No TPP Deal In Japan
WH claims progress with Japan in trade talks. The Hill: "Six agriculture sectors — including beef, pork, dairy, wheat, sugar and rice — were the focus of the negotiations, and the senior official said that progress was made in each area. 'We took the talks to a new level,' the official said. 'In a number of the products, we were able to identify what the path is going to be to ultimate resolution.' The official said a series of tradeoffs and 'parameters' lie ahead in the negotiating process ... 'But we both felt...that on the basis of what we accomplished this week, we have a breakthrough.'"
But LAT reports no deal, blow to TPP: "Despite a last-minute push through the night, the two sides could not bridge their differences on tariffs and market access, clouding the prospects for the proposed free-trade pact among a dozen nations that includes the U.S., Japan, Canada and Mexico. Obama had hoped [for] a bilateral deal that would propel the stalled Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations to a conclusion ... its future is now even more uncertain."
Boehner Knocks Right-Wing Obstructionists
Boehner mocks fellow Republicans for ducking immigration. Cincinnati Inquirer: "...Boehner theatrically mocked his fellow Republican Congressmen for being afraid to reform immigration policy when he spoke Thursday before the Middletown Rotary Club in his home district. 'Here's the attitude. Ohhhh. Don't make me do this. Ohhhh. This is too hard,' Boehner whined ... 'We get elected to make choices. We get elected to solve problems and it's remarkable to me how many of my colleagues just don't want to ... They'll take the path of least resistance.' Boehner said he's been working for 16 or 17 months trying to push Congress to deal with immigration reform. I've had every brick and bat and arrow shot at me over this issue just because I wanted to deal with it. I didn't say it was going to be easy,'"
Boehner also slams Beltway right-wing groups. Roll Call quotes: “I don’t have any issue with the tea party. I have issues with organizations in Washington who raise money purporting to represent the tea party, those organizations who are against a budget deal the president and I cut that will save $2.4 trillion over 10 years ... There are organizations in Washington that exist for the sheer purpose of raising money to line their own pockets."
GOP Rep. Peter King backs immigration reform. Politico: "A House GOP lawmaker is urging Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to bring up immigration reform, saying it would benefit the nation and the Republican Party to undertake an overhaul that includes a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. The letter from Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) adds to a quiet but growing chorus of comments from House Republicans during the current congressional recess speaking in favor of immigration reform this year..."
State-Level Push On Minimum Wage Hits Roadblocks
"Seattle Mayor Says Effort to Build Agreement on $15 Minimum Wage Has Faltered" reports NYT: "'We’re stuck at the moment,' [Mayor Ed] Murray said in a news conference ... [But he] said the negotiations were continuing on a committee of elected officials and business and labor interests that he had appointed to develop a wage plan ... after the committee could not reach agreement by a deadline this week, he said that he had decided to let it continue its deliberations to avoid having the issue placed before voters this fall as a ballot initiative, a move threatened by some labor advocates."
Louisiana kills minimum wage bill. AP: "Without objection on Thursday, the Senate Labor Committee killed the bill by Senator Ben Nevers, Democrat of Bogalusa, which would have allowed voters to decide whether to require businesses to pay at least $9.50 an hour. Business organizations opposed the proposal."
US manufacturers gaining competitiveness. AP: "U.S. manufacturers have grown more competitive over the past decade compared with factories in China, Brazil and most of the world's other major economies. So says a new private study, which found that rising wages and higher energy costs have diminished China's long-standing edge over the United States. So has a boom in U.S. shale gas production. It's reduced U.S. natural gas prices and slowed the cost of electricity ... in the 25 biggest exporting countries ... seven of those countries had lower manufacturing costs than the United States."
