OVERNIGHT MONEY: Transportation bill tries to get a restart

Since then, however, disagreements about which amendments will gets votes and the tax hikes included in the bill have prevented further progress. 

Reid argued that the bill would create 3 million jobs and said Republicans ought to get out of its way. 

{mosads}”If they ended the filibuster and we passed the bill before us it would be a huge step forward,” he said. 

Reid ended his speech, however, suggesting that he expects the filibuster will continue. 

“In today’s political climate, bipartisan support isn’t enough to keep good legislation alive,” he said. “In today’s political climate, 85 votes to begin debate on a measure isn’t enough to guarantee the measure will become law.”

Still, economists have questioned the bill’s jobs-creating abilities, saying the investments will lead to future growth in the long run but probably won’t provide a boost in the short term. 

Meanwhile, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) pulled his chamber’s version of the measure after Republicans questioned the cost and Democrats disputed policy changes. Instead, the House is turning to a package of jobs bills aimed at small businesses that Republicans say are needed to boost the economic recovery and spur job growth. That group of bills should begin to move through the chambers with President Obama expected to sign the package. 

Regardless of whether lawmakers can gain traction on crafting a bill that can garner enough support to pass both chambers, the sense of urgency to do something by the end of March is growing, possibly signaling another extension. The current legislation expired in 2009. 

Lawmakers need to get back on track to preserve the 18.4 cents per gallon federal gas tax, which, if it expires, would drain the already fragile trust fund that pays for infrastructure projects, and keep transportation projects and systems from coming to a screeching halt at month’s end. 

Time to wave the green flag. 

WHAT ELSE TO WATCH FOR

Ready for action: President Obama will meet with members of the Business Roundtable on Tuesday to discuss job-creation initiatives. According to a tweet from the group of top corporate chief executives, the president last met with roundtable members a little more than two years ago. The get-together also comes a day before the Business Roundtable is expected to unveil a new report that the group’s president, John Engler, has called “a set of detailed recommendations on the steps the nation must take to revive economic growth and job creation.”

“The upcoming meeting gives America’s top business leaders an opportunity to share these policies and this call for action with President Obama,” Engler, a former GOP governor of Michigan, said in a statement last week.

Toss me some incentives: The Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday will continue exploring possible ways forward on tax reform, focusing this time on ways to incentivize capital investment and manufacturing. 

The panel’s discussion, which will also will touch on capital investment, comes not even two weeks after the administration released its corporate tax reform framework, which called for a permanent extension of the research and development credit and other ideas aimed at boosting manufacturers creating jobs domestically.

Still, not many people expect much more than talk when it comes to tax reform this year.

The panel will talk to experts from the Congressional Research Service, the American Action Forum and The Heritage Foundation.

Going postal: The Senate Homeland Security Committee is scheduled to discuss the nomination of Tony Hammond to be the fifth member of the Postal Service’s independent regulator, the Postal Regulatory Commission.

The hearing comes as congressional efforts to revamp postal operations are in something of a holding pattern. The Senate’s bipartisan measure has found some resistance in Democratic quarters in recent weeks, though supporters say it still could hit the floor this month. (Of course, those backers had also hoped the proposal would get floor consideration last month.)

Capital formation: The Senate Banking Committee will discuss ways to encourage capital formation to spur a stronger economic recovery and boost job creation with academics and business leaders. 

Export-Import: The House Financial Services Committee will prepare its official budget recommendations, including whether and how to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank.

China’s growing economy: The Center for National Policy will hold a discussion on “China’s Coming Slowdown,” taking the long range view of how to deal with the economic repercussions when China’s explosive growth slows.

BUDGET WRAP

Amid this week’s hearings, GOP House Budget Committee members will continue to meet behind closed doors on the budget. GOPers are divided on whether to cut discretionary spending deeper than the August debt deal and are mulling how to deal with Medicare. Time is running out, as Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) plans a March 19 committee markup and March 26 floor vote.

In hearings, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Securities and Exchange Commission Chairwoman Mary Schapiro testify before their respective House Appropriations subcommittees.

House Appropriators are holding meetings on various budgets, including the U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Robert Papp; Bureau of Land Management Director Bob Abbey; Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley; Nuclear Nonproliferation & Naval Reactors Administrator Thomas D’Agostino; Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs Ed Avalos; National Science Foundation Director Subra Suresh; U.S. Geological Survey Director Marcia McNutt; and U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Rajiv Shah. 

On the Senate side, the Budget Committee will spend Tuesday discussing the Defense Department’s 2013 budget request with several experts from think tanks, U.S. Forest Service Chief Thomas Tidwell testifies before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources panel and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hears from USAID’s Shah.

LOOSE CHANGE

Donovan’s debut: Shaun Donovan, secretary of the Housing and Urban Development Department, will chat with “The Daily Show’s” Jon Stewart on Monday night. He’s been making the rounds on Capitol Hill lately to discuss the Obama administration’s housing policy as well as a $25 billion settlement between federal and state governments and the five of the nation’s largest banks over foreclosure abuses. A native of New York, he was commissioner of New York City’s housing department from 2005 to 2009.

BREAKING NEWS

Capping Fed authority: A key House Republican unveiled legislation Monday aimed at overhauling how the Federal Reserve conducts its business, arguing it was time to put an end to the central bank’s “monetary expansion.”

Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) is pushing sweeping legislation that would refine the Fed’s mandate so it is exclusively concerned with tamping down inflation, as well as setting stricter rules for what the Fed can and cannot do with its economic powers.

Oil speculating: Dozens of House and Senate Democrats are urging federal regulators to implement limits on speculative trading in energy futures markets that the lawmakers call a major factor behind the run-up in gasoline prices.

A letter Monday to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission from 23 senators and 45 House members underscores how gas prices have soared to the top of the political agenda on Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.

Countervailing duties: The Senate on Monday afternoon quickly approved legislation that would give the Commerce Department the authority to continue imposing countervailing duties on imports from non-market economies such as China and Vietnam.

The upper chamber took the first step, approving the measure by unanimous consent, that would restore the agency’s power to set tariffs, about $5 billion worth, on subsidized goods from nations without a domestic market, overturning a U.S. appeals court ruling in December.

The House is set to pass the bill on Tuesday under suspension of the rules. The legislation would then go to President Obama for his signature. 

Past due: About $85 billion in U.S. student loan debt was delinquent in the third quarter of last year. 

Of the 37 million borrowers who have student loan balances, about 5.4 million people have at least one past due student loan account, according to a report posted today on the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s website. 

WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED

— Consumer bureau opens student loan complaint line
— Former Clinton counsel Lanny Davis joins Dilworth Paxson
— Report: US companies use complex maneuvers to lower tax bills
— Service sector grows at fastest pace in a year

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