Today’s briefing is sponsored by America’s Power.
Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, Governor Rick Perry of Texas, Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, and Congressman David Young of Iowa will participate in a “Road to 2016” policy luncheon this Thursday, April 9, in Des Moines, Iowa. The event is sponsored by America’s Power.
You may RSVP to attend the event HERE.
The event will be live streamed on InsideSources.
Energy
Laurence Tribe Fights Climate Case Against Star Pupil From Harvard, President Obama
NEW YORK TIMES
Coral Davenport
Laurence H. Tribe, the highly regarded liberal scholar of constitutional law, still speaks of President Obama as a proud teacher would of a star student. … Mr. Tribe went on to serve in the Justice Department during Mr. Obama’s first term and has argued in favor of the legal standing of Mr. Obama’s signature health care law and executive orders on immigration. Which is why so many in the Obama administration and at Harvard are bewildered and angry that Mr. Tribe, who argued on behalf of Al Gore in the 2000 Bush v. Gore Supreme Court case, has emerged as the leading legal opponent of Mr. Obama’s ambitious efforts to fight global warming.
Calling Obama’s Bluff on Climate Change
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Steven F. Hayward
From immigration to Internet regulation, there is scarcely an issue on which President Obama has not pushed the limits of executive power to achieve his ideological goals. The Republican Congress has been able only to react to these usurpations, often floundering, as seen in the recent debacle over funding for the Department of Homeland Security. Is there a way the GOP Congress can get ahead of Mr. Obama?
Greens size up Schumer
POLITICOPRO (Subscribe)
Elana Schor
Environmentalists see Harry Reid as their champion, a Senate leader who fought the nuclear industry and steered billions of dollars to solar and wind power. Chuck Schumer is a frequent lightning rod for liberals, who lament his ties to Wall Street and groaned when he said last year that fracking “has worked quite well.”
Green billionaire’s ’16 gameplan? Shame GOP on climate change
THE HILL
Timothy Cama
Billionaire liberal activist Tom Steyer hopes to shame GOP presidential candidates over their climate change skepticism in the 2016 campaign. He is also seeking to tie Republicans to his arch foes: Charles and David Koch, the billionaire brothers who spent more than $100 million in the 2014 midterms behind GOP candidates opposed to environmental regulations.
Life After Keystone: The Future of the Climate Movement When the Pipeline Battle Ends
NATIONAL JOURNAL
Clare Foran
President Obama could reject or approve the controversial Keystone XL pipeline any day, week or month now. And as a decision looms, environmentalists face a daunting question: Can they recreate the kind of mass appeal that Keystone inspires when the pipeline battle ends?
Transportation Safety Board Seeks Stiffer Standards for Oil Tank Rail Cars
NEW YORK TIMES
Jad Mouawad
The National Transportation Safety Board said Monday that new oil tank train cars should come with much stronger ability to withstand high heat and pressure from a crash or a blast.
Fewer Oil Trains Ply America’s Rails
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Alison Sider
The growth in oil-train shipments fueled by the U.S. energy boom has stalled in recent months, dampened by safety problems and low crude prices. The number of train cars carrying crude and other petroleum products peaked last fall, according to data from the Association of American Railroads, and began edging down. In March, oil-train traffic was down 7% on a year-over-year basis.
Harry Reid’s Nuclear Taxpayer Waste
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Editorial
We’ve been telling you about Harry Reid’s bargain with President Obama to kill the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste site in Nevada in return for all but shutting down the Senate. It turns out the deal is even more expensive than that.
Technology
Rand Paul sees gold in Silicon Valley
POLITICO
Anna Palmer and Tony Romm
Rand Paul’s presidential campaign is rooted in railing against the establishment. Now, as the Kentucky Republican embarks on a White House bid, he hopes to build a coalition of Silicon Valley libertarians and online grass-roots contributors, and to woo nontraditional GOP donors to raise the tens of millions of dollars needed to run a competitive primary race.
Finance
Regulators Tap Prosecutors for Key Jobs
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Aruna Viswanatha and Christopher M. Matthews
Federal agencies eager to sharpen their enforcement chops are turning to former U.S. prosecutors to help bring—and win—big cases. Nearly a dozen U.S. regulators have installed former Justice Department attorneys to lead their enforcement units in recent years. Some, like the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, are tapping prosecutors to head the entire agency: Former New Mexico U.S. Attorney Norman Bay is set to become FERC chairman later this month.
Instead of Attacking Insider Trading, Make Everyone an Insider
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Andy Kessler
Companies will balk at providing so much data, as they believe they gain a competitive edge by keeping information close. Get over it. If you can announce it quarterly, you can announce it daily. The data exists on internal dashboards, and public companies should be open to the public.
Bill Dudley says US economy hit by ‘temporary factors’
FINANCIAL TIMES (Subscribe)
Shawn Donnan
The US economy probably grew by a weaker than expected 1 per cent in the first quarter of this year but growth should accelerate in the months to come as “temporary factors” dissipate, a senior Fed policy maker said on Monday.
Washington’s Latest Bank Heist
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Editorial
Staff at the consumer bureau, honoring the wishes of founder Senator Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.), are inclined to harass any unfortunate souls in their jurisdiction who offer different interest rates to different customers. The bureau-crats would like to harass auto dealers in particular for negotiating rates with car buyers who choose dealer financing. But the 2010 Dodd-Frank law that created the bureau specifically prohibits them from regulating car dealers.
Boeing and Delta Spend Millions in Fight Over Export-Import Bank’s Existence
NEW YORK TIMES
Jonathan Weisman and Eric Lipton
The public faces of the Ex-Im Bank battle may be mom-and-pop exporters walking the hallways of Capitol Hill in support of the agency, and the ideological spear carriers of the conservative, free-market movement, like Club for Growth and the Heritage Foundation, in opposition. But those message makers mask a behind-the-scenes slugfest between two heavyweights, Boeing and Delta, which have narrower, bottom-line interests and very deep pockets.
U.S. Defense Secretary Supports Trade Deal With Asia
NEW YORK TIMES
Helene Cooper
Defense Secretary Ashton Carter on Monday threw the weight of the Pentagon behind President Obama’s fight to push a trade deal with Asia through Congress, warning that Asian markets are being gobbled up by global competitors. Mr. Carter linked the military strength of the United States to its economic progress, using the start of his first trip as defense secretary to America’s Pacific allies to help the Obama administration in its efforts to push through the trade deal, known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Politics
G.O.P. Senator, Bob Corker, Is Key Player in Iran Accord
NEW YORK TIMES
Ashley Parker and Peter Baker
There are few people on Capitol Hill more important to the White House right now than Mr. Corker, the silver-haired senator with the Southern drawl who sees himself as a bridge builder in a Senate known for polarization. At the White House, nobody likes his bill, which would give Congress a 60-day window to debate the Iran agreement before voting yes or no or taking no action, but Mr. Obama and his advisers see him as someone who might work with them to revise the legislation and ultimately make a deal.
Chuck Schumer bucks White House on Iran
POLITICO
Burgess Everett
Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer, one of Capitol Hill’s most influential voices in the Iran nuclear debate, is strongly endorsing passage of a law opposed by President Barack Obama that would give Congress an avenue to reject the White House-brokered framework unveiled last week.
How Obama’s young loyalists will help shape his legacy
WASHINGTON POST
Juliet Eilperin
These once-young acolytes will leave Obama’s mark on a Democratic Party with whom he has had a complicated relationship. Once he exits the political stage, the men and women who have devoted a fifth of their lives working for him will continue to influence the party Obama no longer leads.
John McCain to run for sixth term in 2016
USA TODAY
Catalina Camia
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., declared in separate media interviews he will run for a sixth term next year. “The reason why I want to seek re-election is that there’s a lot more to do, both for Arizona and the country,” McCain told The Arizona Republic in an interview in his Phoenix office on Monday.
