CEI Daily Update
Issues in the News
1. BUSINESS
Congress considers legislation to “solve” the shake-up in subprime mortgages.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Center for Entrepreneurship Director John Berlau and Senior Fellow Eli Lehrer on why the best route is for lawmakers to stay out of the way:
“To date, the crisis has been relatively minor—a small decline in homeownership combined with a small uptick in foreclosures, with well-off investors absorbing the bulk of the damage. Doing too much could turn a minor crisis into a major one affecting ordinary Americans.”
2. TRADE
The House of Representatives approves a new free trade agreement between the United States and Peru.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Adjunct Scholar Fran Smith on the prospect for agreements with other countries:
“Today the House of Representatives voted 285-132 to approve the U.S.-Peru Free Trade Agreement. The Senate now has to consider legislation implementing the agreement. In the House vote, only 109 Democrats voted in favor of the trade pact, reflecting strong anti-trade sentiment fueled by labor unions. Democratic leadership had struck a bargain with the Administration this past summer to include enforceable labor and environmental provisions in all the pending and new trade agreements. The Peru pact was the first one to be voted on with those provisions. Still pending are deals with Panama, Colombia, and South Korea, which will face much tougher battles.”
3. LEGAL
The state of California sues the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over greenhouse gas emissions from cars and light trucks.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: General Counsel Sam Kazman on the possible impacts of the lawsuit:
“California this week sued EPA for failing to grant it a waiver, under the Clean Air Act, that would allow the state to impose its own greenhouse gas emissions rules on new cars. If California succeeds in imposing its own super-stringent emission rules on cars, it will have no measurable effect whatsoever on future temperatures, whether measured globally or statewide. It will, however, have a disastrous impact on California consumers, and perhaps on the rest of the American public. California also recently sued the auto industry, demanding monetary damages for the fact that its cars emit carbon dioxide. The state lost that case. Hopefully, it will lose this one as well.”
Blog feature: For more news and analysis, updated throughout the day, visit CEI’s blog, Open Market.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
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