Obama To Frame Debate At SOTU, 9 PM ET
Obama to leverage growing economy and make the case for public investments in tonight's SOTU. NYT: "[Obama will] effectively declare victory over the economic hard times ... and advocate using the nation’s healthier finances to tackle long-deferred issues like education and income inequality ... trying to frame the debate for his remaining time in power and for the emerging 2016 contest to succeed him ... Obama will present the nation a series of proposals previewed in recent weeks that would make community college free for many students, expand paid family leave for new parents and raise taxes on the wealthy in order to cut them for middle-income families and pay for some of his initiatives."
Progressive tax reform featured proposal. Reuters: "Obama will push a plan to increase taxes by $320 billion over 10 years on the wealthy by closing tax loopholes and imposing a fee on big financial firms. The money would be used to pay for an increase in benefits for the middle class ... White House officials are betting that Republicans, also under pressure to help the middle class and needing to prove they can govern, will be willing to compromise on some aspects of the plan.
President Will Lean On Dems To Back Fast-Track
President to press Dems on trade. The Hill: "President Obama is tasking every member of his Cabinet to round up votes from Democrats for fast-track negotiating power ... About 80 House Democrats have been targeted ... One argument the Cabinet officials are making is that the U.S. will be sidelined from writing rules on trade that would protect labor groups and the environment if they don’t back fast-track and the TPP."
While left-right coalition seeks to derail fast-track. Politico: "The opposition’s challenge will be finding a way to muster the 218 votes needed to strike down the fast-track legislation, which Hill watchers say could be introduced in the next couple of weeks ... Although a full-fledged unholy alliance between the left and right wings has yet to emerge over the measure, lawmakers and groups from both sides recently announced within days of each other that they’re ratcheting up the fight ..."
Senate Keystone Votes Loom
Senate may start Keystone amendment votes today reports The Hill.
Conservatives try to whitewash climate change from school textbooks. W. Post's Catherine Rampell: "In recent weeks, West Virginia has snatched national headlines for its attempts to doctor school science standards to discredit climate change ... West Virginia backed down. But the science curriculum standards — which come from recommendations developed and adopted by a partnership of states — have already been rejected by Wyoming. South Carolina blocked the standards before they were even finalized, and other states are gearing up for similar battles. "
Breakfast Sides
Politico digs into House GOP attack on Social Security: "In the past, Congress has simply shifted revenues from Social Security’s larger retirement account to fill holes in the disability fund. But the new House rule throws up a roadblock by creating a point of order against any such bill that does not improve the 'actuarial balance' of the combined funds ... the new rule’s fine print leaves an escape hatch for Republicans to move tens of billions into the disability fund if this gambit fails. Still, the upshot could be a one-two punch Democrats most fear: a first-round debate over disability funding in 2016 followed by a bigger battle over all of Social Security in 2017 ..."
Dems draft inversion legislation. The Hill: "[Rep. Sandy] Levin, the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, and [Rep. Lloyd] Doggett will be reintroducing the bill they first rolled out last year, Democratic aides said. That measure sought to essentially ban U.S. multinational corporations from taking over a smaller foreign competitor and reincorporating offshore."
"Supreme Court may scale back housing discrimination law" reports USA Today: "Two days after celebrating Martin Luther King Jr.'s birth, the Supreme Court will consider weakening a federal housing discrimination law passed in the wake of his death ... If the court rules as expected, housing discrimination cases would be tougher to win from coast to coast ... At issue is whether the law requires blacks and other minorities to prove intentional racial discrimination in sales, rentals, zoning or lending practices, or whether a policy's disparate impact is enough to make it illegal."
