MORNING MESSAGE
Senator
Chuck Schumer (D-Wall Street) might be Senate Majority Leader after the
election. In a Tuesday CNBC interview he said he is hoping to work with
Republican House Speaker Paul “Gut the Government” Ryan on “some kind of
international tax reform tied to a large infrastructure program.” ... When
Schumer says “at a lower rate” he is talking about a “tax holiday” allowing
corporations to pay less than the 35% tax rate they owe...
HILLARY FACES NEW TENSIONS WITH LEFT
“WikiLeaks
poisons Hillary’s relationship with left” reports Politico: “Liberal groups
and activists are assembling opposition research-style dossiers of the most
dismissive comments in the WikiLeaks emails about icons of their movement like
Clinton’s Democratic primary rival Bernie Sanders, and their stances on trade,
Wall Street reform, energy and climate change. And some liberal activists are
vowing to use the email fodder to oppose Clinton policy proposals or
appointments deemed insufficiently progressive … [Other] liberal activists said
they saw signs in the emails that her team was susceptible to pressure from the
left.”
Clinton
campaign pushes into red territory. Mother Jones: “…Hillary Clinton’s
campaign manager announced that her campaign would spend $2 million on ads and
direct mail in Arizona … If she wins Arizona, Clinton could bring Republicans to
the table on immigration reform by proving to them that they have no shot at the
White House—that even formerly safe red states will turn blue—if they continue
to hold the Trump line on immigration.”
BERNIE TAKES ON BIG PHARMA, BIG SODA
Bernie
questions drug company over price spike. The Hill: “Sen. Bernie Sanders
(I-Vt.) and Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) … sent a letter to Ariad
Pharmaceuticals questioning an increase in the price of the leukemia treatment
Iclusig from $115,000 a year to $199,000 a year. The lawmakers say that the
company also cut the number of doses in a package while keeping the price the
same, effectively increasing the cost … Sanders and Cummings are requesting
documents from the company on its revenue and pricing.”
Bernie
says soda lobby inappropriately using him to defeat soda tax ballot initiatives.
Politico: “[Sanders] is demanding that the American Beverage Association …
stop using his likeness in the tens of millions of dollars of anti-soda tax ads
flooding television and mailboxes across the Bay Area … the beverage industry
has been capitalizing on Sanders’ public opposition to a soda tax in
Philadelphia … Sanders has not reversed his position on soda taxes. But in his
statement Thursday, he noted that the Philadelphia tax was three times the size
of the tax being considered in the Bay Area when he came out against it [as too
regressive.]”
MILLIONS STILL RELIANT ON PAYDAY LENDERS
24
million “underbanked.” The Atlantic: “The number of American families
without a bank account dropped to about 9 million in 2015, the lowest rate on
record … Still, around 24 million households are considered underbanked, meaning
that they have checking accounts but still rely on alternative services—such as
pawn shops, check-cashing operations, and payday or auto-title loans … And that
number, a new report finds, hasn’t improved much at all in the past few
years.”
Hedge
funds squeezed by regulations. Bloomberg: “The $2.9 trillion industry has
posted average annual returns of 2 percent over the past three years, well below
those of most index funds … $51.5 billion [has been] withdrawn from hedge funds
in the first nine months of the year, the most since the financial crisis …
[Fund managers] bemoan central bank near-zero-rate policies, political and
economic decisions made overseas and government regulation for undermining their
craft.:
More
from Bloomberg: “A new rule intended to make banks safer and avoid
government bailouts forced lenders to fund less risky assets with more equity,
reducing returns. As a result, some companies left the business and the ones
left standing are raising prices … Under pressure to cut costs, funds are
acquiescing to banks’ insistence that they concentrate their business in
exchange for the best service available … Equity-trading revenue declined at
Citigroup and Bank of America enough to cut the total amount earned by the five
biggest U.S. investment banks by 4.8 percent to $6.7 billion…”
Better
Business Bureau drops Wells Fargo to “C-” reports CNBC: “The San
Francisco-based lender is no longer accredited by the Better Business Bureau,
making it possibly the biggest business ever to fall into that category.”
CLIMATE DEAL MAY HIT SENATE SNAG
New
global climate agreement might require Senate ratification, reports The
Hill: “The agreement to phase out the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs),
powerful greenhouse gases commonly used in refrigeration and air conditioning,
was struck on Oct. 15 … U.S. officials have not yet determined whether they will
submit the pact for Senate ratification as a treaty — which requires a
two-thirds vote … [EPA chief] Gina McCarthy [said] ‘We’ll take a look at it, but
that’s going to be up to the legal experts as to whether or not it needs to have
that type of ratification process.’ … Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), whose panel is responsible for reviewing
treaties, said the committee is doing its own analysis … Francis Dietz,
spokesman for the Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute … is
hopeful that if the Senate does have a say, industry support for the measure
would trump opposition to climate policies.”
US
needs to lead world on fossil fuel subsidies, argues Varun Sivaram and Jennifer
Harris in Politico oped: “…some 22 countries — half of all countries with
fuel consumption subsidies — have begun steadily dismantling their subsidy
regimes over the past two years … These positive developments could quickly
unravel, however, without continued U.S. vigilance … previous fuel subsidy
reforms crumbled as oil prices rebounded and foreign leaders faced renewed
political pressure.”
Inspector
general finds EPA waited too long to respond in Flint crisis. NYT: “[He]
said that E.P.A. officials had enough information and authority to issue an
emergency order under the Safe Drinking Water Act as early as June 2015 … The
E.P.A. did not issue an emergency order until Jan. 21, 2016, seven months later
…”
OBAMA RENEWS PUBLIC OPTION PUSH
Obama
pushes public option in Miami speech. ABC: “…during the 2009 negotiations …
the White House used the public option as a bargaining chip … Now, the president
is citing the public option as one of three essential solutions to perfecting
the law, along with more states expanding Medicaid and an expansion of tax
credits for middle-class Obamacare enrollees.”
And
defends Obamacare’s progress to date. The Hill: “…Obama took credit for
reaching a record-low uninsured rate and slowing the growth of healthcare
spending. ‘You’re getting better quality, even though you don’t know that
ObamaCare is doing it,’ …”
NEW HOPE FOR GARLAND VOTE
Republican
senator wants Garland vote in lame duck. Politico: “[Sen. Jeff] Flake
said[,] ‘If Hillary Clinton is president-elect then we should move forward with
hearings in the lame duck. That’s what I’m encouraging my colleagues to do.’ The
political calculus is straightforward: Better to deal with Garland now and avoid
swallowing a more liberal nominee from Hillary Clinton.”
Some
GOP senators open to Clinton Supreme Court picks. The Hill: “‘I look at each
one on the merits,’ [Sen. Rob Portman] said during a Senate debate in Cleveland
on Thursday night. ‘So no, I don’t agree that we should automatically block
nominees.’ … Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) told a Philadelphia radio station that
Senate Republicans would be ‘united against’ her pick … But Sen. Chuck Grassley
[said] the Senate can not ‘simply stonewall’ any Clinton nominee. Sen. Pat
Toomey (R-Pa.) [said] he doesn’t agree with the Arizona Republican’s initial
comments.”
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