Boehner Aims To Contain Revolt
Conservative revolt against Boehner for Speaker expected to come up short. The Hill: "At least 10 conservative lawmakers have vowed to vote against Boehner when the House convenes at noon ... and as many as 20 could ultimately cast their vote for another candidate ... The uprising could indicate that Boehner will have to continue to lean on Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other Democrats to get must-pass legislation across the finish line ... With defectors short of the 29 votes needed to force a second ballot, Team Boehner appears confident that the uprising will fail."
Still could be "biggest speaker revolt since 1923" says W. Post: "...in the half-century between 1945 and 1995, not one vote was cast for anyone but the two major-party nominees."
House Readies Anti-Health Care Legislation
"GOP Congress' First Priority: Yanking Health Insurance From 1.5 Million Americans" reports Mother Jones: "The Affordable Care Act ... defines employees who work 30 or more hours per week as full time. The legislation that House Republicans are expected to bring to the floor this week would change the definition of full time to 40 hours per week ... companies that don't want to provide health insurance for their employees can avoid doing so by cutting workers' hours ... Republicans could attach the measure to a must-pass spending bill this year, which Obama would be hard-pressed to veto."
But some conservatives object. NYT: "Writing this weekend in National Review, Yuval Levin, a conservative popular with House Republicans, said the legislation 'seems likely to be worse than doing nothing.' His rationale is that there are many more people who work 40 hours a week than just over 30, and that it would be easier for an employer to cut their hours to 39 a week to avoid offering them insurance than to 29 ... As the job market strengthens, employers will be less inclined to cut hours or drop coverage because workers will be able to look elsewhere for better benefits, said Stuart Butler, who spent 35 years at the conservative Heritage Foundation before moving to the Brookings Institution. 'We’re not seeing as much of a change of behavior among employers as some of us had feared,' Mr. Butler said."
Keystone On Fast Track
House also to vote on Keystone this week. The Hill: "The Rules Committee has yet to meet, however, making it unclear whether amendments will be allowed on the floor ... The House decision comes ahead of a pending Senate vote."
"Democrats Are Doing Republicans a Favor by Pretending Keystone Is About Jobs" argues TNR's Rebecca Leber: "The [Senate] Democratic amendments won't deliver many more jobs, either, yet they're presented as a jobs plan. One proposal extends a ban on oil exports to keep the oil that's pumped through the U.S. in the country. Another would require only American-made steel and iron for the pipeline's construction ... Democrats ought to be marshaling their resources to remind people that Keystone is more about pollution than it is about jobs."
States Push Infrastructure, Savings
CA Gov. Jerry Brown proposes "bold energy plan" reports NYT: "... a call to slash gas consumption by cars and trucks by as much as 50 percent ... for 50 percent of California’s electricity to come from renewable energy sources by 2030, up from the current goal of one-third by 2020, and doubling the energy efficiency of existing buildings."
Brown also calls for big infrastructure investment. Bloomberg: "California Governor Jerry Brown proposed spending $59 billion to fix crumbling roads [and] would proceed with a $68 billion California high-speed-rail line, on which he is expected break ground [today] ... Brown didn’t provide details or say whether the plan would require higher taxes or state bonds."
NJ Gov. Christie reverses on commuter rail tunnel. Bloomberg: "If Christie hadn’t stopped the Access to the Region’s Core project that began in 2009, mass-transit relief would have come as soon as 2018. Now he supports an approach, with new oversight by the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, that has no dedicated funding and would take at least 10 years ... Christie’s decision scuttled the creation of at least 200,000 jobs, according to the GAO. The bulk of funding for ARC is no longer available, as Christie steered $4 billion of earmarked money toward other transportation spending."
"Illinois Introduces Automatic Retirement Savings Program, a First for the Nation" reports NYT: "Starting in 2017, most state residents who don’t already have a retirement plan at work will be automatically enrolled in individual retirement accounts, funded through a 3 percent deduction from their paychecks ... Participation will be voluntary, but workers who don’t want to save will need to opt out manually ... if it is successful in getting more people to save, it may end up being a model for other states and the federal government."
