With state urging, Gulf firms prepare for Egypt push
Gulf Arab governments are encouraging – and in some cases pressuring – hundreds of companies to attend an...
Thursday, 12 March 2015
How The Iran Letter Is Playing In The 2016 Campaign
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker contends that the next president might not be bound by a nuclear deal President Obama strikes with Iran. Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
itoggle caption Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker contends that the next president might not be bound by a nuclear deal President Obama strikes with Iran.
Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images
Forty-seven Senate Republicans signed a letter to Tehran's leaders Monday questioning the authority of any agreement Iran might sign with President Barack Obama that is not ratified by Congress. And it's becoming an issue in the 2016 presidential campaign with potential Republican candidates signing onto the letter.
Tom Cotton, the freshman Arkansas senator behind the letter, even Tweeted a Farsi translation directly to the Iranian president and foreign minister.
The move has enraged Democrats. The hashtag #47traitors was trending on Twitter, and a petition to charge the senators as being in violation of the Logan Act has gotten more than the required 100,000 signatures for the White House to respond.
(By Thursday morning, it had more than 200,000 signatures. The White House, however, is likely to defer to the Department of Justice as it routinely does with petitions calling for legal action. See that Justin Bieber petition.)
The letter also comes a week after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed Congress about his reservations on a potential nuclear deal with Iran.
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, a likely 2016 contender, co-sponsored the prime minister's invitation and signed onto the letter to Iran, though he later denied in an interview with NBC's Today that he was trying to undermine the president in negotiating with Iran. Instead, he said he was actually trying "to strengthen the president's hand."
Jeb Bush and Scott Walker, leading early Republican primary polls, also expressed support for the senators.
"The Senators are reacting to reports of a bad deal that will likely enable Iran to become a nuclear state over time," Bush said in a statement. "They would not have been put in this position had the Administration consulted regularly with them rather than ignoring their input."
Wisconsin Gov. Walker stressed that the president should seek congressional authorization.
"Unless the White House is prepared to submit the Iran deal it negotiates for congressional approval, the next president should not be bound by it," Walker said in his statement.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida — who got into a heated back and forth with Secretary of State John Kerry Wednesday during a congressional hearing about Iran and fighting the so-called Islamic State – signed onto the letter. In a fundraising email, his PAC highlighted that he was "proud to be one of the first senators to sign."
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal signed onto the letter after it was released.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry also said he "would be proud and honored to sign the letter." Perry linked to his video on Facebook about the nuclear threat Iran poses:
Jindal went a step further, saying anyone running for president "should sign on."
"Every single person thinking about running for president, on both sides, should sign on to this letter to make clear to Iran that they are negotiating with a lame-duck president," Jindal said in a statement. "Make no mistake, any Iran deal that President Obama makes is not binding on a future president."
Of course, not every presidential contender agrees.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton addressed the letter Monday at the beginning of a news conference designed to put aside a controversy of her own about a different form of written communication.
"Either these senators were trying to be helpful to the Iranians or harmful to the Commander-In-Chief in the midst of high-stakes international diplomacy," Clinton insisted. "Either answer does discredit to the letters' signatories."
Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who is likely to challenge Clinton, expressed his outrage on Facebook:
Vice President Biden, who's unlikely to run if Clinton does, is a longtime former member of the Senate, and called the letter "beneath the dignity of an institution I revere."
The current officer holder, President Obama, hit back hard at Republicans Monday.
"It's somewhat ironic to see some members of Congress wanting to make common cause with the hardliners in Iran," Obama said of an open letter from Republicans who have questioned the prospect of a nuclear agreement. "It's an unusual coalition."
Cabinet OKs banking body appointments
BEIRUT: The Cabinet approved Thursday the appointment of a new five-member Banking Control Commission despite objections from some ministers, Information Minister Ramzi Joreige said.
Speaker Nabih Berri praised Cabinet’s decision despite reservations voiced by a number of ministers.
“This encourages more productivity in Cabinet work,” he was quoted as saying by visitors at his Ain al-Tineh residence. “This is a new indication of Cabinet’s new start.”
“The appointment of the Banking Control Commission was essential despite the objection by a number of ministers,” Berri said. He added that Lebanon would have faced a problem with the outside world had the appointment not been made.
Berri, according to the visitors, said he would call for more than one legislative session to approve essential draft laws labeled under the slogan “essential legislation.”
He said he hoped parliamentary committees would finalize the public sector wage and ranks scale so it could be put on the agenda of a legislative session that he would later call.
Berri earlier Thursday called for a joint meeting of the parliamentary Finance, Budget, Justice, Administration, Defense, Interior, Education and Cultural committees next Tuesday to study the salary and ranks scale.
The speaker tasked MP Ibrahim Kanaan, head of the parliamentary Finance and Budget Committee, to chair Tuesday’s meeting over the wage hike bill, the National News Agency reported.
The BCC’s new members are Samir Hammoud as president, and Joseph Sarkis, Ahmad Safa, Munir Alyan and Sami Azar as members, Joreige told reporters after the Cabinet session chaired by Prime Minister Tammam Salam at the Grand Serail.
Each of the five members represented a different religious sect, in line with the state’s power sharing policy.
Cabinet approved the appointments despite opposition from two ministers by resorting to a new consensus formula adopted last week. The formula does not require the unanimous support of all 24 ministers to approve decisions as had been the case in the past during the presidential vacuum.
The Cabinet overrode objections to the appointments because the ministers who opposed the move feared the issue would be put up for a vote in the absence of a consensus, ministerial sources said.
The sources said Salam’s suspension of the Cabinet sessions for two weeks due to a row over the decision-making mechanism had achieved its goal without resorting to the old formula, which required the unanimous support of all 24 ministers.
The smooth appointment of the BCC’s members despite reservations by some ministers might pave the way for the approval of other public appointments, the sources said.
The Cabinet also approved a request issued by the Public Works Ministry calling for maintenance work to be carried out on roads following severe damage caused by a series of storms that battered Lebanon over the past two months.
Before entering the session, ministers had voiced contradictory views about the BCC appointments.
Finance Minister Ali Hasan Khalil, from the March 8 coalition, had said he was “fully ready” to discuss the matter, stressing that he was adamantly opposed to “extending or renewing” the commission’s term, which expires on March 17.
March 14 Telecoms Minister Boutros Harb stressed that “extension” is an option in case there was no agreement on the names of candidates on the commission.
Some ministers initially expressed reservations over the appointments because new members are supposed to take an oath before the president.
Lebanon has been without president for more than nine months.
Scholarships given to 3,000 Syrians
BEIRUT: The Hariri Foundation provided 52 private schools from across Lebanon with scholarship funds Thursday to pay for the tuition of 3,000 Syrian refugees, as part of a wider campaign to integrate more refugee children into education. “This generous initiative of supporting 3,000 students in 52 schools across Lebanon aims at helping those students to continue to get an education and helping schools to continue their mission,” Bahia Hariri, Sidon MP and president of the Hariri Foundation for Sustainable Human Development, told the crowd during a speech at a ceremony to distribute the scholarships.
The scholarships are financed by the Saudi government through the Saudi National Campaign to Support the Brothers in Syria and managed by the Hariri Foundation.
The distribution of the scholarships is the first phase of the program and will be followed by the implementation of psychosocial programs. These programs will aim help refugee children, as well as Lebanese children, enrolled in these schools overcome the difficulties they face upon arriving in a new country.
There are over 1.1 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon who fled the civil war, equivalent to a quarter of the country’s population. Almost half of those refugees are children and few of them are enrolled in official schooling.
The psychosocial programs will be implemented by NGOs that will work, among other things, on building cohesion among the Lebanese and Syrian children.
Skoun, a therapeutic clinic that deals with drug-abuse prevention and awareness, will be implementing a drug-prevention program through sustained youth development.
“It’s a step beyond just drug awareness,” Skoun director Nadya Mikdashi told The Daily Star. “We take it a step further to try to implement long-term programs that have a positive impact.”
Skoun’s “Life Skills” program aims at making children more aware of their emotions and why they may feel a certain way, Mikdashi said, as well as teaching skills such as how to build positive relationships.
“Step one is getting Syrian children into schools ... To create some kind of normalcy for them,” she said.
“Number two is to look to their ... social and psychological welfare.”
Kidproof, the Canadian child-safety provider and publisher, is another NGO that will be implementing psychosocial programs at schools across Lebanon. According to Kidproof’s President in the MENA region Darine al-Masri, Kidproof’s program is focused on defusing tension between Syrian and Lebanese children.
“[These Syrian children] have left their homes, they’ve left everything that was familiar. They’ve left the backyard where they used to play. They’ve left that ice cream shop that they used to go to,” she told The Daily Star. “They’ve come to a new country where sometimes they’re being welcomed with open arms but sometimes not so much.”
Bullying of Syrian children is rampant at schools across Lebanon, Masri said, and allowing children to grow up with these prejudices may lead to conflict later on.
Kidproof’s programs will deal with anti-bullying and anti-discrimination themes. With teenage children, they will work on issues of conflict resolution through anger management techniques.
Kidproof’s program will start later this month and they will hold 200 workshops that hope to reach 5,000 children over the weeks that follow. However, Masri is aware of the difficulties of the task ahead.
“The challenge is going to be [changing where the children’s] views are being built,” she explained. “A lot of times the sources of racism are going to be not just the media but things that they are hearing at home.”
“[The trainers’] challenge is going to be to convince the children to do the right thing even if it’s not the popular thing to do. To say no when everybody is saying yes.”
Abu Faour sues pharmaceutical companies
BEIRUT: Health Minister Wael Abu Faour filed lawsuits Thursday against two pharmaceutical companies for overcharging the state for medication used to treat Parkinson’s disease.
According to a statement released by the Health Ministry, Abu Faour sued a pharmaceutical import company named Mectapharm and the famous drug company Pfizer.
Mectapharm and Pfizer issued a joint statement later Thursday saying they respected the laws governing the prices of medicines in Lebanon. The two companies claimed that they had presented all the required documents to alter the prices on a list of drugs registered at the Health Ministry.
Mectapharm and Pfizer said they were ready to respond to all the questions of the concerned authorities, stressing their keenness to “deliver drugs to patients in line with the best international standards.”
According to the law organizing the pharmacy profession, companies are required to report any fall in prices to the ministry when it occurs, the Health Ministry’s statement explained.
Firms must not wait for the regular repricing process held every five years, the report said, because by that time the company would be turning profits at the expense of the state.
The price of Aricept, which is used by Parkinson’s patients, was reduced by 59.4 percent for the 10-milligram version and by 70.53 percent for the 5-milligram pills, the statement said, and the ministry was not notified.
Because the case is related to reporting, Pfizer’s national sales manager for Lebanon, Samer Ramadan, was also referred to the judiciary. The case said the two companies committed “negligence leading to fraud,” and demanded they return the money to the state.
Jumblatt urges Druze to back Joint Arab List
BEIRUT: Progressive Socialist Party Leader Walid Jumblatt urged Druze in Israel to vote for the Joint Arab List Thursday, ahead of parliamentary elections next week.
“The current situation necessitates that Arab Druze confirm their Arab identity and their national Palestinian heritage ... [Voting for] the Joint Arab List is an important step in taking their rights as equal citizens,” Jumblatt said in a statement.
“I direct this call to the Arab Druze in occupied Palestine who, along with their Palestinian brothers, are suffering from the occupation, oppression and injustice of the actions of Israel.”
Israelis head to polls on March 17.
“[Israel] wants to completely eliminate the Arab identity and [deny] all the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people,” he contended.
1948 Palestinians, also known as Israeli Arabs, are Palestinians who remained on their lands in what became Israel after the 1948 war and elected to receive citizenship from the Israeli government.
They have long complained of being treated as second-class citizens in their own country.
The Joint Arab List includes four parties on a unified ticket for the first time, in a bid to become the third-largest bloc in the Knesset.
Jumblatt cited the new bloc as an important reason for Israeli Arabs to unite and vote, adding that it was important to counter the international community’s bias in favor of the occupation.
“This is a valuable opportunity to fortify Arab society and unify its vision regarding the Israeli-Palestinian struggle,” he said.
“Perhaps [this] can constitute the beginning of a radical change in your reality and your future,” Lebanon’s Druze leader added.
Rival camps blamed for political, sectarian rifts
BEIRUT: The emergence of the Hezbollah-led March 8 alliance and the rival March 14 coalition in 2005 has since plunged Lebanon into political turmoil and sectarian divisions with far-reaching effects on the country’s volatile security and stability, analysts said Thursday.
Furthermore, the political and sectarian schism has been deepened by the repercussions of the upheavals currently roiling the region, particularly the negative fallout of the 4-year-old war in Syria on Lebanon’s security and stability, they said.
“The March 8 and March 14 alliances are responsible for the state of divisions and fragmentation in Lebanon. Since the two camps were born 10 years ago, the country has been in the throes of a sharp political crisis due to the rival parties’ regional commitment,” Abdallah Bou Habib, Lebanon’s former ambassador to the United States, told The Daily Star.
“Because the two parties have regional friendships, commitments and allies, this has prevented them from giving priority to Lebanese interests,” said Bou Habib, also the director of the Issam Fares Center for Lebanon, a Beirut-based think tank.
Bou Habib and other analysts said the fierce power struggle between the March 8 and March 14 blocs was largely at the root of the country’s many woes.
“The March 8 and March 14 political differences have led to the vacuum in the presidency and extension of Parliament’s mandate, brought Parliament legislation to paralysis and led to caretaker governments in some cases,” he said.
Sami Nader, a professor of economics and international relations at the Universite St. Joseph, praised the creation of the March 8 and March 14 parties as “a healthy sign” and “a pillar of democracy” in line with the country’s democratic system.
“But the main problem is the absence of any political platform between the two sides to serve the purpose of state building,” Nader told The Daily Star.
“Differences between the March 8 and March 14 parties have led to the failure of reaching a strong united state,” said Nader, also the director of the Levant Institute for Strategic Affairs, a Beirut-based think tank.
“The two sides are currently at odds over the country’s foreign and defense policies, a new electoral law, the need to elect a new president and the project to build a united state,” he added. “This in addition to the March 8 and March 14 disputes over the conflict in Syria, Hezbollah’s weapons, tackling the Syrian refugee crisis and the government security plan.”
Noting that each of the March 8 and March 14 blocs comprised politicians from various Muslim and Christian sects, “thus transcending in form the sectarian disease,” Nader said the two sides remained in disagreement over key issues.
“The creation of the March 14 coalition, an alliance by necessity, was in response to the March 8 movement and rejected the Syrian-Iranian hegemony over Lebanon,” Nader said. “The March 14 movement opposed Lebanon’s alignment with the Syrian-Iranian axis.”
The 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri triggered a mass anti-Syria popular uprising in Downtown Beirut in March 2005, known as the Cedar Revolution. The March 14 alliance, a coalition of parties that takes its name from the uprising, is still struggling for Lebanon’s freedom, sovereignty and independence.
The coalition, led by former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s Future Movement, stands in opposition to the Hezbollah-led March 8 alliance, which draws its name from a counter-demonstration held on March 8, 2005, in Downtown Beirut to thank Syria for its military and political role in Lebanon.
The Syrian army, under massive local and international pressure, was forced to withdraw from Lebanon in April 2005, ending nearly three decades of Syria’s domination of its smaller neighbor.
This month marked the 10th anniversary of the birth of the March 8 and March 14 alliances while Lebanon remains sharply divided politically between the rival pro- and anti-Syrian camps.
The inter-Lebanese split has been exacerbated by the negative impact of regional divisions, particularly the emergence of an Arab Gulf alliance led by Saudi Arabia against an Iranian-Syrian coalition.
Regional turmoil, particularly long-simmering rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which back opposing sides in Lebanon, has been blamed for the delay in the election of a new Lebanese president. Saudi Arabia backs the March 14 coalition while Iran supports the March 8 alliance.
Also, the 10th anniversary of the March 8 and March 14 parties comes as the Lebanese Army is locked in an open battle against Syria-based jihadis threatening to destabilize Lebanon.
Mouna Fayyad, a writer and a psychology professor at the state-run Lebanese University, sounded pessimistic about putting an end to divisions in Lebanon while the region was on the boil.
“I don’t see a solution soon to current tensions and the state of fragmentation in Lebanon as long as the region remains in wars and turmoil and as long as Lebanon remains a card in the hands of others,” Fayyad told The Daily Star.
In order for Lebanon to emerge from the current intense political alignment between the March 8 and March 14 blocs, Fayyad said, “this requires the election of a new president and the presidency should not be subservient to outside powers and its decisions should be made inside the country.”
A harsh critic of Iran and Hezbollah, Fayyad, a Shiite, lamented that the March 14 movement, which was launched 10 years ago with noble objectives, has failed to achieve anything at all of its famous slogan: Freedom, sovereignty and independence.
“Where is sovereignty in a country that has been left without a president for nearly 10 months and its borders are open?” she asked.
Fayyad said Iran, through Hezbollah and MP Michel Aoun’s bloc, which have been boycotting Parliament sessions to elect a president since last April, is obstructing the presidential vote.
She contended that Hezbollah’s military intervention in Syria had fueled sectarian tensions in Lebanon. “This is a party with a sectarian and confessional character. Its actions have led to a feeling of suppression among the Sunni community in Lebanon,” Fayyad said, adding: “Iran is the main instigator of the Sunni-Shiite conflict in the region.”
In the absence of an alternative force to the March 8 and March 14 blocs, Bou Habib called for pursuing the ongoing dialogue between the Future Movement and Hezbollah.
“Perhaps, this dialogue can reach an agreement on the qualifications of the new president,” he said. He added that the March 8 and March 14 parties should also help ease internal tensions by “reducing the negative impact of their foreign commitments on Lebanon.”
Nader, the USJ professor, said he expected the emergence of a new political elite to do away with the acute political alignment between the March 8 and March 14 camps plaguing the country.
“Lebanon is poised for a renewal of political leadership that should have a coherent political nonsectarian project with promises of a bigger role for women in the country’s political life,” Nader said.
He said the current political class, both March 8 and March 14, has renewed the Parliament’s mandate twice, while leaving the country without a president for nearly 300 days, in addition to paralyzing Parliament legislation. “To end the current political divisions, a peaceful popular revolt, probably backed by foreign powers, is needed to transcend the March 8 and March 14 parties and create a new Cedar revolution,” he said.
Nader blamed regional turmoil and what he termed March 14 leaders’ “big mistakes” for the coalition’s failure to achieve its declared goals of “Freedom, sovereignty and independence.”
March 14 announce manifesto 10 years on
BEIRUT: The brutal assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri on Feb. 14, 2005, has been described as an “earthquake” in Lebanese history, precipitating a number of dramatic developments in the country that have had lasting repercussions.
One of its immediate effects materialized exactly four weeks later, when hundreds of thousands of Lebanese from different sects and political groups flocked to Downtown Beirut to demand the truth behind the assassination and the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon. It was the founding gathering of the March 14 coalition.
Despite its early achievements, manifested in the Syrian army’s swift withdrawal and majorities in the Parliament and Cabinet, the alliance has since witnessed a series of setbacks.
Ten years after calling on Hezbollah to hand over its weapons to the Lebanese Army, the group now sits in the same government with representatives of the still-armed Shiite party.
As it celebrates its 10th anniversary Saturday with a conference at BIEL, the group will announce a political manifesto and launch a National Council in an attempt to re-emphasize its multi-sectarian nature amid rising extremism regionally.
“In order to return to the international spotlight, the March 14 coalition must go beyond local politics and re-emphasize the Lebanese experience [of coexistence],” said former MP Fares Soueid, general coordinator of the March 14 General Secretariat.
“It is a unique experience, as there is no constitution in the world which organizes relations between Muslims, Christians, Sunnis, Shiites, Druze and Alawites in one framework [like the Lebanese Constitution],” Soueid said, sitting in his Ashrafieh office, decorated with portraits of March 14 martyrs.
He explained that the Lebanese should present their model of coexistence as an example to the world for resolving crises of intolerance and sectarian violence, “hence the announcement of a political manifesto and the launch of the March 14 National Council.”
Soueid said the manifesto would emphasize the unique Lebanese experience of coexistence, which he says has proven resilient to regional turmoil.
Comprising approximately 300 party officials and independent March 14 figures, the National Council (NC) will be run by an openly elected body.
“No posts will be allocated to specific sects; candidates of any sect may run for any post.”
“It will be the senate of March 14 coalition, a framework which brings together leaders of opinion in Lebanon and from the diaspora to contribute to the drafting of March 14 policies.”
Lacking any executive authority, the NC will be a consultative body and meet every two or three months to make recommendations.
“Most importantly, it will bring together all these groups, and present an image which matches that of the March 14 cause: [to create a space where] a multi-sectarian group [...] can discuss heated topics of national, Arab or international nature, from a [Lebanese] perspective.”
Soueid contends that over the past 10 years, Hezbollah has been able to make Lebanese politically identify along sectarian lines rather than with the state, a concept that March 14 has tried to abolish by promoting a strong state and pushing its multi-sectarian platform.
He acknowledged that the bloc’s decision to join the same government as Hezbollah was aimed at “buying time and postponing a problem.”
“Maybe it reflects wisdom but it strays from the convictions of the March 14 coalition.”
Attendees of Saturday’s conference will comprise the general assembly of the NC, from which a preparatory committee will be formed and tasked with laying down the body’s bylaws.
But according to university professor Sami Nader, the NC won’t be able to make significant changes, as it will lack any decision-making power.
“Is it sovereign or is it just cosmetics? [If] it is really only cosmetics, then it is better not to have it,” Nader, director of the Levant Institute for Strategic Affairs, a Beirut-based think-tank, said.
“We don’t want it [to be] makeup or a fig leaf but a true sovereign institution,” he added.
Nader said that while the March 14 coalition has argued that the NC would re-emphasize the multi-sectarian nature of their movement, its constituent parties are currently engaged in dialogues of a sectarian nature.
“They say one thing and do the opposite. Two parties from the March 14 coalition are currently taking part in sectarian dialogues,” he added, referring to ongoing talks between the Free Patriotic Movement and the Lebanese Forces, as well as the Future Movement-Hezbollah dialogue.
Nader said that while the Future Movement maintains that its dialogue is aimed at defusing sectarian tensions, this should strictly be a national responsibility.
The university professor said that March 14 should focus on regaining “the spirit of March 14: a popular, peaceful and inclusive movement, away from sectarianism.”
Nader said that the NC experience could be successful if its goal was to engage with the political base of March 14, which he said is currently disappointed with the bloc.
“They should go and talk to them. They only visit north Lebanon during elections,” Nader said. “Let them fill this National Council with people from [remote] areas and give them power so that their political base can regain its decision-making powers.”
Ziad Daherz, an official in the Future Movement Youth Department who took part in the founding March 14 demonstrations, said that it is the “spirit rather than the body” of March 14 that must be preserved.
He said that the circumstances that accompanied the birth of the coalition in 2005 and impacted its activity have changed, pointing to the Arab Spring – particularly the uprising in Syria – and the rise of new forms of extremism.
“Lebanon is affected by these developments, particularly given that a Lebanese faction is taking part in Syria’s war,” Daher said, referring to Hezbollah.
“We should not establish a National Council in order to recreate an exact image of the group as it was on March 14, 2005. It should come up with new solutions, which take into consideration the changes that have taken place since 2005.”
Daher stressed that the March 14 movement should seek to preserve the role of youth, which he described as a “main pillar” of the group.
Ralph Akel, a political activist who also participated in the founding gathering, said the establishment of the NC was a positive step but that its success would be defined by politicians’ ability to listen to their constituents.
“Implementation will show how effective it will be ... leaders must be receptive to the spirit of the political base, which supports independence and wants to develop the Lebanese system politically and economically.”
Akel added that the coalition needs a strategy that focuses on both politics and socio-economic challenges.
“We need a strategy which March 14 supporters can hold [politicians] accountable for implementing.”
Obama, Unions On Opposite Sides Of The (Fast) Track For Trade Deals
Shipping containers at the Port of Los Angeles. Unions are stepping up their efforts to thwart White House plans for passing foreign trade deals on a "fast track" through Congress. Nick Ut/AP hide caption
itoggle caption Nick Ut/AP
Shipping containers at the Port of Los Angeles. Unions are stepping up their efforts to thwart White House plans for passing foreign trade deals on a "fast track" through Congress.
Nick Ut/AP
This week, labor leaders made sure President Obama knows that when it comes to foreign trade, they are living on opposite sides of the track — the "fast track," that is.
That's a term describing a president's broad power to negotiate a trade agreement — and then put the final package on a "fast track" through Congress. Lawmakers can give it a yes-or-no vote, but can't amend or filibuster the deal.
Obama wants Congress to give him this power, but unions are launching a political war to thwart the president whom they worked so hard to elect — twice.
"We're going all out" to stop Obama's trade agenda, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka told reporters on Tuesday. The next day, the labor organization announced it would freeze all political action committee donations to federal candidates until further notice — saying it had to "conserve resources for the historic legislative battle" against fast track.
In a town that lives on campaign donations, them's fightin' words.
Whoa, pardner. What brought on this showdown?
The Prequel To Our Drama
Presidents have been using "fast-track" power for decades, but only because Congress has regularly renewed it. More formally known as Trade Promotion Authority, the power has expired. During his State of the Union address in January, Obama called for its renewal, saying U.S. companies need open markets.
"Twenty-first century businesses, including small businesses, need to sell more American products overseas," Obama said.
TPA supporters' hopes rose then because Republican House and Senate leaders agreed with Obama. Many people believed trade promotion would be the one bipartisan piece of legislation that could pass as the daffodils bloomed.
And then after the president had TPA restored, he could go on to complete negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a 12-nation trade deal involving the United States, Japan, Australia and others around the Pacific Rim.
But as spring approaches, fast-track's prospects, along with the Pacific trade deal, may be growing colder. Here are the two sides in this standoff:
TPA Supporters
The White House's position is vigorously supported by the Business Roundtable, Chamber of Commerce and other business groups. Many companies and groups have come together as the U.S. Business Coalition for TPP, which gets support from tech-oriented companies including Apple, Intel and Facebook, as well as traditional businesses such as oilseed producers and candy-bar makers.
Republican leaders in both the House and Senate are fully on board with U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman, whose office makes the case for trade deals:
"Expanding the production of America's most competitive industries and products, through exports, raises U.S. incomes. Shifting production to the most competitive areas of our economy helps raise the productivity of the average American worker and through that the income they earn."
TPA Opponents
Unions have long been skeptical about trade deals, but in the wake of the Great Recession, they are particularly fired up. Over the last six years, they have seen corporate profits and stock prices soar, but wages barely budge.
When union workers look back on the North American Free Trade Agreement and South Korea deal, they see more imports and competition, not more exports.
They fear new trade pacts would make it easier for U.S. corporations to invest in foreign factories and then ship the goods back to America.
"There is such a dramatic impact on the standard of living and a lowering of wages and a loss of jobs — this will have a major impact, and we will not forget this vote for a long time." Trumka told reporters about trade legislation.
On Wednesday, the AFL-CIO announced it is freezing campaign contributions to Congress to pressure members into fighting fast-track trade legislation.
But unions aren't alone. Tea Party-backed Republicans have broken with their leadership, saying Obama can't be trusted with the same negotiating authority that past presidents have had. In an op-ed essay this week, Rep. Steve Russell, R-Okla., wrote that he is "alarmed for America's future should we expand this president's authority given how he has extended executive overreach ..."
Now What?
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, says a vote to advance a fast-track trade bill won't be held until next month as he continues working with Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., on specific language.
Separately, the White House has invited Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to visit this spring. Abe is expected to address a joint session of Congress and may use that appearance to talk up the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
So between the fierce lobbying by U.S. businesses in coming weeks, and the personal touch of a Japanese leader, the White House trade agenda may yet advance. But it's not likely to be easy.
A Craft Beer Tax Battle Is Brewing On Capitol Hill
Brewers pay a federal tax on each barrel of beer they produce. Two proposals on Capitol Hill would lower that tax for small brewers, but not everyone's on board. Steve Helber/AP hide caption
itoggle caption Steve Helber/AP
Brewers pay a federal tax on each barrel of beer they produce. Two proposals on Capitol Hill would lower that tax for small brewers, but not everyone's on board.
Steve Helber/AP
Congressman Patrick McHenry is a man who knows his beer. The refrigerator in his Capitol Hill office is filled to the brim with it. The Republican's district includes the city of Asheville, N.C., which claims it has more breweries per capita than any other U.S. city.
"Brewers in my district are about not only about the sort of art of brewing, they're about jobs," he tells NPR over a few North Carolina beers. "So these are small business folks that are risk-takers, that are trying to take their art and make a living out of it. It's a pretty cool thing."
Small beer is big business, not just in McHenry's district, but around the country.
"There are more craft breweries now than I think there were pre-Prohibition. We are a thriving and growing industry — 110,000 people across roughly 3,200 breweries across the country," says Mari Rodela. She heads up the D.C. Brewers' Guild and is the chief community and culture officer at D.C. Brau, which opened in 2009.
There's even a Small Brewers Caucus in the House, which counted 142 members among its ranks as of last month, and a counterpart in the Senate. And its members have been busy. They're pushing a bill that they say would cut taxes on beer and make it easier for small breweries to hire more workers and brew more beer.
"It's simply for the smallest brewers in the country and actually cutting in half their excise tax for the first 60,000 barrels, and then a lower rate until they reach two million barrels," McHenry, the vice-chairman of the House Small Brewers Caucus, explains.
Small beer makers say that could make a big difference.
Thor Cheston launched Right Proper Brewing Company in D.C. in December 2013. He and his team want to expand and open a production facility that will allow them to produce 10 times more beer. They hope to open it in May.
"There's a lot of stress involved. We have 14,000 pounds of stainless steel arriving in two days," Cheston says. "It's a lot of fun though. That's really the best part. You wake up in the morning and think, 'Oh my God, I actually do this for a living.' "
But like any small business, there are challenges. And for small brewers one of the biggest challenges comes in the form of something called the federal excise tax.
Here's how it works. Brewers pay a federal tax on each barrel of beer they produce. Currently small breweries that produce less than 2 million barrels of beer each year pay $7 on their first 60,000 barrels. For each barrel more than 60,000 they pay $18.
"Brewers in my district are about not only about the sort of art of brewing, they're about jobs," says Rep. Patrick McHenry, seen pouring a beer in his Capitol Hill office. Amita Kelly/NPR hide caption
itoggle caption Amita Kelly/NPR
"Brewers in my district are about not only about the sort of art of brewing, they're about jobs," says Rep. Patrick McHenry, seen pouring a beer in his Capitol Hill office.
Amita Kelly/NPR
Last year Right Proper made 1,000 barrels of beer. Under current law, $7 from each barrel went back to Uncle Sam.
"Our margins are so tight that we're not counting dollars, we're counting nickels and dimes," Cheston says. "Any extra amount of money that we can count on in our annual budgets, our monthly budgets is going to go straight back to the business."
The Small BREW Act — the bill that McHenry and the Small Brewers Caucus supports — would cut that tax in half for the first 60,000 barrels. So instead of paying $7 for each barrel, brewers would pay $3.50. For every barrel past 60,000 up to 2 million, brewers would pay $16. After 2 million barrels, breweries would pay $18 per barrel. Any brewery that produces fewer than 6 million barrels of beer each year would be eligible for these rates.
But there's another bill in Congress targeting the beer business: the Fair BEER Act. Its backers say it would provide tax relief not just for small brewers, but for all brewers.
The Fair BEER Act would eliminate the federal excise tax for brewers who produce up to 7,143 barrels. For every barrel between 7,143 and 60,000, brewers would pay $3.50 a barrel. For every barrel between 60,001 and 2 million, brewers would pay $16 per barrel. And after 2 million barrels, brewers would pay $18 per barrel.
The Fair BEER Act also extends these tax rates to importing producers.
This isn't as simple as big beer vs. small beer, says Jim McGreevy who heads up the Beer Institute. His group represents a number of small breweries but is better known for representing beer giants like Anheuser-Busch InBev and MillerCoors.
"There's a lot of stress involved. We have 14,000 pounds of stainless steel arriving in two days," Thor Cheston of Right Proper Brewing Company says. "It's a lot of fun though." Nayana Davis/NPR hide caption
itoggle caption Nayana Davis/NPR
"There's a lot of stress involved. We have 14,000 pounds of stainless steel arriving in two days," Thor Cheston of Right Proper Brewing Company says. "It's a lot of fun though."
Nayana Davis/NPR
"I see this as a way of reforming a tax that's invisible to consumers that potentially hinders new brewers from getting into the marketplace," McGreevy explains at the Beer Institute's Washington offices.
By the Beer Institute's count, the industry is responsible for roughly $246 billion in economic activity.
"We see a very dynamic industry at this moment. We think reform of the beer tax which hasn't been reviewed by legislators in many years would make that even better," he says.
But not everyone is on board with the proposal. Bob Pease, CEO of the Brewers Association, says while there are some things to like about the Fair BEER Act, it's not actually so fair.
"Where we go different ways is that the BEER Act also allows for federal excise tax relief for companies that in some cases are not making any beer in the United States," Pease says during a recent trip to Washington. "The current playing field is not level."
Sen. Ben Cardin, a Maryland Democrat whose state is home to popular small breweries like Flying Dog, Heavy Seas and Union Craft Brewing, agrees. He introduced the Small BREW Act in the Senate with Republican Sen. Susan Collins.
Cardin says big brewers could also see a benefit, though he doesn't agree that they need a tax cut.
"We are aimed at small businesses that need the help in order to grow, that are struggling every day," he says. "By the way, by helping them, we'll be helping the [whole] beer industry because there will be more people interested in drinking beer."
And that's something brewers like Cheston are counting on to keep their brewery doors open and taps pouring.
Cheston compares the way things are now to a documentary he once saw about bull riders.
"One of the bull riders said, 'Well, we're not competing against each other. We're all competing against the bull,'" he says. "So the small craft brewers are not competing against each other. We're competing against Anheuser Busch and MillerCoors. They're the bull."
Whether or not all brewers are in it together, both tax bills face daunting prospects of passing as stand-alone legislation. Advocates on both side of the issue say these proposals have little chance of being considered unless included in broader tax reform legislation.
Hillary Clinton's Privacy Problem
In April 1994, Hillary Clinton took questions from reporters for more than an hour as first lady. By that point, she had a reputation for not being particularly transparent and for not spending enough time addressing the national media. Doug Mills/AP hide caption
itoggle caption Doug Mills/AP
In April 1994, Hillary Clinton took questions from reporters for more than an hour as first lady. By that point, she had a reputation for not being particularly transparent and for not spending enough time addressing the national media.
Doug Mills/AP
Controversy swirled. The press had questions, a lot of them. And so, finally, Hillary Clinton decided to address reporters.
"Well let me thank all of you for coming," she said, sitting on a low platform in the State Dining Room.
It was April 1994. The first lady wore pale pink and took questions for more than an hour about the Whitewater investigation, cattle futures, the suicide of White House Deputy Counsel Vince Foster and what documents may have been removed from his office. Finally, there was the question of why she had let the scandals fester so long.
Her answer:
"My sense of privacy — because I do feel like I've always been a fairly private person leading a public life — led me to perhaps be less understanding than I needed to of both the press and the public's interest as well as right to know things about by husband and me," she said.
By that point, almost 18 months into the Clinton presidency, Hillary Clinton had a reputation for not being particularly transparent and for not spending enough time addressing the national media.
"I've always believed in a zone of privacy and I told a friend the other day that I feel after resisting for a long time, I've been re-zoned," said Clinton.
But, of course, the suspicion that she must be hiding something inside the zone of privacy didn't go away that April day. Even now, if you post a story about Clinton, within minutes someone will comment about Whitewater or Vince Foster's suicide, often in ALL CAPS.
Letting The Personal Remain Private
As a result of years and years of such criticism, Clinton and her loyalists feel she is held to an unfair standard. That was the undeniable subtext of her press conference earlier this week.
"I feel that I've taken unprecedented steps to provide these work-related emails," said Clinton, a long gray suit coat replacing the pale pink. "They're going to be in the public domain."
The Clintons leaving their home in Chappaqua, N.Y. in 2001. "Secrecy and transparency are always an issue for the Clintons, will always be an issue for her, and probably are her main vulnerability," says political columnist Matt Bai. Stephen Chernin/AP hide caption
itoggle caption Stephen Chernin/AP
The Clintons leaving their home in Chappaqua, N.Y. in 2001. "Secrecy and transparency are always an issue for the Clintons, will always be an issue for her, and probably are her main vulnerability," says political columnist Matt Bai.
Stephen Chernin/AP
But she also deleted some 30,000 emails from her time of secretary of state that her team deemed personal.
"No one wants their personal e-mails made public and I think most people understand that and respect that privacy," said Clinton.
When this week's press conference was over, the refrain from Republicans was that Clinton had left more questions than she answered. For Hillary Clinton, this must have sounded familiar.
"Secrecy and transparency are always an issue for the Clintons, will always be an issue for her and probably are her main vulnerability," says Matt Bai, a political columnist for Yahoo and author of the book All the Truth is Out, The Week Politics Went Tabloid .
Bai traces this back to the era of politics that the Clintons came up in (he blogged about it in depth here). At the time Bill Clinton was elected, he was the first boomer president and he and Hillary were navigating the treacherous politics of a changing nation — from "I didn't inhale" to the way they danced around the troubles with their marriage when Bill was campaigning.
"The cumulative effect of that is a perception not unfounded in the public that there's always a part of the Clintons that they're holding back from you, that there's always a more complicated reality than what they're really telling you," say Bai.
But if the public and the press were demanding transparency from the Clinton's in the '90s, well now it's just assumed to be part of the price of admission.
"Transparency is really at a premium now," says Bai. "The whole culture has changed and she probably needs to change with it, if that perception can really even be undone."
Now it's emails and tax returns. Next it might be text messages or Snapchat messages and bank statements, maybe even Fitbit logs. The people running for president in 2016, not just Hillary Clinton, are going to face increasing demands from a public that assumes they have a right to see further and further inside the zone of privacy.
Secret Service Scandals Continue After Agents Crash Car Into White House Barricade
Still recovering from a spate of scandals including a fence jumper who made it into the White House, the Secret Service now has a new issue to tackle. Two senior officers crashed a government car into a White House security barricade last week. They were allowed to go home, even though they had been drinking at a party that night.
Copyright © 2015 NPR. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.
Copyright © 2015 NPR. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to NPR. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR's prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.
Utah LGBT Anti-Discrimination Bill Includes Religious Exemptions
The governor of Utah is expected to sign an LGBT anti-discrimination bill into law Thursday, which includes protections related to housing and employment. It also has exemptions for religious groups.
Copyright © 2015 NPR. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.
Copyright © 2015 NPR. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to NPR. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR's prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.
The Promise of Wind Energy
No challenge poses a greater threat to future generations than climate change. In June 2013, President Obama put forward a comprehensive Climate Action Plan. We are making great strides in advancing our climate goals, and perhaps nowhere has progress been as dramatic as in renewable energy.
Today, we harness three times as much electricity from the wind and 10 times as much from the sun as we did since President Obama took office. Wind energy is emerging as a powerhouse in the U.S. energy mix – supporting over 50,000 American jobs and supplying enough energy to power 16 million homes. Wind power advances our energy independence, bolsters our energy security, and combats climate change. A third of all new generating capacity has come from wind over the past five years, and the United States ranks first in the world in wind power generation.
Building on this progress, today the Department of Energy released Wind Vision: A New Era for Wind Power in the United States, a comprehensive analysis of the U.S. wind energy industry. The report shows that the nation can deploy wind power to economically provide 35% of our nation’s electricity and supply renewable power in all 50 states by 2050.
Lebanon releases female terror suspect due to lack of evidence
UN aviation body inspects Beirut airport
The U.N.'s International Civil Aviation Organization lauded progress made to improve Beirut's international airport...
Lebanon police arrest man accused of brutally beating daughters
BEIRUT: Lebanese police arrested Thursday a Syrian father who was on the run for beating his two daughters, a security source told The Daily Star.
The arrest came one day after Al-Jadeed aired an interview with Zeinab Hasno, a badly bruised 13-year-old girl, and her mother, who said the teen's father had been beating his girls for three years.
Zeinab said she had recently fled the house and informed the police that her father, Omar, had been abusing the girls.
When Zeinab returned home, the father beat her even harder using metal tools, she told Al-Jadeed.
The footage showed the girl with cuts and bruises across her body, including her face and arms.
"[He beats me] with a hose, with a whip, with a belt, with cords, whatever he finds in front of him, he uses to beat me," the girl explained.
The girl’s mother, who had divorced the Zeinab's father, told Al-Jadeed that she went to their house earlier this week in Beirut’s southern suburbs and took the sisters from Omar.
The mother then went to a police station to file a report. The police later raided the father’s home on three occasions in the Laylaki neighborhood, but he escaped each time.
Al-Jadeed’s reporter interviewed the man’s new wife on the phone. She defended her husband, saying that it is a regular thing in Syria to beat children who disobey their parents.
Omar was arrested Thursday in the same area of his residence after being chased by police, the security source said.
The man was charged with the “brutal beating of minors that could have resulted in death,” the source added.
He confessed to beating the children, and was referred to the judiciary.
ISF seizes 3 tons of expired food
BEIRUT: Internal Security Forces seized Wednesday roughly three tons of expired food in the Beirut suburb of Hay al-Sellom.
According to an ISF statement released Thursday, police raided an auto-body repair shop in the neighborhood, where they arrested a 22 year-old Syrian national for storing the expired products.
Police, who raided the shop at the request of the judiciary in coordination with the health and economy ministries, confirmed that the food was expired.
The statement did not say what kind of food was being stored at the shop.
Advertisement
Jumblatt urges Palestine's Druze to back joint Arab list
As Israeli polls near, peace earns barely a nod
In a rare TV debate ahead of Israel’s tightly contested election on March 17, eight party leaders from across the...
Media distorting Iran 'empire' comments: embassy in Beirut
BEIRUT: Remarks made by an adviser to Iran's president proclaiming the revival of the Iranian empire was distorted by the media, Tehran's mission in Beirut said Thursday.
“The distorted and circulated statement, which bears no association to the truth... comes in light of increased Islamophobia and an increased fear of Iran’s role in the region,” read a statement released by the embassy Thursday.
In a conference last week, Ali Younesi, President Hassan Rouhani’s adviser on Ethnic and Religious Minorities affairs, was quoted as declaring a new, Iranian empire “whose capital is Baghdad.”
The adviser, who later issued a clarification about his comments, said that his words were purposefully misconstrued.
Younesi noted that his comments suggested a historical and cultural union between regional countries and not the revival of Iran’s ancient empire.
Several Iranian officials, including Iranian Speaker Ali Larijani, rose to his defense, with the speaker saying Thursday that the comments were inaccurately translated.
The remarks sparked a backlash from Lebanese officials, and especially the Future Movement which interpreted the remarks as evidence of Iran’s insistence on meddling in the domestic affairs of regional countries in an attempt to spread its influence.
In Thursday’s statement, the embassy stressed that Tehran's foreign policy is based on a respect of international rules and highlighted that Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution was based on a rejection of the expansion of colonial powers.
“The era of empires is gone, never to return,” the statement read.
UN aviation body inspects Beirut airport
UN aviation body inspects Beirut airport
The U.N.'s International Civil Aviation Organization lauded progress made to improve Beirut's international airport...
Hezbollah welcomes Egypt challenge to Hamas 'terror' listing
ISIS claims bomb attack in Libyan capital
ISIS militants claims responsibility for a bomb attack on a police station in the Libyan capital in a statement posted...
7 injured when south Lebanon prison van overturns
Several injured in north Lebanon mud flood
A large farm pond collapsed Thursday due to heavy rains, causing a torrent of muddy water to sweep through a north...
Abu Faour sues 2 pharmaceutical companies over fraud
BEIRUT: Health Minister Wael Abu Faour filed lawsuits Thursday against two pharmaceutical companies for overcharging the state for medication used to treat Parkinson's disease.
According to a statement released by the ministry, Abu Faour sued a pharmaceutical import company named Mectapharm and famous drug company Pfizer.
According to the law organizing the pharmacy profession, companies are required to report any fall in prices to the ministry when it occurs, the statement explained.
Firms must not wait for the regular re-pricing process held every five years, the report said, because by that time the company would be turning profits at the expense of the state.
The price of Aricept, which is used by Parkinson's patient was reduced by 59.4 percent for the 10 mg version and by 70.53 percent for the 5 mg pills, the statement said, and the ministry was not notified.
Because the case is related to reporting, Pfizer's national sales manager for Lebanon, Samer Ramadan, was also referred to the judiciary over the case.
The case said the two companies committed “negligence leading to fraud,” and demanded they return the money to the state.
Separately, the Health Ministry also referred to north Lebanon’s State Prosecution office the results of lab tests for candy confiscated at Tripoli’s port.
The results indicated a violation of food safety standards, the ministry said in a statement.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)