MORNING MESSAGE: 1M Jobs or 2M Layoffs?
OurFuture.org's Isaiah J. Poole: "There are reports that Congress is at last about to reach a deal on a transportation bill, exactly 1,001 days after the expiration of the last transportation reauthorization bill that Congress passed. What's still unclear is what kind of deal this will be. The right deal would create 1 million jobs desperately needed by the construction and other blue-collar workers disproportionately hit by our long-running jobs crisis. But if House Republicans continue to play their role as economic and political saboteur, the country could instead be hit with the layoffs of 2 million workers. That's why this morning you should send a message to your member of Congress and tell them to get behind the Senate transportation jobs bill."
Deals In Works on Transportation, Student Loans
Senate leaders reach student loan deal, but will House GOP accept? CNN: "Senate leaders had stopped just short of announcing a deal for days, out of fear their agreement might be rejected by GOP conservatives in the House, who have concerns about the way the nearly $6 billion price tag of the bill is offset. In particular, they don't like changes to two pension-related items that could raise the costs businesses pay for their employees' pensions … The Senate leaders also said they are considering pairing the student loan bill with a long-stalled transportation funding measure known as the highway bill, which is still being negotiated between the House and Senate … They also hope it will make it harder for conservatives to oppose the pension offsets because one of them is being used as a funding measure for both bills."
More from The Hill: "An aide with knowledge of the student loan talks said Senate Republicans will accept Reid’s proposal to raise funds by changing rules for private pension plans and increasing the premiums employers pay for insurance from the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. Democrats have accepted a GOP proposal to limit to subsidies to six years for a traditional four-year degree and three years for a two-year degree, according to another source."
Reid says chance of a transportation deal is "better than 50-50" according to The Hill.
EPA Wins Big In Federal Court
Federal appeals court give EPA big climate win. The Hill: "The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld EPA’s 'endangerment finding' that greenhouse gases are a threat to human health and welfare — a finding that provides the underpinning for regulation of emissions from tailpipes, smokestacks and other sources. The court left intact EPA’s rules on carbon emissions from automobiles, and the 'tailoring rule' that shields smaller stationary sources from greenhouse gas permitting that the EPA is using to target emissions from big sources like power plants … The decision is a defeat for a suite of industry groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Mining Association, the National Association of Manufacturers and others that challenged various aspects of EPA’s climate rules."
Court speaks slowly to climate science deniers. McClatchy quotes from opinion: "It makes no difference that much of the scientific evidence in large part consisted of ‘syntheses’ of individual studies and research … Even individual studies and research papers often synthesize past work in an area and then build upon it. This is how science works. EPA is not required to re-prove the existence of the atom every time it approaches a scientific question.”
Breakfast Sides
EU prods Germany. NYT: "European leaders increased the pressure on Germany to move more aggressively to defend the euro on Tuesday by publishing proposals for a more tightly knit European Union, with phased-in moves toward central banking supervision, unified deposit insurance and more sharing of the region’s debt burden."
NY AG investigating campaign donations from U.S. Chamber of Commerce: "Mr. Schneiderman issued a wide-ranging subpoena on Tuesday to executives at a foundation affiliated with the chamber, seeking e-mails, bank records and other documents to determine whether the foundation illegally funneled $18 million to the chamber for political and lobbying activities…"
House shifts back to full health care repeal. Politico: "If the Supreme Court wholly or partially strikes down the law on Thursday, House Republicans won’t rush to pass a bill that allows young adults under 26 to stay on their parents’ insurance. They won’t pass legislation forcing insurance companies to cover people with pre-existing conditions. And the gap in drug coverage that requires seniors to pay more out of pocket — the so-called donut hole — won’t immediately be closed … [That] is a shift from where the party was a few weeks ago."
