Hillary Rolls Out Student Debt Plan
Hillary Clinton announces $350B plan to reduce student debt. Politico: "Clinton’s overall $350 billion budget for the proposal breaks down like this: More than half of the total would be spent on the grants for state and colleges. Another third would be the expense of cutting interest rates for students who have outstanding student loan debt. And the rest would be spent on innovations, rewarding college completion and boosting support for parents."
Not as sweeping a plan as her Democratic opponents. NYT: "The Clinton proposals might fare better than those offered by her two main opponents for the Democratic nomination, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and former Gov. Martin O’Malley of Maryland, because unlike them, she is not relying mostly on the government to deal with student debt ... she still expects families to make a 'realistic' contribution to cover some tuition costs — through savings or loans — while students would contribute based on wages from 10 hours of work per week."
But is designed to spark cost controls at colleges. Bloomberg: "The so-called New College Compact is designed to do the same thing for higher education that the Affordable Care Act did for health care, bending the cost curve, and requiring that non-educational costs—expenses like marketing a university or building a new football field—compose a smaller percentage of an institution’s spending."
Bernie Rallies Portland
Bernie Sanders holds largest rally of the campaign so far. W. Post: "[Sanders] appeared at a Portland arena with a capacity close to 20,000, aides said. An additional 8,000 people gathered in overflow areas ... [The] rally came just hours after he left [Seattle] where a small group of protesters aligned with the Black Lives Matter movement took the microphone from him ... He wound up not speaking."
Republican debate featured surprisingly little Obama-bashing, notes NYT's Paul Krugman: "The shared premise of everyone on the Republican side is that the Obama years have been a time of policy disaster on every front. Yet the candidates on that stage had almost nothing to say about any of the supposed disaster areas ... Out there in the real world, none of the disasters their party predicted have actually come to pass."
Debt Limit Looms
Congress girds for debt ceiling battle. The Hill: "While the deadline for lifting the limit is uncertain, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew [it could be] the end of October ... While an earlier deadline around October could speed up budget talks, it would also leave lawmakers with little time for action. A later deadline in November or December could be more manageable."
Right-leaning "New Democrats" plan assertive House strategy. Politico: "...a group of pro-business Democrats ... are angling to cut more deals with the GOP and White House ... the New Democrat Coalition of some 50 members sees opportunities this fall on taxes, trade, Medicare and government spending."
Conservatives Plot Legal Attack On EPA
Lawsuits coming to block Obama's climate regs. WSJ: "The EPA ... said lawmakers meant the [Clean Air Act] to fill gaps in other clean air programs by covering 'a wide range of air pollutants—including ones that Congress may not have been aware of at the time it enacted the provision.' Challengers say Congress never intended the provision—which requires states to devise pollution-reduction plans—as a sweeping grant of power to the EPA."
Obamacare keeps working. HuffPost: "Nationwide, the uninsured rate fell from 17.3 percent in 2013 to 11.7 percent through the first half of this year ... The contrast between Obamacare-friendly states and those hostile to the law is stark. Rhode Island has the lowest uninsured rate, 2.7 percent, while Texas comes in last at 20.8 percent."
