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| Welcome to Wonkbook, Wonkblog's morning policy news primer byMax Ehrenfreund (@MaxEhrenfreud). Send comments, criticism or ideas to Wonkbook at Washpost dot com. To read more by the Wonkblog team, click here. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook. |
| After a long fight, the FCC is about to approve net neutrality |
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The Federal Communications Commission's vote on net neutrality will likely dominate headlines Thursday, but on Friday, funding for the Department of Homeland Security will expire, and Republicans in Congress still can't agree on how to set up a vote. Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio), the speaker of the House, won't say whether he agrees with Republican senators, who want to separate the issue of funding for the department from the issue of Obama's offer to defer deportation for undocumented immigrants with children who are here legally.
But this tactical disagreement is just the consequence of a larger, unresolved philosophical debate among Republicans: They don't agree on what the alternative to Obama's plan should be. That's clear from the fact that no G.O.P. lawmakers are talking about introducing any kind of comprehensive legislation that would fund the Department of Homeland Security, rescind Obama's policies, and reform the immigration system, too. The result, as David Weigel reports for Bloomberg, is that the party's leaders are showing no enthusiasm for this latest manufactured crisis. They aren't operating any kind of public campaign as they've done in the past, likely because it's unclear to them what the message of a campaign would be.
My colleague Sean Sullivan has more on the confusion among Republicans in a piece titled "With clock ticking, Republicans feud over DHS funding." That is precisely not the headline that Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) wanted to see three months after promising to show that Republicans could form "a responsible, right-of-center, governing majority." If Republicans want to govern responsibly with President Obama in the White House, they need a negotiating position. Until they have one, it's hard to see what they hope to accomplish by holding the federal agencies to arbitrary deadlines.
What's in Wonkbook: 1) Net neutrality 2) Opinions, including Feldman on King v. Burwell 3) Pot now legal in D.C., and more
Chart of the day: Measles is still among the leading causes of death worldwide for children under the age of 5. Pneumonia and other lower respiratory infections are still the most deadly. Christopher Ingraham in The Washington Post.
If you're just getting caught up on this debate, this video by Vi Hart is an amusing and useful 11-minute introduction.
But one crucial issue still hasn't been settled. "Those rules are expected to be clear on what happens to traffic sent across Internet service providers’ networks: It can’t be blocked or sped up for a fee, and it will be governed by the same regulatory apparatus used to oversee telephone service. But they are far less clear on how much network owners can charge Internet companies to connect with them in the first place. While the rules would prevent Verizon from charging Netflix for faster service across its network, they will allow it to charge for higher-capacity connections at the front gate."Drew Fitzgerald in The Wall Street Journal.
Republicans in Congress may yet try to come up with an alternative through legislation. "Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) isn't giving up on net neutrality legislation. ... A committee spokesperson said that the chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee is still committed to finding a legislative solution. Although a bill won't come together before the FCC votes, as many critics of the agency were hoping, GOP outreach to Democrats will continue." Brian Fung in The Washington Post.
Net neutrality will protect socioeconomic and ideological diversity online, argues Malkia Cyril, the director of the Center for Media Justice in Oakland. "Internet service providers want to break the internet into fast and slow lanes that sell public voice to the highest bidder. If we lose that vote, the most democratic communications platform the world has ever seen could become more like cable TV, a fairly scary place that reproduces the economic gaps and racial hierarchies of the offline world." The views of other groups, "once obscured by corporate gatekeepers, can now reach audiences directly, in their own words, at unprecedented speeds. When the openness of the internet came under attack, these civil rights activists stood up, and fought back." The Guardian.
FELDMAN: In a recent opinion, the Supreme Court gives a preview of how the justices might vote on Obamacare this time. "Roberts was willing to join the liberals to read a statute according to context. Conventional wisdom suggests that context would help interpret the ACA so as to permit tax subsidies for federally created state insurance exchanges, the crucial issue in the King case. Of course, Roberts might eventually claim that context goes the other way in the Obamacare case. But at a minimum, he seems not to want King v. Burwell to look as if it follows partisan lines on deep questions of statutory interpretation." Bloomberg View.
Sen. WARREN: The Pacific trade deal would undermine U.S. sovereignty, argues the Massachusetts Democrat. "The provision, an increasingly common feature of trade agreements, is called 'Investor-State Dispute Settlement,' or ISDS. The name may sound mild, but don’t be fooled. ... Here’s how it would work. Imagine that the United States bans a toxic chemical that is often added to gasoline because of its health and environmental consequences. If a foreign company that makes the toxic chemical opposes the law, it would normally have to challenge it in a U.S. court. But with ISDS, the company could skip the U.S. courts and go before an international panel of arbitrators. If the company won, the ruling couldn’t be challenged in U.S. courts, and the arbitration panel could require American taxpayers to cough up millions — and even billions — of dollars in damages." The Washington Post.
KARABELL: Germany is putting the world economy at risk for the sake of an idea. "If ever we witnessed an unnecessary, self-made crisis, this would be it. And why? To deliver the abstract lesson that rewarding bad behavior creates a moral hazard. What exactly is the point of even allowing for the possibility of a meltdown? Ideological purity? Moral dudgeon? Punishment? And truly, can anyone argue that the Greek economy and millions of its people have not paid a significant penalty?" Politico.
DAVIDSON: The union of the National Football League's athletes is taking a stand against Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. "The union released a strongly worded statement yesterday denouncing the state's proposed right-to-work legislation -- which would prohibit businesses and unions from requiring workers to pay union dues -- and reaffirming its solidarity 'with the working families of Wisconsin and organized labor in their fight against current attacks against their right to stand together as a team. ... Walker may not value these vital employees, but as union members, we do.' " Bloomberg View.
Puerto Rico can't repay its debts without more clarity from Washington. "Because Puerto Rico isn’t a state, it can’t avail itself of the provisions in federal bankruptcy law that enabled Detroit to restructure its debt in an orderly fashion. ... The Obama administration can help by working with Congress to deliver the island from the crushing burden of laws and regulations ill-suited to its circumstances. The federal minimum wage, for instance, puts Puerto Rico at a competitive disadvantage to its Caribbean neighbors, while the antiquated Jones Act forces Puerto Rico to use expensive U.S. ships for the transport of goods to and from the mainland." The editors of Bloomberg View.
Criminal defense lawyers accuse the Chicago Police Department of operating a "black site." "Alleged police practices at Homan Square, according to those familiar with the facility who spoke out to the Guardian after its investigation into Chicago police abuse, include:
--Keeping arrestees out of official booking databases.
--Beating by police, resulting in head wounds.
--Shackling for prolonged periods.
--Denying attorneys access to the 'secure' facility.
--Holding people without legal counsel for between 12 and 24 hours, including people as young as 15." Spencer Ackerman inThe Guardian.
The Clinton Foundation had an ethics agreement with the Obama administration, but it was full of loopholes. "Most of the contributions were possible because of exceptions written into the foundation’s 2008 agreement, which included limits on foreign-government donations. The agreement, reached before Clinton’s nomination amid concerns that countries could use foundation donations to gain favor with a Clinton-led State Department, allowed governments that had previously donated money to continue making contributions at similar levels. ... The 2008 agreement did not prohibit foreign countries with interests before the U.S. government from giving money to the charity closely linked to the secretary of state."Rosalind S. Helderman and Tom Hamburger in The Washington Post.
Marijuana is now legal in Washington, D.C., at least under district law. "There will be no pot shops, no open-air smoking, but at least for the moment, the District — for once in its decades-long struggle for the right to govern itself — has gotten its way, and a green rush is on. Despite a last-hours intervention by the Republican chairman of the House committee that handles D.C. affairs, Mayor Muriel E. Bowser and D.C. Council members said Wednesday that they would not back down from implementing the will of the 70 percent of city voters who approved legalization in November." Marc Fisher, Aaron C. Davis and Perry Stein in The Washington Post.
Does the principle of shareholder value render monetary policy useless? "In the past several years, profits have been increasingly paid back out to shareholders, rather than invested in hiring more people and paying them better. And lately, companies have even been borrowing money to make those shareholder payouts, because with interest rates so low, it’s a relatively cheap way to push stock prices higher. That’s according to a new paper from the Roosevelt Institute, a left-leaning think tank that's launching a project exploring how the financialization of the economy has unlinked corporates from the well-being of regular people." Lydia DePillis in The Washington Post.
But this tactical disagreement is just the consequence of a larger, unresolved philosophical debate among Republicans: They don't agree on what the alternative to Obama's plan should be. That's clear from the fact that no G.O.P. lawmakers are talking about introducing any kind of comprehensive legislation that would fund the Department of Homeland Security, rescind Obama's policies, and reform the immigration system, too. The result, as David Weigel reports for Bloomberg, is that the party's leaders are showing no enthusiasm for this latest manufactured crisis. They aren't operating any kind of public campaign as they've done in the past, likely because it's unclear to them what the message of a campaign would be.
My colleague Sean Sullivan has more on the confusion among Republicans in a piece titled "With clock ticking, Republicans feud over DHS funding." That is precisely not the headline that Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) wanted to see three months after promising to show that Republicans could form "a responsible, right-of-center, governing majority." If Republicans want to govern responsibly with President Obama in the White House, they need a negotiating position. Until they have one, it's hard to see what they hope to accomplish by holding the federal agencies to arbitrary deadlines.
What's in Wonkbook: 1) Net neutrality 2) Opinions, including Feldman on King v. Burwell 3) Pot now legal in D.C., and more
Chart of the day: Measles is still among the leading causes of death worldwide for children under the age of 5. Pneumonia and other lower respiratory infections are still the most deadly. Christopher Ingraham in The Washington Post.
1. Top story: Commission to approve net neutrality
The FCC is expected to approve a "strong" version of net neutrality Thursday. "The Democrat-controlled agency is expected to approve a proposal by FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler that would prohibit broadband service providers from charging websites for faster delivery of their content. The vote, likely 3-2 along party lines, comes a little more than a year after a federal court tossed out the agency's last attempt at setting rules to ensure the uninhibited flow of data over the Internet." Jim Puzzanghera in The Los Angeles Times.If you're just getting caught up on this debate, this video by Vi Hart is an amusing and useful 11-minute introduction.
But one crucial issue still hasn't been settled. "Those rules are expected to be clear on what happens to traffic sent across Internet service providers’ networks: It can’t be blocked or sped up for a fee, and it will be governed by the same regulatory apparatus used to oversee telephone service. But they are far less clear on how much network owners can charge Internet companies to connect with them in the first place. While the rules would prevent Verizon from charging Netflix for faster service across its network, they will allow it to charge for higher-capacity connections at the front gate."Drew Fitzgerald in The Wall Street Journal.
Republicans in Congress may yet try to come up with an alternative through legislation. "Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) isn't giving up on net neutrality legislation. ... A committee spokesperson said that the chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee is still committed to finding a legislative solution. Although a bill won't come together before the FCC votes, as many critics of the agency were hoping, GOP outreach to Democrats will continue." Brian Fung in The Washington Post.
Net neutrality will protect socioeconomic and ideological diversity online, argues Malkia Cyril, the director of the Center for Media Justice in Oakland. "Internet service providers want to break the internet into fast and slow lanes that sell public voice to the highest bidder. If we lose that vote, the most democratic communications platform the world has ever seen could become more like cable TV, a fairly scary place that reproduces the economic gaps and racial hierarchies of the offline world." The views of other groups, "once obscured by corporate gatekeepers, can now reach audiences directly, in their own words, at unprecedented speeds. When the openness of the internet came under attack, these civil rights activists stood up, and fought back." The Guardian.
2. Top opinions
Sen. WARREN: The Pacific trade deal would undermine U.S. sovereignty, argues the Massachusetts Democrat. "The provision, an increasingly common feature of trade agreements, is called 'Investor-State Dispute Settlement,' or ISDS. The name may sound mild, but don’t be fooled. ... Here’s how it would work. Imagine that the United States bans a toxic chemical that is often added to gasoline because of its health and environmental consequences. If a foreign company that makes the toxic chemical opposes the law, it would normally have to challenge it in a U.S. court. But with ISDS, the company could skip the U.S. courts and go before an international panel of arbitrators. If the company won, the ruling couldn’t be challenged in U.S. courts, and the arbitration panel could require American taxpayers to cough up millions — and even billions — of dollars in damages." The Washington Post.
KARABELL: Germany is putting the world economy at risk for the sake of an idea. "If ever we witnessed an unnecessary, self-made crisis, this would be it. And why? To deliver the abstract lesson that rewarding bad behavior creates a moral hazard. What exactly is the point of even allowing for the possibility of a meltdown? Ideological purity? Moral dudgeon? Punishment? And truly, can anyone argue that the Greek economy and millions of its people have not paid a significant penalty?" Politico.
DAVIDSON: The union of the National Football League's athletes is taking a stand against Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. "The union released a strongly worded statement yesterday denouncing the state's proposed right-to-work legislation -- which would prohibit businesses and unions from requiring workers to pay union dues -- and reaffirming its solidarity 'with the working families of Wisconsin and organized labor in their fight against current attacks against their right to stand together as a team. ... Walker may not value these vital employees, but as union members, we do.' " Bloomberg View.
Puerto Rico can't repay its debts without more clarity from Washington. "Because Puerto Rico isn’t a state, it can’t avail itself of the provisions in federal bankruptcy law that enabled Detroit to restructure its debt in an orderly fashion. ... The Obama administration can help by working with Congress to deliver the island from the crushing burden of laws and regulations ill-suited to its circumstances. The federal minimum wage, for instance, puts Puerto Rico at a competitive disadvantage to its Caribbean neighbors, while the antiquated Jones Act forces Puerto Rico to use expensive U.S. ships for the transport of goods to and from the mainland." The editors of Bloomberg View.
3. In case you missed it
--Keeping arrestees out of official booking databases.
--Beating by police, resulting in head wounds.
--Shackling for prolonged periods.
--Denying attorneys access to the 'secure' facility.
--Holding people without legal counsel for between 12 and 24 hours, including people as young as 15." Spencer Ackerman inThe Guardian.
The Clinton Foundation had an ethics agreement with the Obama administration, but it was full of loopholes. "Most of the contributions were possible because of exceptions written into the foundation’s 2008 agreement, which included limits on foreign-government donations. The agreement, reached before Clinton’s nomination amid concerns that countries could use foundation donations to gain favor with a Clinton-led State Department, allowed governments that had previously donated money to continue making contributions at similar levels. ... The 2008 agreement did not prohibit foreign countries with interests before the U.S. government from giving money to the charity closely linked to the secretary of state."Rosalind S. Helderman and Tom Hamburger in The Washington Post.
Marijuana is now legal in Washington, D.C., at least under district law. "There will be no pot shops, no open-air smoking, but at least for the moment, the District — for once in its decades-long struggle for the right to govern itself — has gotten its way, and a green rush is on. Despite a last-hours intervention by the Republican chairman of the House committee that handles D.C. affairs, Mayor Muriel E. Bowser and D.C. Council members said Wednesday that they would not back down from implementing the will of the 70 percent of city voters who approved legalization in November." Marc Fisher, Aaron C. Davis and Perry Stein in The Washington Post.
Does the principle of shareholder value render monetary policy useless? "In the past several years, profits have been increasingly paid back out to shareholders, rather than invested in hiring more people and paying them better. And lately, companies have even been borrowing money to make those shareholder payouts, because with interest rates so low, it’s a relatively cheap way to push stock prices higher. That’s according to a new paper from the Roosevelt Institute, a left-leaning think tank that's launching a project exploring how the financialization of the economy has unlinked corporates from the well-being of regular people." Lydia DePillis in The Washington Post.
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