Filibuster Showdown Today
No deal on nominees after late night bipartisan Senate caucus, votes slated for 10 AM. TPM: "Seven nominees are scheduled to come up for Senate votes Tuesday morning at 10 a.m. ET: three members of the National Labor Relations Board and picks to run the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Environmental Protection Agency, Labor Department and Export-Import Bank. Reid has promised to change the rules by a simple majority vote if Republicans don’t let all of them through, and he’s confident he has the necessary 51 votes ... Exiting the meeting, senators roundly said the discussion was constructive and positive but expressed a mix of cautious optimism [and] fatalistic pessimism..."
Reid and McCain talk deal. CNN: "McCain told Reid he found the six GOP senators needed to join Democrats in breaking filibusters of the nominations, giving Democrats a key part of what they want: approval of Richard Cordray to run the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. McCain told Reid that in exchange, the president would have to agree to withdraw two nominees for the National Labor Relations Board whom Mr. Obama had put in office by recess appointment ... Reid told McCain he couldn’t go along with the idea because they could not find replacements willing to go through what will surely be a politically rough nomination for an NRLB term that would be up in 2014 ... Still, sources in both parties say this could be the seeds of a deal..."
Republican hostility to NLRB rooted in case that has long been settled: "...their anger spiked in 2011 when the board’s acting general counsel filed a case against Boeing, asserting that its plan to open an aircraft assembly plant in South Carolina constituted illegal retaliation against the company’s workers in Washington State for repeatedly going on strike. Although Boeing eventually settled the case with the board ... [Sen. Lindsey] Graham said in a telephone interview on Monday, explaining his refusal to allow a vote on Mr. Obama’s nominees. 'I do understand that they need to exist, but they’ve sort of been a rogue organization.'"
No Relief On Immigration For Boehner
Hispanic media putting pressure on Boehner to act on immigration. W. Post's Greg Sargent: " Republicans are plainly looking to minimize the damage they will sustain among Latinos by debating a 'piecemeal' approach designed to make them look as if they see the need to act on reform. But right now, Ramos says, the bulk of the coverage in Hispanic media strongly suggests it will be hard for Republicans to avoid most or all the blame if it fails. 'In the end, you just have to follow Hispanic media,' Ramos says. 'The question is, who is responsible for failure? So far, the answer is Republicans.'"
Former Obama, McCain campaign managers pen joint Politico oped supporting immigration reform: "Our respective campaign slogans from 2008 are perfectly suited for this moment and this issue. Si se puede poner el país primero."
Fed vs. Glass-Steagall Repeal
Fed governor criticizes Warren-McCain Glass-Steagall repeal bill. Politico: "Fed Gov. Daniel Tarullo said Monday that the repeal of Glass-Steagall in 1999 was not a major factor in the 2008 financial crisis and that putting it back in place would not necessarily address the current threats to the financial system, such as banks’ reliance on volatile short-term funding markets ... Last week when the bill was introduced, Warren told reporters that a return to Glass-Steagall was just one piece of what should be done to further crack down on big banks."
Dean Baker slams prospect of Larry Summers as Fed chair: "Summers was a key actor in the Clinton economic team that pushed for bigger and less regulated banks. He was there for the repeal of Glass-Steagall. He was also among those hectoring Brooksley Born, when the then head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission argued that it would be a good idea to regulate derivatives. And he famouslyridiculed as Luddites those warning of the risks of financial deregulation at the Fed'sGreenspanfest in 2005."
