Transportation Bill Expected To Pass Congress
Congress strikes deal for 5-year transportation bill. The Hill: "The measure calls for spending approximately $205 billion on highways and $48 billion on transit projects over the next five years. It also reauthorizes the controversial Export-Import Bank’s expired charter until 2019 ... [It] includes $70 billion in 'pay-fors' to close a $16 billion deficit in annual transportation funding."
Hodge-podge of offsets instead of gas tax increase. NYT: "...a requirement that the federal government use private collection agencies to recoup certain outstanding taxes, a provision that would allow the government to deny new passports to individuals owing more than $50,000 in back taxes, and the sale of 66 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve."
"Highway Bill Could Cost Four Biggest Banks Nearly $500 Million Next Year" reports WSJ: "The banks had been lobbying for months to persuade lawmakers not to tap into their revenue streams to pay for transportation infrastructure. On Tuesday, it became clear that they lost that battle. A compromise bill includes a hefty reduction in the dividend payments banks receive from the Federal Reserve."
Mixed bag on safety. CT Mirror: "The bill also rolled back a provision that Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and safety advocates had objected to in earlier versions of the bill. The provision would have allowed drivers as young as 18 to drive big rigs across state lines under certain conditions ... [But] would allow railroads up to five years to implement positive train control, a safety technology that can slow or stop a train."
Push To Block Right-Wing Riders
NY edit board urges Obama to veto conservative riders on upcoming spending bill: "Many, like the attempt to defund Planned Parenthood, are ideologically driven ... the most serious [environmental] threat is one that would invalidate a new rule from the Environmental Protection Agency that clarifies which waters are protected under federal law from unrestricted dredging, filling and development ... Others would roll back protections against reckless mortgage lending and other risky bank practices."
Republicans reconsider anti-refugee push. Politico: "Some Republican lawmakers are expressing concerns about the House bill, saying refugees pose less of a national security threat than foreigners who arrive by other means. They are joined by a growing number of prominent conservatives — including national security elders such as Henry Kissinger— who are speaking out against the legislation, urging lawmakers to reconsider a bill passed in haste."
Obama Leaves Paris With Upper Hand On Climate
Obama poised to win veto battle with Republicans. Bloomberg: "President Barack Obama hadn’t even made it home from climate talks in Paris when Republicans in Congress voted to kill the regulations backing his carbon-cutting pledge ... But just as with the Republicans’ failed attempts to kill Obamacare, the efforts are likely to run aground over constitutional and legal constraints ... The White House has pushed an approach in Paris that ensures any final deal won’t hinge on a ratification vote in the Senate."
Anti-TPP lobbying in Paris. W. Post: "Representatives and lobbyists for the Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade plan to meet with delegates and host strategy sessions and other public events at the Paris conference to voice their opposition to the trade deal."
GOP congressman backs off demand for climate scientist emails. W. Post: "House Science Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Tex.) on Tuesday took a new tack in his confrontation with federal officials over a high-profile climate change study, backing away — for now — from his demands that the emails of the scientists who wrote it be turned over to lawmakers. But Smith stepped up his pressure on National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for the internal deliberations of other high-level agency employees..."
