In the news: rebuilding Ukraine; protests sweep Venezuela; Uganda's anti-homosexuality laws; Eurozone continues to lag behind U.S. and China; the longest-serving lawmaker in the history of Congress retires; House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) to release long-awaited tax reform proposal
“As parliamentary officials struggled with the monumental task of rebuilding the collapsed Ukrainian government, the new speaker, Oleksandr V. Turchynov, said on Tuesday that the new administration would not be in place before Thursday…With a manhunt underway for Mr. Yanukovych, the country’s most pressing problem is largely out of lawmakers’ control: a fast-approaching economic disaster that they cannot solve without international assistance.” [NYT]
“The biggest protests since the death of the longtime leader Hugo Chávez nearly a year ago are sweeping Venezuela, rapidly expanding from the student protests that began this month on a campus in this western city into a much broader array of people across the country.” [NYT]
“President Yoweri Museveni, who made anti-homosexuality laws in Uganda much tougher Monday, told CNN in an exclusive interview that sexual behavior is a matter of choice and gay people are ‘disgusting.'” [CNN]
“The evangelical organization that describes itself as a Christian mafia has been the hidden hand behind Uganda’s anti-gay bill, along with Rick Warren, the gay-bashing pastor who presided at Obama’s first inauguration.” [Daily Beast]
“The euro-area economy will continue to lag behind its main competitors, the U.S. and China, this year and next as high levels of unemployment and debt hinder the currency bloc’s recovery.” [Bloomberg]
“Ending a carer that is among the most singular in congressional history, U.S. Rep. John Dingell—who helped pass, if not author, many of the most iconic legislative achievements of the last 60 years—will early next year, concluding a term of service to metro Detroit, Michigan and the nation unprecedented in its length and remarkable in its scope.” [Detroit Free Press]
Don’t Whitewash the Legacy of Rep. John Dingell, D-NRA [New Republic]
“The long-awaited simplification of the tax code being drafted by House Republicans would slash the top income tax rate to 25 percent from 39.6 percent and impose a surtax on some of the nation’s wealthiest households. Under the proposal, set for release Wednesday, the vast majority of taxpayers would see little change in the ultimate size of their tax bills…” [WashPost]
“From moderates to conservatives, senior Republican aides to rank-and-file legislative hands, there are serious concerns about Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp’s plans to unveil politically sensitive plans to restructure the Tax Code just a touch more than eight months before Election Day.” [Politico]
“After a series of defeats on Capitol Hill, the Republican Party’s tea-party wing has shifted its attention to congressional primaries, setting up a major test of how much the movement’s clout has been weakened.” [WSJ]
Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is crushing challenger Matt Bevin. [Hill]
How Covert Agents Inflitrate the Internet to Manipulate, Deceive, and Destroy Reputations [Intercept]
Spy Chief James Clapper: We Can’t Stop Another Snowden [Daily Beast]
American Aqueduct: The Great California Water Saga [Atlantic]
