Inside Politics speed read: Can Obama do anything on climate change?

WH: Climate change is happening now, and it is alarming: The White House has released a years-in-the-making climate change assessment that predicts the alarming effects of rapidly changing global weather patterns. Rising sea levels, more droughts in the West, more hurricanes and more tornadoes will affect every American, the report says.

So what to do about it? Congress has shown no willingness to act. Democrats passed a sweeping climate change bill in 2010 and promptly lost their control of the House of Representatives.

President Obama is expected to enact new regulations unilaterally in June that would place new restrictions on power plants. The White House climate change fixer, new special adviser John Podesta, said efforts by Republicans to rein in Obama’s climate change authority have “zero chance” of working.

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“They’ll find various ways, particularly in the House, to try to stop us from using the authority we have under the Clean Air Act.  All I would say is that those have zero percent chance of working.  We’re committed to moving forward with those rules.  We’re committed to maintaining the authority, and the President’s authority to ensure that the Clean Air Act is fully implemented.  That's critical to the health of the American people, the health of the economy and the health of our environment.”

Related: White House set to lay out climate risks

The Obama administration and the State Department have dragged their feet on making a decision regarding whether to allow completion of the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline. An effort by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to force the issue seemed close to a successful vote as soon as Tuesday. But as CNN reported Monday, three senators who supported a nonbinding resolution in favor of the pipeline now say they’ll oppose the binding version. The senators whose resolve has loosened are Democrats Bill Nelson of Florida, Chris Coons of Delaware and Tim Johnson of South Dakota.

Related: Keystone bill likely to fail in Senate

CNN / ORC Poll –  2016: Hillary down, Jeb up

Related: CNN Poll has Bush and Paul tied for top spot in GOP

Related: CNN Poll: Growing concern over Ukraine, but little support for action

Related: CNN Poll: GOP advantage in 2014 midterm election

Three questions we hope today’s North Carolina primary will answer:

Can the establishment – to borrow a phrase from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell – “crush” the tea party and avoid a runoff in the Senate primary? Not if Rand Paul can help it.

Will Clay Aiken, after being runner-up on “American Idol,” be runner-up in his Democratic congressional primary, too?

Related: Clay Aiken’s star power put to test in North Carolina

Has Walter Jones, the anti-war Republican who represents one of the largest Marine Corps bases in the country, finally drifted too far from his party?

Related: Can Mr. Jones stay in Washington?

Political Funny: The Supreme Court and prayer

Related: Justices allow prayer at New York town council meetings

Related: After Supreme Court ruling to religious minorities have a prayer?

Reading List:

Washington Post: Vulnerable Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan runs anti-Obamacare attack ads against GOP contender

White House lobbies against Putin’s economic forum – The New York Times fills out earlier reporting from Bloomberg that top White House aides are pressuring American CEOs to skip an annual economic forum sponsored by Russia. American government officials are staying home. Now some top bank CEOs are, too. Others want European CEOs to join in on the unofficial boycott, according to the New York Times.

CNN: Hillary Clinton to campaign with Chelsea's mother-in-law

The Hill: Republican senators turning against their own for 2016