WH To Act On Manufacturing
Obama to use executive action to boost manufacturing. McClatchy: "...he will announce: More than 90 mayors and local leaders have committed to the ‘Mayors Maker Challenge’ to increase the number of locations and equipment available ... Access to more than $5 billion worth of advanced equipment in over 700 federal research and development facilities ... Investments of more than $150 million in research to support the Materials Genome Initiative, a public-private initiative that aims to cut in half the time it takes to develop novel materials."
IMF says America should raise minimum wage, invest in infrastructure and deal with climate change. The Guardian: "In its annual review of the US economy, the IMF cut its growth forecast by 0.8 percentage points to 2% ... As part of a series of reforms the IMF has called for an increase in the minimum wages in the US, currently the lowest when compared to the average wage in any of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)’s 34 countries ... Lagarde warned that extreme weather events were becoming more frequent and had an outsized impact on the economy ... The IMF believes the US also needs to do more to mitigate the impact of its ageing population and to stimulate productivity. The best option would be for government to boost spending, notably on infrastructure..."
Frontrunner in MA governor's race backs $15 minimum for fast-food workers. Springfield Republican: "[Attorney General Martha] Coakley was asked the question on Twitter by reporter Jim Lokay of WCVB. 'Lots of national conversation about a $15/hr wage for fast food workers. Do you support that?' he wrote. Coakley responded on Twitter: 'Yes. I support the movement of fast-food workers to organize and push for a living wage.'"
Republican Governors Begin Climate Rule Pushback
GOP governors push back on EPA climate rules. The Hill: "Nine Republican governors wrote to President Obama on Monday asking him to withdraw the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed carbon pollution limits for power plants, saying the rules would cost millions of jobs and billions of dollars ... The letter was signed by the governors of Alaska, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wyoming ... Though West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin (D) did not sign onto the letter, his state’s Attorney General Patrick Morrisey sent Obama a letter earlier this month saying the EPA is likely to face a lawsuit over the regulations."
Next president could undo climate rules. National Journal: "Federal agencies have slowly but surely plastered over Bush administration environmental policy—largely by reworking rules that didn't hold up in court ... Future presidents could take a similar tack. The administration is rushing to wrap up the global-warming rule before Obama leaves office. But after the power-plant regulations are finalized, states will have another year to submit plans outlining how they expect to comply. Legal challenges are virtually guaranteed to outlast the administration. Industry groups and conservatives are already plotting strategy to pick apart the rule. And if parts of the regulation need to be rewritten or the rule is thrown out entirely, its fate will rest largely in the hands of whoever lives in the White House."
WV Sen. Joe Manchin fights wind tax credit. The Hill: "Manchin said wind energy has become competitive with other sources in many areas of the country, and its costs have reached a point at which the tax break for producing it isn’t necessary ... The tax credit expired last year, but many lawmakers want to reinstate it. The Senate Finance Committee has passed a package of tax break renewals that includes wind’s credit, but the full Senate has not taken up the measure yet ... Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) disagreed. She said she would vote to reinstate the credit, but look in the future to phase it out, which she compared to a glide path."
Average age of a coal plant is 42 years old. W. Post: "...the oldest — and least efficient — date from the 1940s and early 1950s. Many of them also lack the most modern pollution controls and contribute to poor air quality. The likelihood that plants like [that] will shut down by 2030 at the latest was one key factor in the Environmental Protection Agency’s calculations about what limits to place on carbon emissions from existing coal plants. The closure of certain plants could bring the proposed statewide targets within easier reach."
Breakfast Sides
Pressure on FHFA to act on affordable housing. Politico: "The affordable housing goals for government-controlled Fannie and Freddie, last set by the Federal Housing Finance Agency in 2012, will expire at the end of the year and homeowner advocates expect a proposal from Watt, who heads the agency, to come in July at the latest in order to allow time for public comment before it goes into effect next year. For [Mel] Watt, who took over the agency in January, the issue may prove to be the toughest test yet for whether [he] can walk the line between overseeing the immediate needs of the two companies and protecting taxpayers from losses while also addressing concerns that it remains too hard for low- and middle-income borrowers to get a mortgage."
Dem challenger wields immigration reform to oust GOP incumbent. The Hill: "[Erin] Bilbray says [Rep. Joe] Heck, who has said he would have opposed the Senate-passed immigration plan but that he’s open to an amended version and supports a pathway to citizenship, hasn’t shown he cares enough about the problem. Heck has chided House leaders for not moving faster on immigration bills. Immigration reform could be a powerful one in the swing district, where many Hispanic and Filipino immigrants live and about a quarter of the vote is nonwhite."
