Republicans Hide From Tea Party
Republicans skipping town halls this August recess. NYT: "Most of the efforts to shame members of Congress who are not holding town halls are aimed at Republicans. Tea Party groups are focused mainly on pressuring fellow Republicans — not Democrats, who would largely be a lost cause — to back a proposal to shut down the government if financing is not pulled from the president’s health care law. Immigration groups, like Alliance for Citizenship, which supports a plan like the Senate’s that would grant citizenship to the 11 million people here illegally, are almost exclusively targeting House Republicans."
Karl Rove urges GOP to skip shutdown. Politico: "...Karl Rove went toe-to-toe with Utah Sen. Mike Lee for an hour on Sean Hannity’s radio show ... 'This just assumes that the Democrats are going to be scared of a shutdown. They aren't. They want it,' Rove said. 'This is the one strategy, the one tactic that might be able to guarantee that the Democrats pick up seats in the Congress in 2014.' Lee said critics of his plan are presenting a 'false choice' between a shutdown and Obamacare. And he worries that Republicans are beginning to run out of steam in the defund battles. 'We cave and we cave and we cave,' Lee said. 'This is how we get into trouble.'"
House Appropriations Chair Hal Rogers fed up with sequestration. The Hill: "Colleagues describe Rogers as a bourbon-drinking, cigar-smoking southerner who cares deeply about economic development in his impoverished district. He’s seen as cut in the mode of a traditional appropriator who wants to use the process to help member fund projects in their districts ... Aides say Rogers could work well with Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) if given a chance ... Many people were surprised when Rogers was able to negotiate in March a 'hybrid' continuing resolution that preserved five full spending bill texts. He worked closely with Mikulski to get that deal."
Rep. Steve King snubs House leadership, embarks on "Stop Amnesty" tour. Politico: "[King is] taking his views on the road to rallies like the one here in the backyard of Majority Leader Eric Cantor ... King hopes to pressure fellow Republicans into staring down any move to give undocumented immigrants legal status. He began his nearly half-hour speech here arguing against immigration reform, claiming societies tended to become more violent as one moved further south in Latin America ... Republican leaders — eager not to further alienate Hispanic voters — argue they’ve done all they can to shut up King."
London Whale Is Talking
"London Whale" may help finger other JPMorgan criminals. Bloomberg: "[Bruno] Iksil, the Frenchman who became known as the London Whale because of his trading book’s size, has been cooperating with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office for months in their probe of the New York-based bank’s biggest trading debacle ever, said three people with direct knowledge with the matter. Iksil won’t face charges as long as he cooperates and testifies, the people said ... It still isn’t clear who may be charged ..."
Bank regulation critical component of Fed, disqualifies Summers for chairmanship, argues Laurence J. Kotlikoff and Jeffrey Sachs at HuffPost: "Alan Greenspan presided over the worst monetary disaster in modern history in no small measure because of his lifelong belief in the morality of unbridled wealth seeking ... Robert Rubin, Greenspan's enabler and partner in this disaster ... led the fight for financial deregulation that enabled Citicorp and Travelers Group to merge into Citigroup ... Larry Summers is the third of the Greenspan-Rubin-Summers triumvirate ... While in the Obama White House, Summers protected the financial industry from attempts to crack down on their recklessly high and unjustified compensation ... This is no scintillating macroeconomic track record that should even begin to excuse or overcome the ethical blinders and the dangers that he would pose to financial supervision and regulation."
Housing reform need not end Fannie Mae, argues NYT's Joe Nocera: "In five years as wards of the government, Fannie and Freddie have actually shown the kind of role they could play. They are no longer bullies. They don’t really function as private companies anymore ... their sole role now is to guarantee and securitize mortgages. And they are making huge amounts of money — much of which is going to the government."
