Your morning briefing for the top news in energy, tech, finance, and politics.
Energy
The Seven Surprise Republicans to Watch If You Care About Climate Change
NATIONAL JOURNAL
Ben Geman
Rep. Chris Gibson … Sen. Lindsey Graham … Sen. Cory Gardner … Jeb Bush and Sen. Rand Paul … Sen. Susan Collins … Rep. Garret Graves
Democrats plan Keystone XL counterattack
FUEL FIX
Jennifer Dlouhy
Senate Democrats are vowing to counter Republicans’ campaign for Keystone XL by trying to attach buy-American requirements, clean energy proposals and export restrictions to legislation authorizing the pipeline. The Democratic proposals could be offered as amendments when the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee votes on the Keystone XL legislation Thursday, or next week, when the bill is expected to see floor debate. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said the amendments are designed “to make it more of a jobs bill.”
New Congress Grapples With Energy Issues
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Amy Harder
“The Republicans’ biggest problem right now is expectations,” said Michael McKenna, president of MWR Strategies, a lobbying firm whose clients include fossil-fuel companies. “Everybody is going to try to get a bunch of stuff, and everyone is going to be disappointed.”
Oil’s Fall Continues Into 2015, and Stock Markets Shudder
NEW YORK TIMES
Clifford Krauss and Peter Eavis
Oil prices tumbled below $50 a barrel on Monday, spooking global financial markets and signaling that the remarkable 50 percent price drop since June was continuing this year and even quickening. The new drop in American and global benchmarks of more than 5 percent was accompanied by reports of increased Middle Eastern oil exports, continuing increases in American production and renewed worries about the declining economic fortunes of Europe.
Technology
Cyberdefense Is a Government Responsibility
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Alan Charles Raul
President Obama has said that cyberattacks are “one of the most serious challenges we face as a nation,” and “America’s economic prosperity in the 21st century will depend on cybersecurity.” Thus Congress and the president must immediately order the Department of Homeland Security, FBI and Secret Service—and the State Department—to protect American commerce from attacks, as the Navy and Marines protected U.S. maritime trade off the coast of Tripoli 200 years ago. And the public needs to hold our national leaders accountable to fight and win this battle.
House GOP lawmaker makes net neutrality warning
THE HILL
Julian Hattem
Tough net neutrality rules would lead to new taxes and unnecessary hurdles for new companies, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) warned on Monday. In an interview on Fox Business Network, Blackburn warned the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) against writing strong rules that allowed it to regulate the Internet with the same powers it uses to police traditional phone lines. “I talk to those innovators every single day,” she said. “They do not want to have to fool with another federal agency. They do not want additional taxes.”
Google Lobbies for Cheaper Airwaves
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Ryan Knutson
The plan that Google and others are backing would open up as much as 150 megahertz of spectrum around the 3.5 gigahertz band, pushing to make it usable by all comers without a license while still leaving some of it available for companies to use exclusively. The 3.5 gigahertz airwaves aren’t much use to wireless carriers, because they aren’t good at carrying signals for long distances. But they are useful for delivering heavy loads of data in cities, which could make them viable for a lot of typical wireless needs—the way Wi-Fi is now, but potentially broader and more available.
Sling TV, the new way to stream ESPN over the internet, explained
VOX
Timothy B. Lee
We’re getting closer to the point where you can cancel your cable subscription and still continue to enjoy all your favorite cable TV shows. Today at the Consumer Electronic Show, the satellite TV company Dish announced the next step in that direction. Sling TV is a service that lets you watch cable TV channels over the internet. Crucially, the Sling TV lineup includes ESPN, the nation’s most popular cable channel and a must-have for sports fans. And unlike some other streaming services, you can sign up for it without getting a conventional cable subscription.
Finance
The (Real) Bank of America
POLITICO
Michael Grunwald
That bank currently has a portfolio of more than $3 trillion in loans, the bulk of them to about 8 million homeowners and 40 million students, the rest to a motley collection of farmers and fishermen, small businesses and giant exporters, clean-energy firms and fuel-efficient automakers, managed-care networks and historically black colleges, even countries like Israel and Tunisia. It has about 120 different credit programs but no consistent credit policy, requiring some borrowers to demonstrate credit-worthiness and others to demonstrate need, while giving student loans to just about anyone who wants one. It runs a dozen unconnected mortgage programs, including separate ones targeting borrowers in need, Native Americans in need, veterans in need and, yes, Native American veteran borrowers in need. Its problems extend well beyond deadbeat shipbuilders. That bank, of course, is the United States government—the real bank of America—and it’s unlike any other bank.
Another Rigged Prosecution?
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Editorial
Prosecutorial abuses have become all too common, and this latest example is all the worse because it has gone on for so many years. The federal judge in Connecticut needs to confront the government on its prosecutorial tactics, and at a minimum she should let the sun shine on what prosecutors didn’t want anyone to see during the original criminal trial.
White House Expected to Nominate Community Banker to Federal Reserve
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Kristina Peterson and Victoria McGrane
President Barack Obama is expected to nominate a community banker to the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors as soon as this week, according to several people familiar with the administration’s plans. … Members of the Senate Banking Committee had urged the White House to tap a community banker to increase the diversity of experience on the seven-member board, which sets short-term interest rates and regulates banks. The Fed board has two vacancies. Three of the five governors, including Chairwoman Janet Yellen , are economists. Two are lawyers.
Politics
Steve Scalise: Damaged goods?
POLITICO
John Bresnahan and Jake Sherman
Scalise’s job as House majority whip remains safe – and Speaker John Boehner has publicly backed him — but he may be too toxic for some Republican circles. Top GOP aides and lawmakers question whether he’ll be able to raise funds, especially on trips to New York or Los Angeles. Senior figures within the party doubt that the corporate chieftains and rich donors who bankroll Republican candidates will give him money to keep campaign coffers filled. Others say it will be difficult for him to persuade lawmakers to support the House Republican agenda. Rank-and-file GOP lawmakers, meanwhile, found themselves defending Scalise back home, a potentially fatal flaw for someone who wants to serve in leadership. Many of these lawmakers are faced with blistering editorials from hometown newspapers calling for Scalise to step down
White House knocks GOP over Scalise
THE HILL
Justin Sink
“[President Obama] believes it’s ultimately their decision to make,” Earnest said. “But there’s no arguing that who the Republicans decide to elevate into a leadership position says a lot about what the conference’s priorities and values are.”
Why Congress Is Broken
POLITICO
Mike Rogers
I knew political conversation was changing, and not for the better. Fast-forward to today’s social media and the sheer volume of misinformation and speed at which it travels. It is amazing any congressional office gets anything done. It takes an enormous amount of time trying to correct the record. It all takes away from the time a member needs to spend getting smart on issues that matter. The only way to do that is read, question and dive deep into all of the often unsexy issues of legislating. I’ve gotten into trouble with my fellow conservatives for saying this—after all, our party believes, often justifiably, that Washington is usually the problem—but I do think elected officials need to devote more time here on Capitol Hill engaging in governance. It won’t get you on the 11 o’clock news, but it will make for a better-functioning legislature.
A Better Congress
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Editorial
The GOP House and the Senate minority checked liberal ambitions and made occasional minor policy gains, but all too often they marched into political box canyons. If the new GOP Congress hopes to improve, it needs a better strategy, political patience and realistic expectations. The challenge will be to avoid the twin mirages of trying to govern from Capitol Hill, which it can’t do as long as President Obama has the veto pen, or using that as an excuse to do nothing. The worst outcome would be to attempt to do too much, then break down in disunity, and thus set up Mr. Obama to hand off the Presidency to Hillary Clinton.
Republicans appear unwilling to end immigration inertia
WASHINGTON POST
Editorial
Republicans howled in November when President Obama used his executive powers to shield millions of illegal immigrants from deportation, accusing him of usurping Congress’s powers. Yet as the GOP lays out its agenda for the new Congress, Republicans have had nothing useful to say about their own plans for addressing the problem of the 11 million immigrants who lack documentation.
There Are No Magic Republican Bullets
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Judd Gregg
There is considerable talk by pundits and members of Congress that the best weapon Republicans have to accomplish their agenda is something called “reconciliation.” This is one of those Beltway terms that causes normal Americans to bang their heads against the wall and ask “are these Washington types for real?” Yet reconciliation is a tool of considerable legislative force if used well.
The Prisoner of Capitol Hill
POLITICO
Glenn Thrush
Can John Boehner save House Republicans from themselves?
Harvard Ideas on Health Care Hit Home, Hard
NEW YORK TIMES
Robert Pear
For years, Harvard’s experts on health economics and policy have advised presidents and Congress on how to provide health benefits to the nation at a reasonable cost. But those remedies will now be applied to the Harvard faculty, and the professors are in an uproar. Members of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the heart of the 378-year-old university, voted overwhelmingly in November to oppose changes that would require them and thousands of other Harvard employees to pay more for health care. The university says the increases are in part a result of the Obama administration’s Affordable Care Act, which many Harvard professors championed.
Obamacare vote to test Democrats’ resolve under Republican majority
WASHINGTON TIMES
Tom Howell Jr.
House Republicans will hold a vote this week to change Obamacare’s definition of full-time work from 30 hours a week to the traditional 40, setting up an early test to see how many Democrats are willing to buck President Obama and his signature overhaul now that they are in the minority. … Already on board is Sen. Joe Donnelly, an Indiana Democrat who co-sponsored the 40-hour legislation in the previous Congress, who said he’ll reintroduce the bill later this week. Sen. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia will join him as a second Democratic sponsor, although it’s unclear how many of their party colleagues will follow their lead.
Medical device tax in GOP crosshairs
THE HILL
Sarah Ferris
Once a non-issue in ObamaCare debates on Capitol Hill, the repeal of the medical device tax now has near universal backing from Republicans and support from a growing number of Democrats. Liberal-minded lawmakers, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Al Franken (D-Minn.) — both of whom represent device-heavy states — have expressed support for repeal. Both lawmakers’ offices, however, declined to comment on their positions ahead of a potential vote. Even the White House appears open to signing off on the repeal, industry groups and GOP aides say.
As gay marriages begin in Florida, Supreme Court is set to meet on issue
WASHINGTON POST
Robert Barnes
Gay couples began marrying in Miami on Monday, kicking off a pivotal week when the Supreme Court will have a chance to consider whether same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry or whether states may limit marriage to a man and a woman.
Obama Nears Goal for Guantánamo With Faster Pace of Releases
NEW YORK TIMES
Helene Cooper
In a series of secret nighttime flights in the last two months, the Obama administration made more progress toward the president’s goal of emptying the military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, than it had since 2009. The accelerated pace came after an era of political infighting and long bureaucratic delays. Now 127 prisoners remain at Guantánamo, down from 680 in 2003, and the Pentagon is ready to release two more groups of prisoners in the next two weeks; officials will not provide a specific number. President Obama’s goal in the last two years of his presidency is to deplete the Guantánamo prison to the point where it houses 60 to 80 people and keeping it open no longer makes economic sense.
