Campaign for America's Future News

Each morning, Bill Scher and Terrance Heath serve up what progressives need to affect change on the kitchen-table issues families face: jobs, health care, green energy, financial reform, affordable education and retirement security.

Showdown Over Auto Dealer Loophole Today

House Dems push to expand consumer protection loophole for auto dealers to include other vehicles. Politico: “The House proposal, which will be debated Tuesday by the House-Senate conference committee, sets up a clash with Obama … Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), the lead Senate negotiator, has vowed to fight it.” Click here to fax Sen. Dodd and Rep. Frank and demand NO auto dealer loophole.

Jeff Sovern makes the case for closing the loophole in Politico oped: “The bill is intended to prevent the next economic crisis — not the last one. And if car dealers are not included, they may indeed add to future instability.”

Compromise reached on debit card swipe fees. HuffPost: “The deal, struck between Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and key House negotiators, leaves out some elements that consumer advocates had been fighting for. It allows fees charged to reloadable, prepaid debit cards — generally used by the poor — to remain unregulated. And it allows an exemption for states that use debit cards to dole out benefits. But, for the first time, banks and credit card companies will face restrictions on the fees they can charge merchants for the privilege of accepting credit and debit cards … Consumer advocates told HuffPost that, at first blush, the deal still leaves in place language that would drive down swipe fees and save consumers and merchants money.”

Frank accepts housing consumer protection agency within the Fed. CQ: “The move could stir opposition from House Democrats loath to give up on the concept of a free-standing agency. But the agreement, if ratified as expected, removes an important difference between the House and the Senate bills.”

Sen. Scott Brown negotiating Volcker Rule loopholes. The Hill: “Banks and insurance companies, including some in his home state, are counting on Brown and a handful of others to win changes … . He had expressed concerns that a proprietary trading ban would sweep in home-state companies like Fidelity, MassMutual and trust companies that are regulated as bank holding companies.”

House-Senate Friction Over Jobs Bill, Doctor Reimbursements

Speaker has not yet agreed to Senate plan for temporary adjustment to Medicare reimbursement rates separate from jobs bill. Politico: “…the speaker has not yet committed to taking up the Senate’s Medicare fix when the House returns Tuesday evening … Reid’s office was defensive about breaking out the Medicare piece, but it could also be a harbinger for a new strategy of trying to move the larger jobs package in pieces now — and not as a single entity.”

Sen. Susan Collins’ response to constituents who want a jobs bill deal? Don’t call me. Politico: “Both Collins and her fellow Maine Republican, Sen. Olympia Snowe, are being targeted as well by a new labor-backed television campaign. But in an interview Monday, Collins told POLITICO that she didn’t want to be ‘the lead negotiator’ on the jobs package or the Medicaid issue. ‘I’m trying not to be the negotiator on this. … I’m the wrong person to call.’”

AFL-CIO’s Mike Hall puts the blame on congressional GOPers for jobs bill filibuster: “As part of Republican obstruction-at-any-cost election year strategy, Senate Republicans last week once again blocked an extension of unemployment insurance (UI) benefits for long-term jobless workers … Some Republicans even said it’s time for ‘tough love’ to motivate the long-term jobless … Each time Senate Democratic leaders have brought up a UI extension this year, Republicans have delayed and blocked the bill.”

The Hill sees some cracks in the GOP caucus on jobless aid: “Most Republicans on Capitol Hill, including House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), support unemployment benefit extensions, but say they should be paid for [with anti-stimulus revenue offsets] … But Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.) told The Hill that paying for the cost of an unemployment extension doesn’t cut it for him … A fiscal conservative lawmaker who requested anonymity said that members in his party would have a tough time voting against a standalone jobless benefits bill. … On Friday, Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul said, ‘In Europe, they give about a year of unemployment. We’re up to two years in America.’ … Sharron Angle, a Tea Party favorite [said] ‘you can make more money on unemployment than you can going down and getting one of those jobs that is an honest job, but it doesn’t pay as much. … we really have spoiled our citizenry.’”

Clyde Prestowitz, writing in TNR, argues the White House is divided on investing in American manufacturing: “I witnessed the conflict at a White House meeting last year on how to revitalize the Midwest by turning old auto and auto parts plants into green tech factories. At the meeting, one faction called for a comprehensive strategy of promoting R&D, matching foreign investment inducements, providing tax incentives for domestic production, and halting foreign currency manipulation. The other group argued that markets always produce optimal results and that the future of green tech industries in America should be left up to market forces. The argument was never resolved, and it has not been resolved in the Obama administration.”

Is A Partial Carbon Cap Possible?

Climate Progress puts odds on enacting a partial carbon cap: “There are currently two scenarios for getting the cap on utility emissions — one where it is included voted on this summer directly in the Senate bill voted on this summer, and the other where the Senate passes an energy only bill and a utility cap is conferenced in after the election (since the House climate bill had an economy-wide cap and this would be the compromise). My sources give the overall odds of something like this happening at maybe 50-50.”

The Hill reports two GOPers pursued by White House rejecting partial carbon cap: “Lugar … said he opposed the utility-focused idea for a ‘great number’ of reasons … Sen. Lisa Murkowski … said Monday that she does not support the concept … Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), who is considered unlikely to vote for a sweeping climate change bill, told reporters he’s also wary of a utility-focused plan.”

Utility companies split on carbon cap placed just on them. Politico: “…some electric utility companies, including Duke Energy Corp. and Constellation Energy, say they are willing to accept legislation just on their sector should the Senate crash on the broader climate bill [because] it would be better to get regulatory certainty now as the industry looks to make hundreds of billions of dollars in new investments … A dozen other power companies who work under the umbrella Midwestern Climate Coalition are … resistant to being singled out. ‘…why would Midwest senators support a utility-only program that would likely create little environmental “bang” for a lot of their constituents’ bucks?’ said Zach Hill, a spokesman for the group…”

TNR’s Brad Plumer notes another reason for utility companies hesitancy: “…most utilities are in favor of an economywide cap-and-trade bill—partly because the program would raise a lot of revenue from other sectors that would be plowed into things that benefit utilities, like R&D money for sequestering carbon from coal plants…”

Grist’s David Roberts would accept partial carbon cap with conditions: “…a utility-only cap-and-trade system would need to be accompanied by three things: Measures to reduce oil use … Measures to increase energy efficiency … a renewable energy standard much stronger than those now on the table…”

Booman Tribune argues even though a carbon cap can’t get 60 votes today, the President should still push it: “…this is a battle worth losing. There is time to come back and pass something whittled down and inadequate, but that should not be the starting position. Before compromising, the president should make it crystal clear that the 60-vote threshold is creating gridlock and preventing him from delivering on his promises.”

New standards in increase renewable energy production could be fallback position, but rifts remain on defining what’s renewable. CQ: “Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M, shepherded his bill out of committee last July with bipartisan support — and without including nuclear and advanced coal technologies among the sources that count toward the mandate. The price of winning that bipartisan backing [was] to accept a 15 percent renewable-energy mandate instead of … 20 percent … Lugar’s bill, which would create a ‘diverse energy standard’ … Nuclear power and electricity generated from coal-burning plants that capture and store carbon emissions could count toward the targets of 15 percent by 2015 and 50 percent by 2050.”

TreeHugger’s Brian Merchant slaps catty senators mocking Kerry’s climate commitment: “…the insider politics daily Politico has a head-scratching piece about how Kerry is just, well trying too hard, durnit … I have an explanation as to why Kerry is pushing the issue so hard, and is reluctant to switch to a near-worthless energy-only bill: he gets it, and his colleagues do not.”

Ecocentric’s Bryan Walsh sees contradictory public in new NYT poll on energy policy: “Even though 58% of Americans believe U.S. energy policy needs a fundamental change, 51% of the public say they’d oppose a gasoline tax that would pay for the development of renewable energy … If that tax were set at $1.00 a gallon, the percentage who would favor it drops to 32% … this survey helps explain why energy policy seems immovable. We don’t really want to understand it—and that ignorance saves us from having to make the hard choices.”

New study proves science community does have consensus on climate change. NYT: “…of the top 50 climate researchers identified by the study (as ranked by the number of papers they had published), only 2 percent fell into the camp of climate dissenters. Of the top 200 researchers, only 2.5 percent fell into the dissenter camp … most of the scientists who have been publicly identified as climate skeptics are not actively publishing in the field…”

W. Post’s Eugene Robinson chronicles the conservatives that share Rep. Joe Barton’s love for BP: “While the party leadership has managed to squelch members of Congress who might have been tempted to weigh in on Barton’s side, the conservative amen chorus can’t help itself.” Click here to tell the 114 members of the Republican Study Group to retract their attack on $20B fund for Gulf victims.

Energy Sec. Chu tells LAT “top kill” should have been tried earlier: “… why you’d want to do it earlier rather than later — is that, as I’ve gotten to understand oil wells, at the very beginning of the leak, the oil and the gas rush out … As the oil and gas start to come out and you go up the well … it decreases the viscous flow immediately around the well. So in the first days of the flow, one very typically sees less flow, and it continues to build until you’ve eroded away that and built good-flowing channels…”

W. Post says get ready for more deep water drilling: “…oil companies venture into deep waters for exploration because that’s where the oil is … Within five years, global deep-water production is expected to rise by two-thirds, to 10 million barrels a day…

President seeking additional funds to assist workers affected by drilling moratorium. Bloomberg: “While President Barack Obama has asked Congress for legislation for a program to provide unemployment assistance for such workers, the administration is seeking to avoid having taxpayers foot the bill … The officials refused to say whether the administration would seek more money from BP or its partners…”

Dean Baker counsels against relying on oil industry job numbers: “Marketplace radio passed along to listeners the oil industry assertion that it was spending $300 million a month on the wages of workers on offshore drilling rigs that have been idled by President Obama’s moratorium … If the average worker on a rig earns $100,000 a year, the industry’s claim about lost wages would imply that it was employing 36,000 workers or more than 1,000 on each idled rig. This seems implausibly high…”

GAO finds federal rail agency needs “massive transformation” to bring high-speed rail to America. Earth2Tech: “[The Federal Railroad Admininstration must shift] from an organization focused primarily on safety to an entity ‘that can make multibillion dollar investment choices while simultaneously carrying out its safety mission.’”

Wal-Mart trying to stop Cape Wind reports Change.org’s Jess Leber

China Currency Not Taking Off

China currency went down in second day of new policy. NYT: “Early Tuesday, China’s central bank set a key daily reference rate for the renminbi at its highest level in five years, up 0.4 percent from Monday and in line with that day’s gain in over-the-counter trading. It was a closely watched move that suggested Beijing was open to a further rise in the exchange rate. But by midday, financial news agencies were quoting unidentified currency traders saying that large state-owned banks were buying dollars for renminbi. The news spooked investors and suggested that the Chinese central bank was trying to limit any gains in the currency.”

NYT reports of “cautious optimism” among business on China’s “gradual” currency adjustment: “How much American exports increase depends in part on how much China allows its currency to rise. ”

HuffPost’s Scott Paul deems China move to be smoke-and-mirrors: “China’s currency will undoubtedly rise against the dollar, but the change may not be significant or fast enough to put a real dent in our enormous trade deficit or boost our exports enough to create a considerable number of manufacturing jobs … The President must demand results in Toronto this weekend and Congress must proceed swiftly with a legislative response.”

And Robert Reich calls it “hokum”: “Over time – and I’m talking about months if not years – China will raise its currency to where it was before the global meltdown in 2008. Big deal.”

W. Post profiles last US ironing board manufacturer, with 200 jobs saved from tariff on China: “‘It doesn’t make much sense to force millions of U.S. consumers to pay higher prices for ironing boards to save 200 jobs,” said Howard Rosen, an economist at the Peterson Institute … But the workers in Seymour don’t buy the argument … ‘American consumers don’t benefit from the Chinese prices — they certainly don’t if they don’t have a job’ said Terry Roll, 52, the day shift supervisor.”

Hoyer Lays Out Deficit Reduction Strategy

House Maj. Leader Steny Hoyer outlines controversial deficit reduction strategy to W. Post, before Third Way speech today. “…he expects Congress to extend middle-class tax cuts enacted during the Bush administration that are set to expire at the end of this year. But he said the extension should not be permanent. … Hoyer said[] House leaders are preparing a one-year budget resolution that would cut 2011 spending even deeper than Obama and Senate Democrats have proposed and would reaffirm a pledge by House leaders to vote on any deficit-reduction plan that wins approval from a bipartisan commission Obama appointed this year … Hoyer also indicated he plans to support an effort by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates to eliminate wasteful spending at the Pentagon.”

Paul Krugman fact-checks debt commission chair Alan Simpson on Social Security: “…Simpson has resurrected the old nonsense about how Social Security will be bankrupt as soon as payroll tax revenues fall short of benefit payments, never mind the quarter century of surpluses that came first. We went through all this at length back in 2005, but let me do this yet again…”

Dean Baker has some advice for deficit hawks and Social Security stalkers on how to impress the bond markets: “If the issue is assuaging the bond markets by convincing them that we are prepared to take tough choices to limit long-term deficits, let’s put a few other items on the table … how about a financial speculation tax? … Congress could go after the pharmaceutical industry … suppose Congress revisited plans for a public insurance option …”

Next Steps In Health Care Implementation

President to announce new details on implementation of health care law today reports AP.

President warns insurers on rate hikes in meeting today. NYT: “The White House is concerned that health insurers will blame the new law for increases in premiums that are intended to maximize profits rather than covering claims. The administration is also closely watching investigations by a number of states into the actuarial soundness of double-digit rate increases … growth in premiums in the first eight years of this decade had far exceeded medical inflation — 97 percent to 39 percent.” More from LAT.