News Now
- Greece debt crisis: Deal reached
- Iran deal: Today?
- Iran deal: Pols weigh in
- Funding battle: Could be punted
- Walker IN for 2016: Is he ready?
- Hillary Clinton: Economic vision today
- Donald Trump storms Phoenix
- Trump: Bleeping and unplugged
- Senators want action on background check loophole
- Massive manhunt: El Chapo on the run
• Greece reached a deal with its European creditors today that avoids an exit from the euro and the global financial chaos prospect that had raised. The deal calls for Greece, already reeling from harsh austerity measures, to cut back even further in exchange for more loans without which its financial system would surely collapse (going to be rough)
• French President Francois Hollande said the Greek parliament would convene within hours to adopt the reforms called for in the plan, and he celebrated Greece’s continued membership in the euro (wonder how long the governing Syriza party can survive in power in Greece after this)
• A breakthrough came in a meeting between Greek PM Alexis Tsipras, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and EU President Donald Tusk, after the threat of expulsion from the euro put intense pressure on Tsipras to swallow politically unpalatable austerity measures in exchange for the country’s third bailout in five years
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• The deal includes commitments from Tsipras to push a drastic austerity program including pension, market and privatization reforms through parliament by Wednesday. In return, the 18 other eurozone leaders committed to start talks on a new bailout program that should stave off the imminent collapse of the Greek financial system
• A Cypriot official said the creditors would look into bridge financing for Greece later today, suggesting that the political decision could pave the way for the European Central Bank to extend emergency liquidity assistance to Greek banks. Without it, they risk running out of cash this week
• If the talks had failed, Greece could have faced bankruptcy and a possible exit from the euro. No country has ever left the joint currency, which launched in 1999, and there’s no mechanism for one to do so. Greek debt stands at around $357 billion – a staggering 180% or so of annual gross domestic product
Iran Deal: Today? (NYT, AP, me)
• Negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program have entered their 17th – and possibly last – day in Vienna as diplomats continue to haggle over details ahead of the expiration of an interim accord. With the temporary deal set to expire at midnight tonight, diplomats said they were planning to complete and announce a final agreement before day’s end – no guarantee
• Iran state TV today is saying the West needs to make tough decisions in the coming hours and that Iran’s FM Javad Zarif wants “no more extensions.” They’re highlighting that restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program must be less than 10 years, which implies this may be still under discussion
• In recent rounds of talks, negotiators have wrestled with what limits to set on Iran’s nuclear research, the pace of sanctions relief and, most recently, the terms of a new UN Security Council resolution that would endorse the accord and provide a legal framework for lifting sanctions
• The question of when to lift the arms embargo against Iran has been among the vexing issues. The Iranians see the embargo as part of the “nuclear-related” sanctions, and expected them to be lifted under the fundamental trade off in this nuclear deal (or so they say)
• But the U.S. and the Europeans fear that with access to arms and billions of dollars in newly acquired oil revenues, Iran’s ability to project power and support President Bashar Assad of Syria, along with militant groups in the region, would be greatly expanded (ie they would become huge Middle East arms dealers and suppliers – and steer conflict outcomes)
• WaPo’s Jason Rezaian is back in court in Tehran today – unexpected appearance – and interesting that it’s happening on the same day that a nuclear deal is expected. At time of writing, it’s unknown what’s happened in court
Iran Deal: Pols Weigh In (WSJ, AP, me)
• “It’s going to be a very hard sell – if it’s completed – in Congress,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) said on Fox News Sunday. “We already know that it’s going to leave Iran as a threshold nuclear state. It appears as if the admin’s approach to this was to reach whatever agreement the Iranians are willing to enter into.”
• “From everything that’s leaked from these negotiations, the admin’s backed away from almost all of the guidelines that they set up for themselves,” House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said on CBS on Sunday. “No deal is better than a bad deal.” (no deal means they can do anything right now – prob not the option you want)
• Sen Bob Corker (R-Tenn), chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, said on NBC Sunday, “At the end of the day I think people understand that if this is a bad deal that is going to allow Iran to get a nuclear weapon, they would own this deal if they voted for it, and so they’ll want to disapprove it. On the other hand, if we feel like we’re better of with it, people will look to approve it”
• Sen Ben Cardin (D-Md), the Foreign Relations committee’s ranking member, said in a statement: “In our deliberations we need to ensure the negotiations resulted in a comprehensive, long-lasting and verifiable outcome that also provides for snap-back of sanctions should Iran deviate from its commitments.”
Funding Battle: Could Be Punted (Politico, me)
• At the rate things are going, a continuing resolution seems inevitable to many lawmakers. Only three weeks until the long August recess, but Senate Democrats are still promising to filibuster every spending bill in a bid to force negotiations over strict spending caps while Republicans refuse to come to the bargaining table
• A CR extends existing govt funding for a period of time: a week, three weeks, two months or even longer. Short-term CRs have been used as a bridge to help lawmakers buy time for a budget deal. Right now, each side is pointing the finger at each other over a possible govt shutdown
• The longer Congress waits to settle the spending deal, the more unlikely a deal becomes: As the primary season heats up, Republicans will move further to the right as Democrats track leftward. And if a CR is extended into the election year, major political footballs – like immigration or Iran – are sure to spill into the process and further gum up the works
• As of now, GOP leadership still plans to push appropriations bills forward for the remainder of July. By the end of next week, the House Appropriations panel will have completed work on all 12 appropriations bills – the first time that’s happened since 2009. Senate Appropriations has finished 10 bills. Bringing them to the floor is another matter – Dems threatening filibuster
• And in the House, GOP leadership has had to scrap scheduled consideration of spending bills for the Interior Dept and financial services govt agencies like the IRS because Democrats want Confederate flag votes. The left has insisted on amendments that ban the flag on certain federal grounds – a hot potato issue for the right. (this week should be fun)
• The NAACP has lifted its 15-year economic boycott of South Carolina a day after the state took down a Confederate battle flag flying near the Statehouse. The NCAA, which honored the ban, has said it will resume holding championship events in the state (AP)
Walker: IN Today 2016 – Is He Ready? (NYT, me)
• After listening to Gov Scott Walker (R-Wis) as he’s traveled the country preparing his campaign for 2016, which kicks off today, admiring voters most often describe him as “authentic,” “real” and “approachable,” Walker’s adviser say. Two words they don’t use? “Smart” and “sophisticated.” “Scott is working on that,” said Ed Goeas, a senior adviser
• As Walker enters the race, the crucial question he must answer is whether he can cross the threshold of credibility so that someone entering a voting booth cam imagine him as president, according to several leading Republicans and interviews with regular voters
• Walker is now emerging from a crash course of policy tutorials and conversations with leaders. The goal is to no longer sow doubts with comments like comparing union leaders to ISIS, refusing to answer a question about evolution, or saying he doesn’t know if President Obama is a Christian or if he loves America (race will be more boring…)
• Pete Peters, a Republican voter in New Hampshire and a Navy veteran, said that the rise of ISIS was his foremost concern in the 2016 election. “I like Walker, but he doesn’t come across like a guy who has thought hard or creatively about the Middle East,” he said
• The policy briefings have cut into time that Walker might have otherwise devoted to fund-raising events – hence fairly modest totals. But some potential donors have said in recent weeks that Walker’s busy schedule wasn’t an issue; rather, they were taking a wait-and-see approach on Walker (ouch, so far he hasn’t convinced heavy-hitters that he is one)
• Audio: TRNS interviews former President Jimmy Carter, 90. He says, “The best time of my life has been the last 35 years.” He talks about his new book: A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety, and weighs in on politics including the current surge by presidential contender Sen Bernie Sanders (I-Vt) (TRNS)
• In a speech at the New School in NY today, intended to outline her economic vision, Hillary Clinton will present a stark assessment of a middle class whose weekly earnings have virtually stalled for 15 years, and she’ll criticize “trickle down” Republican policies as having contributed to a vast concentration of wealth among the richest Americans – campaign aides, anonymous
• Clinton has had months of conversations with more than 200 domestic policy experts and dozens of economists, and as a result she believes that increasing the wages of average Americans to reduce income inequality is the “defining economic challenge of our time,” a campaign aide said
• To that end, Clinton will present proposals that include paid family medical leave, an increase in the federal minimum wage and incentives for corporations to increase profit sharing programs. She will also praise President Obama’s proposals to make more workers eligible for overtime pay
• Clinton will propose more investment in infrastructure, tax relief for small businesses, better access to child care, assistance to make college more affordable, stronger support for collective bargaining and tax increases on the wealthiest Americans
• Will her emphasis on wage growth to alleviate income inequality be enough to appease a growing sense of anger over economic inequality? In a NYT/CBS News poll conducted late May, two-thirds of Americans said they thought the distribution of money and wealth in this country should be more even
• Republicans are prepared to spend several hundred million dollars in an attempt to vilify Hillary Clinton early. An expensive and sophisticated effort is underway to test and refine the most potent lines of attack against Clinton (her wealth being one of them) (NYT)
Donald Trump Storms Phoenix (Politico, Arizona Republic, me)
• In a 70-minute stream of consciousness at the Phoenix convention center Saturday, Donald Trump said, “I love the Mexican people … I respect Mexico … but the problem we have is that their leaders are much sharper, smarter and more cunning than our leaders, and they’re killing us at the border.” (follows his theme that Mexican govt is sending immigrants to U.S.)
• Trump mocked the brands that cut ties with him, called out “lyin’ Brian Williams” and much of the rest of the news media. “I’m, like, a really smart person,” Trump said. He concluded: “The silent majority is back, and we’re going to take the majority back, and we are going to make American great again.”
• Ahead of the event, Sen John McCain (R-Ariz) called Trump’s immigration comments “offensive.” Sen Jeff Flake (R-Ariz) called his views “coarse, ill-informed and inaccurate.” Fact-checkers pointed out that Trump’s assertion that undocumented immigrants from Mexico are that country’s criminal element appears to be flat wrong. But many voters are eating it up
• Hazel Powell, 68, said that after President Obama’s election she went into self-exile in Bulgaria where she taught English for two years in the Peace Corps. “I was depressed every day,” said Powell, wearing a cowboy hat, American flag nail polish, American flag cowboy boots, and a shirt that said, “Arrest Obama.”
• Ahead of Trump on stage was immigration hardline Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, whose dept was found by a federal judge to have racially profiled Latinos. Arpaio brought up his and Trump’s interest in Obama’s birth certificate. “He investigated it. And I have. That’s common. We both want to do something about the illegal immigration problem.”
• Vid: David Letterman comes out of retirement to deliver Donald Trump-inspired Top Ten List
Trump: Bleeping Unplugged (WaPo, me)
• Saturday night aboard Donald Trump’s gleaming Boeing 757 after his Phoenix speech. In an expletive-laden interview over soft drinks, Trump said he has no plans to change the way he’s running for the Republican nomination. What’s next? “More of the same, I’ll keep doing my thing. … I get the biggest crowds. I get the biggest standing ovations.”
• Silent majority for the Saturday speech? “I was just thinking about it today. When I heard about this overwhelming – I’m telling you, it was 500 people at the start and the hotel called us begging to be released. They said they never had anything like this and we had to move the venue. I said to myself, “That’s the silent majority.”
• Don’t care about Nixon overtones? “Nah. Nobody remembers that. Oh, is that why people stopped using
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