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This week: Budget wave set to hit House and Senate
Capitol Hill will be a flurry of fiscal activity this week, as a host of major budget and spending documents are unveiled and considered by lawmakers
Both parties and chambers will release competing budget documents this week, starting with the House Republican budget set for public consumption on Tuesday. House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) will host a mark-up of the spending vision Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Wash.) intends to roll out a competing proposal Wednesday, the first from Senate Democrats in about four years. A two-day committee markup sets the stage for its passage Thursday.
The intention is for both budgets to receive respective floor votes before Congress breaks for Easter recess beginning March 22.
Among the changes, the Senate CR would give the Obama administration more flexibility in implementing the $85 billion in sequester spending cuts, and will add a trio of appropriations bills that would provide funding for the Departments of Commerce, Justice, Agriculture, Homeland Security and science agencies.
The expanded measure’s Monday release sets the stage for floor votes as soon as Wednesday.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) was supposed to come out last week with a draft proposal on small-business tax reform, but that rollout was delayed in anticipation of a Washington, D.C., snowstorm that never materialized. Lawmakers now expect Camp to unveil it this week.
On Tuesday, the Senate Banking Committee will vet a pair of President Obama’s nominees. Mary Jo White has been tapped to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), while Richard Cordray has been re-nominated to continue on the job as director for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
Both will get a healthy grilling from panel members, but White is not expected to run into any major obstacles as she heads for confirmation.
However, matters are more complicated for Cordray.
Senate Republicans blocked his nomination the last time he was picked, forcing Obama to make a controversial recess appointment to get him in place — an appointment that is now being challenged in court.
Republicans have again vowed to block the nomination barring major changes to the CFPB’s structure, so Cordray again is facing an uphill climb.
On Friday, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations will dissect the massive losses suffered by JPMorgan on its "London Whale" derivatives trades. The panel has been examining the shoddy trades for months, and will release a report of its findings. The trading losses were the subject of Hill scrutiny this summer, when JPMorgan Chief Executive Jamie Dimon testified before panels in the House and Senate.
The Joint Economic Committee will take a look at the nation’s growing debt obligations Thursday, gathering testimony from former Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), Alice Rivlin of the Brookings Institution, and MIT professor Simon Johnson.
House appropriators have a chock-full slate of hearings this week, as various subcommittees tackle a wide range of federal priorities.
The highlights include oversight hearings for the SEC and the Justice Department, as well as a Thursday chat about funding for the Supreme Court with Justices Anthony Kennedy and Stephen Breyer.
The House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade will hold a hearing Wednesday on U.S.-India trade relations with the focus on the growing trade and investment relationship between the two countries.
The U.S. is India’s third largest trading partner, while India ranks 13th largest for the U.S.
On Thursday, another Ways and Means subcommittee will explore the financial challenges facing the Social Security Disability Insurance Program.
The House Financial Services Committee has a pair of subcommittee hearings lined up this week.
On Wednesday, the housing subcommittee will explore the public and private approaches to mortgages insurance. And on Thursday, the oversight panel will discuss what the Government Accountability Office has to say about the Financial Stability Oversight Council and the Office of Financial Research, two creations of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law.
The House Agriculture Committee will explore ways to tweak that law Thursday, particularly the section that poses new regulations on derivatives.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce will hold a discussion with legal scholars and regulatory experts to talk about the role and importance of cost-benefit analysis in regulating capital markets.
On Wednesday, the Business Roundtable will announce the results of its first quarter chief executive economic outlook survey.
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