MORNING MESSAGE
It’s
not often these days that We the People can beat back the forces of big money –
but it can happen ... People are solidly against more “trade” deals that send
jobs out of the country and increase corporate power ... Starting this week
people should call and show up at the local offices of their member of Congress.
Bring a sign if you show up. Get others to come with you. Use
our click-to-call tool to contact your member of Congress.
Reclaim The American Dream
Hedrick
Smith explains how grassroots victories can break the Washington gridlock: ”
The progressive vision of the states as ‘laboratories for policy’ should be
enormously inviting to local movements and grassroots citizen activists … In a
website called reclaimtheamericandream.org,
we have pulled together striking examples of this change-in-motion, with maps
for you to see where your state stands, and inspiring models of successful
reforms and inside stories of how they were achieved.”
Fast Track Tops House Agenda
Fast
track still lacks the votes in the House. NYT: “Only 17 Democrats out of 188
have come out in favor of so-called fast-track authority — and many of them are
being hounded by labor and environmental groups to change their minds. Opponents
of the trade deal say just seven Democrats remain truly undecided.
Representative Nancy Pelosi … has told House Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio
that he will have to produce 200 Republican votes to win the 217 he needs. In
other words, she is not promising a single new convert.”
Fast-track
opposition leader Rep. Rosa DeLauro confident. Politico: “Democrats say
she’s strong-armed them on the House floor for months with concerns over
currency manipulation and labor standards in the Trans-Pacific Partnership … the
White House strengthened DeLauro’s campaign by alienating Democrats on the Hill
for years, only to ramp up outreach when it realized it was asking members to
take a tough vote.”
WH
asking Dems to trust Obama. The Atlantic: “The most potent argument for
fence-sitting Democrats—both stated and implied—goes back to trust, loyalty, and
politics. Obama has suffered all kinds of snubs and defeats at the hands of
Republicans, but never one of this magnitude from his own party. ‘Do you really
want to be the instrument of this kind of devastating loss for this president?’
asked Representative Gerry Connolly.”
Labor
making an example out of Rep. Ami Bera, but could it backfire? Politico:
“Throughout this past recess week, union-linked protesters have been in Bera’s
district holding out giant Q-tips, urging him to clean out his ears. On Friday,
labor activists went up with an $84,000 ad buy in the California district … but
with limited funds at [the AFL-CIO’s] disposal, the focus on the Californian may
leave many of his colleagues off the hook.”
Progressive
groups threaten primary challenges. The Hill: “Murshed Zaheed, deputy
political director at CREDO Action, said the group ‘will be highly aware of
which Democrats supported ramming through the TPP’ … Justin Krebs, campaign
director at MoveOn, echoed the threat. ‘We’re going to be looking at primary
candidates,’ Krebs said.”
Big Bernie Crowds
Sen.
Bernie Sanders has “momentum” says NYT: “The first evidence that Mrs.
Clinton could face a credible challenge in the Iowa presidential caucuses
appeared late last week in the form of overflow crowds at Mr. Sanders’s first
swing through that state.”
“Martin
O’Malley Uses Goldman Sachs to Hit Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush” reports
Bloomberg: “…O’Malley referenced reports that Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd
Blankfein had told employees that he would be happy if either Bush or Clinton
were elected. ‘I bet he would,’ O’Malley said during his announcement in
Baltimore, Maryland. ‘Well, I’ve got news for the bullies of Wall Street. The
presidency is not a crown to be passed back and forth by you between two royal
families.'”
Jeb
backs higher Social Security retirement age. The Hill: “Jeb Bush wants to
push back the retirement age for Social Security by as many as five years.
Instead of allowing Americans to collect full benefits at age 65, the former
Florida governor and likely GOP presidential candidate suggested on Sunday that
it should be pushed back to 68 or 70 … Bush said that he would be open to
cutting back benefits for wealthy people and their beneficiaries …”
Greek Talks Continue To Sputter
Europe
seems to want Greek talks to fail, says NYT’s Paul Krugman: “These players
have convinced themselves that the rest of Europe can shrug off a Greek exit
from the euro, and that such an exit might even have a salutary effect by
showing the price of bad behavior. But they are making a terrible mistake.”
But
“Greek Contagion Contained May Weaken Tsipras Bargaining Hand” reports
Bloomberg: “Alexis Tsipras’s claim that a financial collapse in Greece would
drag down the rest of the euro region is looking increasingly like a hollow
threat. While the yield gap widened between Spanish and German debt after a
weekend that saw little progress in talks between Tsipras’s Greek government and
international lenders, the increase was smaller than the move on
Friday.”
Progressive
Breakfast is a daily morning email highlighting news stories of interest to
activists. Progressive Breakfast is a project of the Campaign for America's
Future. more
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