EFCA Compromise?
Politico reports on Dem moderates ducking EFCA, looking for changes: "a number of key moderates who backed the bill in the past have withheld their names this year until negotiators cut a deal that will make the legislation more palatable for other members in the middle ... Delaware Sen. Tom Carper backs the bill but doesn’t want to get rid of the secret ballot. 'I think that invites intimidation,' he said. Carper and others would like negotiators to change the rules for requiring arbitration 'to make sure that they’re reasonable.'"
Working Life's Jonathan Tasini warns of bad compromises: "there are significant areas where the bill could take a hit--on 'card check', on contract arbitration and on higher penalties for corporate law-breaking during organizing campaigns. I don't think it helps to pretend like EFCA will not sustain serious hits and limp to the president's desk in a form that would end up certainly being some improvement over the current broken system but nowhere near the predictions the labor movement has made about changes that would unleash a wave of millions of workers streaming into unions."
The Plum Line assess the increasing political pressure: "...both sides are now openly threatening retaliation against Senators who don’t vote their way ... another indicator of the extreme pressure bearing down from both sides on the six Senators who are key to this fight: Blanche Lincoln, Mark Pryor, Arlen Specter, Mary Landrieu, Ben Nelson, and Mark Udall."
HuffPost's Sam Stein: "EFCA's Opponents Received Millions Upon Millions From Business PACs [while Sen. Tom] Harkin -- the lead sponsor of the current bill -- has received $4.3 million in contributions from business PACS, more than 2.5 times what he took in from labor."
Facing South: "RESEARCH FOR HIRE: Business groups bankroll study claiming job losses from labor bill"
Second Stimulus Sidetracked
Politico gets major pushback from many myopic Democrats to the notion of a second stimulus. JAN. FLASHBACK: Obama on range of economists' stimulus recommendations "We've seen ranges from $800 [billion] to $1.3 trillion." Final bill was $789B, inc. $70B non-stimulative AMT patch.
CNN reports nothing is in the works:
...multiple Democratic aides told CNN another stimulus plan is not in the works, and they maintained that Democratic leaders believe it will take more time to know whether the first recovery package is effective before taking up another bill.
One leadership aide said that House Appropriations Chairman David Obey got ahead of himself when he told CNN Tuesday evening that his committee was considering another stimulus package, though he had cautioned there was no timeline for moving it.
This aide said House Democratic leaders are letting the current stimulus play out, and that it will be "at least several months, as we get toward the end of the year and see where we are" before they would consider another stimulus bill.
Another Democratic aide said that the Appropriations committee "is not putting pen to paper. We think it's too soon to do [a second stimulus] now."
Meanwhile, unemployment projections escalate. AP: "Four states — California, South Carolina, Michigan and Rhode Island — registered unemployment rates above 10 percent in January, and the national rate is expected to hit double digits by year's end."
The Page: "Obama and the VP will make morning remarks at a stimulus implementation conference with senior state officials Thursday."
Global Stimulus In Works
Bloomberg reports on Treasury Secretary's statement in advance of international meeting Friday:
“This is a global crisis which requires a global response,” Geithner said yesterday in a statement from Washington. “G-20 countries must take strong macroeconomic and financial sector measures.” A “reasonable benchmark” is the IMF’s recommendation for stimulus equivalent to 2 percent of a nation’s gross domestic product, Geithner said.
Geithner will make the recommendations at a meeting starting tomorrow of finance ministers from 20 of the world’s industrial and developing nations that will lay the groundwork for a summit of government leaders on April 2 in London.
The Treasury secretary also proposed expanding, by as much as $500 billion, the IMF’s capacity to borrow extra funds from some of its member nations. The fund currently is able to borrow about $50 billion through special supplementary financing arrangements. The U.S. contribution is about 20 percent, indicating a possible new commitment of about $100 billion, Geithner told reporters.
“We should consider further ways to strengthen the IMF’s capacity to provide support to emerging markets and the poorest,” the Treasury said in a separate statement.
W. Post stresses Europe pushback to US proposal: "Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner yesterday unveiled a sweeping plan that calls on the United States and other nations to offer billions more to bail out economies in crisis and prods a reluctant Europe to prop up the reeling world economy with more aggressive government spending. But the campaign is triggering controversy on both sides of the Atlantic ... While the United States hopes nations will pass stimulus packages that amount to 2 percent of each country's annual economic activity -- a conservative estimate of what damage the crisis may cause -- Europe has resisted that standard. German leaders have approved a stimulus package that would spend only 1.5 percent of the country's annual economic activity, known as gross domestic product. French officials have signed off on about half that. "
NYT hits Europe for foot-dragging: "As the evidence of economic pain mounts in Europe, a growing number of analysts say the Continent’s leaders are reacting too slowly. 'They are in denial, and hoping that something from the U.S. will come along to help them out,' said Thomas Mayer, chief European economist in London for Deutsche Bank."
Banking Lobby Looks To Gut Mortgage Bill
Washington Independent's Mike Lillis: "...the finance industry is pressuring [Senate] lawmakers to limit the scope of the bankruptcy provision again to include only sub-prime mortgages — a change that housing advocates are fighting tooth and nail. 'Limiting it to sub-prime doesn’t make any sense [now],' said Sharon Price, policy director at the National Housing Conference, an advocacy group. 'A year ago — maybe. But at this point, most sub-prime loans are running their course, so it wouldn’t help many homeowners.'"
Health Care Battle Over Taxes?
W. Post on possible intra-party fight over funding reform: "...Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chairman of the tax-writing Finance Committee, has repeatedly advocated changing tax laws to include employer benefits, arguing that it makes sense to fund the health-care changes by sucking cash out of the existing system. Meanwhile, 13 other senators -- from both sides of the aisle -- have signed on to a plan for universal coverage that includes a tax on employer-provided benefits ... administration officials have been careful not to endorse the idea, which Obama blasted as a major tax increase last year after Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) made it the centerpiece of his presidential campaign's health plan. But the president hasn't slammed the door on it, either ... Many senior House Democrats continue to oppose the idea, arguing that it could be catastrophic at a time when companies are scaling back coverage for their workers and dropping it completely for retirees."
Banking Roundup
The Page: Geithner testifies to Senate Budget Cmte at 10 AM today.
NYT on charges against Merril Lynch: "Andrew M. Cuomo, the attorney general of New York, claimed on Wednesday that Merrill Lynch misled Congress over the timing of its plans to award billions of dollars in bonuses last December." Naked Capitalism: "if Cuomo is correct, we have what amounts to fraud, and brazen to boot. And the exaggerated profits would also seem to be a books and records violation for senior management."
SEC needs more funds to be able to properly regulate reports W. Post.
WSJ on new rules to stop reckless oil speculation: "The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is planning to re-evaluate how it grants so-called hedge exemptions to futures traders seeking to exceed speculative position limits. The decision to open the issue for discussion comes after months of criticism leveled against the agency by lawmakers and some policy experts who said the CFTC's lack of action to rein in excessive speculation propelled the record-high oil and agricultural commodity prices from last summer."
WSJ survey of economists "gave the president a grade of 59 out of 100" largely because of "delays in enacting key parts of plans to rescue banks." But WSJ subtly notes the respondents' poor track record: "The economists, many of whom have been continually surprised by the depth of the downturn..."
Freddie Mac pleads for more help. Bloomberg: "Freddie Mac, the U.S. mortgage- finance company seized by regulators six months ago, said it needs more financial help from the government and raised doubts about its ability to become profitable again. Freddie’s decision yesterday to tap an additional $31 billion in aid in return for preferred stock will raise its annual dividend payment to the Treasury to $4.6 billion, a figure the McLean, Virginia-based company said may be beyond its means."
The Future of Coal
Climate Progress declares Bush, coal industry not serious about "clean coal:"
In a stunning new report, two House Committees demonstrate that the Bush administration was never serious about
FuturegenNevergen, the “centerpiece” of its effort to develop “clean coal” technology. Turns out centerpieces are largely decorative.Climate Progress has previously documented that the coal industry itself has never taken seriously the development of the one technology that could save the industry from extinction in the face of humanity’s urgent need slash CO2 emissions sharply and avoid its own self-destruction ... Now we learn the same was true of the Bush Administration.
We learn that they killed Futuregen even after Department of Energy staff explained the implications: “affordable coal fueled CCS plants would be delayed at least 10 years” deferring “widespread deployment of CCS” until after 2030.
That means the whole “clean coal” or carbon capture and storage (CCS) effort of the past decade was an intentional fraud by all parties concerned — and nobody should be allowed to use the absence of demonstrated CCS technology today as an excuse for weakening near-term CO2 targets or for giving the coal industry another decade to (fatally) delay serious climate action.
McClatchy updates on plans to use stimulus money on the FutureGen carbon sequestration plant. BUT Bloomberg reports Energy Sec. wants to spread money around: "Steven Chu, Obama’s energy secretary, said last week that FutureGen deserves a 'fresh look.' Still, yesterday he cited the plant’s potential cost and said it may only be one of several projects that can help coal contribute to Obama’s goal of reducing emissions that contribute to global warming. 'To pick one and dump the rest is not a correct strategy,' Chu told reporters yesterday. 'We should be funding multiple projects.'"
Michigan has other green stimulus plans. FT: "Jennifer Granholm wants to transform Michigan from one of the Rust Belt’s bleakest corners to a mecca for green industries as the state loses tens of thousands of jobs in the car industry. The state governor is laying claim to a $7bn chunk of the US federal stimulus package to invest in projects such as the manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries for electric cars, second-generation biofuels and turbines to harvest the abundant wind from the Great Lakes."
Japan to the Auto Rescue
W. Post: "The American auto industry picked up a new ally yesterday in its attempt to win government loans: Toyota warned President Obama's auto task force that the parts suppliers it shares with its Detroit rivals are running dangerously low on cash. " ALSO: "White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said yesterday Obama has not been 'presented with specific plans yet' on task force's review of the auto industry."
Newshoggers: "There's one automobile manufacturer who is doing so well during this economic crisis that workers are having to come in at weekends to help meet demand [Renault-Dacia.] ... In tough times, a car becomes less of a status symbol and more of a way to get from Point A to Point B."
Broadband Update
The Rural Blog: "The federal government announced this week that initial funds for increasing broadband Internet access could be available as early as April, but the plan still lacks detail. A study by Sharon Strover, a rural broadband expert at the University of Texas, called 'Closing the Rural Broadband Gap,' suggests that two details not to be overlooked are local leadership and community involvement. Without those, rural broadband may flop."
Appropriations Bill Signed Into Law, Amidst Phony Pork Talk
On CNN's Anderson Cooper 360, report screams that new appropriations law is "stuffed with 8,570 earmarks," then seconds later says "Earmarks are less than 1 percent of the federal budget."
Media Matters catches CBS not even bothering with the caveat.
Terrance Heath contributed to the making of this Breakfast.
