MORNING MESSAGE
This
weekend the full Democratic platform drafting committee meets in Orlando.
Delegates will be debating an amendment offered by columnist and progressive
activist Jim Hightower, a Sanders delegate, putting the party on record opposing
a vote on the TPP during the “lame-duck” session of Congress that follows the
election ... It is clearly time for Democrats to decide and declare whether they
are on the side of working people and the American middle class, or on the side
of Wall Street, giant multinational corporations, the Chamber of Commerce and
other corporate lobbying interests.
CLINTON, TRUMP REACT TO DALLAS ATTACK
Clinton
expected to address Baton Rouge and St. Paul shootings, and Dallas attack today.
NBC: “Clinton has postponed a planned rally with Joe Biden but still plans
to attend a convention of the AME Church Friday, where she had been set to
discuss the earlier shootings.”
Trump
issues statement: “Last night’s horrific execution-style shootings of 12
Dallas law enforcement officers … is an attack on our country … We must restore
law and order … The senseless, tragic deaths of two motorists in Louisiana and
Minnesota reminds us how much more needs to be done.”
ENDORSEMENT EXPECTED TUESDAY DESPITE TPP FIGHT
Sanders
expected to endorse Tuesday, reports NYT: “One possible obstacle to party
unity — a fight between Sanders and Clinton allies over a congressional vote on
the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal — is not seen as a deal breaker to the
eventual endorsement … Mrs. Clinton has already begun moving toward Mr. Sanders
on other issues … the Sanders campaign was eager to see Mrs. Clinton take
another step toward him on the issue of health care, perhaps by making a new
commitment to press Congress to add a ‘public option’…”
Sanders
still readies amendments for platform committee meeting today and tomorrow. USA
Today: “The Vermont senator’s campaign is backing a dozen amendments to the
platform draft … Sanders has said he is prepared to bring amendments to the
floor of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia if the party doesn’t
take more progressive stances in its platform. That seems unlikely now, given
his confirmation that he is preparing to endorse Clinton.”
American
Prospect’s Harold Meyerson explains “Why the Democrats Need to Sink the
TPP”: “Hillary Clinton needs this fight like a hole in the head. Should the
issue come to the convention floor, not only will Sanders’s delegates vote to
oppose the TPP, but hundreds of Clinton delegates may feel compelled to vote
that way as well … Whatever the deal’s defenders may say—it won’t be as bad as
earlier ones? We’re against it but we can’t forsake the president?—will hardly
help Clinton and the Democrats in Ohio and Pennsylvania this fall.”
700K
signatures for anti-TPP petition from Sanders campaign reports The Hill.
“Vice
President Joe Biden plans to defend President Barack Obama’s record on trade”
reports Bloomberg: “[He will be] rebutting claims by Donald Trump that
Democrats haven’t protected workers from foreign competitors and seeking to mend
divisions in his party over the wisdom of trade deals. Biden plans to describe
the administration’s enforcement of trade agreements in a July 13 speech in San
Diego…”
STRONG JUNE JOBS REPORT
287K
new jobs in June. NYT: “…average hourly earnings ticked up again, continuing
a pattern set by three months of rising wages … ‘The slight uptick in
unemployment [to 4.9%] is probably for good reasons, because more people
rejoined the labor force,’ Andrew Chamberlain, chief economist at Glassdoor
Economic Research, said…”
But
“cause for relief and concern” says OurFuture.org’s Robert Borosage: “The
continuing concern is the pace of that growth. Jobs creation is slowing, down
from a monthly average of 229,000 last year, to 196,000 in the first quarter,
and now to 147,000 in the second quarter. Yet over 15 million people are still
in need of full-time work.”
ROUGH RECEPTION FOR TRUMP IN DC
Trump
“burned some [bridges] to the ground,” reports W. Post: “He characterized
Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois as a loser and singled out Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska
for opposing him … he has yet to attack [Sen. Jeff] Flake hard but threatened to
begin doing so … Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.) left the [House GOP] meeting worried
about Trump’s grasp on the basics of the Constitution.”
Anti-Trump
delegates organize. Yahoo! News: “Talk of efforts to dump Donald Trump at
the Republican National Convention this month have focused on whether the key
committee’s 112 members would support a measure to allow delegates to vote for
whomever they want … another group of convention delegates based in Wisconsin is
organizing to stop Trump on the floor of the convention — regardless of what
happens to that Rules Committee resolution.”
BREAKFAST SIDES
Obama
issues Arctic drilling rules. The Hill: “Under the new rules, drillers will
have to park backup drilling rigs nearby that are ready to drill a relief well
in case of a well blowout, to prevent what happened in the 2010 Deepwater
Horizon disaster. Companies will need to have drilling and spill response plans
that take into account specific Arctic conditions, be equipped to contain spills
without using chemical dispersants, and be banned from drilling during icy
seasons.”
House
moves to cut IRS, CFPB and SEC funds. The Hill: “The bill includes a number
of provisions to place limits on the IRS, including a prohibition on regulations
concerning the tax-exempt status of 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations … The
proposal would make the CFPB subject to annual appropriations, instead of
receiving funding directly from the Federal Reserve.”
Progressive
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