OVERNIGHT MONEY: Lawmakers return to daunting schedule

TUESDAY'S BIG STORY:

And they're back ... The Senate and House will be in session Tuesday for the first time in more than a week facing less than a month to deal with expiring legislation such as extending unemployment benefits, the payroll tax cut and a Medicare "doc fix."

That's not all, either. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Monday he plans to move a massive omnibus spending bill in December, saying he wants to avoid the prospect of the federal government running for another year on stopgap spending measures.

Democratic aides argue that Reid, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and President Obama have already agreed to set the level of federal discretionary spending at $1.043 trillion for fiscal year 2012, so there’s no need for further drama.

Obama will hit the road again this week to press Congress to move quickly on several issues, specifically the payroll tax cut, which he says is needed to keep cash in consumers' pockets while the economy continues to heal. 

WHAT ELSE TO WATCH FOR

The state of the states: Away from Capitol Hill, two state organizations will be offering up fresh data on how state governments are faring amid the economic recovery. With state and local governments feeling the pinch, the National Governors Association and the National Association of State Budget Officers will be releasing their biannual "Fiscal Survey of States."

Frank being Frank on Frank: Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), fresh off his announcement from his district that he will not seek reelection, will give an encore performance in Washington, where he will discuss his decision to retire from public service after three decades in Congress.

Dodd on Frank: Former Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and soon-to-be former Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) will forever be linked by the Wall Street reform bill that carries both their names.

On Monday, Dodd, now head of the Motion Picture Association of America, toasted Frank on the announcement of his retirement: “Congress won't be the same without Barney. But the issues he tackled on behalf of working people remain — and I hope that future generations of legislators will follow his principled path and heed his sage guidance as they continue his work.”

European trade: U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk will participate in the Transatlantic Economic Council with EU officials. The council was originally conceived as a forum to eliminate intractable trade barriers, but has largely been a debating society since former President George W. Bush tried and failed to use it to get the EU to drop its ban on U.S. chicken exports in 2008.

Responding to business group pressure, the White House will unveil a new awareness campaign to combat counterfeiting. Victoria Espinel, intellectual property enforcement coordinator, will lead the show.

Jumping the gun: The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee announced Monday that it would hold a hearing this week on Congress and insider trading, after a “60 Minutes” piece this month raised questions about lawmakers’ trading habits.

Sens. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), who are sponsoring measures that would tackle insider trading among federal lawmakers, are expected to testify at the hearing. The Senate panel’s announcement means it will get first crack at examining whether members of Congress can get an unfair leg up when it comes to the stock market.

The House Financial Services Committee is expected to hold a hearing on the issue next week. Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.), the panel’s chairman, has been pushing back against charges that he profited off information gathered in his role as a legislator.  

Talking taxes: Tea Party-backed Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) will discuss on Tuesday a compromise he offered during the supercommittee talks that would have raised $250 billion in new tax revenue at the Heritage Foundation on Tuesday.

BREAKING MONDAY

A bridge over troubled waters: No, this isn't a bad cover of the famous Simon and Garfunkel tune, just early chatter about California Rep. Maxine Waters sliding into the top Democratic spot on the House Financial Services Committee. An ethics investigation of Waters has stalled but isn't complete and could hinder her rise. Wall Street executives braced for the possibility Waters will take over for retiring Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.). 

Extra credit: A credit rating agency announced Monday that it was assigning a negative outlook to the nation's top rating, citing "declining confidence" in the ability of policymakers to make major cuts to the federal deficit. If the government fails to take major steps to fix the government's finances by 2013, the nation's AAA rating could be endangered, Fitch Ratings said Monday.

Block that kick, or settlement: A federal judge on Monday blocked the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from settling a fraud investigation into Citigroup’s mortgage-backed securities business and ordered the parties to proceed to trial in July. The case is seen as a bellwether for federal attempts to deal with the troubled mortgage-backed securities industry and could establish a precedent that limits the ability of the SEC to deal with such matters without undertaking costly court cases.

Failure wasn't optional: Supercommittee member Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) accused Democrats on Monday of torpedoing the deficit-cutting supercommittee because a success would have “stepped on” President Obama’s campaign narrative. Speaking Monday on CNBC’s "Squawk Box," Toomey said there’s “something to” suggestions that Democrats had an incentive to see the supercommittee fail.

Bernanke's secret: No, it's not a new store to shop for the holiday season. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee ranking member Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) sent a letter on Monday to panel Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) calling for a hearing with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke following a report that the central bank secretly committed more than $7 trillion to save banks during the financial crisis. 

Laptops at the ready: Shoppers seem to be just as enthusiastic about shopping on their computers and smartphones on Cyber Monday as they were about finding deals over the weekend. Online sales on Cyber Monday were up mid-afternoon by 15 percent from a year ago, according to data from IBM Benchmark. Meanwhile, sales from mobile devices were up 7.4 percent. 

ECONOMIC INDICATORS 

S&P/Case-Shiller 20-City Index: Home prices possibly could have dropped slightly in October in the nation's 20 largest metropolitan areas, a housing price index report could say on Tuesday. 

Consumer Confidence: The Conference Board's monthly report could show that confidence improved in October. The report can be helpful in predicting shifts in consumer spending. 

FHFA Housing Price Index: The Federal Housing Finance Agency will release its measure of housing prices. 

WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED

— New home sales tick up while prices fall

— Supercommittee Republican to revive tax reform plan

Tips and feedback, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  

---