OVERNIGHT MONEY: Russia trade bill tops House agenda

By Vicki Needham, Peter Schroeder, Erik Wasson and Bernie Becker - 11/12/12 07:00 PM ET

TUESDAY'S BIG STORY:

And ... we're back: After a long recess — well, there was a bit of campaigning and a few elections — the House is back to wrap up some business left on the sidelines in September.

The House Rules Committee will take up a bill on Tuesday night that would pave the way for permanent normal trade relations with Russia, nearly three months after Moscow joined the World Trade Organization.

After months of delays, the House could dispense with the bill as early as Wednesday, leaving it up to the Senate to send it to President Obama.

The move couldn't come soon enough for business groups that have canvassed Capitol Hill for months, pressing for a vote on the measure.

Without the legislation, U.S. businesses say they will lose out to competitors in Europe and China and elsewhere around the world who are eager to get a leg up in the Russian market.

Lawmakers in the upper chamber have said they proved they were ready to pass the bill after approving it unanimously out of the Senate Finance Committee in July.

The legislation is considered a revenue measure and must be passed by the House first.

The measure would repeal the 1974 Jackson-Vanik provision, an obsolete U.S. law aimed at encouraging the emigration of Russian Jews with the threat of higher tariffs. Under the law, lower tariffs on Russian imports must be granted by the president on an annual basis.

The panel also is expected to include human-rights legislation that would punish Russian officials for their involvement in the death of whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer who died in prison after reporting government corruption in Russia.

WHAT ELSE TO WATCH FOR

State of the unions: Labor unions and civic groups are expected to meet with President Obama on Tuesday, a week after his reelection to a second term, to discuss the looming fiscal cliff, a combination of tax hikes and spending cuts set to hit in January, to the exclusion of other parts of labor's post-election wish list.

Multiple sources said that the top message will be for Obama to stick to his guns on the upper income tax increases, even if it means going over the fiscal cliff, and to, above all, protect Medicare and Medicaid from cuts.

Sources said entitlement programs are at great risk and they are nervous about any benefits cuts. Proposals to raise the eligibility age for retirement programs is especially hard on members of the working class engaged in physical labor.

"I think the president is right to say he is willing to go past Dec. 31 if Republicans are going to push for absurd cuts," one source said.

Obama will meet with congressional leaders on Friday to get the process off the ground before the Thanksgiving holiday next week.

Regulators ... assemble: The Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) will be back at it on Tuesday, this time to chat about money market funds. This panel, created by the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, gathers together top financial regulators from across government and taps them with overseeing broad threats to the financial system. This time around, regulators will be discussing the funds, an issue that has frustrated lawmakers for some time. The funds are viewed as a highly secure places to park cash, but the funds, which are not government-guaranteed, faced a run during the financial crisis that only stopped when the government did step in to issue guarantees.

Ever since then, regulators, including Securities and Exchange Commission Chairwoman Mary Schapiro and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, have sought to beef up oversight in the face of fierce industry pressure. But Schapiro's efforts stalled when she could not garner enough support from her fellow commissioners. Now, Geithner wants the FSOC to put on the pressure by having the panel officially call on the SEC to implement new regulations, or explain in writing why it is opting not to.

CEO chat: Geithner also will spend some of Tuesday chatting with reporters, analysts and business leaders at the Wall Street Journal's CEO Council Annual Meeting. Geithner will speak at the day-long event, along with fiscal figures Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), ranking member of the House Budget Committee, and retiring Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.).

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

Treasury Budget: The Treasury Department releases its monthly budget data for October, which is used mostly by the market for year-over-year changes in receipts and outlays.

WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED

— Romney adviser open to fiscal cliff tax increases
— House Democrats push for extension of jobless benefits
— Global agreement reached on cigarette smuggling
— Mortgage refinancing bill on hold in Senate
— Moody's: Political landscape still a downgrade danger to US credit rating
— Sen. Gillibrand won't compete with Warren for Banking Committee spot
— House looks to ease reporting requirements for stimulus, TARP