|
 |
 |
|
OVERNIGHT MONEY: Obama heading to Kansas to push payroll tax cut
TUESDAY'S BIG STORY:
Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam: President Obama will travel to Osawatomie, Kan., on Tuesday to talk about what Congress needs to get done to bolster the struggling economy — namely pass that pesky payroll tax cut.
The president might hope that he's headed somewhere "where never is heard a discouraging word and the sky is not clouded all day" but right now, it's nothing by dark skies and confusion about whether lawmakers can extend — although maybe not expand, as the White House had hoped — the payroll tax cut.
Obama will travel to Osawatomie because Teddy Roosevelt once spoke there "calling for a new nationalism, where everyone gets a fair chance, a square deal, and an equal opportunity to succeed,” according to White House.
The president has been touring the country as part of an effort to pressure Congress to pass elements of his jobs plan, including the payroll tax credit and — not to be forgotten — an extension of unemployment benefits.
Obama remained on the offensive on Monday, saying he's puzzled by Republican demands that the cost of the payroll tax cut be paid for elsewhere in the budget.While he stressed that he is willing to work with Republicans to find a way to pay for extending the payroll tax holiday, which expires at the end of the month, he said he's confused by Republican calls to offset the tax cut, saying they didn't make those demands on former President George W. Bush.
The president said it would be "irresponsible" to cut social programs to cover the cost of payroll tax relief, as some Republicans have proposed. Obama noted that this summer's debt-ceiling deal authorized hundreds of billions of dollars in spending cuts, and said he would not endorse an offset that would harm the economy.
In an effort to lure GOP support, Senate Democrats reduced their plans for the $265 billion extension and expansion of the payroll tax cut, which failed last week in a vote largely along party lines, to a new proposal totaling $180 billion.
The new proposal extends and expands the payroll tax cut for workers but nixes the tax break for employers because of Republican concerns over its cost.
WHAT ELSE TO WATCH FOR
Insider look: The House Financial Services Committee will continue Congress's discussion about cracking down on members trading on private information. To that end, the panel will hold a hearing to discuss the STOCK Act, a measure that would prohibit lawmakers from making investments based on non-public information gleaned on Capitol Hill. The bill's backers — Reps. Walter Jones (R-N.C.), Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) and Tim Walz (D-Minn.), will be on hand to testify. Tomorrow's hearing has an added bit of intrigue given that the panel's chairman, Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.), was among the lawmakers recently singled out by a "60 Minutes" piece as potentially trading on private information.
Bachus proposed legislation on Monday that would require all members of Congress to place all their stocks, bonds and other securities into a blind trust that would be managed without their consent as long as they are members.
The doctor is in: A veritable "who's who" of financial regulators will appear before the Senate Banking Committee, as lawmakers give the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul a little check-up. Top regulators from the Treasury Department, Federal Reserve, Securities and Exchange Commission, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency will pack the witness table.
Make that two in 70 years...: The Senate Finance and House Ways and Means committees are meeting up for their second joint hearing on tax reform in the last five months on Tuesday, with the tax treatment of financial products the topic this time around.
In a release on the hearing, the two panels said they wanted to look into whether similar financial initiatives were treated differently in the tax code, and examine how to ensure that financial products are taxed in way to help the economy.
Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.) and Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), the chairmen of the panels, are looking to regroup the tax reform discussions in the wake of the failed supercommittee, on which they both served and in which taxes played a central role.
The two panels met jointly in July to discuss the tax treatment of debt and equity, the first get-together of its kind in some seven decades.
European vacation: Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will hit some of Europe's most beautiful cities starting on Tuesday, but his only glimpse of the Eiffel Tower might be from his car on the way to high-level meetings to discuss the financial crisis, which is weighing on a more robust global economic recovery.
He'll meet with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, new Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti and Spanish Prime Minister-elect Mariano Rajoy during the trip.
BREAKING MONDAY
Wait a minute, Mr. Postman: The U.S. Postal Service is following through with plans that would largely get rid of next-day delivery of first-class mail. USPS is asking to scale back delivery standards to allow a stamped envelope to generally reach its destination in two to three days. Under current standards, first-class mail is to be delivered in one to three days.
Gimme some credit: Standard & Poor's said Monday that it is reviewing the credit of 15 members of the euro zone for a possible downgrade, which could send ripples through global bond and equity markets. S&P said Austria, Belgium, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands and Luxembourg could see their AAA ratings fall by one notch to AA+, while the other nations could fall by two notches.
WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED
— Reid: Defeat of payroll tax cut bills an ‘absolute disaster’ for Republicans
— Paul Ryan will unveil budget reform proposals
— US, South Korean officials work on wrapping up trade deal
— Deficit groups demand supercommittee secrets
— Service sector continues expansion at a slower pace
— Biden jokes about US bailing out Greece with hundreds of millions
— Leaders propose EU treaty changes
— House GOP freshmen push for repatriation
Tips and feedback, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Most Viewed RSS Feed »
