|
 |
 |
|
OVERNIGHT MONEY: Export-Import Bank reauthorization hits the House floor
WEDNESDAY'S BIG STORY:
Ex marks the spot: The House is expected to have enough votes on Wednesday to pass a bipartisan agreement reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank, despite opposition among conservative Republicans and groups.
House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) reached an agreement on the measure last week.
The bill will reach the House floor under suspension of the rules, which requires support of two-thirds of the House for passage.
There could still be some suspense in the outcome because Republicans are split on extending the bank's life. Meanwhile, Ex-Im has strong backing from big business, while it is opposed by fiscal conservative groups like the Club for Growth, Heritage Foundation and Council for Citizens Against Government Waste.
In the past, the bank has faced little resistance, but this time around, conservative Republicans have pressed their case that the bank represents a federal government overreach.
Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has publicly called for its approval.
Still, Hoyer said hasn't gotten any assurances from Cantor that he has the votes.
"My presumption is Mr. Cantor made an agreement that he believes can pass," Hoyer said.
"I'll tell you this: I spent a lot of time working to try to get us to this compromise agreement, and I would be very chagrined if I couldn't deliver an overwhelming majority of my party,” he said.
Although the bank sustains its activities through user fees, opponents say it distorts the market by favoring foreign users of U.S. products over domestic users. This is a major issue in the aerospace industry, where Boeing backs the bank and Delta is a major critic.
The Ex-Im Bank guarantees loans to foreign purchasers of U.S. exports. The Cantor-Hoyer bill continues the bank's existence for three years, raises its loan limit to $140 billion and imposes new reporting requirements to make it more responsive to Congress and domestic businesses.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Tuesday he would bring the House compromise to the floor, but didn't outline a time frame.
WHAT ELSE TO WATCH FOR
Less is more, no?: Lawmakers on the Senate Banking Committee will spend Wednesday afternoon debating exactly how much support the federal government should provide for the financial system and potentially "too big to fail" institutions. The subcommittee hearing will receive testimony from a few people who know a bit about the financial sector. First will be former Fed Chairman and adviser to President Obama Paul Volcker, who lent his name to one of the more contentious pieces of Dodd-Frank, the proprietary trading ban known as the "Volcker Rule."
Next up will be a pair of former Fed officials, Thomas Hoenig and Randall Kroszner (Hoenig is still in the banking regulator game, now serving as vice chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation). Expect plenty of questions for Volcker about his titular rule as regulators are knee-deep in implementing the measure.
Meanwhile, over in the House, a Financial Services subcommittee will be looking at the financial system as well, debating whether new regulations pose hefty burdens on small financial institutions.
Finding a way around closure: Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe is expected to discuss a new strategy for dealing with the country’s smallest and more rural post offices on Wednesday, as the Postal Service continues its efforts to lop billions of dollars off its balance sheet.
USPS had announced that it was looking at more than 3,500 local post offices as part of its consolidation plans. But Donahoe also said in a recent interview that his agency could put more emphasis on reducing hours for smaller post offices than closing them.
“We are committed to pursuing cost reduction strategies in a thoughtful way, and we believe these announcements will lay to rest many of the concerns about our path going forward,” said Thurgood Marshall Jr., chairman of the Postal Service Board of Governors, last week.
The USPS announcement will also come less than a week before the expiration of a moratorium on postal closures. The agency has not given any indication so far that it will extend the moratorium, and it appears unlikely that Congress will finish its postal reform work in the next seven days.
Still, while the House and Senate postal proposals have broad differences, sponsors in both chambers have said they want to ensure rural access to postal services.
Insufficient funds: A quartet of House Democrats is set to push for heightened protections against overdraft fees. Reps. Carolyn Maloney (N.Y.), Keith Ellison (Minn.), David Cicilline (R.I.) and Charles Rangel (N.Y.) will be joined by consumer advocates at a noon press conference.
Independence day: Rep. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.) will hold a press event tomorrow as he continues his call for an independent investigator to probe the collapse of MF Global. The high-profile bankruptcy has been a regular topic of discussion on Capitol Hill, and Grimm maintains that Attorney General Eric Holder needs to find an independent investigator to get to the bottom of the meltdown. Looming large over the collapse is the outsized presence of its former boss, Jon Corzine, who served as the Democratic governor of New Jersey as well as its senator before heading up the firm.
A flood of interest: The Senate Banking panel will hold a hearing on the National Flood Insurance Program, which expires at the end of May. The Obama administration has all but thrown in the towel on NFIP reform and is now pushing for a simple two-year extension. When the program expires, new home sales will come to a halt in flood regions because no new policies can be written.
A coalition of builders, realtors and insurance companies has descended on Capitol Hill this week to push for a reform bill. The House passed a reform bill in July by a vote of 406-22. Senate Banking then unanimously approved its version of the five-year bill in September. Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) has filed a bill extending NFIP through the end of 2012 as a backup. Leadership is still weighing the path forward this month.
Reverse mortgages: The House Financial Services subcommittee on Insurance, Housing and Community Opportunity will hold a hearing with government officials and housing experts on the oversight of the Federal Housing Administration's reverse mortgage program for seniors.
"A reverse mortgage for seniors is a reasonable idea, but an ownership decision should not be guaranteed by the federal government," said Anthony Sanders, professor of real estate finance at George Mason University, who is scheduled to testify. "We need to stop micromanaging it, particularly since there is an easy alternative: seniors sell their home and buy a smaller dwelling or rent."
Spending season: The House Appropriations subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations and related programs will mark up its fiscal 2013 measure. House Republicans on Tuesday released a $40.1 billion spending bill that cuts funding by $2 billion — or 5 percent — from the previous year's levels. The bill “significantly cuts” payments to international organizations, eliminating support for the Clean Technology and the Strategic Climate funds and zeroing out funding to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) after it voted to admit Palestine last year.
Taking a closer look: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce will hold a quarterly briefing with several economists on Wednesday morning on the state of the economy, the labor market and ways Washington can boost the economy and create jobs.
LOOSE CHANGE
Going bigger: The Congressional Budget Office on Tuesday said a Republican bill aimed at replacing automatic spending cuts set to hit defense and non-defense spending in January would save $333 billion over 10 years if enacted before July 1.
The House-passed budget called on six committees to come up at least $261 billion in savings. The bill contains no cuts to defense and trims spending to food stamps, Social Security block grants, Medicaid and President Obama’s healthcare and financial reform laws. The House Budget Committee approved the measure on Monday.
BREAKING NEWS
Ready for action: The House will vote before the November elections to extend all current tax rates that are set to expire at the end of the year, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Tuesday. Boehner warned about a “train wreck” of big-ticket legislation that could be left for a lame-duck session. House Republicans have been discussing plans to extend the Bush-era tax rates, and Boehner said leaders had not decided whether to act to make them permanent or extend them only temporarily.
Not exactly ready for consideration: The Senate on Tuesday rejected a motion to proceed to legislation that would keep interest rates on federal student loans from doubling on a 52-45 vote — 60 votes were needed to move to a debate. Democrats and Republicans were unable to reach a deal to prevent a GOP filibuster.
The failure leaves the Senate with an unclear path going forward on keeping the interest rates from doubling.
Maybe Romney can help?: Senate Democrats are using Mitt Romney as leverage to push Republicans to the student loan legislation. The top two Senate Democratic leaders called on Romney to enter the Senate debate after Republicans voted along party lines to block student loan legislation.
Let's get to work: President Obama on Tuesday prodded Congress to take “bold action” to help the economy, arguing an election year is “no excuse for inaction.”
Speaking at the University of Albany, Obama mapped out a what he called a “handy little ‘to-do' list” for Congress, while swiping Republicans on Capitol Hill for standing in the way of his agenda during a down economy.
“The only way we can accelerate the job creation that’s needed is through Congress,” Obama said. “There’s no excuse for inaction. There’s no excuse for dragging our feet. None.”
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
MBA Mortgage Index: The Mortgage Bankers Association releases its weekly report on mortgage application volume.
Wholesale Inventories: The Commerce Department will release its wholesale trade report for March that includes sales and inventory statistics from the second stage of the manufacturing process. The sales figures say close to nothing about personal consumption and therefore do not move the market.
Home Prices: The National Association of Realtors will release data on state resales and metropolitan home prices for the first three months of the year.
WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED
— Lawmakers in tug of war over reforming the Fed
— House Appropriations panel passes defense bill
— Donovan: Congress needs to pass housing refinancing legislation
— House appropriators release Homeland Security bill
— GOP appropriators ignore Paul Ryan on disaster relief offsets
— Van Hollen: Health reform ruling looms over fall budget battles
— Identity theft could cost taxpayers $26 billion
— Sen. Harkin threatens hearing for NLRB member in ethics scandal
— Small-business index rebounds in April
— Housing prices tick up for first time since July
Catch us on Twitter: @VickoftheHill, @peteschroeder, @elwasson and @berniebecker3
Tips and feedback, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Most Viewed RSS Feed »
