In conjunction with his statement today, the President has released his Climate Action plan.
A short overview of the plan can be found here, while the longer version can be found here – POTUS Climate Change Action Plan.
News and updates
Senate Confirms Pritzker
Today, the Senate confirmed Penny Pritzker as Secretary of Commerce by a vote of 97-1.
Pritzker, a member of the family that owns Hyatt Hotels, was the national finance chairwoman of President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign and the national co-chairwoman of his reelection campaign.
The Commerce Department is comprised of of 12 different agencies responsible for everything from weather forecasts to patent protection, including:
President Unveils Climate Change Agenda
President Barack Obama will unveil his climate change agenda during a speech around 2 p.m. Eastern this afternoon. The agenda is expected to combine both Executive Orders and a call to Congress to enact legislation.
The new climate initiative will impose deadlines for EPA to write rules throttling carbon dioxide emissions at U.S. power plants, part of a series of efforts that could hit the coal industry hard both at home and abroad – but also create jobs and spark the economy according to the administration. The plan features updated versions of the President’s first-term emphasis on tightening vehicle emissions standards, fostering the development of “clean coal” technology, and offering billions of dollars for green energy, as well as a renewed push to lead international climate talks. It will seek to push solar and wind energy on federal lands and subsidized housing, as well as encourage coal users to switch to natural gas. Again, it takes aim at the oil and gas industry tax breaks that Obama has unsuccessfully urged Congress to kill.
Last term, Congressional Republicans easily defeated the President’s proposal by arguing the proposed changes would increase taxes and costs on consumers.
The Office of Federal Relations is tracking this issue and will provide updates as available.
This Week in Congress
Congress will attempt to wrap up work on several outstanding issues this week before adjourning for the Independence Day Recess next week.
The July 1st deadline on Student-Loan rates is looming and the interest rate is set to rise in 7 days unless Congress is able to reach an agreement. As of now, there does not appear to be an agreed-upon path forward by both parties.
The Senate is working towards achieving bipartisan agreement on a comprehensive immigration bill and plans to vote on it by the end of the week. One of the last points of contention is the securing of the US-Mexico border. The bill’s sponsors are striving for 70 yes-votes on the bill – an ambitious task when several conservative Republicans have already indicated their intention to vote down the legislation.
The House is also working on a piece-meal immigration reform package and is set to mark up a high skilled visa bill this week that would increase the number of H-1B visas available.
The FY14 Agriculture Appropriations bill is up for a vote in the House this week. The bill allocates $19.5 billion in discretionary spending – $1.3 billion less than FY13 levels.
Fisher v. University of Texas Ruling
Today, the Supreme Court came out with its ruling on the case Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin that lower courts did not apply a sufficiently high level of scrutiny to the University of Texas’s use of race in admissions decisions, sending the case back to one of those lower courts to be reconsidered.
In a 7-1 ruling, the court found that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit erred in not applying “strict scrutiny” to the policies of the University of Texas at Austin (UT). The Supreme Court left intact its precedent that diversity can be a compelling government interest.The case has been sent back to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Writing the majority opinion was Justice Kennedy, who was joined by all of the conservative members of the court and Justice Sotomayer. Justice Ginsberg wrote the lone dissent. Justice Kagan recused herself because of her work on the case as Solicitor General.
The case was brought by Abigail Fisher, a white woman, who was rejected for admission by the UT. Fisher said that her rights were violated by UT’s consideration of race and ethnicity in admissions decisions. Fisher’s lawyers argued that UT need not consider race because it has found another way to assure diversity in the student body.
The decision said that “good faith” by the university would not be enough to justify the consideration of race. However, the decision does not offer an opinion on whether UT can produce sufficient evidence. Rather, it faults the appeals court for not reviewing that question using the high bar of “strict scrutiny” for the consideration of race.
It is likely that today’s ruling could mean that — after another round at the Fifth Circuit — the case could return to the Supreme Court.