TOMORROW STARTS TONIGHT: COULD PLANNED PARENTHOOD FIGHT SHUT DOWN THE GOVERNMENT? Jordain Carney for The Hill: Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) sent an early warning shot to Republicans on Thursday, saying Democrats will block any effort to tie a spending bill to defunding Planned Parenthood.
“I am absolutely confident that if Republicans try to defund Planned Parenthood in a government spending bill at the end of September, Democrats will unite against it,” Schumer, expected to be the next Democratic leader, told reporters.
{mosads}His comments come after 18 House Republicans threatened to block any measure that also funds Planned Parenthood in the wake of a string of controversial videos on the group’s fetal tissue donation program.
Schumer suggested the GOP’s move, which he characterized as a play to conservative Republicans, would backfire.
“If Republicans continue to follow the hard-right, Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, they’re going to fall right off the political cliff next year,” he added. “Sadly, that looks like where we’re headed with the far right calling Republicans to shut down the government unless they defund Planned Parenthood.” http://bit.ly/1IuZCAL
WHITE HOUSE WEIGHS IN: Via Jordan Fabian: President Obama opposes Republican efforts to defund Planned Parenthood in the wake of damaging videos exposing its fetal tissue donation program.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest stopped short of issuing a formal veto threat against the legislation, but he said “on balance, the president would not be supportive of such congressional action.”
“‘This is a tactic we have seen used before,” Earnest said of the GOP legislation. “The president obviously does not support that ongoing effort.” http://bit.ly/1OEaOLI
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NOTABLE: GDP grew 2.3 percent in the second quarter, according to the government. Schroeder with the story: http://bit.ly/1MzWeaj
HIGHWAY BILL GOING TO OBAMA: via Keith Laing: The Senate on Thursday approved an $8 billion extension of federal transportation funding, sending it to President Obama’s desk with just one day to go before the nation’s road and transit spending expires.
The bill, which extends infrastructure spending until Oct. 29, passed in a 91–4 vote, pushing the debate into the fall.
Obama, who has advocated for long-term extension of highway funding, is expected to sign the patch to prevent an interruption in funding during the busy summer construction season.
The vote Thursday came after the Senate passed its preferred fix, a six-year highway bill negotiated by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.). http://bit.ly/1SPGChD
OBAMA TIGHTENS GRIP AGAINST RUSSIA, via Rebecca Shabad: “The Obama administration is imposing additional sanctions on more than two-dozen people or entities to strengthen existing restrictions in connection to Russian actions in Ukraine. Under four separate executive orders, the Treasury Department on Wednesday designated and identified former officials and close associates of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych’s regime, people working in Russia’s defense sector and entities in Crimea, which the U.S. says Russia illegally annexed last year.” http://bit.ly/1MWDFKB
PORTMAN, MCCASKILL AGREE: TIME FOR REGS TO LOOK IN THE MIRROR, via Bernie Becker and Pete Schroeder: The Senate’s permanent subcommittee on investigations, long feared by Wall Street, took a more hands-off approach with corporate America on Thursday. Now led by Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), the subcommittee’s first hearing examined how the U.S. tax code has given corporations plenty of incentive to flee offshore and made the case for making the tax system more business-friendly.
— PORTMAN: “If there is a villain in this story, it is the U.S. tax code. And, frankly, it’s Washington not doing what Washington should be doing to reform it,” said Portman, who is facing a competitive reelection race in 2016. That’s a far cry from how the panel operated under former Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), when the villain was often a corporate giant such as Apple, Caterpillar, Goldman Sachs and Hewlett-Packard…
— MCCASKILL: Even the panel’s top Democrat, Sen. Claire McCaskill (Mo.), sounded more in line with Portman than Levin. The corporate executives were also given a much looser leash, as lawmakers instead prodded them to provide cautionary examples of why companies would seek to set up shop abroad to lower their tax bills. “What Congress needs to do instead is hold the mirror up to ourselves,” McCaskill said. “Quit blaming companies for simply doing the math.” http://bit.ly/1eE26Ay
FIRST LOOK: DEMS PRESS SHELBY ON NOMINATIONS, via me: Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee are pushing Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) to act on President Obama’s nominations. Each of the panel’s 10 Democrats signed a letter circulated by Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), the panel’s ranking member, urging Shelby to move the nominations…
The Banking Committee has received 11 nominations including for positions on the board of the Export-Import Bank, Federal Reserve Board, Department of Treasury and U.S. Mint… According to the letter, the Banking panel is the only committee in the Senate that has yet this year to hold a hearing on nominees.
That’s compared to three nomination hearings by August 2007, when President George W. Bush was in office and Democrats held the Senate, the letter said. The Senate had confirmed more than a dozen nominees by that point in that Congress, it said.” http://bit.ly/1H7PZ5z
SCOOP: IRAN HOSTAGES CLOSER TO COMPENSATION, via me: Reps. Sean Duffy (R-Wis.) and Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) will formally unveil legislation on Thursday aimed at getting compensation for victims and families of Americans held hostage in Iran between 1979 and 1981. Duffy and Connolly’s bipartisan legislation would use fines and penalties on U.S. and foreign companies that violate U.S. sanctions to compensate the former hostages and their families. The legislation has 24 total co-sponsors — 13 Republicans and 11 Democrats. http://bit.ly/1h8SaB9
EX-IM WATCH: SUPPORTERS ON DEFENSE? My latest: Supporters of the Export-Import Bank are worried about its future after losing a battle with conservatives this month to renew its charter. The bank’s proponents say Ex-Im has the money to get by over the next two months, and they note that appropriators have included funding for day-to-day operations in next year’s spending bills. They are eyeing an expected continuing resolution to keep the government operating past September as a potential vehicle for Ex-Im.” http://bit.ly/1grjACa
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