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 livestreamed on InsideSources.
Energy
Tom Steyer’s group shutters climate policy arm as political efforts ramp up
POLITICO
Elana Schor and Andrew Restuccia
The nonprofit launched by environmentalist Tom Steyer is shutting down its climate and energy program, in a likely signal that the billionaire is shifting resources to his organization’s political arm ahead of the presidential elections. Next Generation, co-founded by Steyer in 2011, plans to end its climate policy work and continue as a “nonprofit incubator,” energy program leader Kate Gordon wrote in an email obtained by POLITICO.
Senate GOP presses EPA on climate models
THE HILL
Timothy Cama
A group of Senate Republicans is pressing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to explain the climate change models it uses for its regulations. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) wrote the letter after a March hearing at which he challenged EPA head Gina McCarthy to answer specific questions about whether the models her agency uses have correctly predicted various climate events.
Rand Paul finds a biofuels proposal he can get behind
POLITICO
Burgess Everett and Darren Goode
As he prepares to launch his presidential campaign next week, Rand Paul is looking to broaden his appeal to Iowa’s homegrown biofuel industry by co-sponsoring an ethanol-friendly bill with the state’s popular senior senator, Chuck Grassley. Backing the measure gives Paul a way to appeal to Iowa’s alternative energy sector, while not compromising his free-market ideology when he barnstorms the state next week as part of his expected presidential kick-off.
Ted Cruz aims to win the West
THE HILL
Timothy Cama
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is making a play for the West in the 2016 race by touting his opposition to the federal government’s expansive land holdings. Cruz’s disdain for federal land control is resonating with Westerners whose lives are impacted by land managers, and could help him win over conservatives in Nevada, one of the early nominating states in the presidential contest.
Technology
FCC Sends Net Neutrality Rules to Federal Register
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Ryan Knutson
The Federal Communications Commission said it sent its net neutrality rules to the Federal Register on Wednesday, bringing the new Internet regulations closer to reality and to expected legal challenges. Opponents can’t sue to overturn rules until they are formally published in the Federal Register, the nation’s official record of government actions.
Obama Expands Options for Retaliating Against Foreign Hackers
NEW YORK TIMES
Peter Baker
President Obama on Wednesday signed an executive order aimed at retaliating against foreign-based online attacks on the United States as the government scrambles to catch up to national security threats that are evolving in a world of fast-changing technology. The order authorizes financial and travel sanctions against anyone involved in attacks originating or directed from outside the country that pose “a significant threat to the national security, foreign policy or economic health or financial stability of the United States.” No targets for these measures were named.
Finance
Financial adviser rule draws industry fire
THE HILL
Kevin Cirilli
Administration officials convened a series of at least four meetings in March at the White House, hearing from progressive groups who back the new regulations as well as business interests looking to dial them back, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) records show. … Sources familiar with the meetings say the business community is concerned that the Labor Department’s proposed rule would restrict certain ways in which financial advisers are paid.
S.E.C. Fires Warning Shot About Confidentiality Agreements
NEW YORK TIMES
Ben Protess
On Wednesday, the Securities and Exchange Commission penalized the technology and engineering firm KBR for forcing employees to sign “restrictive” confidentiality agreements, the regulator’s first such action against a company suspected of stifling potential whistle-blowers. The S.E.C. has escalated enforcement of its whistle-blower protections as part of an effort by the agency to turn a historical sore spot into an advantage. After missing warning signs about Bernard L. Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, the S.E.C. created a whistle-blower program and vowed to punish companies that muzzle potential tipsters.
Former Dem Labor secretary: Reject Wall Street donations
THE HILL
Kevin Cirilli
Robert Reich, the Labor secretary under former President Clinton, is urging the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) to reject money from big banks. In a fundraising email sent to progressives on Tuesday, Reich blasted Wall Street over a report that big banks are considering freezing campaign donations to Senate Democrats until Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) softens her criticism of financial institutions.
Politics
Cruz is aiming at the wrong Republicans
WASHINGTON POST
George Will
The Republican nominee must crack the ice that has frozen the electoral map. Cruz cannot do that by getting more votes from traditional Republican constituencies.
The Myth of the Stay-at-Home Republicans
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Karl Rove
There’s a hypothesis circulating among Republicans that Mitt Romney lost in 2012 because a large number of previously reliable conservatives who turned out in past elections stayed home. Here’s the problem: It’s not accurate.
Postal banking could make the postal system’s troubles worse
WASHINGTON POST
Charles Lane
Postal banking, in short, could exacerbate the fundamental cause of the postal service’s problems: dysfunctional, overly politicized governance.
Walmart Emerges as Unlikely Social Force
NEW YORK TIMES
Hiroko Tabuchi and Michael Barbaro
For many, Walmart’s pointed intervention into what amounts to a civil rights issue highlights a cultural transformation underway inside the company’s Bentonville, Ark., headquarters. Known for its insularity and discomfort with social issues, Walmart has studiously avoided touching public policy for the most part, rigidly adhering to its founder’s vision of a company focused relentlessly on low prices and big stores. But now, generational change, as well as business imperatives and rapidly shifting public opinion on issues like same-sex marriage, seem to have pushed Walmart to take a strong, public stand that would have been unthinkable several years ago.
A Raise at McDonald’s
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Editorial
McDonald’s Corp. on Wednesday became the latest big company to raise wages for its low-income workers, announcing plans to pay at least $1 more than the local minimum wage plus some paid vacation starting July 1 for about 90,000 workers at its 1,500 corporate-owned U.S. restaurants. But don’t expect organized labor to give the company a break today, or any day, for doing so.
Rights Measures Expose Divisions in G.O.P.’s Ranks
NEW YORK TIMES
Jennifer Steinhauer
In Indiana, the Republican mayor of Indianapolis argued against the law the Republican governor had signed. In Ohio, a group called the Young Conservatives for the Freedom to Marry tried to remove antigay language from the party platform. In Arkansas, the Republican governor faced a backlash from business and asked the Republican-led legislature to recall a bill seen as discriminatory to same-sex couples. The Republican Party is in the middle of an argument with itself.
7 big allegations in Sen. Bob Menendez’s indictment
VOX
Andrew Prokop
The indictment of Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) on 14 corruption counts makes for fascinating reading. Overall, the DOJ alleges that Menendez accepted expensive gifts from the wealthy Dr. Salomon Melgen in exchange for intervening on behalf of the doctor’s business interests with government officials. But more specifically, DOJ alleges that Melgen asked Menendez for help securing visas for three girlfriends (all of whom were models), that Melgen used credit card points to book an expensive Paris hotel for Menendez, and that Melgen twice gave huge donations to super PACs that were earmarked for New Jersey’s Senate race shortly before Menendez tried to help his business.
Sens. Schumer and Durbin at odds over Democratic leadership position
WASHINGTON POST
Sean Sullivan
So much for a neat, orderly succession for Senate Democrats. Sens. Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.) and Richard J. Durbin (Ill.) remained at odds Wednesday over the future of their party’s Senate leadership, with aides to both men sticking by conflicting stories about a private conversation the veteran lawmakers had last week. Durbin’s office insists that Schumer, who has the inside track to succeed retiring Sen. Harry M. Reid (Nev.) as the Democratic leader, vowed to support Durbin staying on as whip, the No. 2 leadership position. Schumer’s office said he made no such assurance.
