MORNING
MESSAGE
The
decision by the Federal Reserve on Wednesday to not increase interest rates
right now beyond their current 0.25 to 0.5 percent range is a testament to the
fragility of the slow economic recovery the United States is now experiencing.
The response by the Republican-controlled and deeply conservative House Budget
Committee later that day was to ignore a growing chorus of economists from
around the globe who are saying that it is more important for the federal
government to spend smartly on rebuilding the middle class and on the
fundamentals needed by a 21st-century economy than to bull-headedly try to
balance the federal budget by an arbitrary date, regardless of the
consequences.
“LISTEN
LIBERAL”: Join Thomas Frank Friday in Washington as he discusses his
new book, “Listen Liberal: Whatever Happened to the Party of the People?” Sign
up here for the event, to be held at noon at the AFL-CIO headquarters. To
learn more about the book and for tour dates outside of Washington, go
to the “Listen Liberal” book page.
OBAMA TAPS GARLAND FOR SCOTUS
Some
Republican senators will meet with Garland, consider lame duck vote.
Politico: “Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake … said ‘yes’ when asked whether he would
move to confirm Garland in the lame-duck session if Hillary Clinton … wins. …
‘I’d probably be open to resolving this in the lame duck,’ [Sen. Orrin] Hatch
added.”
Politico
explores “how liberal” is Garland: “…Garland has sided with President Barack
Obama’s environmental regulators against mercury-spewing power plants, supported
the administration’s crackdown on for-profit colleges and issued multiple
rulings that pleased organized labor … [But he] blends a penchant for judicial
restraint more frequently associated with conservatives with a deference to
executive power more typical of liberals.”
BERNIE PRESSES ON
Sanders
campaign charts path ahead. Time: “The primaries just ahead in the calendar,
Sanders aides argue … look more like the Northern states he has already won than
the Southern, heavily African-American states he has lost. Arizona looks like
Colorado, Wisconsin is like Minnesota, Washington is a bit like Vermont.”
It’s
Bernie’s party, says Bloomberg’s Joshua Green: “…millennials, minorities,
and single white women all favor a more activist and interventionist government,
particularly in the economic realm, than do other Democrats … These groups not
only favor more liberal policies, they’re growing impatient for them … Sanders
is a vehicle, not the catalyst, for the increasing liberalism of the Democratic
electorate.”
It’s
Trump’s party, says The Atlantic’s Ron Brownstein: “… he has carried
self-identified Republicans in every state he has won … he has built his winning
formula from within the heart of the Republican coalition, particularly among
disaffected voters drawn to his bristling insular nationalism … as the
Republican nominee he could define it as the party of white backlash in the eyes
of the growing Millennial and minority populations.”
OurFuture.org’s
“Burning Issues” video series looks at lessons from Libya with Melvin A.
Goodman, senior fellow at the Center for International Policy.
DUELING FLINT TESTIMONIES
MI
Gov. Snyder fingers state enviro agency in testimony to Congress today. AP:
“The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality repeatedly gave assurances
that water from the Flint River was safe, when in reality it had dangerous
levels of lead, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder says. Snyder tells Congress that he
did not learn that Flint’s water was contaminated until Oct. 1, 2015 – nearly 18
months after the city began drawing its water from the Flint River in April 2014
to save money.”
EPA
chief will tell a different story. USA Today: “[Gov.] Snyder will say that
the contamination of Flint’s water supply was a failure of government at every
level: local, state and federal.
[EPA Administrator Gina] McCarthy’s message will place the blame squarely on the state, criticizing decisions not only by state regulators but by Snyder’s hand-picked officials in Flint…”
[EPA Administrator Gina] McCarthy’s message will place the blame squarely on the state, criticizing decisions not only by state regulators but by Snyder’s hand-picked officials in Flint…”
CLIMATE ANSWERS IN CALIFORNIA
California
proving how to cut carbon emissions and grow the economy. Mother Jones:
“Between 2003 and 2013 (the most recent data), the Golden State decreased its
greenhouse gas emissions by 5.5 percent while increasing its gross domestic
product by 17 percent—and it did so under the thumb of the nation’s most
stringent energy regulations.”
Coal
giant Peabody may file for bankruptcy. Bloomberg: “Peabody has lost 98
percent of its market value in 12 months and watched as its main rivals — Walter
Energy Inc., Alpha Natural Resources Inc. and Arch Coal Inc. — all filed for
bankruptcy, crushed by falling demand, massive debt loads, mounting
environmental regulations and competition from cheap natural gas.”
BREAKFAST SIDES
GOP
budget advances. The Hill: “The House budget panel easily cleared its 2017
spending blueprint on Wednesday evening, despite a conservative rebellion that
still threatens the bill’s fate … Without support from the 40-member House
Freedom Caucus, the trillion-dollar budget proposal will come up short on the
House floor.”
Systemic
racism in charter schools. NYT: “Black students are four times as likely to
be suspended from charter schools as white students, according to a new analysis
of federal education data. And students with disabilities, the study found, are
suspended two to three times the rate of nondisabled students in charter
schools.”
Progressive
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