Obama Releases "Game Changer" Climate Report Today
WH to release major climate report. Reuters: "Some environmental and public health groups expect the U.S. National Climate Assessment to be a 'game changer' in the administration's efforts to address climate change [detailing] how consequences of climate change are hitting on several fronts, including health, infrastructure, water supply, agriculture and especially more frequent severe weather ..."
Obama to talk with TV meteorologists today to promote report. Bloomberg: "As part of the report’s unveiling, Obama is set to give a series of interviews to eight television weathermen, including with [Al] Roker of NBC’s 'Today' show. Television meteorologists are a potentially powerful source of information for Americans about how the climate is already changing, according to Daniel Kessler, a spokesman for Forecast the Facts..."
Senate Keystone vote in doubt. Politico: "...Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) compared Republican maneuvers on Keystone and an energy efficiency bill written by Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio) to a 'shell game,' accused the GOP of 'screwing around' ... Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) said he’s been told by Reid that there will be no amendments to Shaheen-Portman except bipartisan efficiency provisions that have long been agreed to. Reid told Hoeven that the tradeoff would be that Keystone XL would be given a separate vote once the efficiency debate has ended ... But Republicans ... also want votes on amendments to quicken U.S. liquefied natural gas exports, as well as measures opposing a carbon tax and against EPA greenhouse gas regulations on future power plants."
WH issues veto threat. The Hill: "White House senior adviser John Podesta on Monday indicated that President Obama would veto an energy efficiency bill set to be debated in the Senate this week if it is approved with 'unacceptable riders.' Podesta’s comments could be read as a warning to proponents of the Keystone XL pipeline that the White House would veto an energy bill that seeks to force Obama’s hand on the issue."
GOP "Civil War" Flares Up In Primaries
Immigration test in NC GOP primary today. Politico: "Renee Ellmers is in a highly unusual position for a House Republican: She is the only GOP incumbent facing a primary challenge centered on her support for immigration reform ... Most observers think Ellmers — a nurse and former tea party favorite — is likely to win the intraparty fight on Tuesday ... Ellmers’ fight has been the exception to the rule in this year’s House GOP primary contests. Despite conservative threats, the slew of anti-immigration primary challenges — for the most part — simply haven’t materialized."
Roll Call's Stu Rothenberg details upcoming intra-party battles: "...there are only a relative handful of races that qualify as establishment versus anti-establishment campaign fights. The first is in Idaho’s 2nd District, where the Club for Growth, Madison Project, FreedomWorks and Senate Conservatives Fund all targeted Rep. Mike Simpson in the GOP primary ... The second most obvious internal GOP fight is in Mississippi, where veteran Sen. Thad Cochran faces a challenge from state Sen. Chris McDaniel ... Upcoming Senate primaries in North and South Carolina still could produce serious fights within the GOP, depending what happens in the initial primary election in each state. But at this point, it isn’t certain whether establishment favorites [state Speaker Thom] Tillis and Sen. Lindsey Graham will face runoffs."
Breakfast Sides
Mayor de Blasio makes big housing move. NYT: "New York City will commit $8.2 billion in public funds to a 10-year housing plan that could transform the cityscape from Cypress Hills in Brooklyn to the shores of the Harlem River, while providing affordable homes to thousands of low- to middle-income residents ... In embracing a vision for a denser New York, the mayor intends to require, not simply encourage, developers to include affordable units in residential projects in newly rezoned areas around the city."
Rep. Michael Michaud praises Pentagon for policy shift, buying troops US-made footwear, in Roll Call oped: "I’ve been advocating for this change for years, because it just never made sense to me that we would give our service members products that were produced by foreign countries — sending millions of taxpayer dollars overseas at the expense of hardworking Americans here at home ... DoD’s commitment to American manufacturing is a powerful endorsement of that American spirit. More than 12 million Americans work in manufacturing, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, but we can and should raise that number so that we’re continuing to strengthen our families, communities, and local and state economies by providing good manufacturing jobs. Actions like those taken last week by DoD are a big step in the right direction."
New study shows expanded health insurance saves lives. NYT: "The death rate in Massachusetts dropped significantly after it adopted mandatory health care coverage in 2006, a study released Monday found, offering evidence that the country’s first experiment with universal coverage — and the model for crucial parts of President Obama’s health care law — has saved lives ... The decline was steepest in counties with the highest proportions of poor and previously uninsured people ..."
