Budget

The Senate Budget Committee has set up a Wednesday vote on President Obama's nominee to be budget director.

Sylvia Burwel's nomination will be voted on during a roll call vote on April 17, according to a committee notice.

She is expected to clear the panel and to get the backing of the Homeland Security Committee as well. That committee is also expected to vote on Burwell on Wednesday. Burwell, who served as deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget in the Clinton administration, has not attracted any real opposition from Republicans. Read more...

The Treasury Department reported Monday that foreign governments have increased their holdings of U.S. debt to $5.66 trillion as of February. That is a $12 billion increase from $5.54 trillion in January.

In total, U.S. debt stands at more than $16 trillion.

China remains the top foreign holder of U.S. debt with $1.222 trillion in holdings. It increased its holdings by $8 billion in February. Japan remains number two, with $1.097 trillion. That is a decrease of $6 billion in February.

While conservatives warn that the U.S. budget deficit is unsustainable in the long-run, there is yet to be any sign that Treasury is having difficulty in selling U.S. bonds.

Investor appetite could change this summer as Congress and the White House once again tangle over raising the debt ceiling. The House in the coming weeks plans to move a bill that would prioritize bond payments if the debt ceiling is hit and Treasury is forced to start defaulting on its obligations.

Under a January compromise, the debt ceiling was suspended until May 19. Treasury should be able to take extraordinary measures until about August to ward off a default.

A bipartisan immigration plan with major implications for the economy is set to arrive on Capitol Hill this week.

Business groups are eager to see how the Senate’s Gang of Eight deals with visas for both high-skilled and low-skilled workers in the bipartisan plan. They say an “ample” amount of visas are needed to plug holes in America’s workforce. 

Lawmakers are also be entering their second week of poring over the White House’s budget plan.

Moving a motion to conference the budgets would put the onus on Speaker John Boehner to appoint conferees.

The president wants major funding boosts for the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.  

Can fiscal issues also get bipartisan momentum?

Can Dave Camp get tax reform through the House?

Tech firms go all in on immigration.

JPMorgan: Record profits. 

The third-ranking Democrat in the House said he doesn't support President Obama's budget.

"I'm not for the Obama budget," Assistant Democratic Leader James Clyburn (D-S.C.) told The Hill.

Clyburn later clarified his position, saying that does not support Obama’s proposed switch to a chained consumer price index (CPI) that would result in cuts to entitlements, including Social Security, over time.

"I didn't say I oppose [Obama's budget] — I said I didn't support it," he said. "I don't think Social Security ought to be a part of the Obama budget. ... Social Security has nothing to do with the deficit. It doesn't contribute to the deficit, and it ought to be dealt with alone, as we have in the past."

The division among Senate Democrats over President Obama’s budget was on full display Thursday as White House Budget Director Jeff Zients faced a grilling on Obama’s 2014 fiscal plan.

Liberals Democrats on the Senate Budget Committee blasted Zients for including a cut to Social Security benefits in the budget, while centrists offered praise.

The budget changes the way inflation is calculated by adopting the so-called “chained consumer price index” — an effort to reduce entitlement benefits and increase tax obligations over time.

Zients told the Senate it was included as a compromise offer to Republicans at their request. 

“It’s just as wrong as can be to have made that choice,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.). “I don’t care where it came from. ... Anything I can do to be a foe of that I intend to do.”

A key Senate Democrat said Thursday that he was “disappointed” that President Obama’s latest budget included entitlement cuts.

Finance Chairman Max Baucus said the White House was wrong to call for changes to how inflation is calculated for payments to Social Security and military retirees — known as chained consumer price index (CPI) — without asking the highest earners to contribute more to the Social Security trust fund.

“Any reform of Social Security should be for the solvency of the program, not deficit reduction,” Baucus said at a hearing to discuss the fiscal 2014 budget with Treasury Secretary Jack Lew.

Acting budget Director Jeff Zients said President Obama will not engage in back-door negotiations over the debt ceiling.