MORNING MESSAGE
In
the presidential campaign Republican candidates are proposing even more
austerity as a solution to the lackadaisical recovery, combined with tax cuts
for the rich and deregulation of Wall Street and the giant corporations.
Democrats, on the other hand are proposing infrastructure investment and a
number of other positive solutions ... The Republican solutions are an agenda
for their billionaire donors at the expense of the rest of us. But what else
would you expect?
Budget Deal Passes
Senate
clears budget deal. The Hill: “The deal was approved in a 64-35 vote after 3
a.m. after a late speech by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who criticized the
legislation as a blank check for President Obama … Thirty-five Republicans
opposed the deal, including Sens. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.),
who are facing tough reelection battles in blue-leaning states next year … Sen.
Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) was the only GOP presidential contender to vote for the
package. “
Now
Congress needs to pass an “omnibus” spending bill. W. Post: “…the
Appropriations Committees will begin the process of writing an omnibus bill that
will determine how the funds will be spent. That process is expected to take
about a month and could be complicated if Republicans try to attach
controversial provisions, like defunding Planned Parenthood, to the
legislation.”
Sen.
Harry Reid pledges to block any conservative riders. Roll Call quotes: “We
are not going to approve anything that has all these ideological, short-sighted,
crazy ideas; to do away with women’s health, to do away with clean air, to
attack Dodd-Frank and all these.”
Democrats
praise Ryan’s first speech as Speaker. The Hill: “The Democrats say they’re
buoyed by Ryan’s debut speech calling for more comity and cooperation, hoping
the power shift will bring a new stability to the chamber and grease the skids
for future legislative successes.”
De Blasio Backs Hillary
Mayor
de Blasio endorses Clinton. Politico:“”She has said what she believes in.
This is a very sharp progressive platform. I believe she will follow through on
it,’ de Blasio said during an interview with MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,’ … ‘Bernie
Sanders has done something very good for this country,’ de Blasio said. ‘I think
Hillary Clinton is the person to get it done best. But I want to be very clear:
Bernie Sanders has the discussion in this country in a very productive way and I
think we needed that.”
Sanders
meets with Biden. W. Post: “Biden has given no indication that he plans to
endorse a candidate anytime soon — and aides to Sanders said he didn’t ask for
one Thursday. But aides to Sanders have said they were heartened by the speech
Biden gave last week announcing his decision, which echoed many themes Sanders
has pressed on the campaign trail.”
Obama
plans to stump in 2016. Bloomberg: “The White House plans to aggressively
deploy President Barack Obama to rally Democrats to the polls for the 2016
election, particularly minority and young voters who are his strongest
supporters … It’s a marked departure from the experience of Obama’s two
predecessors…”
Hillary
to propose sentencing reforms today. W. Post: “… in an Atlanta speech Friday
[she will call] for legislation to ban racial profiling by law enforcement, and
for an elimination of the remaining distinction between crack and powder cocaine
in drug sentencing.”
W.
Post reports on the Sanders’ postal banking proposal: “Postal unions and
civil rights groups are among other advocacy organizations, along with the U.S.
Postal Service inspector general, pushing USPS to expand into banking. Sen.
Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a Democratic presidential hopeful, agrees. But USPS,
which could use the business, has no interest … Meanwhile, a coalition of civil
rights organizations are fighting two of President Obama’s nominees to the USPS
Board of Governors, one of whom has ties to the payday industry.”
Where's The TPP Text?
TPP
critics demand to see text. W. Post: “More than three weeks after the Obama
administration announced a final deal after years of negotiations, U.S.
officials have not yet unveiled the completed document for public purview. [Rep.
Rosa] DeLauro and a handful of her colleagues demanded that the administration
release the text immediately and charged that the White House is holding it back
to build up more political support.”
Enviros
set benchmarks for TPP to clear. The Hill: “More than a dozen environmental
and conservation groups on Thursday laid out eight pages of demands … they want
to make sure that the agreement includes all of the environmental protections
that Democrats negotiated with the George W. Bush administration in 2007,
holding countries in free-trade agreements to international treaties on
endangered species, whaling, marine species, ozone layer protections and other
pacts. The groups also want strong rules on prohibition in the trade of illegal
timber and wildlife, harmful fishing, whaling and rules related to climate
change.”
Progressive
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