Keystone Vote Drama
Sen. Mary Landrieu short one vote before Keystone vote tonight. The Hill: "Sens. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) said Monday that they would vote against moving forward with the legislation, making it unclear whether supporters had a path to the magic number of 60 ... the best hope for Landrieu might be Independent Sen. Angus King (Maine), who told reporters on Monday that he is leaning against the measure. Noting that he could be a pivotal vote, King also said of the roll call vote on Tuesday: 'Wait till they get to the Ks.' ... Asked who the last vote is, Landrieu winked at reporters as she boarded a Senate elevator."
Obama wants Keystone as a "bargaining chip" reports NYT: "White House advisers have repeatedly said that they do not intend to issue a final decision until a Nebraska court issues a verdict on the route of the pipeline through that state. But that decision is expected to come as soon as January, the same month that an incoming Republican-majority Congress can be expected to send another Keystone bill to the president’s desk — one that could be within a few votes of a veto-proof majority. If that is the case, people familiar with the president’s thinking say that in 2015 he might use Keystone as a bargaining chip: He would offer Republicans approval of it in exchange for approval of one of his policies."
Some Republicans worry about their climate message. Roll Call: "'I think there will be a political problem for the Republican Party going into 2016 if we don’t define what we are for on the environment,' Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said. 'I don’t know what the environmental policy of the Republican Party is.'"
Both Parties Seek To Pressure Obama On Immigration
Republican leaders try to fight immigration action without shutdown. Politico: "IThe options include offering a separate piece of immigration legislation on the floor aimed at tightening border security and demanding the president enforce existing laws, promises to renew the effort next year when Republicans have larger numbers in both chambers, and passing two separate funding bills — a short-term bill with tight restrictions on immigration enforcement agencies, and another that would fund the rest of the government until the fall. The leadership has not made any decisions, and is likely to weigh additional options, as well ... the GOP clearly sees the short-term option as a losing fight. Republicans and the White House could be locked in an immigration-fueled, government-shutdown scare every two or three months ... House conservatives, meanwhile, seem unsure of their strategy."
Dems debate immigration timing. The Hill: "Senate Democrats want him to wait to give them time to pass an omnibus spending bill and other legislative priorities in the lame-duck session that is just now ramping up. But delaying the action, even for a few weeks, could make Obama look weak and inflame immigration advocates who are already furious with him for holding back until after the midterm elections ... Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, which has jurisdiction of the immigration enforcement agencies that would be affected, said Obama should wait until next year."
Obama has "prosecutorial discretion" thanks to John Lennon. W. Post: "...the government’s acknowledgment of 'prosecutorial discretion' in immigration cases can be traced to ex-Beatle John Lennon, who had come to the United States on a visitors’ visa. In the 1970s, the government began deportation proceedings against Lennon based on the fact that he had pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of cannabis resin in Britain. Lennon won his case on appeal in 1975 after his attorney, Leon Wildes, scoured government records and produced evidence that the agency, then known as the Immigration and Naturalization Service, had quietly been using its discretion to allow thousands of other people to stay in the country."
Obama could also use executive action to expand paid overtime, argues Nick Hanauer in Politico Magazine: "The president could, on his own, restore federal overtime standards to where they were at their 1975 peak, covering the same 65 percent of salaried workers who were covered 40 years ago. If he did that, about 10.4 million Americans would suddenly be earning a lot more than they are now."
