Yet Another Shutdown Deadline Looms
10 days until shutdown deadline. Politico: "Government funding is suddenly in peril, as conservatives fume over President Barack Obama’s decision to end the deportation threat for millions of undocumented immigrants. Republicans and Democrats and the White House are locked in battle over extending lapsed tax provisions popular with corporate America ..."
Boehner trying to dissuade conservatives on shutdown. NYT: "... he warned that the party members needed to coalesce around a strategy that gives them a stronger chance of success in combating Mr. Obama. Only Republicans, he said, would be blamed for a shutdown, just as they were last year."
Will Obama Do More Executive Actions?
W. Post's E. J. Dionne argues for further executive action: "Obama could act in other areas as well and in the process send a signal that he wants to do something about stagnating wages. One example: Labor Department regulations could restore overtime pay to most salaried workers by adjusting current limits to account for inflation. This would curb a common practice of reclassifying employees as 'managers' to get out of wage-and-hour rules."
Big city mayors back Obama on immigration. W. Post: "Members of Cities United for Immigration Action said they will work to put the executive action Obama announced last month into effect on the local level, push for congressional action on immigration reform and rally grassroots support."
Previous immigration executive action shows its limits. W. Post: "The 2012 initiative has given temporary protection to slightly more than 700,000 people brought to the United States illegally as children. They say that program has helped them emerge from the shadows, making possible a work permit, a Social Security number and enhanced self-respect. But hundreds of thousands who advocacy groups say are eligible have not applied under the program ... afraid they will be rejected and deported, while others are daunted by the $465 application fee and educational requirements."
China Climate Move Pressures India
Bloomberg asks if India will follow China's lead on climate: "A promise by the planet’s third largest polluter behind the U.S. and China to limit emissions would send a message to the world that every country needs to contribute to the fight against climate change ... Previously, China sat with India, Brazil and South Africain arguing that rich countries created the problem ... China’s decision for the first time put a major developing country on the side of the U.S., Europe and Japan in signaling caps on pollution."
Former Reagan aide takes on climate change. Bloomberg: "[George] Shultz recalled the Montreal Protocol he helped Ronald Reagan broker in the 1980s to reduce chemicals that were eroding the ozone ... Shultz, a former University of Chicago economics professor, supports a system to reduce emissions through a revenue neutral tax on fossil fuels that would recycle the money collected back to citizens in the form of a carbon dividend check."
