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Energy
Supreme Court Seems Split on What Is ‘Appropriate’ in Setting Clean Air Costs
NEW YORK TIMES
Adam Liptak
The Supreme Court on Wednesday seemed closely divided over the fate of one of the Obama administration’s most ambitious environmental initiatives.
Surprise at the Supreme Court
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Editorial
But on Wednesday Justice Stephen Breyer introduced a clever if misleading new argument that excited the other liberal Justices. “You know, it begins to look a little irrational to say, I’m not taking it into account at all,” he mused. As costs climb ever higher in his hypothetical to “inappropriate” levels—to, say, $1,000 per family—“at that point I begin to say, oh, my goodness. Why? Why won’t you even look at it?” Justice Breyer answered his own question by suggesting that the EPA will consider costs at some point later when it enforces the mercury rule.
Gallup: Concern About Environment Down – Americans Worry Least About Global Warming
CNS NEWS
Michael Chapman
“Importantly,” said the surveyors, “even as global warming has received greater attention as an environmental problem from politicians and the media in recent years, Americans’ worry about it is no higher now than when Gallup first asked about it in 1989.”
Technology
Some net neutrality advocates are worried about this small loophole in the FCC’s rules
WASHINGTON POST
Brian Fung
The issue in question deals with what are known as “specialized services” — a loosely defined category of Web applications that covers things like VoIP phone service, smart thermostats and real-time health monitoring. These services have been traditionally less regulated, and that won’t change under the new net neutrality rules. But some advocates fear that because the specialized services label comes with few restrictions it gives Internet providers the ability to bypass the FCC’s rules that prevent Internet throttling, blocking and so-called fast lanes.
‘You’re Playing God with the Internet!’ Republican Shouts at FCC Chief
NATIONAL JOURNAL
Brendan Sasso
Congressional Republicans are united in their anger over new net neutrality regulations—but no one could match the fury displayed by Rep. Louie Gohmert on Wednesday. “You’re playing God with the Internet!” the Texas Republican shouted at Tom Wheeler, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, during a House Judiciary Committee hearing.
F.T.C. Addresses Its Choice Not to Sue Google
NEW YORK TIMES
Rebecca R. Ruiz
On Wednesday, the three commissioners who were at the F.T.C. at the time of that decision released a joint statement on the decision. “The Federal Trade Commission conducted an exhaustive investigation of Google’s Internet search practices during 2011 and 2012,” began the statement, issued by Edith Ramirez, the current chairwoman of the agency, and two fellow commissioners — one Democrat and one Republican. The commissioners asserted that the document recommending legal action, which had been produced by the F.T.C. Bureau of Competition in August 2012 and was mistakenly released to The Wall Street Journal as part of a recent records request, represented “a fraction” of the “voluminous record and extensive internal analysis” that was conducted on the matter.
Drones Beaming Web Access Are in the Stars for Facebook
NEW YORK TIMES
Quentin Hardy and Vindu Goel
The V-shaped unmanned vehicle, which has about the wingspan of a Boeing 767 but weighs less than a small car, is the centerpiece of Facebook’s plans to connect with the five billion or so people it has yet to reach.
Congress wants to open up vast troves of federal airwaves for your cell phone
WASHINGTON POST
Brian Fung
Now, Congress wants to open up even more spectrum to meet that demand, by looking to the vast swaths of radio frequencies controlled by the federal government. A bill from Reps. Doris Matsui (D-Calif.) and Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) will seek to do just that on Thursday. In the Senate, Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) are introducing an identical bill Thursday. The resulting auction of government airwaves could be a boon for industry, consumers and federal coffers.
Finance
Trans-Pacific Partnership Seen as Door for Foreign Suits Against U.S.
NEW YORK TIMES
Jonathan Weisman
The Trans-Pacific Partnership — a cornerstone of Mr. Obama’s remaining economic agenda — would grant broad powers to multinational companies operating in North America, South America and Asia. Under the accord, still under negotiation but nearing completion, companies and investors would be empowered to challenge regulations, rules, government actions and court rulings — federal, state or local — before tribunals organized under the World Bank or the United Nations.
CFPB releases framework for payday loan rules
THE HILL
Lydia Wheeler
The new rules for payday loans the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is considering would force lenders to ensure a borrower’s ability to repay a loan, limit short-term credits to 45 days or less and establish a 60-day cooling-off period for borrowers who take out three loans in a row.
Treasury Secretary Tells How to Lose the ‘Systemically Important’ Label
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Victoria McGrane and Ryan Tracy
Lawmakers from both parties grilled Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew on Wednesday over whether financial companies singled out by federal regulators for tougher oversight can ever escape the penalty box. Several lawmakers raised concerns that firms designated as systemically important financial institutions don’t have clear guidance from the Financial Stability Oversight Council on what changes they should make to shed the label, which brings with it tougher rules and Federal Reserve oversight.
Lawmaker Proposes Bipartisan Insider-Trading Ban
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Andrew Ackerman and Aruna Viswanatha
A House lawmaker whose Connecticut district is home to one of the highest concentrations of hedge funds introduced bipartisan legislation Wednesday that would ban insider trading, taking aim at a financial crime that has tripped up some of his own constituents. Rep. Jim Himes, a Democrat whose congressional district includes clusters of hedge funds in towns like Greenwich and Stamford, introduced a bill to explicitly ban trading on material, nonpublic information.
Fannie and Freddie’s Missing Testimony
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Editorial
Life is good these days for regulators prosecuting big banks. Most banks surrender without a fight. And if a bank doesn’t settle, you don’t even have to provide witnesses from the alleged victims of bank behavior. At least that’s the story in the federal government lawsuit against the U.S. unit of Japanese bank Nomura now running in federal court in New York. The government claims that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were misled by giant banks into buying bundles of shoddy mortgages. But even though Fannie and Freddie together employed more than 10,000 people in the years before the financial panic, no one from either company is saying in court that Nomura misled them.
How income inequality benefits everybody
WASHINGTON POST
George F. Will
Every day the Chinese go to work, Americans get a raise: Chinese workers, many earning each day about what Americans spend on a Starbucks latte, produce apparel, appliances and other stuff cheaply, thereby enlarging Americans’ disposable income. Americans similarly get a raise when they shop at the stores that made Sam Walton a billionaire.
Politics
In 2016 campaign, the lament of the not quite rich enough
WASHINGTON POST
Matea Gold and Tom Hamburger
Bundlers who used to carry platinum status have been downgraded, forced to temporarily watch the money race from the sidelines. They’ve been eclipsed by the uber-wealthy, who can dash off a seven-figure check to a super PAC without blinking. Who needs a bundler when you have a billionaire?
Super-PAC Strategies for 2016 Success
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Karl Rove
A well-organized Super PAC will put advocates for the candidate in charge, not consultants. People in whom the candidate and other donors have implicit trust should constitute a volunteer board that oversees the PAC, hires staff, engages vendors, sets compensation, and approves the budget and strategy and materialchanges in either.
People say they are tired of the Bushes and Clintons. They’re not really.
WASHINGTON POST
Chris Cillizza
Yes, it’s easy to conclude that the broad disdain the public expresses toward dynasties is a major hurdle for both Jeb and Hillary. But, to my mind, people saying that political dynasties aren’t a good thing for the country is kind of like people saying they think there’s too much money in politics. Sure. But is it something that impacts actual votes? In both cases I would say no.
House approves GOP budget blueprint
POLITICO
John Bresnahan, Jake Sherman and Rachael Bade
Speaker John Boehner and his top lieutenants finally scored a big win. After two weeks of backroom negotiations with fiscal conservatives and defense hawks, the House approved a spending blueprint that would balance the budget in a decade, transform Medicare and Medicaid, prevent tax increases and repeal Obamacare.
Huge vote for 2016 hopefuls
THE HILL
Alexander Bolton
Republican senators with presidential ambitions face a huge decision on whether to back — or buck — GOP leaders on the budget. This week’s budget vote will be dramatic because Senate GOP leaders have to minimize defections to pass their blueprint, and White House hopefuls know their votes will reverberate on the 2016 campaign trail.
The House may be about to finally fix the ‘doc fix’
WASHINGTON POST
Editorial
Purists on both sides of the partisan divide oppose the bill. On the right, Heritage Action says the bill doesn’t fully offset its spending with savings; on the left, Senate liberals object that the children’s health program should be funded for all four years it is authorized, not just two. Both have a point. Neither, however, has a sufficiently firm grasp on the political reality of Washington, circa 2015, which is that there’s a limit to how much dysfunction can be overcome in a single bout of legislative activity. In that context, this bill is what passes for a victory on Capitol Hill these days.
