Sign up for Read In today and get all the news you need delivered right to your inbox!
A1: Today's top stories.
-- Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson cautioned vigilance Sunday after the terrorist group al Shabab called for attacks on malls in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. The group, which was responsible for the 2013 attack on a mall in Nairobi, specifically mentioned the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn., and malls in West Edmonton and Stratford, England. (Washington Post)
-- President Obama is expected to formally veto a bill that would force construction of the Keystone XL pipeline this week, the first in what is likely to be a series of vetoes on measures challenging the Affordable Care Act, imposing sanctions on Iran and changing nutritional standards for children. (New York Times) By the numbers: Obama has issued two vetoes so far. George W. Bush issued only 12. Bill Clinton vetoed 37 bills, and George H.W. Bush nixed 44 in just one term. Franklin Roosevelt holds the record, at 635 vetoes.
-- Paul Kane previews the week ahead on the Hill: The Senate comes back in Monday evening for another doomed-to-fail vote to break the Democratic filibuster of the GOP's plan to keep the Department of Homeland Security open. After that, it's anyone's guess what move Mitch McConnell makes next. When crunch time comes, at the Senate Republican luncheon on Tuesday and the House Republican conference meeting on Wednesday, it won't help that thousands of CPAC activists will be gathering at National Harbor.
-- More PK: Secretary of State John Kerry testifies Wednesday before the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The House Armed Services Committee meets Thursday to discuss parameters for President Obama's request for an authorization for the use of military force. And the Senate Judiciary Committee votes on the nomination of Loretta Lynch to become Attorney General, also on Thursday.
-- Kerry is in Geneva today to restart nuclear negotiations with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and chief Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Akbar Salehi were among the high-level diplomats meeting for a second straight day, after two hours of negotiations on Sunday. The fact that Moniz and Salehi are present demonstrates the level of technicality involved in the talks. (Reuters)
-- Watch your step this week: Highs today will only reach near 30, and the wind is back. That means icy sidewalks and roads, especially this morning. Extreme colds coming tonight, with lows in the single digits in the D.C. suburbs. We won't get out of the sub-freezing range until Wednesday, when it'll be a balmy 40-45. (Capital Weather Gang)
-- Front Pages: WaPo leads with local law enforcement's use of a cellphone tower simulator (see below). LA Times kicks off with Jeh Johnson's warning about mall security. NYT previews Obama's coming wave of vetoes. WSJ counts down to the looming DHS shutdown. And USA Today investigates the shortcomings of cellphone technology in finding someone in an emergency.
White House 2016: The long, strange road to Pennsylvania Ave.
-- Clinton: Hillary Clinton has recruited consumer marketing specialists to help build her image as she prepares for 2016. Coca-Cola executive Wendy Clark and veteran ad man Roy Spence will help craft a message that appears to lean toward economic fairness, based on Clinton's early rhetoric. (Washington Post)
-- Bush: Columba Bush gave her approval to Jeb Bush's presidential run over Thanksgiving during a family vacation to Mexico. But she isn't a natural campaigner, and she prefers lunching alone or painting in a friend's art studio (Her last work: A little cat). She has blamed politics for strife in their marriage, and for her daughter's struggles with addiction. (New York Times)
-- More Bush: Columba was fined by federal customs officials for misrepresenting the amount she spent on a five-day shopping trip to Paris, and she once took out a loan to purchase $42,000 in jewelry on a single day. In 2009, she took out another big loan to buy a $11,700 Rolex and a $5,900 pair of earrings. (Washington Post)
-- Pence: Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) said he won't make a final decision on whether to run for president until his legislative session is out in late April. "My head's in Indiana," Pence told us at this weekend's NGA meeting. "I have a great interest in being part of the debate over this country’s future and intend to take advantage of those opportunities, but my focus is Indiana." (Washington Post) By April, it may be too late.
-- Walker: The 2011 measure targeting public employee unions signed by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) has saved local governments $3 billion in retirement and health insurance costs, Walker's administration says. It's also decimated public employee unions: The state NEA, which once had 100,000 members, is down by a third. AFT saw its membership cut in half. AFSCME membership is down 70 percent. (Washington Post)
National Roundup: What's happening outside the Beltway.
-- New York: Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) has set May 5 as the date for a special election to replace former Rep. Michael Grimm (R). Republicans have selected District Attorney Dan Donovan as their nominee, while Democrats haven't settled on a candidate. They'll pick either New York City Councilman Vincent Gentile, state Assemblyman William Colton or activist Robert Holst as their nominee, according to the executive director of the Staten Island Democratic Party. (Roll Call)
-- Massachusetts: Four major back-to-back snowstorms are likely to cost Massachusetts more than $1 billion in lost economic activity, and $125 million for snow removal. The state legislature increased the removal budget from $50 million earlier this month. Snow removal activities are taking place in 140 communities, Gov. Charlie Baker (R) said in an interview. (Washington Post)
-- Arizona: Rep. Dave Schweikert (R) was considering a bid against Sen. John McCain (R) in 2016, but that's unlikely, he says, because his wife Joyce is against it. Schweikert said her opposition isn't definitive, but "she has put her foot down." Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) was in Phoenix last week headlining a fundraiser for McCain. (Arizona Republic)
-- Ohio: Gov. John Kasich (R) wants to triple the price of an electronic cigarette. Kasich's proposed budget would slap a $33.75 tax on a 30-milliliter bottle of liquid nicotine used in e-cigarettes. The bottle itself costs between $18 and $20, not including the already-levied sales tax. It would be the first tax in the nation specifically levied on e-cigs. Kasich's administration expects the tax to generate $22.3 million over two years. (Columbus Dispatch) New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan (D) has also proposed an e-cig tax.
-- Michigan: Romney wins! Well, Ronna Romney McDaniel wins. The 41-year old niece of Mitt Romney will be the next chair of the Michigan Republican Party after she won 55 percent of the vote in a three-way contest. (MLive) Michigan Republicans also elected Darwin Jiles to serve as Ethics Vice Chair. Jiles pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor gun charge last year following an accidental shooting.
DC Digest: What's on tap today in DC.
-- President Obama will address the National Governors Association this morning in the State Dining Room. Later, he'll have lunch with Vice President Biden, before delivering remarks at the AARP's headquarters on a new consumer protection initiative that would implement tougher restrictions on brokers who manage retirement accounts. (Associated Press) Tonight, he'll formally accept the credentials of new ambassadors from Vietnam, Iceland, the Dominican Republic, South Africa, Serbia, Peru, Niger, Algeria, South Sudan, Equatorial Guinea, Hungary and Thailand.
-- Vice President Biden delivers remarks to the National Association of Counties at the Marriott Wardman Park this morning. He'll address the NGA with President Obama later today. Tomorrow, he delivers remarks to the National Association of Attorneys General at the Ritz Carlton.
-- The House returns tomorrow at noon to consider three measures under suspension.
-- The Senate returns today to continue debating DHS funding. A motion to invoke cloture is scheduled for 5:30 p.m., and it's likely to fail a fourth time.
-- Defense Secretary Ash Carter has summoned about 30 high-ranking military commanders and diplomats to Kuwait to review strategy. The summit, happening today, includes the U.S. military combatant commanders for the Middle East, Africa and Europe, the three-star general in charge of the war in Iraq and Syria, and the head of the Joint Special Operations Command. (Washington Post)
-- Residents in Chevy Chase want to rename a fountain dedicated to Sen. Francis Newlands (D-Nev.), who serve in the Senate from 1903 until his death in 1917. Newlands was a Progressive who advocated worker rights, suffrage and more democracy -- but only for white people. Newlands called for a "white plank" in the Democratic Party's 1912 convention in Baltimore that would have repealed the 15th Amendment. A resolution before the Chevy Chase Advisory Neighborhood Commission calls on the town to rename the fountain for Frederick Douglass. (Las Vegas Review-Journal)
B1: Business, politics and the business of politics
-- The possibility that the Department of Homeland Security could run out of funding by the end of this week threatens security operations in cities and towns around the country. DHS funds about 1,800 fire fighters, who would be sent home in the event of a shutdown, along with security officers in New York City, Los Angeles and elsewhere. A short-term funding bill, if one is passed, could threaten Fiscal Year 2015 funding for those local positions. (Washington Post)
-- Governors meeting this weekend in Washington tried to come to a consensus on DHS funding. They agreed that a shutdown would be bad for the states, but they weren't able to come together on a final statement, Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) told us.
-- Stock futures are mixed this morning after the Dow tacked on 154 points on Friday. Asian markets were higher, but European markets are mixed before their closing bells. (CNN)
C1: Take time to digest the long reads
-- Local law enforcement agencies are increasingly using a sophisticated surveillance technology, known as a StingRay, that simulates a cellphone tower in order to pinpoint someone's location. At least 48 agencies have purchased the devices in 20 states and D.C., according to the ACLU, which warns they can scoop up data from hundreds of law-abiding citizens at the same time they're targeting a single suspect. (Washington Post)
C4: Fun things to read when you're bored at work
-- The hundreds of millions of dollars earned by "American Sniper" is helping to end one of Hollywood's enduring myths, that opening a movie in January is bad for the box office. Most big releases are clustered between May and mid-August, then November and December. But studios, led by Universal Pictures, are changing their approach and beginning to release strong movies throughout the year. The theory is that a decent movie that would get buried in a crowded market can thrive in an empty one. (New Yorker)
Attn Matt Drudge: What outrages conservatives today
-- Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) is being advised by an attorney as scrutiny into a Veterans Affairs medical center in Tomah, Wis., heats up. Baldwin said last month she accepts responsibility for not acting sooner to investigate the facility, where the deaths three patients prompted a federal investigation. Attorney Marc Elias will also advise Baldwin in a wrongful termination charge levied by the senator's former deputy state director, in connection with the facility. House Veterans Affairs Committee chairman Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) has said his panel will hold a field hearing in Tomah. (Associated Press)
Attn HuffPo: What outrages liberals today
-- New documents show climate deniers' favorite scientist, Wei-Hock Soon, accepted more than $1.2 million from the fossil fuel industry over the last decade without declaring a conflict of interest in scientific papers he published. The lack of a disclosure appears to violate ethical guidelines in journals in which Soon published eight papers since 2008. Soon works at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics; the Smithsonian part opened his emails to Freedom of Information Act requests. (New York Times)
Reid Wilson covers state politics and policy for the Washington Post's GovBeat blog. He's a former editor in chief of The Hotline, the premier tip sheet on campaigns and elections, and he's a complete political junkie.
0 comments:
Post a Comment