Dave Johnson

Student Loan Debt Will Be A Huge 2016 Campaign Issue

The Thursday Netroots Nation panel, “Student Debt Crisis: How We Can Help Stop the Next Economic Bubble from Bursting,” discussed ways to deal with the more than $1.2 trillion in student loan debt carried by 43 million Americans … People carrying this debt are putting off starting families, buying houses and otherwise being able to participate in having an economic future … This is a huge opportunity to activate millions of people who have not been voting, and candidates are aware of this message: every student in America should have opportunity to go to college and end up debt free.

Hillary Fleshes Out Details

Hillary pushes profit-sharing in NH town hall. NYT:“The ‘rising incomes, sharing profits’ tax credit Mrs. Clinton is proposing would give companies a two-year tax credit equivalent to 15 percent of profits distributed to employees, to be capped at 10 percent of wages. The credits would cost an estimated $10 billion to $20 billion over 10 years and would be paid for by closing corporate tax loopholes.”

Clinton diverges on $15 minimum wage. The Hill:“[Martin] O’Malley’s remarks on Thursday are his strongest yet for a $15 national minimum wage, a level he supported prior to entering the 2016 field … [Sen. Bernie Sanders] additionally backs that hourly pay rate. [Clinton] backed efforts to raise local minimum wages in high-cost areas of the country to $15, but suggested that high a level might not make sense in other places.”

Hillary Clinton’s economic rhetoric reflects latest research in how wages rise, says NYT’s Paul Krugman:“There’s just no evidence that raising the minimum wage costs jobs, at least when the starting point is as low as it is in modern America … [The] benefits largely offset the direct effect of higher labor costs … Once you take what we’ve learned from minimum-wage studies seriously, you realize that they’re not relevant just to the lowest-paid workers.”

Jeb Bush walks fine lines in San Francisco. Time:“…Jeb Bush indicated Thursday that he thinks existing laws sufficient to ensure men and women are paid equally for the same work, but that he would back legislation in the states to prevent workplace and housing discrimination against LGBT Americans … Bush said that in the case of a florist approached by a gay couple, ‘you should be obligated to sell them flowers…’ … But he said that the objecting florist should not be required to participate in the wedding…”

Senate Passes Education Reform

Senate passes, 81-17, its own version of No Child Left Behind revamp. NYT:“[In the House and Senate bills,] states would be given latitude to decide how [math and reading] assessment tests are used to measure school and teacher performance. The Senate version would require states to continue to use the tests as a significant accountability factor; the House measure does not. Both versions would prohibit the federal government from requiring any specific set of academic standards … a provision in the House bill … would permit low-income students to transfer federal dollars between districts … the Obama administration strongly opposes such a provision for fear it might drain needed funds from districts in need.”

More from Politico:“The Senate bill would dump many of NCLB’s hallmark accountability provisions. The law’s mandate that schools that repeatedly miss their performance targets allow students to transfer to another school or face an overhaul would evaporate. So would the requirement that schools meet specific performance targets.”

Breakfast Sides

Senate moves toward long-term transportation bill. The Hill:“Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday that top lawmakers on transportation issues, like Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and James Inhofe (R-Okla.), were sifting through potential methods to pay for a long-term highway bill. McConnell has set up an initial Tuesday vote for a highway measure.

Interior Dept. proposes new rule on coal pollution. NYT:“…the rule mandates that coal companies test and monitor the condition of streams affected by their activities before, during and after a mining operation … companies would have to put up increased money for bonds, or collateral, to pay for restoration once they finished mining … Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, one of the states that would be most affected, has already introduced legislation that tries to strike down the proposed regulation.”

Treasury Dept. investigates online lenders. NYT:“For now, the Treasury’s effort appears more of a fact-finding exercise, rather than a deliberate attempt to establish new regulations. The department is inviting public comment on the sector and plans to hold a round-table discussion this summer with input from the $12 billion industry, borrowers and consumer advocates.”

Alaska 30th state to expand Medicaid under Obamacare. NYT:“After failing to persuade his Legislature to expand Medicaid, Gov. Bill Walker of Alaska said Thursday that he planned to unilaterally accept the federal funds available to cover more low-income residents under the program.”

IMF presses Europe on Greek debt relief. Bloomberg:“The agreement … won’t be enough to keep the euro region together unless Greece’s creditors also lower the country’s debt burden to boost its growth prospects, Lagarde said Friday.”

On April 16, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill ending slavery in the District of Columbia. Passage of this law came 8 1/2 months before President Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation. The act brought to a conclusion decades of agitation aimed at ending what antislavery advocates called “the national shame” of slavery in the nation’s capital. It provided for immediate emancipation, compensation to former owners who were loyal to the Union of up to $300 for each freed slave, voluntary colonization of former slaves to locations outside the United States, and payments of up to $100 for each person choosing emigration. Over the next 9 months, the Board of Commissioners appointed to administer the act approved 930 petitions, completely or in part, from former owners for the freedom of 2,989 former slaves.

Although its combination of emancipation, compensation to owners, and colonization did not serve as a model for the future, the District of Columbia Emancipation Act was an early signal of slavery’s death. In the District itself, African Americans greeted emancipation with great jubilation. For many years afterward, they celebrated Emancipation Day on April 16 with parades and festivals.

More Information:

Supplemental Act of 1862

D.C. Emancipation Act Transcription

By CAP Action War Room

CAP and AFSCME Host Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Speak on Expanding Opportunities in America’s Urban Areas

The Center for American Progress (CAP) and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) hosted former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, HUD Secretary Julián Castro, and a panel of experts to discuss expanding opportunities in America’s urban areas. More than 13.9 million Americans live in neighborhoods of concentrated poverty–where the poverty rate is 30 percent or higher–and the concentrated poverty rate remains highest in big cities. As more and more Americans are moving back into our urban centers, there is much work to be done to address the challenges that plague our nation’s cities, from housing and transportation to education and workforce accessibility.

At this morning’s event, Secretary Clinton acknowledged that “one of the biggest issues we face is income inequality combined with wage stagnation,” while Lee Saunders, President of AFSCME, added that “good jobs are at the root of all the social and economic problems that must be addressed.”

Expanding opportunity in America’s urban areas is also the subject of a new report released by CAP in conjunction with today’s event. The report discusses the unique challenges cities face—namely the shortage of affordable housing, inadequate infrastructure, income inequality and poverty—and offers five policy strategies to address some of these obstacles:

• Establish comprehensive place-based strategies that acknowledge the interdependent nature of the challenges and involve community leaders across sectors and agencies.

• Ensure access to quality housing and transportation by providing direct federal funding to empower local leaders, removing barriers to spending federal funds and holding state and local governments accountable for their investment decisions.

• Support workers by eliminating barriers to employment through apprenticeship programs in high demand industries.

• Spur economic development in distressed neighborhoods by fostering the role of anchor institutions and ensuring capital flows to distressed communities.

• Empower state and local leaders by establishing place-based efforts in states to revitalize distressed areas, requiring higher workforce standards for government spending and subsidies, and taking financial access into account to save consumers money.

BOTTOM LINE: Cities are the economic engines of our country, but decades of failing to employ a focused and collaborative effort have left many in urban areas struggling. A focused effort on making our cities stronger will help put people back to work and grow our economy.