OVERLOOKED: In February, the European Union rejected a new Terrorist Tracking Program Treaty, cutting off U.S. access to the SWIFT banking transaction system in Brussels on the grounds that the U.S. needs to do more to protect the financial privacy of European citizens. Five months' worth of intense negotiations conducted at high levels of government produced a breakthrough: on August 1, the U.S. will regain its SWIFT access, albeit with new privacy protections. European courts will get some veto power over the use of SWIFT evidence, and the EU will send an official to Washington to monitor the U.S.'s use of the data. The U.S. was represented primarily by John Brennan, the President's chief counterterrorism adviser, and
Stuart Levey, the undersecretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial crimes. Also, according to an administration official, VP Joe Biden's May speech to the European Parliament was critical in convincing its members that the U.S. understood the privacy issues and was committed to working out language that resolved them.
PROP. POLLS: The Atlantic.com's Chris Good reports that, tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. EST (6 a.m. Pacific), Field Research
Corporation releases its first round of polling on four California ballot initiatives: Prop. 19,
allowing counties to legalize marijuana; Prop. 23, preventing cap-and-trade
or any law requiring the monitoring and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions;
Prop. 25, allowing budgets to pass the state legislature with only a simple majority, rather than two-thirds; and Prop. 18, an $11-billion water bond measure to
overhaul the state's water system. The marijuana initiative has polled
well this year, with an automated SurveyUSA poll showing 56 percent support to 42 percent
opposition in April. Prop. 23 is heavily funded by the oil
industry, though the opposition coalition includes big-name Silicon
Valley players as well as Governor Schwarzenegger. California's always
been ahead of the curve on climate, so watch to see if voters buy the
oil industry's argument that the state can't afford to reduce emissions
right now, and that doing so would only amount to a drop in the bucket, reports Nicole Allan.
COOK PRE-PORT: The first paragraph from Charlie Cook's latest column, out tomorrow on National Journal.com:
The pain and hardship
experienced by Americans weathering the longest economic downturn since the
Great Depression undoubtedly muted last weekend's Independence Day
celebrations. Unemployment and underemployment are weighing heavily on people,
as are worries about depleted savings for retirement and education and
anxieties about their future and
their children's future. Early
positive signs -- "green shoots," in economic parlance -- turned
out to be premature, and it now looks more likely that the U.S. economy is
in for an excruciatingly slow return to normalcy. Here's hoping that the most
recent batch of bad economic news is just a soft patch, a typical occurrence in
frustratingly long recoveries, and not an indication that economic growth is so
weak that we may be sliding back into recession. Though no one is content with
these tough economic times,
Democrats have the most to lose politically if things don't turn around
soon. Democratic fortunes this November are inextricably linked to the economy.
When one party controls government, voters view the midterm elections more as a
referendum on the party in power than as a choice between candidates. Any
notion to the contrary is wishful thinking, or even fantasy.
BRIEFLY: