Good morning and welcome to the Weekly Strike. I thought this week would be dominated by the fight over financial reform, but a lot of other stories are dominating the news, most notably the oil spill in the gulf coast. Let's get to the week in politics.
THE WHITE HOUSE: Just when the White House wanted to hone in on Wall Street reform, they have been distracted by events beyond their control. The oil spill in the gulf coast is turning into an unmitigated disaster. By the time all is said and done, this could be a bigger spill than the Exxon-Valdez catastrophe in 1989. Some conservatives have tried to suggest that this is Obama's Katrina, which is patently absurd. For one, the lives of millions of Americans aren't under immediate threat. Two, Obama has done a good job coordinating state and local efforts in the gulf region, including close work with potential adversary Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal (R).
The White House also had to focus this weekend on the failed terror attempt in Times Square. Explosives found in a car failed to detonate. It doesn't look like this will be a major story, mostly because the suspect appears to be a white guy. The double standards in our society are pretty amazing.
The President's schedule is pretty light to start the week. This morning, he hosts a reception at the Naval Academy for winners of the "Commander in Chief" awards. Later this afternoon, he holds a dinner for the Business Council. The schedule for the remainder of the week is in flux, but I expect him to make one or two appearances on the road.
THE SENATE: Now that Republicans have relented in their obstructionism, the Senate can begin debate on Wall Street reform. Votes on amendments will begin tomorrow. Unlike previous legislation where Democrats wanted to fend off inevitable attempts to make the bill worse, this amendment process may offer progressives some opportunities. Anger at Goldman Sachs after their performance at a Senate hearing last week perhaps has given more momentum to proponents of reform. One particular amendment that might come up, offered by Senators Kaufman (DE) and Brown (OH) would break up the big banks and prevent them from becoming "too big to fail." I'm afraid the Obama administration is opposed to this approach, as is Banking Chairman Dodd (CT). The Big Picture may write more about this amendment, but it would be shameful to see it go down in flames. Not only is it good policy, but it would be very good populist politics.
The other key amendment to look out for is a chance to re-enact the Glass-Stegall Act, which separates banks from other financial institutions. The act was overturned by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act in 1999. I'm not too confident on this amendment going though, simply because of the influence of lobbyists, but I'll do my best to keep my hopes up.
THE HOUSE: After taking up suspension bills today and tomorrow, the House will take up the so-called "Cash for Caulkers" bill. The bill will give rebates to individuals and businesses for retrofitting for energy efficiency. The bill has one Republican cosponsor, so I expect it to pass very easily. Perhaps the Senate can include the bill as part of its comprehensive energy package that it will take up...err...at some point.
That's it for now. Leave some comments!
Showing posts with label Offshore Drilling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Offshore Drilling. Show all posts
Monday, May 3, 2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
The Daily Strike-4/29/10-Crist/Oil/Puerto Rico
Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. It was a real mixed bag in politics today, and none of it involved the biggest current issue: financial regulation. The Senate will not vote on amendments to the bill until Tuesday.
CRIST: It's official. Florida Governor Charlie Crist will now run for the Senate as an independent, instead of a Republican. He was due to get his clocked cleaned in the Republican primary by Marco Rubio, the Cuban-American former State House Speaker. I'm not sure Crist's decision makes the race any more winnable for Democrat Kendrick Meek. Crist has completely alienated the Republican party. At this point, I don't think many Republicans in that state will vote for Crist. It's unclear how many true independents vote in Florida. In fact, if I were Kendrick Meek, I'd worry that Crist may eat into the Democratic vote, especially among some of the older Florida voters who may not be comfortable voting for an African American Senator.
The broader significance of Crist's decision is the continued purging of moderates in the Republican party. Crist is far more of an orthodox Republican, for example, than Ben Nelson is an orthodox Democrat. He harshly criticized the health care bill, and has generally governed as a conservative. That is not enough to be in today's Republican party. Bob Bennett, a very conservative Republican Senator from Utah, looks like he will lose his primary election next month to a challenger from the right, simply because he is somewhat moderate-tempered, and because he co-sponsored a health care bill with Democratic Senator Ron Wyden. If this sort of purging brings more moderate Democrats into the fold, then I'll be thrilled. I'm more worried, however, that the Republican party, one of the two major parties in this country, will be exclusively far, far-right.
I'm changing the rating for this seat to "toss-up" until I see some additional polling. If I were a betting man, I'd bet on Marco Rubio to win the race.
OIL: I don't have much to say about the oil spill in the Gulf Coast, but I will echo the words of comedian Bill Maher, who said that, "Every asshole who ever chanted 'Drill baby drill' should have to report to the Gulf coast today for cleanup duty." This includes President Obama, who as recently as a month ago, said that no oil spills today are caused by offshore oil rigs. Offshore drilling isn't the most outrageous policy in the world to me, but the benefits of getting a little more fossil fuel that won't be available for 10 years doesn't outweigh the cost of massive environmental damage.
THE HOUSE: The House today considered a bill that gives Puerto Rico the ability to choose its future relationship with the United States. The bill would mandate an election, where the Puerto Rican people could vote up or down on whether to maintain their current arrangement with our country. If the vote succeeded, another such vote would occur in 8 years. If the vote failed, the Puerto Rican people would be able to vote to sever ties with the U.S., or apply for statehood. The bill passed, though as of press time we dont' have the final tally. The House also took up a series of amendments to the bill.
The next votes in both the House and Senate will occur on Tuesday. This is our last entry for the week. Leave us some comments, and we'll see you on Monday!
CRIST: It's official. Florida Governor Charlie Crist will now run for the Senate as an independent, instead of a Republican. He was due to get his clocked cleaned in the Republican primary by Marco Rubio, the Cuban-American former State House Speaker. I'm not sure Crist's decision makes the race any more winnable for Democrat Kendrick Meek. Crist has completely alienated the Republican party. At this point, I don't think many Republicans in that state will vote for Crist. It's unclear how many true independents vote in Florida. In fact, if I were Kendrick Meek, I'd worry that Crist may eat into the Democratic vote, especially among some of the older Florida voters who may not be comfortable voting for an African American Senator.
The broader significance of Crist's decision is the continued purging of moderates in the Republican party. Crist is far more of an orthodox Republican, for example, than Ben Nelson is an orthodox Democrat. He harshly criticized the health care bill, and has generally governed as a conservative. That is not enough to be in today's Republican party. Bob Bennett, a very conservative Republican Senator from Utah, looks like he will lose his primary election next month to a challenger from the right, simply because he is somewhat moderate-tempered, and because he co-sponsored a health care bill with Democratic Senator Ron Wyden. If this sort of purging brings more moderate Democrats into the fold, then I'll be thrilled. I'm more worried, however, that the Republican party, one of the two major parties in this country, will be exclusively far, far-right.
I'm changing the rating for this seat to "toss-up" until I see some additional polling. If I were a betting man, I'd bet on Marco Rubio to win the race.
OIL: I don't have much to say about the oil spill in the Gulf Coast, but I will echo the words of comedian Bill Maher, who said that, "Every asshole who ever chanted 'Drill baby drill' should have to report to the Gulf coast today for cleanup duty." This includes President Obama, who as recently as a month ago, said that no oil spills today are caused by offshore oil rigs. Offshore drilling isn't the most outrageous policy in the world to me, but the benefits of getting a little more fossil fuel that won't be available for 10 years doesn't outweigh the cost of massive environmental damage.
THE HOUSE: The House today considered a bill that gives Puerto Rico the ability to choose its future relationship with the United States. The bill would mandate an election, where the Puerto Rican people could vote up or down on whether to maintain their current arrangement with our country. If the vote succeeded, another such vote would occur in 8 years. If the vote failed, the Puerto Rican people would be able to vote to sever ties with the U.S., or apply for statehood. The bill passed, though as of press time we dont' have the final tally. The House also took up a series of amendments to the bill.
The next votes in both the House and Senate will occur on Tuesday. This is our last entry for the week. Leave us some comments, and we'll see you on Monday!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
The Daily Strike-3/31/10-Offshore Drilling, Seriously?
Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. We're talking offshore drilling today, and it's giving me flashbacks to the "Drill, Baby, Drill!" days of 2008. And the Republicans thought that chant was their savior...
DRILLING: Today President Obama decided to lift a decades-long ban on offshore drilling off of the mid-Atlantic coast, in the Gulf of Mexico, and in some areas in Alaska. The good news is that Obama is still protecting the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, and it won't affect me because he won't be drilling off the coast of Maryland (take THAT, Virginia!).
The bad news is that this seeming capitulation to the Republicans doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I guess President Obama is using a promise of offshore drilling to get Republican support for his climate change bill. Let's face it: Republicans wouldn't support Obama's climate bill if the President funnelled money to NASCAR, the NRA and the Family Research Council. There is no point in giving ground in a major policy debate if you don't get anything in return. If Democrats were stuck at 59 votes on a groundbreaking climate bill in the Senate, and President Obama proposed increased offshore drilling to guarantee the support of one Republican Senator, I wouldn't have that big of a problem with it. But to propose drilling and get nothing from conservatives in return seems to me a bit pointless.
President Obama wisely pointed out that we only have 2 percent of the world's oil reserves, and we use 20 percent of the world's oil. Eventually we will need to transition to a clean energy economy, and the longer we wait, the more painful sacrifice we'll have to make. I'm not sure that President Obama's announcement today helps to achieve that goal.
I will say this, however: I have a much harder time doubting President Obama after what he pulled out on health reform.
THE WHITE HOUSE: The President spent this afternoon hosting a Women and Girls' Forum on Workplace Flexibility. Obama made remarks at the event, and even put in a plug for telecommuting. He doesn't want anymore government snow days, apparently. To achieve this goal, there better not be one inch of snow next year.
That's it for right now. I really need Congress to come back in session.
DRILLING: Today President Obama decided to lift a decades-long ban on offshore drilling off of the mid-Atlantic coast, in the Gulf of Mexico, and in some areas in Alaska. The good news is that Obama is still protecting the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, and it won't affect me because he won't be drilling off the coast of Maryland (take THAT, Virginia!).
The bad news is that this seeming capitulation to the Republicans doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I guess President Obama is using a promise of offshore drilling to get Republican support for his climate change bill. Let's face it: Republicans wouldn't support Obama's climate bill if the President funnelled money to NASCAR, the NRA and the Family Research Council. There is no point in giving ground in a major policy debate if you don't get anything in return. If Democrats were stuck at 59 votes on a groundbreaking climate bill in the Senate, and President Obama proposed increased offshore drilling to guarantee the support of one Republican Senator, I wouldn't have that big of a problem with it. But to propose drilling and get nothing from conservatives in return seems to me a bit pointless.
President Obama wisely pointed out that we only have 2 percent of the world's oil reserves, and we use 20 percent of the world's oil. Eventually we will need to transition to a clean energy economy, and the longer we wait, the more painful sacrifice we'll have to make. I'm not sure that President Obama's announcement today helps to achieve that goal.
I will say this, however: I have a much harder time doubting President Obama after what he pulled out on health reform.
THE WHITE HOUSE: The President spent this afternoon hosting a Women and Girls' Forum on Workplace Flexibility. Obama made remarks at the event, and even put in a plug for telecommuting. He doesn't want anymore government snow days, apparently. To achieve this goal, there better not be one inch of snow next year.
That's it for right now. I really need Congress to come back in session.
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