Progressive Breakfast: Filibuster At Five?

"The Virtual Summit on Fiscal and Economic Responsibility for People Who Did Not Wreck the Economy" continues, with Roger Hickey warning about this week's Pete Peterson-sponsored "Fiscal Summit": "This summit is designed to stampede President Obama’s new deficit commission ... into adopting their version of fiscal austerity."

First Vote On Wall Street Reform Today

First procedural vote on Wall Street reform still set for today. Bloomberg: "Democrats, who control the Senate with a 59-41 majority, need the support of at least one Republican to get the 60 votes required to open debate on the bill. While lead negotiators said yesterday they were moving closer to a compromise, there was no sign that any of the Republicans would break ranks in time for the procedural vote expected at 5 p.m. in Washington."

Compromise apparently reached to merge Dodd and Lincoln derivatives proposals. NYT: "Officials said the Democratic plan on derivatives included many tougher provisions put forward by Senator Blanche Lincoln ... including one that is fiercely opposed by major banks because it would force them to spin off much of their derivatives business. The rules say any bank dealing in swaps, a popular and lucrative derivative, would be barred from the Federal Reserve’s emergency borrowing window and also from federal deposit insurance."

Derivatives deal could attract one GOP vote. Politico: "It was unclear late Sunday whether the derivatives proposal would be enough for [Sen. Olympia] Snowe, a top target for Democrats, to support the bill."

Goldman Sachs emails bolster case for Volcker Rule. Bloomberg: "White House officials and Democratic lawmakers seized on internal e-mails from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to push for curbs including a ban on proprietary trading ... rules that could crimp earnings at Goldman Sachs, the most profitable firm in Wall Street history..."

NYT's Krugman says emails point to need for tougher legislation to end conflicts of interest in credit rating agencies: "...most of the [Goldman Sachs] headlines were about the wrong e-mails. When Goldman Sachs employees bragged about the money they had made by shorting the housing market, it was ugly, but that didn’t amount to wrongdoing ... the e-mail messages you should be focusing on are the ones from employees at the credit rating agencies, which bestowed AAA ratings on hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of dubious assets ... the rating agencies skewed their assessments to please their clients [and] helped the financial system take on far more risk than it could safely handle."

Robert Johnson declares the Dodd bill insufficient, in The American Prospect: "...with the dual needs of campaign finance from Wall Street and demands from the public, our legislators are on course to engage in a theatre of pretend reform centered on two elements: strong consumer financial protection and bold declarations that they have ended 'too big to fail.' But inside the triangle of negotiation between House, Senate, and administration bills, with lobbyists working behind the scenes, there is little real reform that will accomplish these tasks."

Baseline Scenario's Simon Johnson argues Dodd is making the bill weaker than politically necessary in order to maximize Wall Street backing: "The presumption is that Senator Dodd is negotiating with one or more Republicans who are the easiest to bring on board. This would make sense if Senator Dodd wanted the strongest bill possible ... But Senator Dodd is closeted in negotiations with Senator Richard Shelby – who stands for the most pro-Wall Street bill possible ... The goal is to bring as many supporters of Wall Street as possible on board with the legislation, at the same time as framing the issues so the pro-reform camp looks bad when it presses for more."

Sen. Max Baucus tells Politico the bank tax is coming: "'I don’t think there’s much doubt that there will be a bank tax,' Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus [said.] And more than ever, the Montana Democrat signaled that Congress will also crack down on wealthy hedge fund and private equity partners who shelter their income as capital gains — taxed at half the top 35 percent rate ... Treasury officials have hinted they would like to sub the bank tax in and the fund [to liquidate failed mega-banks] out ..."

Krugman laments "the way people who favor reform keep getting pulled off into side issues and obvious misinterpretations": "If you want to condemn Obama administration officials for being too Wall-Street friendly, fine — but don't charge those officials with outright corruption ... unless you have some real evidence ... too many people are taking the easy route of going for the cheap slogans instead of thinking things through..."

Climate Bill Announcement Called Off

Monday roll-out of climate compromise called off after Sen. Lindsey Graham suspends support. CNN: "...t Graham declared Saturday that he was walking out of talks because of Democratic efforts to bring up an immigration reform package. 'Moving forward on immigration -- in this hurried, panicked manner -- is nothing more than a cynical political ploy,' Graham wrote in a sharply-worded letter sent to business, religious and conservation leaders that he has been working with on the climate-change legislation."

But Graham may be coming back into the fold, reports LAT: "...supporters said its prospects were brightening slightly, with the Republican coauthor of the legislation, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, again discussing it with Sens. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) ... a Senate aide said they were increasingly optimistic that Graham would return."

Lieberman says climate could still go first. W. Post: "'He's assured me he'll do it before immigration reform, if it's ready,' Lieberman said of Reid ..."

WH and Graham feud over concessions to Big Oil. W. Post: "[Graham] lashed out at the decision by anonymous administration officials to tell Fox News earlier this month that they opposed the idea of a fee on the transport sector linked to the price of carbon, which quickly became labeled a gas tax. 'I should have walked when I saw that story,' he said. An administration official, who asked not to be identified, said the White House and Graham simply had a difference of opinion on the issue, in part because the administration did not see winning the support of oil companies 'as the holy grail' of climate and energy legislation."

WH econ aide Larry Summers insists Washington can handle both climate and immigration this year. The Hill: "There is 'no either/or' between the two issues, which are 'both important,' said Larry Summers, the chief economic adviser to President Barack Obama. Summers also said it would be up to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to determine the chamber’s schedule."

Grist's Dave Roberts blames Sen. Harry Reid for Sen. Lindsey Graham bailing on the climate change bill: "Reid is facing a perilous reelection battle in Nevada this year. He's behind by double digits and desperately needs to mobilize his state's large Hispanic population. So he's trying to jam immigration through next, despite the fact that there's no legislative language and nobody thinks it has a chance of passing."

Time's Joe Klein thinks immigration should put climate legislation on the backburner: "Why? Because the public has had quite enough, thank you, of government activism this year...and, after Wall Street reform is passed, any further attempts to pass major legislation will add to legitimate conservative arguments that the federal government is attempting to do much to do any of it well."

On the other hand, Steve Benen points out that Graham is throwing tantrum over getting what he wanted: "...Democrats are, to a certain extent, doing what Graham asked them to do. The South Carolina Republican began working on a bipartisan immigration reform proposal with Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) last October. On March 11, they met with President Obama at the White House to go over their plan, and get the presidential green light to continue ... It was around that time that Graham publicly stated his hopes that Obama would get more involved in pushing immigration reform, in order to give it a chance to pass this year."

TNR's Jonathan Chait defends Graham: "...when Democrats put climate change on the backburner to take up immigration ... for obviously political reasons, Graham has every right to be angry. He's risking his political life to address a vital issue, and Harry Reid is looking to save his seat."

Time's Byran Walsh speculates Graham may have political considerations of his own: "The South Carolina Republican has come under intense criticism from his own party ... a March Gallup poll found that the percentage of conservatives who believe climate change was real and actually occurring had dipped from 50% in 2008 to 30% this year, while liberals and moderates had shown little change. Standing up for even a climate-and-energy bill as industry-friendly as the prospective Senate legislation had become a lonely place for Graham."

Atrios mocks Dems for flirting with Graham: "How many times will this Lucy and the football game be played by various GOP senators before the administration catches on."

Balloon Juice's mistermix sympathizes with need to put up with Graham: "Since there aren’t enough Democratic votes for cloture, various Republican prima donnas are going to be drawn, like moths to the flame, to the potential fame of being #60 ... yes, they’ll often flake out, as narcissists are wont to do ... [The administration knows] full well that they’re playing Charlie Brown to the Lucy du jour [but] I have no clue what other, better strategy is waiting in the wings."

No climate bill means EPA can act on its own. CQ: "If that happens, the stage is set for the EPA to begin regulating carbon emissions under the Clean Air Act, with no input from Congress, potentially setting up decades of lawsuits from polluting industries."

Huge Earth Day rally gets no attention. Climate Progress' Joe Romm: "Well over 100,000 people were in the crowd, well over 10x what the Tea Partiers delivered on tax day, so you can figure out which event the media fawned over."

NYT edit board urges Interior Sec. Salazar to approve Cape Wind project this week: "Mr. Salazar could ease the blow for the Indian tribes with financial compensation. He could also promise that the wind farm developers, whose test borings have so far failed to locate any archeological remains, would collect further sediment samples before sinking foundations. [But the] criticisms of the project do not come close to outweighing its enormous promise." Decision expected Friday.

Backlash Over AZ Anti-Immigrant Law

LA's Spanish-language daily, La Opinión calls for a boycott of Arizona, following the passage of a controversial anti-immigration law: "Let's send a signal of our disgust with an arrogant state government that asserts powers it does not have in order to persecute a minority population."

HuffPost's Robert Creamer says the Arizona of 2010 is the Alabama of 1963: "The new law makes anyone with brown skin, anyone who looks like he might be from Eastern Europe, the Irish guy who works behind the bar at a pub, anyone with an accent — frankly anyone who looks the least bit like they might be an immigrant — subject to the demand: 'Papers please.'"

Burgeoning Recovery Needs More Jobs

NY Times reports the economic recovery is here, thanks to the stimulus but may fade without focus on jobs: "...much of the improvement appears the result of the nearly $800 billion government stimulus program. As that package is largely exhausted late this year, further expansion may hinge on whether consumers keep spending. That probably depends on the job market, which remains weak.

Oil companies under investigation for suppressing wages, latest move to enforce anti-trust regs. WSJ: "The investigation is the latest evidence of concern among U.S. antitrust enforcers that the nation's largest employers may be interfering with the labor market to hold down costs. The U.S. Department of Justice is carrying out a similar probe into whether companies in the technology sector have improperly agreed not to poach each other's employees..."

Truthout's Ben Leet notes since the tide has not lifted all boats, we need a federal jobs program that will: "One percent of US households received 23.5 percent of the nation's income in 2007 ... Their contribution to the nation's prosperity was significant, but they did not do a quarter of all the work. Today one of every four children in the nation lives in poverty, about one in six adults is out of work or underemployed, and the poverty rate is rising ... The nation needs capital resources to employ those whom private employers will not hire."

Trade agreements not moving in Congress. CQ: "For the first time in more than a decade, the House and Senate appear likely to let an entire Congress go by without approving a free-trade agreement ... Business groups that have been trying to push trade deals onto the congressional agenda contend that action is still possible ... The domestic auto industry is angry about trade barriers in South Korea, and the administration is in the midst of talks with Seoul about renegotiating parts of the deal. [Sen. Carl] Levin has made it clear that action on the Colombia pact will require Bogota to take more steps to guard workers’ rights, and that action on the Panama deal will only come after the Central American country takes steps to deal with international concerns about its banking secrecy laws."

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