Business

OVERNIGHT MONEY: Yellen makes bid for Fed chief

by Vicki Needham, Peter Schroeder and Bernie Becker - 11/13/13 7:39 PM ET

THURSDAY’S BIG STORY:

Heading up the Fed: Janet Yellen’s bid to become the first female head of the most powerful economic institution on the planet swings into high gear on Thursday.

The current No. 2 at the central bank will appear before the Senate Banking Committee, where she will explain to senators why the president was smart to pick her to take the reins from outgoing head Ben Bernanke.

{mosads}In her prepared testimony, released Wednesday evening, Yellen makes that case by, well, sounding a whole lot like Bernanke.

Yellen makes no excuses for her reputation as a monetary policy “dove,” arguing that the Fed should keep pumping its $85 billion in monthly stimulus into the economy until it starts firing on all cylinders.

In fact, she contends in prepared testimony that the best way for the Fed to get back to normal policy is to push easing until the economy is healthy enough to let the Fed take its foot off the stimulus pedal.

Yellen also gave a nod for the need to keep pushing financial stability (while not overburdening small community institutions) and her efforts to push the Fed to be more transparent about its policies and goals.

“I have strongly supported this commitment to openness and transparency, and will continue to do so if I am confirmed and serve as chair,” she says in her remarks.

Yellen isn’t expected to face huge GOP backlash at her hearing, but several Republicans will try to pin her down on specific points, while others might use the hearing as an opportunity to air grievances about the Fed as a whole and the course of the nation’s economy.

Democrats have been unanimous in their support of Yellen since she was nominated in October, especially after many of them took the rare step of urging President Obama to pick her over his reported favorite, Lawrence Summers.

WHAT ELSE WE’RE WATCHING

Talking taxes: House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) is set to meet on Thursday with Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) along with other committee members to talk about tax reform.

Camp said Wednesday he probably can’t finish reform this year but that he is still aiming to pass a tax overhaul out of his committee in 2013, although the shrinking legislative calendar and other hurdles could be too much to overcome.

“Clearly, we lost time with the [government] shutdown,” Camp said. “That was three weeks I’d like to have back. So we have to adjust given changing circumstances.”

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) is stirring the tax pot in the upper chamber.

He has plans to chat on Thursday with members of his panel to discuss releasing a draft proposal on international tax laws.

Still, the House will probably have to take the lead for tax reform to move forward.

Manufacturing focus: President Obama will travel to Cleveland on Thursday to deliver remarks on the economy and manufacturing. The economy added 204,000 jobs in October, including 19,000 in manufacturing, the biggest gain since February and a positive development for the sector that is still battling back from the economic downturn. A big focus for the White House, Obama is likely to tout the need for continued growth to help propel the sector and overall economy.

Monetary policy chat: House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) and Charles Plosser, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, will speak on Thursday at the Cato Institute’s conference on monetary policy about the role of the Federal Reserve and the case for reforming the central bank.

Heading to Vietnam: Treasury Secretary Jack Lew continues his trip through the Asia-Pacific with a stop on Thursday in Vietnam to meet with government and business leaders. The nation is one of a dozen involved in Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) talks, which U.S. and other leaders say they want to complete this year.

While Lew is traveling around the Pacific Rim, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman will deliver remarks at the U.S.-Japan Business Council meeting at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which will focus on 50 years of cooperation to improve the economic relationship between the two countries.

Japan also is involved in TPP talks and is in parallel negotiations with the United States on trade issues of specific concern, including a lack of market access.

Senior U.S. and Japanese business and government leaders will join Chamber President Thomas Donohue to address major challenges and opportunities to expand the $220 billion trading relationship.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Ways and Means subcommittee on Trade, also will address the conference.

Later in the day, the Chamber will hold another forum to discuss the role of the business community in developing markets with Jim Yong Kim, president of the World Bank, and other top leaders.

Immigration push: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is plenty busy on Thursday and will hold a news conference on immigration reform with a broad range of faith and business leaders, including Jay Timmons, president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers, Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, Russell Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, and John Wester, bishop of Salt Lake City, Utah, and chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’s Communications Committee.

Time for a change: Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker will announce on Thursday a new strategic vision and top priorities for her department and will be joined by Marillyn Hewson, CEO and president of Lockheed Martin. Pritzker has been traveling the country and talking to global business leaders about making the U.S. more competitive.

LOOSE CHANGE

Trade talks continue: The second round of negotiations for a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP) negotiating groups in the regulatory arena began their meetings today, starting with discussion of sectorial regulatory issues. These will be followed Thursday by negotiations on regulatory coherence and on energy and raw materials.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

Initial Claims: The Labor Department will release its weekly filings for jobless benefits.

Trade Balance: The Commerce Department releases its September data on exports and imports of U.S. goods and services.

WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED

— Camp: Tax reform might be delayed

— King proposes compromise to budget panel

— Asia-Pacific trade deal faces hurdle over currency provisions

— Farm bill leaders cite progress toward deal

— Dems reject ‘fast-track’ power for Obama

— Industry groups: Housing fees aren’t ‘piggy bank’

— CBO details 103 deficit-cutting options

— No sign of progress from budget conference