MORNING MESSAGE

Isaiah J. Poole

We Can’t BreatheThere is more to this chant – the haunting last words of Eric Garner before he died at the hands of New York City police that were echoed in demonstrations around the country Wednesday night – than a protest against the epidemic of police brutality against black men. We need to recognize the smog of a heritage of racial discrimination that permeates our institutions and inhibits the ability of all of us to breathe.

Democrats split over bill to keep government open. The Hill:“Some Democrats are signaling support for the Republican proposal, viewing it as the best chance to secure long-term funding for most government functions while the Democrats still control the Senate. Others are calling for a united Democratic opposition … to highlight Republican divisions and to protest spending levels they deem too low. And still others are warning that a core element of the GOP’s spending strategy — a short-term funding extension for the Homeland Security Department (DHS) — threatens national security in an era of heightened terrorist threats.”

But Boehner may need Democratic votes. Bloomberg:“…Boehner needs Democratic votes because at least 20 members of his party are ready to reject a plan to keep most of the government operating through September 2015 … House leaders are considering a revision that would move up a fight over immigration funding to shortly after Congress reconvenes in January, said a Republican aide familiar with the plan. Democrats want to cut from the spending bill at least 70 Republican-sponsored provisions that would poke holes in President Barack Obama’s policies on the environment, health care and other matters, said Representative Jim Moran, a Virginia Democrat.”

House will vote separately on negating Obama’s immigration action. The Hill:“[White House spokesperson] Josh Earnest said the legislation would ‘exacerbate flaws in our broken immigration system’ and distract ‘limited enforcement resources’ from targeting criminals for deportation. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has said he would allow a vote on the bill Thursday, which bars the president from exempting ‘categories of persons unlawfully present in the United States’ from deportation.”

“Meaningless show vote”grumbles Sen. Ted Cruz.

Obama talks trade and tax reform with corporate leaders. NYT:“…Obama said he believed there was a narrow path to overhaul the tax code in the next Congress. But he said the effort faced significant obstacles because the White House wanted to focus just on corporate taxes, while Republicans insisted on overhauling both corporate and individual taxes … Mr. Obama also stressed his determination to complete negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership … Selling the pact at home, he said, will be just as important as negotiating it, and he was clearly seeking allies among the business executives.”

Also talks infrastructure needs. Bloomberg:“…Obama recalled the gleaming new infrastructure he saw when he traveled to China last month for a meeting of Asia-Pacific leaders. ‘One thing I will say is if they need to build some stuff, they can build it,’ Obama told the CEOs today. ‘And over time, that wears away our advantage competitively. It’s embarrassing.’”

But Obama’s congressional outreach mainly focusing on Democrats. W. Post:“…White House officials are looking to Hill Democrats as a defense against Republican efforts to undo key elements of Obama’s legislative legacy … The president’s ability to sustain the vetoes he is likely to issue will depend on whether he is able to mend relations with congressional Democrats…”

Rep. Paul Ryan prepares tax package. Politico:“…the Wisconsin Republican said he’s going to use his new perch in the House to pursue what he calls ‘phase one’ of tax reform — focusing only on the business Tax Code — while understanding that he’s not going to get it all while President Barack Obama is in office. But that doesn’t mean he’s giving up on the big ideas he’s pitching to shape the Republican Party’s agenda for 2016.”

House approves narrow tax break extension. USA Today:“The Senate and White House have signaled they will not oppose the plan … The one-year, retroactive fix will allow millions of businesses and individuals to claim the breaks on their 2014 tax returns, but the fate of the package next year, known as tax extenders, is uncertain after President Obama cut short bipartisan negotiations for a long-term deal with a veto threat … The short-term fix mainly benefits businesses, but it also includes a mix of tax breaks benefiting a number of special interests including teachers, commuters and Puerto Rican rum producers … Some Democrats are unhappy the package leaves out two provisions: a tax credit that helps some laid-off workers pay for health insurance and a tax credit for buying electric motorcycles.”

WH summit today to tackle college affordability. McClatchy:“College presidents and school district leaders from around the country will attend it and announce 600 new commitments to help more students prepare to get into college and graduate. The new commitments fall into four areas: greater promotion of college completion, efforts by elementary and secondary schools to prepare students for college, more money for 5,000 additional high school counselors in districts that need help getting more students to college; and increasing the number of college graduates in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields.”

GOP may target NLRB. Roll Call:“Among the targets: a potential NLRB ruling that says college athletes are school employees, union elections should happen more quickly and national franchise companies should be responsible when franchisees violate labor laws … Democratic member Nancy J. Schiffer’s term expires on Dec. 16, and if her replacement isn’t confirmed by then, observers expect the board to make several controversial rulings … Failing to get these decisions out by mid-December could leave the board deadlocked for months with two Democratic members and two Republicans … epublican Harry Johnson’s term expires in August, so Hill GOP leaders could wait to confirm a Republican and Democrat simultaneously. But delaying that vote pushes the issue closer to the 2016 presidential campaign…”

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