Your daily briefing for all the top news in Energy, Technology, Finance, and Politics.
Energy
Beyond Senate defeat, ill omens for Keystone
POLITICO
Andrew Restuccia
Never mind the cliffhanger defeat for the Keystone XL oil pipeline. Even if the Senate had passed the bill Tuesday, hints are mounting that President Barack Obama has hardened his stance against the $8 billion project and would veto any legislation green-lighting it, whether it comes from the current Democratic Senate or next year’s Republican Senate.
Here’s What’s Next for the Keystone Pipeline
NATIONAL JOURNAL
Ben Geman and Clare Foran
Republicans won’t be content to merely pass a pro-Keystone bill—they plan to do everything in their power to ensure that the president green-lights the pipeline. Hoeven said he believes a GOP-controlled Senate may be able to marshall the 67 votes needed to override a presidential veto of the pipeline, if it comes to that.
Why Larry Summers sees danger ahead for the economy
WASHINGTON POST
Lori Montgomery
For starters, Summers said: We should invest in public infrastructure, including energy infrastructure. Including oil pipelines. Does that include the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline, a project that the Senate is voting on Tuesday — and one that has drawn little enthusiasm? Yes, he said. “I suspect we should do the Keystone pipeline if it is still the relevant pipeline — which is very much in doubt. We certainly should not stand in the way of the Keystone pipeline,” Summers said. “We should be trying to use this moment to maximize use of our energy resources.”
China’s Environmental Whitewash
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Editorial
For every activist whose mistreatment comes to light, countless other Chinese are intimidated into silence over chemical spills, careless waste disposal, illegal mining and other environmental dangers that officials and their cronies want to hide. Local cadres ignore regulations to protect their own interests. Angry demonstrations occur but taking to the streets can be fatal, as it was for several people protesting construction of a paraxylene (PX) chemical plant in the southern city of Maoming last spring.
Asia Pushes Hard for Clean Energy
NEW YORK TIMES
Beth Gardiner
More than $250 billion a year is expected to be poured into the construction of renewable energy production in Asia, representing two-thirds of the region’s total power investment, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, an analysis and consulting firm. By 2030, the firm projects that carbon-free sources will provide a third of the region’s electricity, with solar the biggest contributor. Yet the use of fossil fuels like coal and oil is growing too, meaning Asia’s emissions of climate-warming gases are also on an upward trend.
The moral issue of climate change
WASHINGTON POST
David Ignatius
The case for treating climate change as an ethical problem is made subtly in “The Bone Clocks,” a new novel by David Mitchell. It portrays a dystopian future in which normal life has been shattered by environmental decay, rampant disease and global disorder. Mitchell’s book is long and complex, but it might just become the “1984” of the climate change movement. It dramatizes the consequences of our improvident modern economy in the way George Orwell’s novel awakened people to the “Big Brother” mentality of Soviet communism.
A Carbon Tax Could Bolster Green Energy
NEW YORK TIMES
Eduardo Porter
If a carbon tax were to be imposed next year, starting at $25 and rising by 5 percent a year, the Energy Information Administration estimates, carbon dioxide emissions from American power plants would fall to only 419 million tons by 2040, about one-fifth of where they are today. Total carbon dioxide emissions from energy in the United States would fall to 3.6 billion tons — 1.8 billion tons less than today. By providing a monetary incentive, economists say, such a tax would offer by far the most effective way to encourage business and individuals to reduce their use of fossil fuels and invest in alternatives.
Technology
Jesse Jackson is lobbying the FCC against aggressive net neutrality rules
WASHINGTON POST
Brian Fung
Jackson “was unequivocal in voicing his opposition to Title II because of its effects on investment in broadband and because of the ultimate impact on minority communities and job creation,” said Berin Szoka, another participant in the meeting with Wheeler who has also argued for Section 706. Civil rights and diversity organizations are largely united in their support for Section 706, Jackson said in an interview Monday. He added that no matter which legal approach the FCC chooses, the agency’s net neutrality rules should not end up marginalizing minorities and the poor.
Patent troll players ready for round two
POLITICOPRO (Subscribe)
Erin Mershon
That first legislative effort [against trolls] proved unsuccessful, but K Street lobbyists are ramping up again and refining their strategy for round two. Sources on and off the Hill expect the new Congress to quickly return to patent litigation reform — which is seen as a rare area of agreement between the soon-to-be majority Republicans and President Barack Obama. Some industry players are forming a new patent coalition to sway lawmakers, and others are regrouping and honing their message.
Uber is another lesson in tech ‘bro’ culture
USA TODAY
Jon Swartz
But this disturbing incident illustrates yet again the profound disconnect between some tech execs and the rest of the world. It also underscores the industry’s woefully inadequate record on diversity within its ranks. Uber has not released numbers on the composition of its workforce, as Google, Apple, Facebook and others have. But it has repeatedly come under fire for what many consider a sexist “bro culture.”
Bill to Restrict N.S.A. Data Collection Blocked in Vote by Senate Republicans
NEW YORK TIMES
Charlie Savage and Jeremy W. Peters
Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked a sweeping overhaul of the once-secret National Security Agency program that collects records of Americans’ phone calls in bulk. Democrats and a handful of Republicans who supported the measure failed to secure the 60 votes they needed to take up the legislation. The vote was 58 to 42 for consideration.
Apple and Others Encrypt Phones, Fueling Government Standoff
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Devlin Barrett, Danny Yadron and Daisuke Wakabayashi
The No. 2 official at the Justice Department delivered a blunt message last month to Apple Inc. executives: New encryption technology that renders locked iPhones impervious to law enforcement would lead to tragedy. A child would die, he said, because police wouldn’t be able to scour a suspect’s phone, according to people who attended the meeting. At issue is new technology that Apple, Google Inc. and others have put in place recently to make their devices more secure. The companies say their aim is to satisfy consumer demands to protect private data.
House hearing probes alleged telework abuses at U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
WASHINGTON POST
Lisa Rein and William Branigin
A top government investigator told lawmakers Tuesday that a lax culture at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office “tolerates” serious employee abuses, including fraudulent claims by patent examiners about the hours they put in when they work from home. In testimony at a House hearing, Commerce Department Inspector General Todd J. Zinser said the agency’s award-winning telework program — under which about half the 8,300 patent examiners work from home — has a dark side because managers are prevented from punishing employees who abuse the freedom they have.
Finance
A Central Bank for the Beltway
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Editorial
These forces have gathered under something called the Center for Popular Democracy, which includes the AFL-CIO, the teachers unions, the Service Employees International Union and the Working Families Organization. The center is demanding that “members of the public” be included on search committees for the successors to Messrs. Fisher and Plosser. … American voters this month sent their own reminder that the economy isn’t working for everyone. … [T]he voters’ message was correctly addressed to Washington’s political leadership. The regional bank boards should select the best candidates who will provide independent policy judgment.
Why customers are less and less happy with their banks
WASHINGTON POST
Jena McGregor
Customer satisfaction scores for retail banks dropped 2.6 percent, nearly reversing two years of improvement. Overall happiness with health insurers fell for the first time in three years, dropping 4.1 percent to an industry score that’s only a notch above America’s most-reviled industries: airlines, cable companies and Internet service providers. Meanwhile, dissatisfaction with higher premiums led to lower scores for other insurers, such as life, home and auto insurance providers. Americans are much happier, meanwhile, with their credit unions, which held steady with the second highest industry score of all. And fueled by a booming stock market, satisfaction with online brokerages ticked upward, with scores rising 2.5 percent in 2014.
S.E.C.’s Delay on Crowdfunding May Just Save It
NEW YORK TIMES
Steven Davidoff Solomon
While the Securities and Exchange Commission dawdles, states are rushing to adopt their own crowdfunding rules. Ironically, it may just be the thing that rescues crowdfunding from a regulatory death grip.
Europe’s Central Bank Defies Its Own Rules in Cyprus Bailout
NEW YORK TIMES
Landon Thomas Jr.
Now, confidential communications from the central bank show how it has been willing to ignore its own bylaws and dictate policy to sovereign governments to prevent wider financial contagion in the eurozone. This willingness was recently illustrated in documents from Ireland’s fiscal crisis in 2010. Letters that have emerged show the central bank threatening to cut off emergency financing unless Ireland entered an austerity program. In the case of Cyprus, which like Ireland faced bankruptcy as a result of the failure of its banks, similar warnings went unheeded, prompting the E.C.B. to funnel more than 10 billion euros, or $12.5 billion, in last-ditch loans, via the country’s central bank, to its second-largest financial institution, behind the Bank of Cyprus, despite overwhelming evidence that it was failing.
Politics
Democrats to Obama: You broke the party, now fix it
POLITICO
Edward-Isaac Dovere
Enough, Donna Brazile told White House political director David Simas the day after the midterms. Democrats are in worse shape than when President Barack Obama came into office — the number of seats they have in Congress, the number of governors, a party approval rating that’s fallen behind Republicans for the first time in recent history, enthusiasm, energy. The White House, Brazile said when she came to meet with Simas, has got to focus for the next two years on getting the party into better shape, and Obama’s the best and most effective person to get out the message.
20 Republican wannabes to watch
POLITICO
Mike Allen
Our list of the GOP’s 2016 contenders, ranked by how likely they are to run.
Liberal ‘hell no’ caucus rises
POLITICO
Burgess Everett
It was a remarkable move for a group that has stood behind Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) over the years, as he sought to protect vulnerable moderates, like Landrieu and some of her now-ousted colleagues, from taking tough votes on divisive environmental, health care and social issues But red-state Democrats like Mark Pryor of Arkansas and Mark Begich of Alaska are on their way out, and liberals like Jeff Merkley, Bernie Sanders and Sheldon Whitehouse — with Elizabeth Warren leading the way on messaging — may cause as many headaches for Senate Republicans as tea partyers caused Democrats in the past four years.
It’s Crunch Time in Congress for Tax Breaks
NEW YORK TIMES
Jonathan Weisman
For years, renewing the so-called extenders package has been pro forma. A few lawmakers grumbled about provisions like faster tax write-offs for racehorses and Nascar tracks, a special break for film and television productions, decades-long “temporary” special treatment for Puerto Rican and Virgin Islands rum, and assistance for StarKist’s tuna cannery in American Samoa. But backs were scratched, and the bills were passed. Then last year, as Congress fell into a morass of dysfunction, lawmakers simply failed to act, and the tax breaks lapsed. As it gathered on Tuesday, Congress still had a scheduled 11 days to pass them retroactively, so beneficiaries could seamlessly claim them on their 2014 tax returns.
A handful of bills could bridge the partisan divide. But will they start a trend?
WASHINGTON POST
Juliet Eilperin
Here, in the very early stages, is what divided government looks like: a measure providing agricultural aid to developing countries; legislation allowing parents of disabled children to save tax-free for long-term expenses; changes that will speed federal approval of new sunscreen products. Despite gloomy predictions of continued acrimony and gridlock, these bills and a handful of others suddenly stand a strong chance of making it into law by year’s end.
Congress Will Fight Obama’s Power Grab
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Rep. Bob Goodlatte
President Obama seems poised to announce one of the biggest executive power grabs in American history. He is expected to declare unilaterally that millions of unlawful immigrants can stay in the U.S. without facing the consequences of violating immigration laws. Congress has not agreed on how to reform the immigration system, but the president has decided to ignore the Constitution and alter the law without new statutes. This is a slap in the face of the American people, who voted on Nov. 4 to change the way Washington operates.
House Democrats Stick With Pelosi as Leader
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Kristina Peterson
“People aren’t happy because we didn’t do well” in the election, said Rep. Collin Peterson (D., Minn.) But “there’s no obvious alternative,” he said.
Congress Must Act on War Authority
NEW YORK TIMES
Editorial
While it is important for Congress to repeal the 2002 authorization for the Iraq War and terminate the 2001 authorization against Al Qaeda, the priority in the lame-duck session should be to pass a new and separate authorization for the war against ISIS. If the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is unable to get such an authorization approved, Mr. Kaine and others should try to attach it as an amendment to other related legislation. It’s past time for Congress to exhibit some courage and take a stand.
President Obama needs to fix his flawed Islamic State strategy
WASHINGTON POST
Editorial
Mr. Obama appears to recognize the severity of the threat posed by the Islamic State and appears to be focused on the job of leading the fight against it. But if he continues to allow his ideological resistance to steps such as the deployment of ground forces to constrain the campaign, he will ensure its failure.
