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The Energy Department is gearing up to request information about the agencys energy efficiency rule for air compressors, indicating itcould consider rewriting an Obama-era regulation the Trump administration froze earlier this year.

In a draft copyof a Federal Register filing, DOE officials say they want to collect information related to the efficiency ruling and also delay implementationof the rule later this year while reviewing the details.

In the filing, DOE said it has received correspondence, raising concerns that certain issues and information may not have been fully considered during the original rule making proceeding and also indicating further clarification may be needed to implement the rule as adopted.

The Obama administration finalized its rule for compressors in early January, establishing procedures for testing compressors'energy efficiency and making other technical changes.

The rule was one of several caught up in a regulatory freeze instituted by President Trump after he took office, and administration officials never published the final rule in the Federal Register.

In March, before that freeze ended, DOE said it would continue to postpone efficiency testing procedures for compressors, as well as those for walk-in coolers and freezers, central air conditioners and heat pumps.

Last month, a group of state attorneys general and environmental groups sued over the Trump administrations decision to stop the rule and others from taking effect.

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Energy Department to reconsider Obama energy efficiency rule - The Hill

Daniel Acker | Bloomberg | Getty Images

A worker assembles a Nissan Altima mid-size vehicle at the company's North America manufacturing plant in Canton, Mississippi.

He said the anemic real wage growth is troubling because it indicates a lack of competition among employers for labor, even in high-skilled positions. In a normal labor market nearing full employment, employers would be forced to increase their wages as labor becomes more scarce.

"In most parts of the economy, even in skilled jobs, we're just not seeing the kind of dramatic real wage growth, sustained real wage growth we need to see," Harris said.

Despite historic lows in the narrow U-3 measure of the unemployment rate, wages haven't increased to Harris' satisfaction. That discrepancy could indicate an increase in the number of Americans leaving the job market altogether, said Harris and Abby McCloskey, a former director of economic policy at the conservative American Enterprise Institute.

"It's really difficult to say we have a healthy labor market if workers aren't getting a raise and if more and more Americans are deciding to leave the workforce," the founder of McCloskey Policy said on "Squawk Box."

The economy is flashing warning signs, McCloskey said, in part because of the effects of various federal benefits programs, such as food stamps, Medicaid and Obamacare, that create a disincentive for Americans to enter the workforce. Her prescription for the Trump administration is to expand the earned income tax credit, a benefit program that eases tax burdens for low- and moderate-income households.

"Aside from broader tax reform," McCloskey said, a more robust earned income tax credit "would be one of the single biggest things the Trump administration could do to boost workforce participation rates and wages."

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Stagnant real wage growth is making me 'a lot more bearish,' a former Obama aide says - CNBC

Former President Obama is involved in discussions about the future of the Democratic Party, sources close to the former president tell The Hill.

Since leaving office, he has held meetings on a by-request basis with a handful of House and Senate lawmakers in his office in Washingtons West End and over the phone.

In recent months, for example, he sat down one-on-one with freshman Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), according to a Democrat familiar with the meeting.

He has also met with and has had phone conversations with Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez throughout the spring,according to two sources.

Obamas former political adviser David Simas, whois now the CEO of theObama Foundation, has also been making a string of calls to DNC officials in recent months.

Sources familiar with Obamas meetings with members of Congress declined to offer the names of all of the lawmakers he has met with, saying the sessions were meant to be private.

The DNC source described Obamas chats with Perez as regular check ins.

Obama hasnt had a major public presence on the political stage since leaving the White House.

He doesnt want the focus to be on him, said one source close to the former president. He doesnt want to be out in front.

But the private activity suggests that the former president,who left the White House with a 60 percent approval rating, is quietly doing more to shape the party than is often visible.

The meetings and calls have come at a time when the Democratic Party, still reeling from the stunning 2016 presidential election loss, is searching for leadership.

As the party attempts to rebuild, Democrats find themselves in an identity crisis, still trying to figure out how they lost white working-class voters and the states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin to President Trump.

A string of disappointing House special election losses has contributed to a sense of unease, and left Democrats questioning some of their leaders particularly House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.).

One source close to the former president said that while Obama wants to provide space for new leadership in the party to step in, he also wants to be an available resource for those drafting the Democratic message.

The conversations between Obamaand the lawmakers and party leaders aresaid to vary.

With Perez, the men discussed the outlines of the party's future. With others, he has discussed policy.

Obama known for his ability to reach various segments of the Democratic Party has talked about bridging the partys current divide by explaining policy nuance in story form.

Obama's post-presidency office would not comment for this story.

The former presidentis expected to stay out of the political fray for now, sources familiar with hisplanning say, but he will begin emerging on the fundraising circuit and on the stump for candidates including Ralph Northam, the Democrat running for governor of Virginia, in the fall.

Northam approached the former president who carried the state in 2008 and 2012 with the help of millennials and African-Americans and asked him to get involved.

When Obama does hit the trail, he is expected to keep the debate policy-focused and at least initially he wont be pounding the drum on Trump.

Obama has taken a similar tack when he does weigh in publicly. He does so sparingly, when he feels much is at stake, those around him say.

Last week, for example, as Republicans considered a bill aimed at repealing his signature healthcare law, Obama put out a statement blasting his opponents for putting the American people through pain.

Simply put, if theres a chance you might get sick, get old, or start a family this bill will do you harm, he said in the statement. And small tweaks over the course of the next couple weeks, under the guise of making these bills easier to stomach, cannot change the fundamental meanness at the core of this legislation.

Obama also weighed in on the French election, choosing to endorse the eventual winner Emmanuel Macron over the far-right candidateMarine Le Pen.

While Obama who still lives in Washington remains out of the political spotlight, his post-presidency work has kept him on the road and meeting with world leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The meetings have left some Democrats pining for what was during the Obama presidency and contrasting it with Trumps rocky foreign policy relations.

A news story in The New York Times, noting the chumminess in Obamas meetings with foreign leaders, went as far to say, one might be forgiven for thinking that Mr. Obama was trolling President Trump.

Those in Obamaworld say that wasnt the former presidents intent and that his focus is on his foundationand other post-presidency efforts.

He doesnt want to be president or the voice of the Democratic Party, one former Obama aide said. But hell definitely be there to guide folks along the way.

Continued here:
Obama plays behind-the-scenes role in rebuilding Democratic Party - The Hill

Virginia Democrat Sen. Mark Warner, who is vice-chairman ofthe Senate SelectCommittee on Intelligence said that the Obama administration choked by not warning the American people of potential Russian interference with the 2016 presidential election.

During an interview with CNNs Global Public Square,host Fareed Zakaria asked Warner if he thought the Obama administration choked and should have done more when it knew that the Russians were interfering.

With the value of hindsight, yes, Warner responded. But I also know that most of the information, there were so many threads coming in from both signals intelligence, from human intelligence, from actions of the FBI.No one really put all of the pieces together until after the election.

While there is no evidence that Russia changed the vote tallies or took voters off the registration roles, the Washington Post issued a detailed report about what former President Barack Obama knew about Russian interference and when it was brought to his attention.

The report highlighted how the Obama administration handled the situation, and examined whether or not the administration should have warned the American public immediately. It was the hardest thing about my entire time in government to defend, one former official admitted to WaPo. I feel like we sort of choked.

Zakaria also asked Warner if it was justified for the Obama administration to withhold knowledge of Russian interference to the American people leading up to the election because of fears that it would seem partisan.

An earlier warning to the American people would have perhaps put Americans more on guard but again thats with the value of Monday morning quarterbacking, Warner replied.

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Dem Senator Says Obama Choked On Russia - The Daily Caller

I feel like we sort of choked. That is the killer quote in an extraordinary Washington Post investigation into how Barack Obama responded to intelligence last year that Russia was running a sophisticated influence operation against the 2016 elections.

Its attributed to a former senior Obama administration official, but it captures the view of many Democrats and now many opportunistic Republicans. President Donald Trump got in on the action when he tweeted, The real story is that President Obama did NOTHING after being informed in August about Russian meddling.

Its tempting to grant Trump this point, despite Trumps own insistence during his campaign that there was no evidence Russia meddled in the election at all. Obama was the commander-in-chief when Moscow hatched this operation. It was his duty to defend our election.

But this isnt entirely fair. To start, by the time the CIA had gathered the intelligence in August about how President Vladimir Putin himself was trying to elect Trump over Hillary Clinton, the servers of the Democratic National Committee and other leading Democrats were already breached. Obamas government did inform state election officials about the prospect of hacking of voter rolls and helped make them more resilient. In the end, the Russians spread fake news and distributed the messages they hacked. They had the good fortune of a Republican candidate willing to amplify the pilfered emails. But there is no evidence that Russia changed the vote tallies or took voters off the registration rolls.

Whats more, Trump himself had in the final weeks of the election suggested the vote itself would be rigged. Had Obama been more public in warning about the Russian influence operation, he would risk undermining the legitimacy of the election in the eyes of Trumps supporters, essentially aiding Russias plan to undermine it before any votes were cast.

Rather than asking why Obama didnt do more to stop Russian meddling, the better question is why President Vladimir Putin thought he could get away with this interference in the first place. In every respect, the U.S. is more powerful than Russia. It has a much larger economy. Its military is superior. Its cyber capabilities are greater. Its diplomatic position is stronger. So why did Putin believe he could treat America like it was Estonia?

The answer is that Obama spent the first six years of his presidency turning a blind eye to Russian aggression. In his first term, Obama pursued a policy of reset with Moscow, even though he took office only five months after Russia had annexed two Georgian provinces in the summer of 2008. In the 2012 election, Obama mocked his Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, for saying Russia posed a significant threat to U.S. interests. Throughout his presidency, Obamas administration failed to respond to Russian cheating on arms-control agreements. His diplomacy to reach an agreement to temporarily suspend progress on Irans nuclear program made the U.S. reliant on Russian cooperation for Obamas signature foreign policy achievement.

In the shadows, Russian spies targeted Americans abroad. As I reported in 2011 for the Washington Times, Russias intelligence services had stepped up this campaign of harassment during the reset. This included breaking into the homes of NGO workers and diplomats. In one case, an official with the National Democratic Institute was framed in the Russian press on false rape charges. In 2013, when the Obama administration appointed Michael McFaul to be his ambassador in Moscow, the harassment got worse. McFaul complained he was tailed by cameramen from the state-owned media every time he left the Embassy for an appointment. He asked on Twitter how the network seemed to always know his private schedule.

The Washington Post reported that these incidents continued throughout the Obama administration. In June 2016, a CIA officer in Moscow was tackled and thrown to the ground by a uniformed guard with Russias FSB, the successor agency of the KGB.

In 2011, the former Republican chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Christopher Kit Bond, told me: Its not the intelligence committee that fails to understand the problem. Its the Obama administration.

This lax approach to Russia was captured in the memoir of Obamas former defense secretary, Robert Gates. He wrote that Obama at first was angry at his FBI director, Robert Mueller, and his CIA director, Leon Panetta, for recommending the arrest in 2010 of a network of illegal Russian sleeper agents the FBI had been tracking for years.

The president seemed as angry at Mueller for wanting to arrest the illegals and at Panetta for wanting to exfiltrate the source from Moscow as he was at the Russians, Gates wrote. He quoted Obama as saying: Just as were getting on track with the Russians, this? This is a throwback to the Cold War. This is right out of John le Carr. We put START, Iran, the whole relationship with Russia at risk for this kind of thing? Gates recounts that the vice president wanted to ignore the entire issue because it threatened to disrupt an upcoming visit from Russias president at the time, Dmitry Medvedev.

After some more convincing, Obama went along with a plan to kick the illegal spies out of the country in exchange for some Americans. But the insight into the thinking inside his Oval Office is telling.

Eventually, Obama responded to Russian aggression after its stealth invasion of Ukraine in 2014. He worked closely with European allies to impose sanctions on Russia for their violation of Ukraines sovereignty. But he never agreed to sell the Ukrainians defensive weapons. In the final years of his presidency, as Wired magazine has recently reported, the Russians engaged in bold cyberattacks against Ukraines electric grid. So far, the U.S. has not responded openly to that either.

Even after Russias invasion of Ukraine, the Obama policy toward Russian aggression was inconsistent. As Foreign Policy magazine reported in May, Obamas State Department slow-rolled a proposal from the U.S. Mission to the United Nations to lay out a set of options to punish Russias client Syria for its use of chlorine bombs against its own citizens in 2014. Russia and the U.S. forged the agreement in 2013 to remove chemical weapons from the country. In 2015, the Obama administration did nothing to deter Russia from establishing air bases inside Syria, preferring instead to support John Kerrys fruitless efforts to reach a cease-fire agreement with Russia in Syria. That inaction now haunts the U.S. as Russia declared its own no-fly zone this month in Syria, after U.S. forces shot down a Syrian jet.

All of this is the context of Putins decision to boldly interfere in the 2016 U.S. elections. Perhaps Putin would have authorized the operation even if Obama had responded more robustly to Russias earlier dirty tricks and foreign adventures. But its easy to understand why Putin would believe he had a free shot. Russia probed American resolve for years. When Obama finally did respond, it was too late to save Ukraine and too late to protect our election.

Eli Lake is a Bloomberg View columnist. He was the senior national security correspondent for the Daily Beast and covered national security and intelligence for the Washington Times, the New York Sun and UPI.

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Obama choked on Russia long before 2016 election - Yakima Herald-Republic