InsideSources

Your daily briefing for all the top news in Energy, Technology, Finance, and Politics.

Energy

Greens grow into electoral powerhouse
POLITICO
Andrew Restuccia and Darren Goode
The green movement has grown into a formidable political force, launching a broad and sophisticated operation this election cycle that rivals many of the most established groups. Leading environmental organizations like the League of Conservation Voters, the Sierra Club and Tom Steyer’s NextGen Climate Action Committee have hired well-known national and state political operatives to guide the effort, and they are digging into detailed polling and analysis produced by the same white-shoe firms that helped President Barack Obama get elected. More than ever, greens are collaborating with other progressive groups like unions, Planned Parenthood and EMILY’s List, sharing resources and divvying up responsibilities in key states.

Lifting the ban on domestic oil exports would lower U.S. gas prices — a little bit
WASHINGTON POST
Editorial
Politicians have stoked fears that lifting a 1970s ban on exporting U.S. crude oil would increase gasoline prices at home. Last week the Government Accountability Office said they are wrong.

Report: U.S. will reach energy independence in 2025
FUEL FIX
Jennifer Hiller
The U.S. will reach energy independence in about a decade, according to a new report from Wood Mackenzie’s Global Trends Service. The firm expects that 2025 could mark the first time since 1952 that the U.S. exports more energy than it imports.

Companies shouldn’t cave in to the demands of climate-change activists
WASHINGTON POST
Carly Fiorina
In recent months, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has been under siege by an army of professional activists. Its weapons: radically oversimplified arguments and online pressure campaigns. Its victim: free and open debate. The attacks have prompted Google, among other tech giants, to part ways with ALEC, an alliance of state legislators who advocate limited government, free markets, and individual liberty. Unfortunately, such shortsighted thinking all too often shapes corporate strategy at a time when policies with enormous, and potentially damaging, economic implications are gaining ground.

The Other Senate Nuclear Option
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Glenn McCullough Jr.
Nuclear energy is here to stay. It is safe, environmentally friendly, affordable and good for the economy, jobs and manufacturing. But the nation needs a safe repository for used nuclear fuel. When Americans go to vote next month, they have a chance to tell Sen. Reid and Democrats in Washington what they think about people who have seized Yucca Mountain and turned it into a political tool at a huge cost to taxpayers and the environment.

Technology

FEC deadlock keeps Internet free from broadcast campaign ad regulations
WASHINGTON TIMES
Stephen Dinan
The Federal Election Commission deadlocked in a crucial Internet campaign speech vote announced late last week, leaving online political blogging and videos free of many of the reporting requirements attached to broadcast ads — for now. All three Republican-backed members voted against restrictions, but they were opposed by the three Democrat-backed panel members, including Vice Chairwoman Ann M. Ravel, who said she will lead a push next year to come up with rules for government political speech on the Internet.

Why Your Smartphone Won’t Be Faster Anytime Soon
NATIONAL JOURNAL
Brendan Sasso
Cell-phone providers like AT&T and T-Mobile will have to wait a bit longer to get access to the powerful frequencies they say they need to keep their networks from slowing down. The Federal Communications Commission admitted Friday that it will have to postpone an auction of airwave licenses from mid-2015 until early 2016. The agency said the delay is thanks to a lawsuit from broadcast TV stations, who are trying to force the FCC to rework the details of the auction.

U.S. Fights Critiques of How Web Is Managed
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Drew Fitzgerald
The latest debate at the International Telecommunication Union’s conference in Busan, South Korea, could eventually determine whether the U.N. agency in charge of radio and telephone standards claims a role in setting rules for the Internet, too. … U.S. officials and their allies are working to keep the Web separate, while countries including Russia and several Arab states have filed resolutions that would give the ITU a stronger hand.

Silicon Valley Is Fighting Dark Money–What’s In It For Them?
NATIONAL JOURNAL
Scott Bland
This burst of interest in election reform is not just ideologically puzzling, it’s also curious on another level. After decades of aloof disregard for Washington, Silicon Valley has lately been deepening its investment in traditional politics. Google and Facebook have become lobbying behemoths. Mid-majors such as Airbnb, SpaceX, and Uber have hired Washington influence-peddlers to fight their regulatory battles. Mark Zuckerberg and friends have poured millions into immigration and education reform, while fellow new-money oligarchs like Parker bankroll candidates across the country. In other words, while one chunk of the industry is bulking up on political ammo, another is focused on disarmament.

With a $10 million fine, the FCC is leaping into data security for the first time
WASHINGTON POST
Brian Fung
The Federal Communications Commission leapt into data security litigation Friday, levying a $10 million fine against two telecom companies that allegedly stored personally identifiable customer data online without firewalls, encryption or password protection.

Finance

The Fed Rate Hike May Be a Mirage
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Romain Hatchuel
“Don’t fight the Fed” has become a sacred market mantra, and ignoring it has been a costly exercise for some. Trusting the Fed, as it vows to end monetary easing and raise interest rates, could prove an equally harmful strategy.

Deficit Talk in an Election Year
NEW YORK TIMES
Editorial
The budget deficit has come down, but at the expense of a more robust recovery. And future reductions will fall heavily on those less able to shoulder the burden. That is nothing either party should be proud of.

Ideology and Investment
NEW YORK TIMES
Paul Krugman
There’s an obvious policy response to this situation: public investment. We have huge infrastructure needs, especially in water and transportation, and the federal government can borrow incredibly cheaply — in fact, interest rates on inflation-protected bonds have been negative much of the time (they’re currently just 0.4 percent). So borrowing to build roads, repair sewers and more seems like a no-brainer. But what has actually happened is the reverse. After briefly rising after the Obama stimulus went into effect, public construction spending has plunged.

Bad Stock-Market Timing Fueled Wealth Disparity
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Josh Zumbrun
Millions of Americans inadvertently made a classic investment mistake that contributed to today’s widening economic inequality: They bought high and sold low. … The split path is one driver of stark inequality in the U.S. Many workers have seen their wealth and incomes drop despite more than five years of economic expansion in the U.S. Some fear the gap, widening for decades, could fracture society and slow the nation’s potential for economic growth in the long run.

Most European Banks Pass E.C.B. Stress Test
NEW YORK TIMES
Jack Ewing
The bulk of Europe’s biggest banks would be able to survive a financial crisis or severe economic downturn, the European Central Bank said on Sunday, concluding a yearlong audit of eurozone lenders that is potentially a turning point for the region’s battered economy.

Politics

Exclusive: Kevin McCarthy vows change on Hill to save GOP
POLITICO
Jake Sherman
In a series of interviews with POLITICO in his office in D.C., in a Capitol Police SUV in New York and aboard a rented private jet flying above the Empire State, McCarthy, who became the No. 2 Republican in the House this summer, laid out in the richest detail yet his goals for a Republican controlled Capitol Hill.

Law Lets I.R.S. Seize Accounts on Suspicion, No Crime Required
NEW YORK TIMES
Shaila Dewan
Using a law designed to catch drug traffickers, racketeers and terrorists by tracking their cash, the government has gone after run-of-the-mill business owners and wage earners without so much as an allegation that they have committed serious crimes. The government can take the money without ever filing a criminal complaint, and the owners are left to prove they are innocent. Many give up.

GOP Targets More House Seats
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Kristina Peterson and Alejandro Lazo
“The national numbers have been poor for Democrats for months, but now Republicans are finding potential opportunities in places where previously they didn’t think they had much of a chance,” said Nathan Gonzales of the nonpartisan Rothenberg Political Report.

Polls give Republicans edge in critical states
POLITICO
Steven Shepard
The surveys show the Republican candidate with slight, inside-the-margin advantages in three of the hardest-fought contests for Democratic-held seats: Arkansas, Colorado and Iowa. North Carolina is a dead heat. Republicans’ brief scare in South Dakota appears to be over, with Mike Rounds now leading by double digits. But the party still faces danger in Kansas, where an independent candidate is in a virtual tie with the GOP incumbent.

The Bushes, Led by W., Rally to Make Jeb ‘45’
NEW YORK TIMES
Peter Baker
When Jeb Bush decides whether to run for president, there will be no family meeting à la Mitt Romney, no gathering at Walker’s Point in Kennebunkport to go over the pros and cons. “I don’t think it’ll be like a big internal straw poll,” said his son, Jeb Bush Jr. But if there were, the results of the poll are pretty much in. As Mr. Bush nears a decision to become the third member of his storied family to seek the presidency, the extended Bush clan and its attendant network, albeit with one prominent exception, are largely rallying behind the prospect and pulling the old machine out of the closet.

Ahead of 2016, Immigration Activists Want Answers From Clinton
NEW YORK TIMES
Amy Chozick
Hillary Rodham Clinton had just finished telling the crowd that North Carolina families could count on Senator Kay Hagan when the chants of Oliver Merino — a 25-year-old whose mother, an undocumented Mexican immigrant, faces deportation — grew louder. He held a sign that read, “Hillary, do you stand with our immigrant families?” and shouted that his mother lives in constant fear of deportation. “I have to say that I understand immigration is an important issue, and we appreciate that,” Mrs. Clinton said. “We thank you for your advocacy.”

Janet Napolitano throws her support behind executive action on immigration policy
WASHINGTON POST
Jerry Markon
Former homeland security secretary Janet Napolitano is supporting executive action by President Obama to change immigration policy if Congress fails to pass a broad overhaul, citing what she calls her successful 2012 push to delay deportations of many younger immigrants.

White House ponders life with a Republican Senate
POLITICO
Edward-Isaac Dovere
[In 2016] GOP incumbents are up in seven states Obama won twice and two he won once, including Kelly Ayotte in New Hampshire, Rob Portman in Ohio, Ron Johnson in Wisconsin, Mark Kirk in Illinois and Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania. Those senators, goes one thought circulating the West Wing, would be under pressure to move towards the middle and be the bridge to larger deals with a caucus eager to show it can get things done. Aides are discussing potential areas for agreement: tax reform, infrastructure, sentencing reform, renewing unemployment insurance, raising the minimum wage and expanding early childhood education.

Is the Affordable Care Act Working?
NEW YORK TIMES
After a year fully in place, the Affordable Care Act has largely succeeded in delivering on President Obama’s main promises, an analysis by a team of reporters and data researchers shows. But it has also fallen short in some ways and given rise to a powerful conservative backlash.

Senate report outlines plan to keep tens of billions of dollars flowing to Afghanistan
WASHINGTON POST
Tim Craig
Senate Democrats plan to keep supporting Afghanistan’s reconstruction but the spending must be linked to human rights reforms and closer scrutiny of whether the country can maintain its new programs and buildings, says a congressional report due to be released Monday.