Republicans Put Wall Street First
House passes bill to throttle Dodd-Frank, but short of veto-proof majority. NYT: "...29 Democrats shrugg[ed] off President Obama’s veto threat to join united House Republicans ... with Senator Warren leading the charge, it may not be able to muster the 60 votes [in the Senate] needed to reach the president."
W. Post's Harold Meyerson covers "The GOP’s scramble to court Wall Street": "Why the rush to let the banks run amok, even before Republicans turn their attention to authorizing the Keystone XL pipeline ... Deregulating Wall Street ... isn’t high on the tea party’s to-do list ... By pushing mega-bank welfare to the head of the line, Republicans ... sent a clear signal to Wall Street that they’ll do whatever it takes to further feather the bankers’ nests..."
JPMorgan Chase's Jamie Dimon complains "banks are under assault." HuffPost: "JPMorgan Chase earned $4.9 billion in the fourth quarter of 2014 ... Despite this success, Dimon warned that 'banks are under assault,' from government regulators. 'In the old days,' Dimon said, 'you dealt with one regulator when you had an issue, maybe two. Now it’s five or six. It makes it very difficult and very complicated.'"
House Republicans also pass bill scrapping Obama's immigration executive action, but fear they'll have to cave. Politico: "What really worries members of both parties is that no one — not even leadership — seems to know what kind of bill could get through Congress in time to avert a funding lapse for [Homeland Security] after Feb. 27 ... many Republicans fear that will be a clean funding bill, without policy provisions on immigration attached."
Obama Pushes Paid Sick Leave
Obama backs expanded paid sick leave. Reuters: "'President Obama will call on Congress to pass the Healthy Families Act, which would allow millions of working Americans to earn up to seven days a year of paid sick time — and call on states and cities to pass similar laws,' {WH aide Valerie Jarrett] wrote ... Obama will also sign a presidential memorandum to ensure federal government workers have the ability to take six weeks of paid sick time upon the birth of a child..."
Medical debt is down, thanks to Obamacare. NYT: "After rising for a decade, the number of Americans experiencing financial distress from their medical bills has started to decline ... The result provides new evidence that the Affordable Care Act, by providing uninsured people with health insurance, is also improving their financial security ... the percentage of Americans who experienced trouble with a medical bill or medical debt in the last year declined from a high of 41 percent in 2012 to 35 percent in 2014."
Wages are up ... in Canada and Australia. NYT's David Leonhardt: "What are Canada and Australia doing differently? For starters, they are doing a better job with mass education. They have near-universal preschool, and they both do more to get low-income students through college. In Australia, college is free ... The efforts to create a more skilled work force in Canada and Australia (as well as Sweden and some other countries) have led to better jobs – and stronger pretax income growth."
State and local governments are redistributing wealth upward, notes W. Post's E. J. Dionne: "...in 2015 the poorest fifth of Americans will pay, on average, 10.9 percent of their incomes in state and local taxes and the middle fifth will pay 9.4 percent. But the top 1 percent will pay states and localities only 5.4 percent of their incomes in taxes ... Most state and local governments rely on regressive taxes — particularly sales and excise levies."
EPA Plans Cuts To Methane Emissions
EPA proposes methane regs. The Hill: "Experts say that while the initial actions announced by the administration aren’t enough to reach the 45 percent [of the 2012 level] target by 2025, the move is 'significant.' ... Jessika Trancik, assistant professor at MIT, said one 'critical' missing component from the pending proposal is language targeting methane emissions from existing wells [and] equipment ... [The rules] target methane from new and modified oil and gas wells and equipment..."
Enviros support as first step. TNR's Rebecca Leber: "Despite the criticisms, green groups are generally pleased with the announcement. They say there's still time to push for more ambitious plans ..."
