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Energy
The Feel-Good Folly of Fossil-Fuel Divestment
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Daniel R. Fischel
Any rational investor should make a clear-eyed comparison between the potential benefits and costs of a divestment strategy. A new study that I and my colleagues at Compass Lexecon are releasing on Tuesday indicates that fossil-fuel divestment could significantly harm an investment portfolio.
Climate Is Big Issue for Hispanics, and Personal
NEW YORK TIMES
Coral Davenport
Among Hispanic respondents to the poll, 54 percent rated global warming as extremely or very important to them personally, compared with 37 percent of whites. Sixty-seven percent of Hispanics said they would be hurt personally to a significant degree if nothing was done to reduce global warming, compared with half of whites. And 63 percent of Hispanics said the federal government should act broadly to address global warming, compared with 49 percent of whites.
Oil-Price Rebound Predicted
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Sarah Kent and Benoît Faucon
A wave of spending cuts by oil producers and a sharp decline in the number of rigs drilling for crude in the U.S. likely will slow the nation’s oil-output growth, spurring a rebound in prices, the International Energy Agency said in a report released Tuesday U.K. time. The benchmark U.S. oil price rose 2.3% to $52.86 a barrel on Monday and is up 19% from a nearly six-year low hit last month.
Turning Carbon Dioxide Into Rock, and Burying It
NEW YORK TIMES
Henry Fountain
In a test that began in 2012, scientists had injected hundreds of tons of water and carbon dioxide gas 1,500 feet down into layers of porous basaltic rock, the product of ancient lava flows from the nearby Hengill volcano. Now the researcher, Sandra Snaebjornsdottir, a doctoral student at the University of Iceland, was looking for signs that the CO2 had combined with elements in the basalt and become calcite, a solid crystalline mineral. In short, she wanted to see if the gas had turned to stone. “We have some calcites here,” she said, pointing to a smattering of white particles in the otherwise dark gray rock samples.
Technology
New agency to sniff out threats in cyberspace
WASHINGTON POST
Ellen Nakashima
The Obama administration is establishing a new agency to combat the deepening threat from cyberattacks, and its mission will be to fuse intelligence from around the government when a crisis occurs. The agency is modeled after the National Counterterrorism Center, which was launched in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks amid criticism that the government failed to share intelligence that could have unraveled the al-Qaeda plot.
FCC intends ‘clear message’ by overriding state broadband laws
THE HILL
Mario Trujillo
The Federal Communications Commission will be sending a “clear message” when it votes to override two state laws restricting the expansion of city-run Internet networks, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said Monday. The vote later this month will only have bearing on laws in North Carolina and Tennessee, but Wheeler said it would provide a precedent for action against similar restrictions around the country.
Don’t shackle the Internet
USA TODAY
Michael Powell
USA TODAY may call this an “opposing view,” but I agree that we can and should enact strong new net neutrality rules to keep the Internet open and free. So does the entire broadband industry. The only area of difference is in how we enact those rules. The Title II public utility approach, which President Obama recommended and the Federal Communications Commission is considering, is the worst possible way to do so.
‘Net neutrality’ is no government takeover
USA TODAY
Editorial
Sometimes, rules on uncompetitive companies are necessary to allow more competitive ones to thrive. It was true in the age of dial-up. And it’s still true today.
Tim Wu on the FCC’s net neutrality proposal: ‘The middle of the road is for roadkill’
WASHINGTON POST
Brian Fung
WU: Well, my reaction, like a lot of people’s is, it’s big. Tom Wheeler basically put his money where his mouth was. He was talking the talk in defense of an open Internet and net neutrality, and I guess he decided the middle of the road is for roadkill. And he went for a full net neutrality, strong net neutrality rule.
Second Hill Panel Probes Events Leading to FCC’s Net Neutrality Plan
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Siobhan Hughes
A Senate investigative panel has opened its own probe into whether the White House improperly influenced the Federal Communications Commission when the agency proposed new rules for how broadband providers treat traffic on their networks. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Ron Johnson (R., Wis.) sent a letter to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler giving him two weeks to provide documents related to the proposal, along with a written explanation of “what new factors” led him to conclude that an earlier approach was “no longer appropriate.”
Finance
The Best Thing Congress Can Do for American Workers
POLITICO
John Engler, Thomas J. Donohue, Jay Timmons and Bob Stallman
This year, Congress and the president have a historic opportunity to enact legislation that will allow the United States to sell more goods and services to 95 percent of the world’s consumers who live outside the United States. With more than one in five American jobs dependent on trade, boosting U.S. exports and the jobs they support should be a top priority for policymakers. That is why we strongly urge Congress to act quickly to pass bipartisan Trade Promotion Authority legislation early this year.
Left and Right Align in Fighting Obama’s Trade Agenda
NEW YORK TIMES
Jonathan Weisman
An odd marriage of convenience between liberal Democrats and Tea Party Republicans is squeezing President Obama on his ambitious trade agenda, forcing the White House and top Republicans to fight a two-front war on an international economic effort the president hopes to secure before he leaves office.
Central Bankers Bash ‘Audit the Fed’ Bill
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Kate Davidson and Michael S. Derby
Three Federal Reserve officials criticized proposed legislation to expand congressional oversight of the central bank’s interest-rate decisions, pushing back against the bill as it is gaining attention. Fed governor Jerome Powell on Monday called the bill, known to supporters as “Audit the Fed,” misguided. He said it would threaten the central bank’s independence.
Regulation of Shadow Banking Takes a Dark Turn
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Peter J. Wallison
Recent statements by senior Federal Reserve officials show that the agency is stepping up efforts to investigate and ultimately regulate what they call the “shadow-banking system.” As the regulators define that term, it is nothing less than capital and securities markets—the industries principally responsible for the growth of the U.S. economy over the past 40 years.
U.S. Is Seeking Felony Pleas by Big Banks in Foreign Currency Inquiry
NEW YORK TIMES
Ben Protess and Jessica Silver-Greenberg
In the final stages of a long-running investigation into corruption in the world’s largest financial market, federal prosecutors have recently informed Barclays, JPMorgan Chase, the Royal Bank of Scotland and Citigroup that they must enter guilty pleas to settle the cases, according to lawyers briefed on the matter. The pleas would be likely to carry a symbolic stigma, if limited actual fallout, in handing felony convictions to some of the world’s biggest banks.
FHA Looks to Ease Banks’ Worry on Mortgage Mistakes
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Joe Light
A U.S. housing regulator is considering limiting one of the most powerful tools federal attorneys have to punish banks for making mistakes in mortgage lending, a move the Federal Housing Administration hopes will encourage banks to give more home loans to worthy but weaker borrowers, according to people familiar with the matter.
Top Republican presses for ‘fiduciary rule’ details
THE HILL
Kevin Cirilli
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) is pressing administration officials on how they’ll impose looming regulations for financial advisers that Republicans say will cut access to low-income Americans. Johnson is asking Department of Labor Secretary Thomas Perez to explain how the new regulations won’t “adversely affect middle and low-income Americans,” according to the Feb. 5 letter obtained first by The Hill on Monday.
Politics
Democrats suffering from Clinton fatigue say they’re ready for Warren
WASHINGTON POST
Robert Costa
As Clinton prepares to launch her all-but-certain 2016 campaign, the former secretary of state remains a favorite of a vast majority of Democrats and the front-runner for the party’s presidential nomination. Still, there is unease among progressives about her largely uncontested ascent. Seeking an alternative to the juggernaut, this restless Sunday gathering at the Ames public library and others like it are popping up around the country — all part of an effort to draft populist Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) into the race, in spite of her insistence that she will not be a candidate.
For policy, Jeb Bush shops at Walmart
POLITICO
Darren Samuelsohn
Next year’s election is shaping up to be the strongest on policy in recent history, thanks to a wide-open, issue-hungry presidential field and the promise that no matter who wins, 2017 may just be the year that the legislative logjam finally breaks and big things get done again in Washington.
Any rewrite of No Child Left Behind should keep annual testing provisions
WASHINGTON POST
Editorial
There are valid concerns about over-testing; states and localities should take a hard look at whether they have a structure of unnecessary or duplicative tests. But the federal government must not back away from the common-sense principle that states need to test students, use the results to judge if schools are showing growth and take action against those that consistently fail to do so.
States rise up against Washington
THE HILL
Lydia Wheeler
State legislators around the country have introduced more than 200 bills aiming to nullify regulations and laws coming out of Washington, D.C., as they look to rein in the federal government. The legislative onslaught, which includes bills targeting federal restrictions on firearms, experimental treatments and hemp, reflects growing discord between the states and Washington, state officials say.
Medicare and Social Security Costs? Out of Sight, Out of Mind
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Gerald Seib
There was a time, not long ago, when both parties were at least paying lip service to the idea that the Social Security and Medicare entitlement programs—their long-term solvency in peril, their contributions to long-term deficits and debt daunting—needed to be adjusted before they either broke the bank or failed future retirees. Now a combination of factors has blunted the reform drive. Declining short-term deficits, the salve of slower increases in health costs, the sheer failure of repeated attempts to find bipartisan common ground on changes, traditional Democratic reluctance and the growing dependence of Republicans on senior citizens’ votes all reduce Washington’s interest in tackling this toughest of problems.
Obama and Netanyahu Clash From Afar Over Israeli’s Planned Speech
NEW YORK TIMES
Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Isabel Kershner
The latest conflict between President Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel erupted into public view on Monday, as the two leaders clashed from afar over Mr. Netanyahu’s plans to visit Washington next month and the direction of negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program. At a White House news conference, Mr. Obama signaled his displeasure with the speech Mr. Netanyahu is scheduled to give in March to a joint meeting of Congress at the invitation of Speaker John A. Boehner, suggesting that his visit two weeks before the Israeli election risked injecting politics into the relationship between the United States and Israel.
Gay Marriage in Alabama Begins, but Only in Parts
NEW YORK TIMES
Alan Blinder and Richard Pérez-Peña
Despite a federal judge’s rulings legalizing same-sex marriage, most probate judges in Alabama on Monday refused to issue marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples, escalating a legal showdown that echoed the battles over desegregation here in the 1960s.
