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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. |
| Cleveland mayor apologizes after city blames Tamir Rice for his own death |
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The mayor of Cleveland has apologized after the city filed a court document blaming Tamir Rice for his own death in a police shooting last year. Rice was 12. The document stated that Rice's death was caused "by the failure ... to exercise due care to avoid injury," Leila Atassi reports for The Plain Dealer. Rice's family will deliver their response at a news conference Tuesday morning.
Cleveland officials said that those words had been written by a lawyer for the city acting in good faith using perfunctory legal language, and the city has three weeks to amend the document. All the same, it's hard to avoid wondering how many people in Cleveland's police department and municipal government agree with the sentiment the court document expressed, and view Rice as the victim of his own actions.
"It’s often hard to know exactly what happened in a police-abuse case, and it makes sense to err on the side of the officer. But there are times when that choice is ludicrous—when an officer is clearly in the wrong, but the department stands with him anyway. This is the situation in Cleveland, Ohio, where the police department is in full support of the two officers who killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice," writes Jamelle Bouie at Slate.
In any case, even the appearance of bias in a case like this one damages relations between cops and civilians, eroding public safety. With his apology, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson neatly underscored President Obama's call, also on Monday, for independent criminal investigations in officer-involved shootings.
What's in Wonkbook: 1) Netanyahu's speech 2) Opinions, including Brill and Leonhardt on King v. Burwell 3) Hillary Clinton may have violated federal records laws as Secretary of State, and more
Map of the day: The dollar has been running up in value against currencies worldwide. Darla Cameron and Dan Keating in The Washington Post.
For his part, President Obama laid out his case in an interview, arguing a deal will hold Iran in check. "Iran must commit to a verifiable freeze of at least 10 years on sensitive nuclear activity for a landmark atomic deal to be reached, but the odds are still against sealing a final agreement, U.S. President Barack Obama told Reuters on Monday. ... Talks between major powers and Iran to restrict Tehran's nuclear capabilities in exchange for an easing of sanctions have reached a critical stage ahead of an end of March deadline for a framework deal and a June 30 date for a final agreement."Jeff Mason for Reuters.
ROBERT KAGAN: Netanyahu's decision to speak without a presidential invitation damages the relationship and sets a dangerous precedent. "Is anyone thinking about the future? From now on, whenever the opposition party happens to control Congress — a common enough occurrence — it may call in a foreign leader to speak to a joint meeting of Congress against a president and his policies. ... Does that sound implausible? Yes, it was implausible — until now. Now we are sailing into uncharted waters." The Washington Post.
GOLDBERG: Any deal with Iran could be dangerous. "The deal that seems to be taking shape right now does not fill me — or many others who support a diplomatic solution to this crisis — with confidence. Reports suggest that the prospective agreement will legitimate Iran’s right to enrich uranium (a 'right' that doesn’t actually exist in international law)... Obama’s greatest argument against Netanyahu is simple and dispositive: The Israelis have not offered a better solution to the Iranian challenge. But the fact that Netanyahu has no actual ideas—other than strategies that lead to endless sanctions of diminishing effectiveness and bombing runs of similarly dubious long-term effectiveness—does not absolve the Obama administration of its responsibility to secure the toughest deal possible." The Atlantic.
PILLAR: Netanyahu's goal is maintaining Israeli power in the Middle East, not furthering American interests. "By opposing—and to the extent Israeli efforts are successful, preventing—the United States from doing any worthwhile business with Iran, whether on nuclear matters or on anything else, the Israeli claim to being the only reliable and effective U.S. partner in the region sounds more convincing. ... Probably the most direct conflict with U.S. interests comes from Netanyahu in effect telling the United States that it cannot do business with certain other countries, and that it cannot fully use its diplomatic tools to pursue U.S. interests as it sees fit." The National Interest.
BRILL: The plaintiffs' argument in King v. Burwell is pure fiction. "Congress knew exactly what it wanted to do when it passed the Affordable Care Act in 2010, and contrary to the plaintiffs’ claim, that included wanting subsidies for buying health insurance on the Obamacare exchanges to be available to all citizens, even those residing in the 36 states that did not set up their own exchanges, instead relying on the exchange set up by the federal government. I’m a reporter. I hate to take sides. ... But this is one of those issues where reporters err if they write an 'on the one hand, on the other hand' story that creates patently false equivalency." Reuters.
LEONHARDT: The Supreme Court is polarized as never before. "The current court is the first one in American history in which close, major cases regularly feature all of the Democratic appointees and all of the Republican ones on opposite sides. But none of those previous splits have had nearly the real-world impact that the King case could have. A ruling for the plaintiffs would cancel the subsidies that millions of people receive to buy health insurance, in about three dozen states. Without such subsidies, most of those people would not be able to afford insurance. The sickest would still try to buy plans, however, driving up prices for everyone else and most likely causing some people even without subsidies to be unable to afford coverage." The New York Times.
There is an alternative to Obamacare, argue Reps. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), John Kline (R-Minn.) and Fred Upton (R-Mich.). "Our proposal will also allow participating states to opt out of ObamaCare’s burdensome individual and employer mandates, allowing Americans to purchase the coverage they want. ... At the same time, we would set up other safeguards for patients. We would allow parents to keep children on their plan until age 26. We would prohibit insurers from imposing lifetime limits on benefits. We would protect people with existing conditions. And we would guarantee renewability for people already enrolled in a plan." The Wall Street Journal.
YGLESIAS: American democracy is doomed. "In a 1990 essay, the late Yale political scientist Juan Linz observed that 'aside from the United States, only Chile has managed a century and a half of relatively undisturbed constitutional continuity under presidential government — but Chilean democracy broke down in the 1970s.' ... As dysfunctional as American government may seem today, we've actually been lucky. No other presidential system has gone as long as ours without a major breakdown of the constitutional order. But the factors underlying that stability — first non-ideological parties and then non-disciplined ones — are gone. And it's worth considering the possibility that with them, so too has gone the American exception to the rule of presidential breakdown."Vox.
CUMMINGS: Would former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton bring Democratic lobbyists in from the cold? "For six years, the party's 'advocacy class' has been shut out of the highest level of political fundraising due to President Barack Obama's ban on lobbyist and corporate PAC donations to his campaigns. ... The Clintons, who have never viewed the advocacy community with the disdain expressed by Obama or Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, could end the exile. 'A lot of those lobbyists, whether you like it or not, represent real Americans,' Hillary Clinton said in August 2007." Bloomberg View.
Clinton might have violated federal record-keeping requirements. "Mrs. Clinton did not have a government email address during her four-year tenure at the State Department. Her aides took no actions to have her personal emails preserved on department servers at the time, as required by the Federal Records Act." Michael S. Schmidt in The New York Times.
State GOP officials are thinking about setting up health care exchanges in anticipation of the Supreme Court case. "The discussions taking place in state capitals around the country are part of a flurry of planning and lobbying by officials, insurance and hospital executives, and health-care advocates to blunt the possible impact of a court ruling. ... At least six states where Republican leaders had previously refused to set up state marketplaces under the Affordable Care Act are now considering what steps they might take to preserve the subsidies being paid to their residents." Sandhya Somashekhar, Jason Millman and Lena H. Sun in The Washington Post.
Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.) will retire. "Mikulski surprised many colleagues Monday with her announcement that she will leave the Senate next year after five terms. In good health at 78, the senator said she wants to shift her focus: 'Do I spend my time raising money? Or do I spend my time raising hell?' ... Often dubbed the Senate’s meanest member, she was regularly described as “prickly” by friends and foes alike. Yet she became a role model for generations of women in politics — in both parties. She was the first Democratic woman — and second woman overall — elected to the Senate who did not succeed her husband or father in elective office." Marc Fisher and Jenna Johnson in The Washington Post.
Jeb Bush may regret the cash he handed out to business as governor of Florida. "As Bush leads possible Republican candidates in the 2016 race for the U.S. presidency, the missed projections and mixed results of his signature economic policy as governor — a biotechnology gamble that has yet to pay off — illustrate problems he could face in explaining his own record while promoting a vision of 'real conservative success.' ... Making an early case for his presidential ambitions, Bush has stressed that government shouldn’t be in the business of picking winning industries and that market forces should do that job. 'I’m not here to take sides and I don’t think the government should either,' he said in a speech on Feb. 4. But his Florida record tells another story." Jason Szep for Reuters.
Bush refuses to pledge not to raise taxes. "Jeb Bush will not sign any 'no new taxes' pledges or any other pledges if he decides to seek the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, a spokeswoman said on Saturday. The statement from Bush spokeswoman Kristy Campbell was in response to an appeal from anti-tax champion Grover Norquist for Bush to sign his Taxpayers Protection Pledge, in which candidates agree to oppose tax increases." Steve Holland for Reuters.
Criminal records are keeping men out of work. "Men with criminal records account for about 34 percent of all nonworking men ages 25 to 54, according to a recent New York Times/CBS News/Kaiser Family Foundation poll. The reluctance of employers to hire people with criminal records, combined with laws that place broad categories of jobs off-limits, is... taking a toll on the broader economy. It is preventing millions of American men from becoming, in that old phrase, productive members of society." Binyamin Appelbaum in The New York Times.
The administration considers a ban on a type of armor-piercing ammunition that can be used in both rifles and handguns. "Armor-piercing handgun ammunition has been banned since 1986 as a way to protect police officers under the federal Law Enforcement Officers Protection Act. The rifle bullets now facing a ban were long considered exempt because they were used for sporting purposes, such as target shooting. An ATF spokeswoman, Ginger Colbrun, said Monday the agency is considering eliminating the exemption now because of the production of so-called AR pistols that can fire the same cartridge." Alicia A. Caldwell for the Associated Press.
A federal agent testifies that medical marijuana will somehow cause Utah's rabbits to be high all the time. "Some wild animals apparently do develop a taste for bud (and, yes, best to keep it away from your pets). But I don't know that the occasional high rabbit constitutes grounds for keeping marijuana prohibition in place, any more than drunk squirrels are an argument for outlawing alcohol. And let's not even get started on the nationwide epidemic of catnip abuse."Christopher Ingraham in The Washington Post.
Cleveland officials said that those words had been written by a lawyer for the city acting in good faith using perfunctory legal language, and the city has three weeks to amend the document. All the same, it's hard to avoid wondering how many people in Cleveland's police department and municipal government agree with the sentiment the court document expressed, and view Rice as the victim of his own actions.
"It’s often hard to know exactly what happened in a police-abuse case, and it makes sense to err on the side of the officer. But there are times when that choice is ludicrous—when an officer is clearly in the wrong, but the department stands with him anyway. This is the situation in Cleveland, Ohio, where the police department is in full support of the two officers who killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice," writes Jamelle Bouie at Slate.
In any case, even the appearance of bias in a case like this one damages relations between cops and civilians, eroding public safety. With his apology, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson neatly underscored President Obama's call, also on Monday, for independent criminal investigations in officer-involved shootings.
What's in Wonkbook: 1) Netanyahu's speech 2) Opinions, including Brill and Leonhardt on King v. Burwell 3) Hillary Clinton may have violated federal records laws as Secretary of State, and more
Map of the day: The dollar has been running up in value against currencies worldwide. Darla Cameron and Dan Keating in The Washington Post.
1. Top story: Netanyahu will address Congress
The Israeli prime minister will warn Congress against making a deal with Iran. "'America is the strongest power in the world. Israel is strong, but it’s much more vulnerable,' he said Monday at the annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). 'American leaders worry about the security of their country. Israeli leaders worry about the survival of their country.' Netanyahu arrived as feelings smoldered among liberal Democrats, some American Jewish groups and White House officials because of his decision to accept an invitation from House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) to address Congress without coordinating with or notifying the administration in advance." Katie Zezima and Steven Mufson in The Washington Post.For his part, President Obama laid out his case in an interview, arguing a deal will hold Iran in check. "Iran must commit to a verifiable freeze of at least 10 years on sensitive nuclear activity for a landmark atomic deal to be reached, but the odds are still against sealing a final agreement, U.S. President Barack Obama told Reuters on Monday. ... Talks between major powers and Iran to restrict Tehran's nuclear capabilities in exchange for an easing of sanctions have reached a critical stage ahead of an end of March deadline for a framework deal and a June 30 date for a final agreement."Jeff Mason for Reuters.
ROBERT KAGAN: Netanyahu's decision to speak without a presidential invitation damages the relationship and sets a dangerous precedent. "Is anyone thinking about the future? From now on, whenever the opposition party happens to control Congress — a common enough occurrence — it may call in a foreign leader to speak to a joint meeting of Congress against a president and his policies. ... Does that sound implausible? Yes, it was implausible — until now. Now we are sailing into uncharted waters." The Washington Post.
GOLDBERG: Any deal with Iran could be dangerous. "The deal that seems to be taking shape right now does not fill me — or many others who support a diplomatic solution to this crisis — with confidence. Reports suggest that the prospective agreement will legitimate Iran’s right to enrich uranium (a 'right' that doesn’t actually exist in international law)... Obama’s greatest argument against Netanyahu is simple and dispositive: The Israelis have not offered a better solution to the Iranian challenge. But the fact that Netanyahu has no actual ideas—other than strategies that lead to endless sanctions of diminishing effectiveness and bombing runs of similarly dubious long-term effectiveness—does not absolve the Obama administration of its responsibility to secure the toughest deal possible." The Atlantic.
PILLAR: Netanyahu's goal is maintaining Israeli power in the Middle East, not furthering American interests. "By opposing—and to the extent Israeli efforts are successful, preventing—the United States from doing any worthwhile business with Iran, whether on nuclear matters or on anything else, the Israeli claim to being the only reliable and effective U.S. partner in the region sounds more convincing. ... Probably the most direct conflict with U.S. interests comes from Netanyahu in effect telling the United States that it cannot do business with certain other countries, and that it cannot fully use its diplomatic tools to pursue U.S. interests as it sees fit." The National Interest.
2. Top opinions
LEONHARDT: The Supreme Court is polarized as never before. "The current court is the first one in American history in which close, major cases regularly feature all of the Democratic appointees and all of the Republican ones on opposite sides. But none of those previous splits have had nearly the real-world impact that the King case could have. A ruling for the plaintiffs would cancel the subsidies that millions of people receive to buy health insurance, in about three dozen states. Without such subsidies, most of those people would not be able to afford insurance. The sickest would still try to buy plans, however, driving up prices for everyone else and most likely causing some people even without subsidies to be unable to afford coverage." The New York Times.
There is an alternative to Obamacare, argue Reps. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), John Kline (R-Minn.) and Fred Upton (R-Mich.). "Our proposal will also allow participating states to opt out of ObamaCare’s burdensome individual and employer mandates, allowing Americans to purchase the coverage they want. ... At the same time, we would set up other safeguards for patients. We would allow parents to keep children on their plan until age 26. We would prohibit insurers from imposing lifetime limits on benefits. We would protect people with existing conditions. And we would guarantee renewability for people already enrolled in a plan." The Wall Street Journal.
YGLESIAS: American democracy is doomed. "In a 1990 essay, the late Yale political scientist Juan Linz observed that 'aside from the United States, only Chile has managed a century and a half of relatively undisturbed constitutional continuity under presidential government — but Chilean democracy broke down in the 1970s.' ... As dysfunctional as American government may seem today, we've actually been lucky. No other presidential system has gone as long as ours without a major breakdown of the constitutional order. But the factors underlying that stability — first non-ideological parties and then non-disciplined ones — are gone. And it's worth considering the possibility that with them, so too has gone the American exception to the rule of presidential breakdown."Vox.
CUMMINGS: Would former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton bring Democratic lobbyists in from the cold? "For six years, the party's 'advocacy class' has been shut out of the highest level of political fundraising due to President Barack Obama's ban on lobbyist and corporate PAC donations to his campaigns. ... The Clintons, who have never viewed the advocacy community with the disdain expressed by Obama or Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, could end the exile. 'A lot of those lobbyists, whether you like it or not, represent real Americans,' Hillary Clinton said in August 2007." Bloomberg View.
3. In case you missed it
State GOP officials are thinking about setting up health care exchanges in anticipation of the Supreme Court case. "The discussions taking place in state capitals around the country are part of a flurry of planning and lobbying by officials, insurance and hospital executives, and health-care advocates to blunt the possible impact of a court ruling. ... At least six states where Republican leaders had previously refused to set up state marketplaces under the Affordable Care Act are now considering what steps they might take to preserve the subsidies being paid to their residents." Sandhya Somashekhar, Jason Millman and Lena H. Sun in The Washington Post.
Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.) will retire. "Mikulski surprised many colleagues Monday with her announcement that she will leave the Senate next year after five terms. In good health at 78, the senator said she wants to shift her focus: 'Do I spend my time raising money? Or do I spend my time raising hell?' ... Often dubbed the Senate’s meanest member, she was regularly described as “prickly” by friends and foes alike. Yet she became a role model for generations of women in politics — in both parties. She was the first Democratic woman — and second woman overall — elected to the Senate who did not succeed her husband or father in elective office." Marc Fisher and Jenna Johnson in The Washington Post.
Jeb Bush may regret the cash he handed out to business as governor of Florida. "As Bush leads possible Republican candidates in the 2016 race for the U.S. presidency, the missed projections and mixed results of his signature economic policy as governor — a biotechnology gamble that has yet to pay off — illustrate problems he could face in explaining his own record while promoting a vision of 'real conservative success.' ... Making an early case for his presidential ambitions, Bush has stressed that government shouldn’t be in the business of picking winning industries and that market forces should do that job. 'I’m not here to take sides and I don’t think the government should either,' he said in a speech on Feb. 4. But his Florida record tells another story." Jason Szep for Reuters.
Bush refuses to pledge not to raise taxes. "Jeb Bush will not sign any 'no new taxes' pledges or any other pledges if he decides to seek the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, a spokeswoman said on Saturday. The statement from Bush spokeswoman Kristy Campbell was in response to an appeal from anti-tax champion Grover Norquist for Bush to sign his Taxpayers Protection Pledge, in which candidates agree to oppose tax increases." Steve Holland for Reuters.
Criminal records are keeping men out of work. "Men with criminal records account for about 34 percent of all nonworking men ages 25 to 54, according to a recent New York Times/CBS News/Kaiser Family Foundation poll. The reluctance of employers to hire people with criminal records, combined with laws that place broad categories of jobs off-limits, is... taking a toll on the broader economy. It is preventing millions of American men from becoming, in that old phrase, productive members of society." Binyamin Appelbaum in The New York Times.
The administration considers a ban on a type of armor-piercing ammunition that can be used in both rifles and handguns. "Armor-piercing handgun ammunition has been banned since 1986 as a way to protect police officers under the federal Law Enforcement Officers Protection Act. The rifle bullets now facing a ban were long considered exempt because they were used for sporting purposes, such as target shooting. An ATF spokeswoman, Ginger Colbrun, said Monday the agency is considering eliminating the exemption now because of the production of so-called AR pistols that can fire the same cartridge." Alicia A. Caldwell for the Associated Press.
A federal agent testifies that medical marijuana will somehow cause Utah's rabbits to be high all the time. "Some wild animals apparently do develop a taste for bud (and, yes, best to keep it away from your pets). But I don't know that the occasional high rabbit constitutes grounds for keeping marijuana prohibition in place, any more than drunk squirrels are an argument for outlawing alcohol. And let's not even get started on the nationwide epidemic of catnip abuse."Christopher Ingraham in The Washington Post.
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