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Bernie Announces

Sen. Bernie Sanders tells the Associated Press he's running for president in the Democratic primary: "People should not underestimate me. I've run outside of the two-party system, defeating Democrats and Republicans, taking on big-money candidates and, you know, I think the message that has resonated in Vermont is a message that can resonate all over this country."

Sanders' entry put assures Democratic debate over the economy. Bloomberg: "'I think we should raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour over a period of years, not tomorrow,' he told Bloomberg ... Sanders is adamantly opposed to trade deals that he says entice employers to leave the United States."

Sanders pens Des Moines Register oped in favor of expanding Social Security: " I have reintroduced legislation that would apply the payroll tax to earned income above $250,000 as well as investment income. This would allow us not only to increase benefits to meet the elderly's higher living expenses, but to extend Social Security's solvency until 2065."

Hillary edges away from some of Bill's record. W. Post: "...the Democratic presidential contender is increasingly distancing herself from — or even opposing — key policies pushed by Bill Clinton while he was in the White House, from her recent skepticism on free-trade pacts to her full embrace of gay rights. The starkest example yet came Wednesday, when Hillary Clinton delivered an impassioned address condemning the 'era of incarceration' ushered in during the 1990s in the wake of her husband’s 1994 crime bill — though she never mentioned him or the legislation by name."

Martin O'Malley faces criticism for aggressive policing when Baltimore mayor. NYT: "....critics old and new questioned his record as mayor, the 'zero tolerance' brand of policing he introduced and the lingering effects it had on the relationship between law enforcement and Baltimore’s poor communities."

"Marco Rubio Went to Bat for Corinthian Colleges" scoops Bloomberg: "Last summer, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida asked the U.S. Department of Education to 'demonstrate leniency' toward Corinthian Colleges by permitting the wealthy for-profit company to continue accessing millions of dollars in federal financial aid while it was cooperating with a federal investigation. Ten months later, the company shuttered its remaining 28 campuses, instantly displacing some 16,000 students just days after it was fined $30 million by the Department of Education..."

Fast Track Off Track

Fast track doesn't have the votes in the House yet. Politico: "At this point, upward of 75 House Republicans could vote against trade promotion authority if it comes up for a vote in the coming weeks ... Some of the lawmakers fear job losses in their districts from free trade; others distrust Obama and oppose giving him more power ... House Democrats, meanwhile, say just 12 to 20 of their lawmakers support Obama’s request ... it’s early, and the tide could change. [Rep. Steve] Scalise’s whip count Friday afternoon is critical..."

Hillary Clinton suggests opposition to element of TPP in her book "Hard Choices." HuffPost: "Clinton writes in her book ... 'we should avoid some of the provisions sought by business interests, including our own, like giving them or their investors the power to sue foreign governments to weaken their environmental and public health rules' ... Obama's TPP deal would be enforced by a process known as 'investor-state dispute settlement,' which allows foreign companies to attack domestic laws or regulations before an international tribunal if they believe those rules unfairly curb investment returns..."

TPP should let workers reap more gains, argues W. Post's Harold Meyerson: "When we set the standards for globalization, we need to ensure benefits flow to workers as well as investors, and that won’t happen absent the kind of fundamental shift in power from shareholders and management to labor that the German system embodies. Like earlier trade deals, the Pacific pact offers no such rebalancing."

Corker Ends Budget Block

GOP budget resolution set to pass. NYT: "Senator Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee, lifted his blockade of a House-Senate budget deal Wednesday, clearing the way for a blueprint that would cut $5 trillion in spending in the next decade to balance the federal budget ... Few lawmakers expect Congress to pass legislation to carry out the plan. Top Republicans are already talking about negotiating a more realistic bipartisan deal."

Real fight begins over spending bills that keep government open. The Hill: "...the budget dynamics leave [Republicans] with the difficult task of devising spending bills that can attract enough bipartisan support to pass through both chambers — and win President Obama’s signature — for the sake of avoiding a government shutdown like the one that damaged the GOP politically in 2013. Democrats won’t be providing any cover. Obama’s allies from both chambers quickly denounced the Republicans’ budget blueprint as a giveaway to corporations and other special interests at the expense of working people."

First GOP spending bill pulled off the floor. Politico: "House Republicans on Wednesday night abruptly pulled their first spending bill of the year off the floor after it became clear that a bipartisan amendment to strike part of a multibillion-dollar Pentagon budget increase might actually pass ... [That] would eliminate part of a Defense Department boost that is essential to getting defense hawks to support the party’s annual spending blueprint. And it’s not a good sign for the appropriations process overall. The spending bill pulled from the floor is generally one of the least controversial and easiest to pass."

Breakfast Sides

California sets aggressive targets for carbon cuts. TNR's Rebecca Leber: "... California Governor Jerry Brown announced a plan to cut the state’s greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent by 2030; according to his office, it is 'the most aggressive benchmark enacted by any government in North America to reduce dangerous carbon emissions.' ... The baseline year California uses in for its goal—1990—is itself significant, because emissions were lower then than they were in 2005. Federal targets set by President Barack Obama use the year 2005, when emissions were at a peak, as their baseline."

Greek deal by Sunday? Bloomberg: "... both sides in a meeting of euro-area officials agreed to pursue intensive negotiations beginning on Thursday with the target of a preliminary deal by May 3... A key factor in a potential breakthrough may be the decision by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to intervene and play a major role in the negotiations to help the process along ... Tsipras has ... curtailed [Finance Minister Yanis] Varoufakis’s role in day-to-day negotiations..."

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