Your daily briefing for all the top news in Energy, Technology, Finance, and Politics.
Energy
Nebraska Court’s Keystone Plan Could Bring October Surprise
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Alicia Mundy
The Supreme Court of Nebraska plans to hear arguments the first week of September in the state’s appeal of a property rights case that could block the Keystone XL pipeline, which will likely push any White House decision on Keystone’s approval until after the mid-term elections, according to people familiar with the case. But the forthcoming September arguments, first reported Wednesday by the Washington Post, could move the court’s decision forward according to attorneys close to the issue. If the justices grant the appeal, which would approved the pipeline’s route through Nebraska, before the date of the elections, it could be an unwanted October surprise for President Barack Obama.
America the Oil Exporter
POLITICO
Ed Morse
It’s one thing to talk about lifting the (partial) ban on crude-oil exports. It’s quite another to confront a world in which the United States is already a 1 million barrel-per-day exporter of oil and a 3 million barrel-per-day exporter of petroleum products. In other words, what’s the point of a debate on crude-export policy when the United States is on the verge of exporting more oil and oil products than most members of OPEC?
Technology
Big data bigwigs cash in
POLITICO
Darren Samuelsohn, Byron Tau and Joseph Marks
Big Data is now comfortably entrenched in the revolving door of Washington’s influence industry. A POLITICO review of the industry found lobbying on cybersecurity, privacy and other data issues has skyrocketed over the past decade, with a more recent hiring spree driven by the Snowden scandal and major security breaches at some of the country’s largest companies. Dozens of boutique firms and established K Street players are entering the red-hot market and touting their top recruits from the executive and legislative branches.
Chinese Hackers Pursue Key Data on U.S. Workers
NEW YORK TIMES
Michael S. Schmidt, David E. Sanger and Nicole Perlroth
Chinese hackers in March broke into the computer networks of the United States government agency that houses the personal information of all federal employees, according to senior American officials. They appeared to be targeting the files on tens of thousands of employees who have applied for top-secret security clearances.
‘A Threat to Internet Freedom’
NEW YORK TIMES
Brian Knappenberger
This Op-Doc explains the basic idea: when you visit a website, the phone or cable company that provides Internet access shouldn’t get in the way. Information should be delivered to you quickly and without discriminating about the content.
Dish Asks F.C.C. to Block Comcast-Time Warner Cable Merger
NEW YORK TIMES
Emily Steel
“The ability for Dish and other nondominant players to compete in the broadband and video markets will be impacted by how the commission responds to the mergers before it,” Jeffrey Blum, senior vice president and deputy general counsel at Dish, said in a letter to Marlene H. Dortch, the commission’s secretary, that summarized the meetings. “There do not appear to be any conditions that would remedy the harms that would result from the merger.”
The people who created E-Rate think the FCC’s going about it all wrong
WASHINGTON POST
Brian Fung
Sens. Ed Markey and Jay Rockefeller are putting pressure on the Federal Communications Commission to vastly expand the amount of money the agency spends on E-Rate, the program that provides government subsidies to schools and libraries for broadband and phone service. In a letter to the FCC Wednesday, the two lawmakers demanded that the commission increase what it sets aside every year for the program.
Groups making noise over online video captioning
POLITICOPRO (Subscribe)
Jody Serrano
Big players in the online programming business like Hulu, DirecTV and ESPN are crying foul over new regulations the FCC is expected to approve Friday requiring captions for Internet video clips of content previously shown on TV.
White House ready to drop patent pick after backlash from tech
THE HILL
Kate Tummarello
According to people familiar with the decision-making process, the administration is re-examining its plan to nominate Phil Johnson, senior vice president of intellectual property at pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson. Johnson’s potential nomination drew a furious response from reform advocates on Capitol Hill and in the tech industry.
Finance
Fed Sets October End for Bond Buying
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Jon Hilsenrath and Pedro Nicolaci Da Costa
Federal Reserve officials agreed at June’s policy meeting to end their bond-buying program in October, putting an explicit end date on the experiment for the first time and closing a controversial chapter in central-banking annals with results still the subject of immense debate.
Regulators Ready Money-Fund Rules
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Andrew Ackerman
U.S. regulators are poised to complete long-awaited rules intended to prevent a repeat of the investor stampede out of money-market mutual funds that threatened to freeze corporate lending during the 2008 financial crisis.
Our Financial Crisis Amnesia
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Alex J. Pollock
It is now five years since the end of the most recent U.S. financial crisis of 2007-09. Stocks have made record highs, junk bonds and leveraged loans have boomed, house prices have risen, and already there are cries for lower credit standards on mortgages to “increase access.” Meanwhile, in vivid contrast to the Swiss central bank, which marks its investments to market, the Federal Reserve has designed its own regulatory accounting so that it will never have to recognize any losses on its $4 trillion portfolio of long-term bonds and mortgage securities.
Migrants and the Middlemen
NEW YORK TIMES
Editorial
If banks can’t profitably transmit remittances — and won’t do so as a low-margin courtesy — then other secure, low-cost options must be found. One solution would be for the World Bank to become a remittance center. It has the expertise. And it would not take business away from the big banks, which have thrown in the towel on reasonably priced cash transfers. What it would do is ensure that more of migrants’ hard-earned money reaches their families, and, in that way, advance the mission of the World Bank to alleviate poverty.
US banks will pay dearly for their failure to modernize
FINANCIAL TIMES (Subscribe)
John Gapper
Currently, though, the US lags behind the rest of the world with no obvious way to solve its difficulties. In September, the Fed will present its “road map” for the introduction of a US faster payments system, but banks are under limited pressure to change their ways. For Europe’s sake, long may it continue.
Politics
The Impeachment Delusion
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Editorial
Republicans aiming to rebuild a governing majority should be making a systematic case about the failures of Democratic governance that include slow growth and stagnant incomes, fewer health-care choices and higher costs, growing world disorder, and more. Trying to impeach Mr. Obama now is firing at the wrong target at the wrong time with the wrong ammunition.
Obama defends not visiting Texas border, saying he’s ‘not interested in photo ops’
WASHINGTON POST
Katie Zezima and David Nakamura
President Obama on Wednesday forcefully defended his decision not to visit the Texas border with Mexico to view a burgeoning humanitarian crisis, saying he’s “not interested in photo ops” and challenging Congress to give him new authority to respond to the situation.
Once and for all, secure the border
USA TODAY
Gov. Rick Perry
President Obama should make securing the border the top priority in resolving this crisis. To begin with, he should send 1,000 National Guard troops to the Texas-Mexico border to support operations until sufficient Border Patrol agents can be hired, trained and deployed. He should also direct the Federal Aviation Administration to allow drone flights along the border to identify and track those engaging in drug or human trafficking.
How to Read the Polls in This Year’s Midterms
NEW YORK TIMES
Nate Cohn
This year’s fight for control of the Senate could easily prove to be closer than the 2012 presidential election or the 2010 and 2012 national Senate contests, which were all decided by the margin of several states. If the fight for Senate control remains as close as it is today, even the typical modest errors of the last few cycles could easily lead the aggregators and models to miss on the overall control of the Senate.
Primary Fights Drain Republican Super PACs
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Rebecca Ballhaus
The largest pro-Republican super PACs have not only raised less money than Democratic groups but spent a far larger share of it on primary fights, a Wall Street Journal analysis of campaign-finance filings shows. For the current campaign cycle through July 3, pro-Republican super PACs in the study directed more than 70% of their spending toward battles among GOP candidates, while the largest Democratic super PACs put just 9% of their spending into primaries. The bottom line: The largest Democratic super PACs are heading into the general-election season with a combined $36 million in the bank as of their latest filings—nearly three times as much as the largest Republican political-action committees.
