MORNING MESSAGE
One
observer said, “She’s giving Bernie Sanders speech.” Not really. Her rhetoric
did feature a tempered populism ... She scorned Republicans for recycling the
“false promises” of “yesterday,” the myth that lowering taxes and “bend[ing]
rules” for the “top” would produce benefits that would trickle down to the rest
of us. But there was no acknowledgment of the bipartisan policies – the
Washington consensus on trade, financial deregulation, privatization, austerity,
taxes and more – that took us down the wrong road ... Engaged in raising $1
billion for her campaign, there are distinct limits to how far she will go. It
will take a growing movement to move her...
Fast Track Fight Not Over
House
may vote again on TAA piece of fast track package. Politico: “…it’s not
clear what’s happened since last Friday’s trade votes that could change the
minds of the more than 70 Democrats Obama needs … House Democratic sources say
that anyone who switches their vote now will be a prime target for labor and
other progressive groups … [Pelosi] suggested that GOP lawmakers could sway
Democrats if the two parties could come to an agreement on a long-term highway
bill…”
Republican
leaders hesitant to lean on their own caucus. WSJ: “One option would be to
try to pass the full Senate bill through a single vote in the House, combining
the workers’-aid and fast-track provisions … But GOP aides said that would cause
Republicans to defect … Republicans could also try to muscle through the Senate
just the measure giving the president fast-track authority … That would likely
meet resistance among Senate Democrats…”
Clinton
feels Sanders’ heat on trade while in Iowa. W. Post: “She told a crowd [in
Iowa] that Obama should address the concerns of … Pelosi … Without improvements,
she said, ‘there should be no deal.’ … However, she did not explicitly say
whether she supports fast-track … Sanders slammed Clinton’s indecisiveness … ‘Is
she for it, or is she against it? Those are your two options,’ he told
reporters…”
Roger
Hickey of Campaign for America’s Future pushed Clinton to go farther, in WSJ
interview: “Roger Hickey … said late Sunday that Mrs. Clinton’s suggestion
that the trade deal could be renegotiated for better terms was unrealistic. ‘If
Secretary Clinton really wants to make the changes she says are important, she
should oppose fast track…and tell President Obama to start over on negotiating
TPP.'”
Robert
Kuttner explores “The Real Meaning of Obama’s Trade Defeat”: “The labor
movement is not motivated just by the loss of factory jobs but by the entire
ideological assault on the security of ordinary wage earners and consumers. The
picture of labor as a narrow interest group makes sense only if you buy the
propaganda that TPP is mainly a trade deal.”
Larry
Summers hopes fast track can be saved, in W. Post oped: “…the votes in the
House last week that, unless revisited, would doom the Trans-Pacific Partnership
send [a] negative signal regarding the willingness of the United States to take
responsibility for the global system at a critical time.”
Bernie Up, Jeb In
Bernie
rises in NH. Morning Consult: “New polls conducted by Morning Consult show
Clinton leading her Democratic rivals by huge margins, more than 40 points, in
Iowa and South Carolina … [But] in New Hampshire’s Democratic primary, 44
percent choose Clinton, while 32 percent pick Sanders…”
Jeb
Bush formally enters the presidential race today. NYT: “Mr. Bush’s advisers
and allies once predicted that he would emerge as the dominant Republican in the
2016 campaign, fueled by his record of conservative accomplishment as Florida’s
governor … and the fund-raising prowess of the Bush family network. But now they
are resigned to a far longer and uglier slog…”
Democrats
aren’t simply moving left, says NYT’s Paul Krugman: “…Democrats seem [to
recognize that] adopting ‘centrist’ positions in an attempt to attract swing
voters is a mug’s game … [But] it’s not at all symmetric to the Republican move
right. Democrats are adopting ideas that work and rejecting ideas that don’t,
whereas Republicans are doing the opposite.”
Sheldon
Adelson, Koch brothers join forces. HuffPost: “The Huffington Post has
learned that in 2014, Adelson’s donations to [Americans for Prosperity] and
other Koch-funded organizations [totaled] nearly $30 million … Kochworld has
focused largely on domestic matters … Adelson’s primary interests [have been in]
hawkish foreign policy … [But they] share a strong commitment to do, and spend,
what it takes to win the White House…”
Breakfast Sides
New
report shows protecting climate doesn’t hurt growth. Bloomberg: “In a
special report to help policy makers in the run-up to a major climate conference
in Paris later this year, the International Energy Agency said the past year
marks the first time that it has seen a decoupling of energy use and economic
growth since being created as the energy watchdog for developed countries in the
1970s.”
Greece
facing Thursday deadline. Bloomberg: “The collapse of talks in Brussels on
Sunday has made Thursday’s meeting of euro-area finance ministers the next
deadline … Bills are piling up and the aid spigot, shut for 10 months, is about
to be withdrawn …”
Progressive
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