Kerry described as "obsessed" with climate bill that is likely to have a favorable impact on his own energy investments

Last year, in his ongoing struggle to remain relevant, Senator John Kerry (D-Mass) took the legislative reins on the contentious issue of climate change. Now Kerry, against the backdrop of an oil-soaked Gulf, is hoping to ride the current crisis to push his American Power Act to the top of the Democrats' legislative agenda and propel himself back into the national spotlight.

Tuesday's White House meeting with key administration officials and senators presents Kerry with his best chance to convince the Democratic leadership that his APA will end U.S. dependence on foreign oil while simultaneously encouraging economic growth and job creation.

Kerry has campaigned unusually hard for the bill, berating Senate colleagues on both sides of the aisle, often cornering and lecturing them on the imminent perils of climate change and the necessity of his bill. "He's so obsessed," one beleaguered Democratic senator told Politico. "Clearly it's all climate, all the time with him." A former Senate Democratic aide was asked if he knew the source of Kerry's persistence. "He's not the centrist who normally does the kinds of deals like this," the aide responded. "It's unclear why he's emerged as a central player on climate other than his interest in the subject."

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According to Senator Kerry's statements for the last fiscal year, as of December 31, 2009, he and his wife owned large stakes in numerous prominent energy companies, many of which are currently lobbying Congress for legislation aimed at energy reform and stand the most to gain from passage of the APA. Yeatman and Lott singled out GE, BP, ConocoPhillips, Dupont, and Exelon as among the big winners in the APA scheme. GE in particular has been a staunch advocate of the APA. Surprisingly, or not, Kerry holds about $20 million worth of investments in all of these companies, among a slew of other energy sector giants.

For example, Senator Kerry reported owning up to $750,000 in GE; BP shares valued between $350,000 and $750,000; upwards of $350,000 in Petrobras (the state-owned Brazilian oil powerhouse); $100,000 in Suncor Energy; $500,000 in Rio Tinto; $650,000 in ConocoPhillips; $750,000 in Total (an offshore oil, natural gas, and alternative energy company); $500,000 each in Dresser-Rand Group and Consol Energy; and as much as $1,000,000 each in Ultra Petroleum Corp, Chicago Bridge and Iron, Newfield Exploration Inc., Noble Energy Inc., Roper Industries, Smith International Inc., Thermo Fisher Scientific, Ansys Inc., and Praxair Inc.

From these investments Kerry accrued anywhere from $753,000 to roughly $5 million in unearned income from dividends and capital gains in the last year alone. In one instance, Senator Kerry sold his stake in Apache Corp. for a nifty dividend of up to $1 million. Kerry was not available for comment on this story.

Such investments among lawmakers are all too common. The Washington Post recently reported that almost across the board, congressmen hold a disproportionately high amount of assets in those industries they directly regulate or craft legislation for. For example, those on the House Agriculture Committee held larger than average holdings in agriculture. Key members of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, the House Homeland Security Committee, and the House Energy and Commerce Committee held above average holdings in the industries under their jurisdiction.

AT&T books $1 billion in noncash Obamacare costs

AT&T will book $1 billion in first-quarter costs related to the health-care law signed this week by President Barack Obama, the most of any U.S. company so far.

A change in the tax treatment of Medicare subsidies triggered the non-cash expense, and the company will consider changes to the benefits it offers current and retired workers, Dallas-based AT&T said today in a regulatory filing.

AT&T, the biggest U.S. phone company, joins Caterpillar Inc., AK Steel Holding Corp. and 3M Co. in recording non-cash expenses against earnings as a result of the law. Health-care costs may shave as much as $14 billion from U.S. corporate profits, according to an estimate by benefits consulting firm Towers Watson. AT&T employed about 281,000 people as of the end of January.

“Companies like AT&T that have large employee bases, are going to have higher health-care costs and, therefore, lower earnings unless they can negotiate something or offer less to their employees,” said Chris Larsen, an analyst at Piper Jaffray & Co. in New York, who rates AT&T shares “overweight” and doesn’t own any himself.

Two White House lawyers represented terror suspects

Senator Charles Grassley, Republican of Iowa, has been relentless in trying to determine which lawyers at the Department of Justice previously defended, advocated for or worked on issues pertaining to Guantanamo Bay detainees and other alleged terrorists. While he’s at it, he may want to expand his inquiry — to the halls of the White House itself.

At least two attorneys hired to serve in the White House counsel’s office — part of President Obama’s in-house team of legal advisers — represented Guantanamo detainees in their previous legal careers.

While an associate at the Washington office of the prestigious law firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr, Michael Gottlieb — tapped for a White House associate counsel position — was part of the team that successfully argued on behalf of alleged terrorist Lakhdar Boumediene (of Boumediene v. Bush fame).

And while a student at Yale Law School, one of Gottlieb’s fellow associate counsels, Jonathan Kravis, volunteered his time as part of the team that ultimately secured legal victory for alleged Yemeni terrorist Salim Hamdan in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld.

Both Hamdan and Boumediene were landmark Supreme Court cases involving the legal rights of enemy combatants and the constitutionality of the procedures used to detain and try them.