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Energy
House sends Keystone bill to White House doom
POLITICO
Elana Schor
Following the expected veto, the fate of the Keystone will remain solidly in the hands of the Obama administration, which has spent six years examining the oil sands pipeline project but has set no deadline to make a decision. The 270-152 vote in the House saw 29 Democrats voting in favor of the measure, while every GOP House member except one voted to push Keystone through.
TransCanada Rebuts EPA Comments on Keystone XL Pipeline
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Amy Harder and Lee Roberts
The Environmental Protection Agency is coming under fire for comments it made last week suggesting the U.S. government should factor in the recent trend of lower oil prices as part of its decision on whether to approve the Keystone XL pipeline. In two separate letters sent this week, TransCanada Corp. , the company behind the pipeline, and the Canadian Ambassador to the U.S., criticized the EPA’s comments that suggested the project could have a greater impact on climate change than initially estimated.
Labor union: Democrats have ‘perverted’ Keystone process
THE HILL
Laura Barron-Lopez
Just before a vote in which the House is expected to approve the pipeline,Terry O’Sullivan, president of the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA), charged that President Obama and Democrats are out of line with not approving Keystone. … “To back up his expected veto, the president has correctly stated that there is ‘a well-established process in place’ to consider approval of major infrastructure projects such as the Keystone XL pipeline,” O’Sullivan said. “What he didn’t say is that he and too many job-killing Democrats have perverted that process.”
Cheaper Gas? Politicians Want a Tax Fill-Up
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Carly Fiorina and Penny Nance
American families have spent six years scrimping and saving. Yet now that we’re seeing tangible savings thanks to lower gas prices, politicians only want to take that extra money to fuel more spending. Whether they are in Washington or state capitals, politicians should put the brakes on gas-tax hikes.
Technology
Settle the net-neutrality debate with legislation
WASHINGTON POST
Editorial
For years, the FCC has attempted to use old law to regulate broadband. The best way out of this mess is to create new law. That would settle the jurisdictional question between the FCC and the FTC, and it would make net-neutrality rules legally unassailable. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) have proposed a net-neutrality bill, but it has little chance of becoming law because it strips the FCC of some useful regulatory authorities. That shouldn’t be the end of the legislative discussion.
Ban Internet taxes for good
USA TODAY
Sens. John Thune and Ron Wyden
The Internet tax moratorium has kept creativity and innovation flourishing on the Internet for the past 16 years. Making this act permanent is nothing more than common sense. We look forward to working with members of both parties to get this done.
Why Download Europe’s Lousy Broadband Policy?
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Rick Boucher and Fred Campbell
As the Federal Communications Commission prepares to treat Internet companies like public utilities under Title II of the 1934 Communications Act, it is worth asking how government regulation of the Internet would actually work. Conveniently enough, Europe has been experimenting with heavy-handed Internet regulation since 2002, and the results are a warning of what the U.S. can expect.
Western companies slam China’s Internet firewall
WASHINGTON POST
Editorial
The American and European Chambers of Commerce in China released separate surveys in the past two days showing that 83 and 86 percent of their members respectively believed that those restrictions – under a system known as China’s Great Firewall – were having a negative impact on their business operations.
Finance
Regulation Is Good for Goldman
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Editorial
“More intense regulatory and technology requirements have raised the barriers to entry higher than at any other time in modern history,” said Mr. Blankfein. “This is an expensive business to be in, if you don’t have the market share in scale. Consider the numerous business exits that have been announced by our peers as they reassessed their competitive positioning and relative returns.”
Dallas Fed chief urges power shift at bank
THE HILL
Kevin Cirilli
The outgoing head of the Dallas Federal Reserve called Wednesday for major changes to the central bank’s power structure, arguing that current policies fuel perceptions that big banks have too much influence with regulators. During a fiery speech to the Economic Club of New York, President Richard Fisher criticized the current structure, arguing that authority should be more equally distributed between the Fed’s 12 regional banks.
HUD Secretary Defends Decision to Lower FHA Fees
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Joe Light
The Obama administration’s top housing official at a congressional hearing on Wednesday defended a decision to lower fees charged by a government-loan program for low-wealth borrowers. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro sparred for 4½ hours with Republican lawmakers at the House Financial Services Committee, many of whom said they believed the decision was reckless in the face of the program’s weak balance sheet. Mr. Castro argued that the agency could afford to make the cuts, while still returning to health, and said that the lower fees were needed to enable more low-income Americans to become homeowners.
White House to File Case Against China at W.T.O. Over Subsidies for Exports
NEW YORK TIMES
Jonathan Weisman and Keith Bradsher
The Obama administration accused China on Wednesday of providing illegal export subsidies to critical industries, flexing its muscle on trade as it presses Congress to expand President Obama’s authority to secure major trade accords. Flanked by House members from both parties, Michael B. Froman, the United States trade representative, said the administration was filing a broad case at the World Trade Organization, accusing Beijing of subsidizing services like information technology, product design and worker training for industries that aim their products at the export market. Those export industries include textiles, apparel and footwear, advanced metals, specialty chemicals, medical products and agriculture.
Politics
Amid DHS Fight, 2016 Hopefuls Avoid the Front Lines
NATIONAL JOURNAL
Sarah Mimms
The DHS fight should be the perfect opportunity for Sens. Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, and Marco Rubio to stake out claims on immigration and federal spending and to exhibit their ability to lead the party in finding a new way forward. But all three have been largely silent.
Unease Grows as Hillary Clinton Stays on Sidelines
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Peter Nicholas
Many of those close to her believe that the former secretary of state can wait as long as she wants and is best served by delaying her entry in the 2016 race. At this point, an announcement is most likely to come between April and July, people familiar with the matter say. Some allies and prominent Democrats say she needs to jump in sooner than that and begin raising campaign funds and organizing in states with early contests, even if the payoff means more in the general election than the primaries.
As Scott Walker mulls White House bid, questions linger over college exit
WASHINGTON POST
David A. Fahrenthold
Scott Walker was gone. Dropped out. And in the spring of his senior year. In 1990, that news stunned his friends at Marquette University. Walker, the campus’s suit-wearing, Reagan-loving politico — who enjoyed the place so much that he had run for student body president — had left without graduating.
Loretta Lynch faces delayed vote over confirmation
POLITICO
Seung Min Kim
Democrats are now increasingly slamming the Republicans’ handling of President Barack Obama’s nominee for attorney general, complaining that the veteran federal prosecutor’s confirmation is being slow-walked by Republicans. Their evidence: The Senate Judiciary Committee could clear Lynch’s nomination as early as Thursday, two weeks after her confirmation hearing ended. But that vote will almost certainly be delayed until the end of this month — which means she won’t get a final floor vote until March.
The War Irresolution
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Editorial
Napoleon famously said that in warfare if you vow to take Vienna—take Vienna. President Obama ’s version of that aphorism might be—on the way to Vienna stop to summer in Salzburg, only use air power, and if the fighting isn’t over in a couple of years call the whole thing off. How else to interpret the amazing draft of a resolution that Mr. Obama sent to Congress Wednesday requesting an authorization to use military force against Islamic State? The language would so restrict the President’s war-fighting discretion that it deserves to be called the President Gulliver resolution.
Leaders agree Ukraine ceasefire after all-night talks
FINANCIAL TIMES (Subscribe)
Kathrin Hille, Roman Olearchyk, Anne-Sylvaine Chassany and John Aglionby
A ceasefire to end weeks of intense fighting in eastern Ukraine has been agreed after all-night talks between the leaders of Germany, France, Ukraine and Russia.
Love and Politics Collide as Scandals Plague Oregon’s Fourth-Term Governor
NEW YORK TIMES
Kirk Johnson
The allegations swirling around Gov. John Kitzhaber and his live-in fiancée did not seem to bother Oregonians much when they re-elected him last fall to an unprecedented fourth term. But now, with hints of scandal tumbling out almost by the day — about the business dealings of the fiancée, her previous marriage and her role in state government — the reaction has descended into a mix of tittering gossip, outrage and dismay, threatening to tarnish the last years of one of the state’s most enduring politicians.
