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Energy
Senators push for oil export deal with Mexico
FUEL FIX
Jennifer Dlouhy
Twenty-one senators on Wednesday urged the Obama administration to swiftly authorize an exchange of heavy Mexican crude with light U.S. oil. At issue is a Pemex affiliate’s request to export 100,000 barrels per day of light U.S. oil and condensates in exchange for heavy Mexican crude — a transaction that can be approved by U.S. regulators on a case-by-case basis under existing trade laws.
State Department, EPA launch effort to monitor pollution globally
THE HILL
Laura Barron-Lopez
The Obama administration announced on Wednesday the expansion of pollution monitoring at diplomatic posts across the world. The State Department and the Environmental Protection Agency unveiled the joint endeavor on Wednesday in a signing ceremony, which highlighted the administration’s climate change agenda.
Federal roadmap for energy infrastructure must not burden state trade systems
THE HILL
Kris Johnson
We understand the complexity of finding responsible solutions to our infrastructure woes and harmonizing solutions to benefit the larger system. However, growth opportunities for businesses and employment in Washington will continue to increase if our administration sets up a system that encourages companies to invest in our state’s trade infrastructure. Therefore, it is paramount that the DOE take into consideration regions like Washington that have a fundamental connection between energy and trade infrastructure and promote policies that encourage infrastructure investment, mitigate risk, and provide regulatory certainty.
Technology
House panel to hold net neutrality hearing day before FCC vote
THE HILL
Julian Hattem
A House subcommittee will hold a hearing on net neutrality just 24 hours before regulators vote on tough new rules next week. … “The closer we get to the FCC rubber stamping President Obama’s Internet grab, the more disturbing it becomes,” subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.) said in a statement on Wednesday announcing the hearing.
Regulating the Drone Economy
NEW YORK TIMES
Editorial
Interest in drones has been growing faster than government rules about how they can be used. That’s what makes the Obama administration’s proposed rules for unmanned aircraft by businesses and federal agencies so important. The measures include many good ideas but do not do enough to protect the privacy of Americans.
Finance
Fed Tiptoes Into Rate-Hike Debate
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Jon Hilsenrath
The minutes suggested many Fed officials were inclined to wait as long as they could, but didn’t indicate how long that might be. Given a choice between moving too soon and risking derailing the recovery, or acting later and risking inflation or a financial bubble, many officials at the meeting said they were inclined to choose the latter, according to the minutes, which don’t identify who said what or held which view.
A new economic mystery: negative interest rates
WASHINGTON POST
Robert Samuelson
To the long list of economic mysteries can now be added interest rates. They’ve been at rock bottom, as everyone knows. But now we’ve encountered something novel: negative interest rates. Lenders are actually paying for the privilege of allowing someone to borrow their money. It’s occurring outside the United States, and the Federal Reserve’s next move is expected to be raising rates. Still, there’s no ironclad reason it couldn’t happen here.
Lenders Step Up Financing to Subprime Borrowers
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Alan Zibel and Annamaria Andriotis
Loans to consumers with low credit scores have reached the highest level since the start of the financial crisis, driven by a boom in car lending and a new crop of companies extending credit. Almost four of every 10 loans for autos, credit cards and personal borrowing in the U.S. went to subprime customers during the first 11 months of 2014, according to data compiled for The Wall Street Journal by credit-reporting firm Equifax.
Adding ‘currency manipulation’ rules to a trade bill is too costly
WASHINGTON POST
Editorial
Injecting currency manipulation rules into the trade-promotion bill at this late date could cause a rebellion by TPP negotiating partners, possibly scuttling the entire project, along with all the benefits, geopolitical and economic, of knitting major Pacific Rim economies together under the aegis of U.S.-style free trade. Congress should keep this poison pill out of the law and allow Mr. Obama and his successors to handle currency issues on a separate diplomatic track, the historical approach that has served U.S. interests best.
Politics
Inside Jeb Bush’s ‘shock and awe’ launch
POLITICO
Ben White and Marc Caputo
So while even close Bush watchers began to doubt whether he was really serious about running, he and a close-knit group of advisers were following a careful plan aimed at maximizing his chances of winning the nomination, if and when he gave the thumbs-up. Their strategy was to publicly downplay his interest in the race and avoid media attention, while quietly laying the groundwork for a launch that would catch much of Washington — and many of his potential rivals — flat-footed. While the much of the political world focused on Chris Christie, Rand Paul and even Bush’s fellow Floridian Marco Rubio, Bush was quietly collecting political chits, developing a cohesive platform, and preparing for a fundraising blitz intended to grab the front-runner’s chair, scare potential competitors like Mitt Romney and Christie, and put Bush on such a firm financial footing that he could devote more time to retail politics when it really counted.
Jeb Bush’s Record Offers Cover From the Right
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Beth Reinhard
As Jeb Bush heads toward a presidential bid, he is taking fire from some on the right who say his views on education and immigration, and his famous last name, embody a Republican Party establishment that doesn’t truly represent conservatives. Lost in the back and forth: As the two-term Republican governor of Florida, Mr. Bush was one of the country’s most vaunted conservative champions.
Jeb Bush vows to set his own course while tapping longtime family advisers
WASHINGTON POST
Ed O’Keefe and Karen Tumulty
The man expected to become the third Bush to make a bid for the White House said he has been “fortunate” to have two family members “who both have shaped America’s foreign policy from the Oval Office.” “I recognize that as a result, my views will often be held up in comparison to theirs,” Jeb Bush said. “But I am my own man.” He added that his approach to geopolitics would be shaped by “my own thinking and my own experiences.”
Clinton foundation’s global network overlaps with family’s political base
WASHINGTON POST
Rosalind S. Helderman, Tom Hamburger and Steven Rich
Nearly half of the major donors who are backing Ready for Hillary, a group promoting her 2016 presidential bid, as well as nearly half of the bundlers from her 2008 campaign, have given at least $10,000 to the foundation, either on their own or through foundations or companies they run. … And many of the foundation’s biggest donors are foreigners who are legally barred from giving to U.S. political candidates. A third of foundation donors who have given more than $1 million are foreign governments or other entities based outside the United States, and foreign donors make up more than half of those who have given more than $5 million.
White House Struggles on Immigration Ruling
NEW YORK TIMES
Michael D. Shear and Adam Liptak
President Obama’s lawyers, facing what could be months of delay on the White House’s immigration efforts, are struggling for a response to a Texas judge’s ruling that has imperiled one of the president’s potential legacy achievements. A top administration official said Wednesday it was unclear whether the Department of Justice would seek an emergency order that would allow the president’s immigration programs to go into effect while an appeal proceeds. A spokeswoman for the Justice Department said that no decision had been made on an emergency application to an appeals court, but she pledged to fight all challenges to the president’s actions.
Unlikely Cause Unites the Left and the Right: Justice Reform
NEW YORK TIMES
Carl Hulse
Koch Industries, the conglomerate owned by the conservative Koch brothers, and the center, a Washington-based liberal issues group, are coming together to back a new organization called the Coalition for Public Safety. The coalition plans a multimillion-dollar campaign on behalf of emerging proposals to reduce prison populations, overhaul sentencing, reduce recidivism and take on similar initiatives. Other groups from both the left and right — the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans for Tax Reform, the Tea Party-oriented FreedomWorks — are also part of the coalition, reflecting its unusually bipartisan approach.
Our Plan for Countering Violent Extremism
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Sec. John Kerry
The 20th century was defined by the struggle to overcome depression, slavery, fascism and totalitarianism. Now it’s our turn. The rise of violent extremism challenges every one of us, our communities, our nations and the global rule of law. But the extremist forces arrayed against us require that we charge forward in the name of decency, civility and reason.
The Ideological Islamist Threat
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Editorial
President Obama opened this week’s White House Conference on Violent Extremism with a speech about community-based counter-radicalization efforts, and his Administration is being roundly mocked for its refusal to use terms like “Muslim terrorism” or “Islamism.” The mockery is deserved. Foreign policy is not a Harry Potter tale of good versus He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. And war cannot be won against an enemy we refuse to describe except in meaningless generalities.
With stage set to improve healthcare, will Congress follow through?
THE HILL
Dirk Van Dongen
In these first few months of the new Congressional session, policymakers have an opportunity to provide relief for the millions of Americans in wholesale trade and the many other industries that represent vital sectors of the American economy by addressing the ACA provisions that today threaten their growth. The stage is set and the American people are ready for positive change. It is time for Congress to lead the way.
