Today’s briefing is sponsored by America’s Power.
InsideSources and the Des Moines Register are excited to host a policy luncheon on April 9 in Des Moines, Iowa. The event is sponsored by America’s Power. It will feature Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, Governor Rick Perry of Texas, Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, and Congressman David Young of Iowa.
You may RSVP to attend the event HERE.
The event will be live streamed on InsideSources.
Energy
Iran Deal May Be Slow to Affect Oil Sector
NEW YORK TIMES
Clifford Krauss
The breakthrough in nuclear talks with Iran on Thursday has the potential to cause a seismic shift in global energy markets over the long term, but energy experts said any appreciable impact on an already glutted global oil market was highly doubtful for at least six months and probably more than a year. Since the European Union placed sanctions on Iranian oil in 2012, Iranian exports of crude have fallen by more than a million barrels a day — more than 1 percent of the daily global market. At a time when there is a daily excess of nearly two million barrels of supply on the world market, another million barrels a day would put further pressure on world crude prices — which have fallen about 50 percent since June.
The U.S. Department of Land-Hogging
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Shawn Regan
States offer several lessons on how to reform federal land management. To start, Congress should streamline the regulations that now preoccupy these agencies. A single Forest Service project can take years to move forward and cost more than $1 million in planning. The federal government should also ensure that those who benefit from federal lands pay their way. For instance, the feds regularly set fees for mineral development and grazing at below-market values. States encourage competitive bidding, allow environmental groups to bid for leases, and even charge modest fees for recreation.
Republican governors unwittingly recruited by biofuels lobby
WASHINGTON TIMES
Ben Wolfgang
GBC Executive Director Larry Pearce said they send a letter to governors each year asking them whether they want to be part of the group. If they don’t get a reply, they assume that means the governor wants to be in.
Technology
Telecoms Ready Fight Against Net Neutrality
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Ryan Knutson and Thomas Gryta
First, the groups are expected to take issue on the procedural ground that the FCC didn’t provide proper notice to the industry for various parts of the new rules. Second, they will argue the agency doesn’t have the authority to reclassify broadband services for regulation under the same utility-like rules used on the phone network. Lastly, the trade groups may take aim at specific provisions such as the ban on paid prioritization.
Antitrust and Other Inquiries in Europe Target U.S. Tech Giants
NEW YORK TIMES
Mark Scott
It is not a good week to be a giant American tech company in Europe. The European antitrust investigation into Google appears to be heating up. More European countries are looking into Facebook’s privacy settings. And Apple, which already is under scrutiny for its low corporate tax arrangements in Ireland, is now facing potential antitrust questions from the European Commission about the company’s new music streaming service expected this year.
Tech companies leery of sharing cyber threats with feds
USA TODAY
Erin Kelly
U.S. tech companies still don’t trust the federal government enough to share information about cyber threats, the top cybersecurity official at the Department of Homeland Security said Thursday. “My top priority is building that trust,” said Phyllis Schneck, the department’s deputy under secretary for cybersecurity and communications for the National Protection and Programs Directorate.
Comcast’s new Internet service is twice as fast as Google Fiber
WASHINGTON POST
Brian Fung
Comcast announced on Thursday that it will soon begin offering a service capable of delivering Internet speeds of up to 2 gigabits per second — that’s twice as fast as Google Fiber’s top speeds and 200 times what the average U.S. household currently gets. And, the company claims, it will soon be available to 1.5 million Atlanta residents.
Finance
Pinning New Jobs to 2012 IPO Legislation Proves a Challenge
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Telis Demos and Josh Zumbrun
Three years after the introduction of legislation designed to spur employment by coaxing more companies into going public, tens of thousands of related jobs have been created—but it’s a challenge to say just how many owe their existence to the bill.
Larry Summers and Ben Bernanke are having the most important blog fight ever
WASHINGTON POST
Matt O’Brien
Why the heck are interest rates so low? That’s the question former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and former Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke have been debating in what might be the world’s most important, but also most respectful, blog fight. Are rates low because not enough people want to invest or because too many people want to save? The answer tells us why the economy seems stuck and what we can do to un-stuck it.
Trade bill timeline could push Senate to act
POLITICO
Adam Behsudi
Senate aides have circulated a tentative date of mid-April for advancing “fast-track” trade legislation in the recognition that Sens. Orrin Hatch and Ron Wyden have to move quickly to finalize a deal on the bill or risk losing their chance to get it passed by the end of the spring session, several lobbyists and congressional sources have told POLITICO.
Politics
Barack Obama’s next job: Sell the Iran deal
POLITICO
Edward-Isaac Dovere and Michael Crowley
It’s either this or war. That’s the argument the White House is preparing to make to convince members of Congress, Americans and foreign allies that the framework announced Thursday is the best way to check Iran’s nuclear program. The administration is planning an aggressive public effort to explain and defend the Iran framework — including a tough assessment of the alternatives — that President Barack Obama vowed on Thursday that he’d lead himself.
A better-than-expected nuclear deal with Iran
WASHINGTON POST
David Ignatius
It’s not a perfect agreement and certainly not a permanent solution to the threat an aggressive Iran poses for Israel and other nations in the Middle East. But the framework delivered more than many skeptics had feared. The problem is that the enervating bargaining will continue for another three months (at least) before the accord is final.
Obama’s Iran deal falls far short of his own goals
WASHINGTON POST
Editorial
The “key parameters” for an agreement on Iran’s nuclear program released Thursday fall well short of the goals originally set by the Obama administration. None of Iran’s nuclear facilities — including the Fordow center buried under a mountain — will be closed. Not one of the country’s 19,000 centrifuges will be dismantled. Tehran’s existing stockpile of enriched uranium will be “reduced” but not necessarily shipped out of the country. In effect, Iran’s nuclear infrastructure will remain intact, though some of it will be mothballed for 10 years. When the accord lapses, the Islamic republic will instantly become a threshold nuclear state.
Obama’s Iran ‘Framework’*
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Editorial
The fundamental question posed by President Obama’s Iran diplomacy has always been whether it can prevent a nuclear-armed Middle East—in Iran as well as Turkey and the Sunni Arab states. Mr. Obama unveiled a “framework” accord on Thursday that he said did precisely that, but the claims warrant great skepticism, not least because they come with so many asterisks.
Poll: Bush now tops GOP field; Clinton runs ahead of all Republicans
WASHINGTON POST
Dan Balz and Scott Clement
Former Florida governor Jeb Bush now leads the field of prospective Republican candidates for the party’s 2016 presidential nomination, but former secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton enjoys a decided advantage over Bush and other potential GOP rivals in hypothetical general election matchups, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
