InsideSources is excited to host our second “Road to 2016” forum tomorrow on Capitol Hill for Tax Day.
Congressman Dave Reichert (R-WA), Chairman of the Select Revenue Measures Subcommittee of the Committee on Ways and Means will keynote the event.
And we’re excited to announce Pulitzer Prize winner David Cay Johnston will moderate.
We hope you can join us. RSVP here.
Energy
Clinton’s energy agenda: More than Obama, part 2?
POLITICOPRO (Subscribe)
Darren Goode
But the next president will also have to make big decisions that could take energy policy beyond the Obama mold. Among them: Should the U.S. lift the 40-year-old ban on exporting crude oil? Should it expand federal regulations on fracking and widen offshore drilling along the East Coast and in the Arctic?
Feds unveil plan for keeping offshore oil wells in check five years after Gulf spill
FUEL FIX
Jennifer Dlouhy
The measure codifies many of the steps that companies have already taken to better keep offshore wells in check, including more rigorous maintenance and testing of the blowout preventers that act as a last line of defense against uncontrolled surges of oil and gas.
Joe Biden: Coal Is A Way Of Life
NATIONAL JOURNAL
Clare Foran
On Monday, Biden made every effort to counter that narrative by telling a story of his own, talking about what it was like growing up in a coal community that took a hit when the industry fell on hard times in the 1950s.
Tom Steyer stars as liberal donors gather
POLITICO
Kenneth P. Vogel and Andrew Restuccia
Billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer’s fingerprints are all over this week’s spring meeting of the Democracy Alliance — an indication that the influential coalition of liberal donors intends to spend big to elevate climate change, and that Steyer plans to be at the forefront of the push.
Elizabeth Warren Slams Big Oil, Says Major Companies Profit From Pollution
NATIONAL JOURNAL
Clare Foran
Elizabeth Warren highlighted the threat of climate change and called for regulations to rein in corporate polluters during a speech Monday delivered to an audience of climate and labor activists at the Good Jobs, Green Jobs conference in Washington. “A lot of people think that regulations bring higher costs,” Warren said. “But regulation is also about making sure that someone doesn’t get to beat out the competition because they’re dumping filth in the river or spewing poisons in the air.”
Technology
Telecom Industry Sues to Overturn Net Neutrality
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Ryan Knutson and Thomas Gryta
Industry trade group United States Telecom Association filed a lawsuit Monday to overturn the government’s net neutrality rules, the first of what will likely be a wave of legal challenges. The filing asserts the rules are arbitrary and capricious and violate federal law. The filing is short on details, but its timing is important. Lawsuits filed within the first 10 days of publication in the Federal Register are entered into a lottery that determines where the case gets heard.
Republicans Push Fast-Track Bill to Kill Net Neutrality
NATIONAL JOURNAL
Brendan Sasso
A group of House Republicans introduced a resolution Monday to block the Federal Communications Commission’s net-neutrality regulations. The measure, authored by Rep. Doug Collins, a Georgia Republican, would take advantage of a procedural fast-track under the Congressional Review Act, allowing it to bypass Democratic opposition in the Senate. It would need only a simple majority to pass, instead of the usual 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster. But it would still face an almost certain veto from President Obama.
Finance
Do Two Half-Victims Make a Whole Case?
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Editorial
Welcome to the new frontier of progressive law enforcement: extorting damage awards from businesses without naming anyone who’s been damaged. More than a year after persuading Ally Bank to pay $80 million to allegedly abused borrowers, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) still hasn’t distributed a nickel to the alleged victims. Is it possible that victims aren’t getting paid because there are no victims?
Congress should put trade atop its to-do list
WASHINGTON POST
Editorial
On the returning Congress’s crowded agenda, no item is more important than the passage of a bill known as trade promotion authority. It would enable President Obama to submit a 12-nation trade agreement with Pacific Rim nations to lawmakers on a fast-track basis — i.e., with no amendments permitted — as has been done with previous major trade deals. With a presidential election year almost underway, time is running out. The House and Senate need to get the bill passed and on the president’s desk promptly, clearing the way for final negotiation of the nearly-complete trade deal, and its consideration by Congress, before Mr. Obama’s term expires.
Obama threatens veto of Wall St. reform tweaks
THE HILL
Peter Schroeder
President Obama is threatening to veto a pair of GOP bills set to pass the House, arguing they would undercut portions of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law. The White House on Monday said that if presented with either of the two bills, Obama’s advisers would recommend that he veto them for weakening “key consumer protections.”
SendGrid Account Breach Was Used to Attack Coinbase, a Bitcoin Exchange
NEW YORK TIMES
Nicole Perloth
Hackers targeted SendGrid, a mass email service used by 180,000 companies including Uber, Pinterest, Spotify and Foursquare, to infiltrate Coinbase, one of the most popular Bitcoin exchanges.
Politics
Here’s why Marco Rubio can win the Republican nomination
WASHINGTON POST
Chris Cillizza
Marco Rubio isn’t the frontrunner to be the Republican presidential nominee in 2016. That’s either Jeb Bush or Scott Walker. But, Rubio … is the single most naturally-talented candidate in the race. And natural ability — as we’ve seen with people like Bill Clinton and Barack Obama on the Democratic side — can go a very long way in a presidential race.
The Rubio Run
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Editorial
The Senator nonetheless has the rhetorical gifts to make a compelling case for himself. His message is aspirational, and he offers a generational contrast with Mrs. Clinton. Mr. Rubio’s biggest challenge will be convincing primary voters that this precocious energy adds up to something better than voting for one of the successful Republican Governors with a record of real accomplishments.
From Cybersecurity to Trade Deal, Bills Are Expected to Start Moving
NEW YORK TIMES
Jennifer Steinhauer
Over the next several weeks, lawmakers are expected to consider a sweeping trade measure championed by President Obama, a bill that makes significant changes to the Medicare program and the reauthorization of programs for national security and education. They also will take up bills to address cybersecurity, to finance the nation’s transportation system and to outline budget priorities. On top of that, Congress is enmeshed in a debate over presidential powers as it considers legislation that could scuttle Mr. Obama’s proposed framework for a nuclear accord with Iran.
Bipartisanship on Display on No Child Left Behind Replacement Effort
ROLL CALL
Niels Lesniewski
Congress has no shortage of trouble moving big-ticket legislation, so it might be preposterous to think the Senate can move forward on replacing the education law known most recently as No Child Left Behind. But, the Senate might have the right partners to pull it off. Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Chairman Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and ranking member Patty Murray, D-Wash., announced an agreement over the recess, and they’re moving full-speed ahead with a Tuesday markup.
A Make-or-Break ObamaCare Moment
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Sen. Ron Johnson
Unlike the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, this legislation would live up to its name: “Preserving Freedom and Choice in Healthcare.” It would reverse many of the negative unintended consequences of ObamaCare and pave the way for its full replacement in 2017. This is a plan Republicans should get behind now. If we wait until the ruling in King v. Burwell is handed down, it might be too late.
Corker and Democrats nearing deal on Iran bill
POLITICO
Burgess Everett and John Bresnahan
Top Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee are nearing a deal on legislation that would allow Congress to review any nuclear agreement with Iran, a potential breakthrough that could herald a veto-proof majority for the measure.
