded that the economy might experience 'a permanent slump in output' without bold new measures to spur investment, like a large increase in government spending or higher inflation."

Massachusetts poised to raise minimum wage to $11. AP: "House and Senate negotiators have reached a compromise [to] increase the current $8 per hour minimum wage by $3 over the next three years ... The measure would not tie future increases to inflation ..."

"Time to bring back the public option — Medicare in all exchanges" argues Richard Kirsch in The Hill: "If every exchange had a major health insurer, rates would be 11 percent lower. It is true that more insurers plan to enter exchanges in 2015, which will be helpful in controlling premiums. But that still does not guarantee the major competitor needed in every health market in the country ... Medicare certainly qualifies as a major health insurer. It actually has a better record of controlling health insurance costs than private insurance. That would guarantee competition. And almost all of the nation's health providers accept Medicare.

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