MORNING MESSAGE
The “Mother Emanuel Nine”
At
this point, this country is choosing to undermine its own future rather than to
invest in the health, safety and education of the young people of color that
will be central to tomorrow’s citizenry and workforce. More than one in five
African-American young people is neither working nor in school. Hope is trampled
early ... Change will only come from struggle. The haters feel increasingly
oppressed and, as Dylann Roof showed, will strike out. They can’t be countered
by politicians too cowardly even to call for taking down the confederate flag in
South Carolina ... The “Mother Emanuel Nine” must not simply be remembered in
our prayers. They must be alive in our actions.
Fast Track Vote Looms
Fast
track cloture vote “as early as Tuesday” reports The Hill: ” … the Senate
would also take up Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) … as part of a [separate]
trade preferences bill … McConnell sought to reassure Democrats that TAA could
still pass, asking lawmakers to have ‘a little faith.’ … Under McConnell’s plan,
the Senate would take up TPA and then the trade preferences bill including TAA.
The TAA-trade preferences bill would then go to the House as soon as this
week.”
Key
pro-fast track Senate Dems keeping quiet. Politico: “Of the 14 Senate
Democrats who voted last month to advance the plan, he can afford to lose — at
most — three … As the lone Democrat in her party’s leadership who previously
voted for the trade agenda, how [Sen. Patty Murray] comes down now could
influence other fence-sitting Democrats … Murray’s fellow Washington state
Democratic senator, Maria Cantwell, warned … she is prepared to block the
legislation … [She had] joined Murray in voting to advance the trade package
last month…”
Opponents
look to Sen. Warren. The Hill: “Now that the fight is returning to her home
turf, her allies say she has an opportunity to take a final stand on the
issue.”
Greece Talks Advance
Greece,
EU move toward deal. Bloomberg: “A new proposal by Greek Prime Minister
Alexis Tsipras drew a rare positive nod from European officials ahead of
marathon talks on Monday … An International Monetary Fund official said that
creditor institutions are still assessing Greece’s proposals and it’s too early
to say whether they are sufficiently credible to break the deadlock.”
Thousands
in Athens protest cuts. Al Jazeera: “Protesters called to resist pressure
from international creditors to accept more austerity in exchange for unlocking
billions of euros in bailout funds. More than 7,000 people took to the streets
carrying banners that read ‘A different Europe with Tsipras’ and ‘You can’t
blackmail the people, the country is not for sale’.”
Larry
Summers fears Europe will unravel without compromise, in W. Post oped: “With
an end to European support and consequent bank closures and credit problems,
austerity will get far worse in Greece than it is today … Once Greece fails as a
state, Europe will collect far less debt repayment than it would have with an
orderly restructuring.”
Decision Week For Supreme Court
More
than Obamacare and same-sax marriage to be decided this week. Slate: “…there
are 11 cases still outstanding on the Supreme Court’s docket [including] a
challenge to the EPA’s regulations involving the emissions of hazardous air
pollutants … a case about the meaning of the Fair Housing Act [and] the fate of
nonpartisan redistricting commissions …”
Justice
Kennedy may save Obamacare. TNR’s Simon Lazarus: “Justice Kennedy takes very
seriously what he repeatedly lauds as the ‘federal balance.’ … His preoccupation
with coercive effects of conditional federal spending laws draws inspiration
from a vein of scholarship little noted outside wonky conservative legal
circles.”
Progressive
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