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Energy
NTSB: Systemic flaws in safety oversight of gas pipelines
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Joan Lowy
Three powerful accidents in recent years highlight weaknesses in the oversight of how natural gas providers maintain the largest pipelines in their networks, accident investigators said Tuesday as they issued more than two dozen safety recommendations. A major effort a decade ago by the federal government to check a rise in violent pipeline failures in “high consequence” areas where people are more likely to be hurt or buildings destroyed has resulted in a slight leveling off of such incidents but no decline, the National Transportation Safety Board said.
Koch group moves to put brakes on gas-tax hike
USA TODAY
Fredreka Schouten
One of the biggest players in the Koch brothers’ conservative network is leading a coalition of more than 50 groups that will urge Congress on Tuesday to reject plans to increase the federal gas tax. The move by Americans for Prosperity comes as the energy magnates’ political network revealed plans this week to spend an eye-popping $889 million ahead of the 2016 elections to advance its small-government, low-tax agenda in Congress and state legislatures.
Court battle set for Obama climate rule
THE HILL
Timothy Cama
A federal appeals court has agreed to hear arguments in a pair of cases challenging the Obama administration’s climate rule proposal for power plants. The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said Tuesday that it will hear oral arguments from the various sides in the cases on the morning of April 16.
Cruz Won’t Seek Vote to End Crude Export Ban
NATIONAL JOURNAL
Clare Foran
Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican who is eyeing a run for president, will not seek a vote on an amendment to lift the ban on crude-oil exports during Senate debate on the Keystone pipeline. The decision arrives as Cruz faces pressure from the oil industry not to seek a vote. Cruz filed an amendment earlier this month seeking to lift the ban but faced pushback from oil-industry lobbyists, who believe the time is not yet ripe to lift the ban, given that many senators have not yet taken a position on the issue.
Jewell defends offshore plan as ‘balanced’
POLITICOPRO (Subscribe)
Darren Goode
Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said the new five-year offshore drilling proposal was a “balanced” approach, and she stressed that it was still only a draft. “It is not final, we’re in the early stages of what is a multiyear process,” Jewell said on a call with reporters. She cautioned that areas proposed in the draft “may be narrowed or taken out entirely.”
Big Oil Faces Time of Reckoning
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Justin Scheck
In the coming days, the world’s biggest publicly traded oil companies will report fourth-quarter earnings, offering the best look yet at the bite lower crude prices have taken out of Big Oil.
Britain’s Fracking Opportunity
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Editorial
In fact, U.S. carbon emissions have been falling steadily to levels not seen since the early 1990s. That is thanks largely to the fracking-induced shift away from coal, whose share of electricity generation fell to about 37% in 2012 from 52% in 1998, in favor of natural gas, which is less carbon-intensive. Meanwhile, coal use in Britain rose by 22% between 2010 and 2014, according to BP’s energy statistics. Abundant supplies of cheap domestic natural gas could reverse that trend, helping Britain meet its goals of reducing emissions to historic lows without needlessly damaging the economy. That’s a win for everyone, provided environmentalists can overcome their dogmatic opposition to carbon-based energy in any form. We don’t expect that to happen, but it would help to have Mr. Cameron and other British leaders make the case that abundant carbon energy and good environmental policy go hand in hand.
Technology
Industry to Senate: Cyber bill ‘cannot come soon enough’
THE HILL
Cory Bennett
Ahead of the Senate’s first 2015 hearing on cybersecurity information sharing, a broad coalition of industry groups pressed the chamber to finally pass a bill on the topic. “Our organizations, which represent nearly every sector of the American economy, strongly urge the Senate to quickly pass a cybersecurity information-sharing bill,” their letter said.
Parties still can’t agree on details of data breach bill
POLITICOPRO (Subscribe)
Kate Tummarello
President Barack Obama and lawmakers from both parties broadly agree on the need for rules to deal with data breaches, but there are plenty of sticking points emerging over the details. At a hearing Tuesday, members of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on trade — meeting a week after Obama pushed for data breach legislation in his State of the Union address — debated how much the government should dictate how companies respond to computer intrusions.
F.T.C. Says Internet-Connected Devices Pose Big Risks
NEW YORK TIMES
Natasha Singer
The Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday confirmed some of the worst fears about Internet-connected devices, saying the technology presented serious data security and privacy risks, and urged companies to make data protection a top priority. … In a staff report, the agency urged companies to institute basic data security measures when they develop such devices and sensors, rather than as an afterthought. It also encouraged companies to develop new ways to communicate their data collection and handling practices — even if they market sensors that are too small to contain digital information displays for consumers.
The head of the FTC wants to ensure tech companies have enough women and minorities
WASHINGTON POST
Brian Fung
After a year of reports showing how predominantly male and white the tech workforce is in Silicon Valley, federal regulators say they’re taking a closer look at office diversity as a way to keep bias out of our everyday technology. Intentionally or not, the data and algorithms that propel the country’s largest tech companies can easily wind up marginalizing vulnerable Americans, the head of the Federal Trade Commission, Edith Ramirez, told a Washington conference Tuesday. To head off those risks, workplaces should have more women and minorities helping to shape the underlying technology.
FCC Warns Hotels, Others Not to Block Personal Wi-Fi
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Don Clark
Federal Communications Commission officials warned that the agency will prosecute businesses that block people from using personal Wi-Fi networks. In a so-called enforcement advisory Tuesday, the FCC said its enforcement bureau has witnessed a “disturbing trend” in which hotels and other commercial establishments block wireless consumers from using personal Wi-Fi hot spots on their premises. It said it would be aggressive in investigating and acting against any blocking.
Republicans shine spotlight on Internet management system
THE HILL
Mario Trujillo
Two Republican senators are hoping to shine a spotlight on the Commerce Department’s moves to hand off oversight of the system governing Internet addresses. GOP Sens. Orrin Hatch (Utah) and Roy Blunt (Mo.) introduced a resolution Tuesday that would designate the week of Feb. 8 as Internet Governance Awareness Week, which would coincide with a meeting in Singapore on the topic.
Finance
How Democrats killed Obama’s college savings plan
POLITICO
Rachael Bade and Allie Grasgreen
A dramatic lobbying effort on Air Force One — led by key leaders in his own party — helped prod President Barack Obama to drop a much ballyhooed plan to tax college savings in an embarrassing retreat from a plan announced just a little more than a week ago. And now Hill Republicans want to rub his nose in it by voting to expand the tax break. Sources told POLITICO that the president was lobbied even on his own plane by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. And a key call came from House Budget Committee ranking Democrat Chris Van Hollen while Obama flew from India to Saudi Arabia.
Obama’s 529 Surrender
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Editorial
It’s a shame there won’t be a vote, because the 529 tax increase is a rare example of the President’s policy sincerity. Liberals sooner or later must raise taxes on the middle class because taxing the rich alone can’t possibly finance all of the Democratic Party’s entitlement schemes. The middle class is where the real money is. So while taxing 529s may die for now, it’s only a matter of time before liberals are back with a carbon tax or value-added tax or something. That’s the real meaning of “middle-class economics.”
How Student Debt Harms the Economy
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Mitch Daniels
Even though the debt balloon is a fairly young phenomenon, several damaging results are already evident. Research from the Pew Research Center and Rutgers shows that today’s 20- and 30-year-olds are delaying marriage and delaying childbearing, both unhelpful trends from an economic and social standpoint. Between 25% and 40% of borrowers report postponing homes, cars and other major purchases. Half say that their student loans are increasing their risk of defaulting on other bills. Strikingly, 45% of graduates age 24 and under are living back at home or with a family member of some kind.
Fannie, Freddie Regulator Defends Actions
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Joe Light
A top housing regulator, in a tense four-hour hearing before Congress on Tuesday, defended a series of controversial decisions made in his first year on the job that the regulator believes will improve access to housing but critics say could increase taxpayer risk. Mel Watt, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s regulator, was called to the hearing after he directed the mortgage giants in December to begin sending a portion of their profits to the affordable housing trust funds.
Hard Choices on Easy Money Lie Ahead for Fed Chief
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Jon Hilsenrath and Pedro Nicolaci Da Costa
Janet Yellen ’s job is about to get harder after a relatively easy first year as Federal Reserve chairwoman. She and her Fed colleagues on Wednesday are likely to repeat after a two-day policy meeting that they “can be patient” in deciding when to start raising short-term interest rates later this year—meaning no rate increases at their next gatherings in March or April. But in the weeks ahead, she’ll face the challenge of forging consensus on whether to formally open the door to rates increases in June.
Stocks Get a Dollar Hit
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Editorial
The problem is that not every country can devalue at the same time, even if it were a desirable growth strategy. Which means watch for more currency shocks in the weeks ahead.
Politics
Obama veto threats at record pace to begin new Congress
USA TODAY
Gregory Korte
The Obama White House has threatened to veto eight bills taken up by the Republican House in January — the most veto threats to begin a new Congress since the Reagan White House first started issuing formal veto threats in 1985.
The sacrifice of Sarah Palin
WASHINGTON POST
Kathleen Parker
In the end, the story of Palin’s rise and fall is a tragedy. And the author wasn’t the media as accused but the Grand Old Party itself. Like worshipers of false gods throughout human history, Republicans handpicked the fair maiden Sarah and placed her on the altar of political expedience. They sacrificed her.
The ‘War on Women’ Isn’t Over Yet
NATIONAL JOURNAL
Alex Roarty
Democrats are far from finished with their “war on women” campaign strategy, midterm losses be damned. Critics said Democrats’ focus on topics such as abortion rights and access to contraception proved to be a losing strategy in 2014. But leading Senate Democratic strategists aren’t backing away from the message just yet. They don’t necessarily defend the way the strategy was executed, but they do think a focus on female voters and the subjects they care about will resonate in next year’s races—especially as Republicans on Capitol Hill debate new abortion legislation.
Lynch to Cast Herself as Departure From Holder in Bid to Be Attorney General
NEW YORK TIMES
Carl Hulse and Matt Apuzzo
Loretta E. Lynch on Wednesday will cast herself as an apolitical career prosecutor who is a departure from Eric H. Holder Jr. when she faces a new Republican-controlled Judiciary Committee that includes some of the administration’s fiercest critics in Congress.
In Reprieve to Obama, Senate Democrats Agree to Wait on Iran Sanctions
NEW YORK TIMES
David E. Sanger
Ten Senate Democrats who have advocated putting more sanctions on Iran gave the White House a two-month reprieve on Tuesday, saying they would wait until after the late-March deadline for completing the outlines of a deal to restrain Tehran’s nuclear program before voting for a bill that President Obama has said would undermine any chance of reaching an agreement.
Mormons Seek Golden Mean Between Gay Rights and Religious Beliefs
NEW YORK TIMES
Laurie Goodstein
At a rare news conference at church headquarters in Salt Lake City, leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints forcefully condemned discrimination against gays and vowed to support nondiscrimination laws — like one proposed in Utah — to protect people from being denied jobs or housing because of their sexual orientation. But they also called for these same laws, or others, to protect the rights of people who say their beliefs compel them to oppose homosexuality or to refuse service to gay couples.
