Economy Hurting Dem Base
Weak income growth seen hurting Dems in November. Bloomberg: "The sluggish improvement in living standards among Democrats’ core voters threatens to hurt the party’s candidates in this year’s congressional elections ... Democratic constituencies such as blacks, Hispanics, unmarried women and the young have been especially slow to rebound. Inspiring those groups is important to Democrats this year since turnout in midterm elections is historically lower than in presidential years ... Stanley Greenberg, a Democratic pollster who advised former President Bill Clinton, said Democrats can still motivate voters by focusing on their economic concerns. The White House and congressional Democrats have done that this year by calling for an increase in the minimum wage, legislation on pay equity for women and measures to improve college affordability, he said."
"Will the Democratic Party Deliver for Working Women?" asks The Nation's Kathleen Geier at "The Curve": "...we seem to agree on some broad points of emphasis: we agree that women need paid leave, childcare, a higher minimum wage, universal pre-K and policies to close gender and racial pay gaps. But there’s considerable disagreement about how we get there ... even though the Democrats’ economic agenda for women has virtually no chance of passing, it’s a tepid document nevertheless ... Feminists would be well-advised to pour their political energies into building and strengthening such a movement rather than becoming overly invested in the ever-popular quadrennial presidential election soap opera."
Low odds for Senate UI bill. Politico: "[Co-sponsors Sen. Jack] Reed and [Sen. Dean] Heller are frustrated that much of the GOP doesn’t see what they see: a proposal that would boost the fortunes of out-of-work Americans and help boost an anemic economy ... Senate Democrats, who began working on unemployment in January, appear in no rush to put the new bill up for a vote ... wary of using up the remaining few weeks of Senate floor time on UI if the House will only ignore it again ... Of the five Republicans who supported Heller’s last deal, three said they hadn’t been briefed on the new bill, and none are currently co-sponsors."
IKEA to pay living wage. Huffington Post: "The famous seller of ready-to-assemble home goods will base the wage floor for each of its stores on the MIT Living Wage Calculator, which estimates what salary a worker would need in order to get by in a particular geographic area. According to Ikea, the move will boost the average store minimum wage to $10.76, a 17 percent increase, and bring raises to approximately half of the company's 13,650 U.S. employees ... Ikea said it does not plan to raise prices for customers in order to pay for the wage increases. Using a living wage calculator to determine area salaries appears to be without precedence among major retailers."
GOP Scoffs At Highway Trust Fund Insolvency
House Republicans downplay looming Highway Trust Fund insolvency. National Journal: "...no sooner did Senate Democrats this week describe a $9 billion 'patch' plan to keep the federal spigot open for highway and transit projects through the end of the year, partly by raising taxes on commercial trucks, than House Republicans flatly rejected it ... 'We’ve been through real crises—this is not one of those,' said a senior House Republican aide. 'No highways are being shut down; nobody’s going to be stacking tires in the road. It just simply means that some projects will not get funded for a while.' ... [Sen. Barbara] Boxer, in declaring an outright 'mayday situation,' said Wednesday that thousands of businesses and millions of jobs depend on the fund. She added that the impacts of 'this uncertainty' are already being felt, as many states have announced that they are postponing or canceling critical transportation projects due to the fear that federal funds will be delayed or cut off."
Sen. Tom Carper proposes gas tax hike. The Hill: "The increase is included in an amendment to a transportation funding stopgap bill that is being considered by the Senate this week. Carper’s proposal would increase the federal gas tax, which is currently priced at 18.4 cents-per-gallon, by four cents each year until it reaches 30 cents-per-gallon."
Obama lays out climate strategy in speech to League of Conservation Voters. NYT: "...he told environmental advocates that in order to make a credible case for such climate policies, officials would need to acknowledge Americans’ worries about the economic effects ... 'we’ve got to shape our strategies to address the very real and legitimate concerns of working families.' ... 'The trade-offs for [developing countries] are tougher than for us unless we describe how development should leapfrog the old sources of energy,' the president said. He emphasized that the United States should take the lead in developing low-carbon sources of energy that would give poorer economies better access to electricity without increasing their carbon pollution. At the State Department, diplomats are working toward a global carbon-cutting deal to be signed in 2015, and Mr. Obama said nations would be lured to the negotiating table if the United States managed to cut carbon pollution without hurting the domestic economy."
Expectations Rise For Executive Action On Immigration
Obama on verge of executive order on immigration. The Hill: "'We ought to make it very clear that if we don't act, then there's going to be a significant change in policy by the administration. We're urging that. We've discussed it with the administration,' [House Minority Whip Steny] Hoyer said Wednesday during a press briefing in his office. 'Our position is that … now's the time to address the comprehensive immigration reform bill,' he added. 'And we expect, by the end of the month – July … that if we don't take action, the president will take action.'"
Rep. Luis Gutierrez declares immigration effort in House "over." Politico: "[He] said the only option left is for President Barack Obama to take unilateral action to stem deportations ... Gutierrez had called on Republicans to produce immigration reform legislation before the Fourth of July recess, which begins next week ... 'Your chance to play a role in how immigration and deportation policies are carried out this year are over,' he declared. 'Having given ample time to craft legislation, you failed.'"
VP Biden to meet immigration reform supporters today. Politico: "The meeting comes at a critical moment for immigration reform ... Friday marks one year since the Senate passed a sweeping reform bill with 68 votes, yet no bills have moved in the House – and the Obama administration has been under pressure from liberal activists to act unilaterally on deportations. The meeting was not listed on Biden’s public schedule..."
New House GOP Whip seen as obstacle to immigration reform: "...the tone Scalise uses about immigration strikes a starkly different tone from the two people who will serve above him in his party’s upper echelons, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and newly elected incoming Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). 'Scalise is opposed to giving amnesty to the millions of illegal immigrants currently living in our country. He does not want to reward those who have committed a crime. Amnesty programs will only encourage more illegal aliens to cross our borders and drain our nation’s resources,' his website proclaims. By contrast, Boehner and McCarthy have indicated support for some means of immigration reform."
"Deportation Separated Thousands Of U.S.-Born Children From Parents In 2013" reports HuffPost: "Immigration and Customs Enforcement last year carried out more than 72,000 deportations of parents who said they had U.S.-born children, according to reports to Congress obtained Wednesday by The Huffington Post ... The reports show that even parents of U.S. citizens are among the hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants being expelled from the United States each year. They hold particular significance as President Barack Obama faces pressure to change his deportation policies to keep families together."
"In Dramatic Pointless Gesture, Boehner to Sue Obama," writes American Prospect's Paul Waldman: "It's safe to say that many if not most Republicans would be eager to impeach Obama were such a move not a guaranteed political disaster for them. So John Boehner has decided to pursue a kind of impeachment-lite, announcing that the House of Representatives will be suing the president for abusing his power ... Even if the suit gets thrown out of court, Boehner will still be able to say to the eternally angry members to his right, 'Hey, I'm the guy who sued Obama! I hate him as much as you do!'"
