TOMORROW STARTS TONIGHT… OR ACTUALLY, IN SEPTEMBER! Pete Schroeder for The Hill on why the bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security is really just a major punt for a bigger fight this fall: “Lawmakers will need to strike a debt limit deal by October or November to avoid a catastrophic default, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
“Just minutes after lawmakers averted a partial government shutdown by agreeing to fund the Department of Homeland Security, the CBO released a warning about the need to lift the debt ceiling. In a new report, the CBO estimated that the government would default on its obligations some time in October or November if Congress fails to act.” http://bit.ly/1AEAK0J
— The Hill’s Scott Wong, Rebecca Shabad and Cristina Marcos on the DHS vote: http://bit.ly/1wSqyBz
THIS IS OVERNIGHT FINANCE, and it’s only Tuesday. So buck up and pick it up. And stop complaining. Nobody cares. Tweet: @kevcirilli; email: kcirilli@digital-stage.thehill.com; and subscribe: http://digital-stage.thehill.com/signup/48. Just keep on smilin’…
{mosads}THE STRATEGY BEHIND ELIZABETH WARREN’S RIGHT TO BE ‘ANGRY.’ Megan McArdle in an-oped for Bloomberg View: “Warren Buffett thinks Senator Elizabeth Warren would be more effective if she were less angry… I would like very much for Warren Buffett to be right that Elizabeth Warren would do better if she were less obstreperous. Unfortunately, I don’t think he is. Anger is an evolutionary strategy that helps us deal with threats… Get enough of the group angry, and their collective fury will sweep aside small considerations such as fear, self-interest or even good sense.
“Warren has a pretty clear agenda for American society, and she thinks that the best way to get that agenda enacted is to stir anger in the hearts of voters who see a lot of things gone wrong and figure that, well, someone must have done it to them, probably those folks over there who don’t seem to be suffering as much as the rest of us. I think her agenda is oversimplified paternalism combined with a touching naivete about the effects of regulation, but on tactics, I think she’s probably mostly right.
“A politician who attempted to conduct a nuanced conversation about the financial crisis and its aftermath, or about the problems of lending money to financially marginal people with poor credit, would undoubtedly educate the 40 people who showed up to their think-tank panel. But that politician would not get elected, and they certainly would not become a powerful force on Capitol Hill.” Full column: http://bv.ms/18iNQu1
ON-TAP FOR TOMORROW: A group of moderate Democrats will unveil a policy agenda on Wednesday aimed at reshaping the party’s message headed into the 2016 election cycle. Members of the New Democrat Coalition will unveil the proposal, the first of its kind in their nearly 18-year history as an organization, during a press conference Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. on Capitol Hill, said an NDC spokesman. My story: http://bit.ly/18iOaJ5
— Adam Green, who co-founded the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC), told me the party should follow the Warren wing. “There is a rising economic populist tide in America — and the path to success in 2016 for Democrats is to campaign on a popular Elizabeth Warren-style agenda… Those who refuse to name villains are usually being paid by those villains, and voters can sense it.”
— Neil Sroka, spokesman for Democracy For America, tells me: “It’s going to be amusing to watch just how little attention will be paid to the New Democrat Coalition’s policy proposals both in and outside the party. I mean, I’m sure it’s going to get the lobbyists and trade associations who bankroll their campaigns all excited, but their policy proposals are pretty much irrelevant in [a] Democratic Party that’s running away from their deeply unpopular, pro-Wall Street agenda at full speed.”
We’ll be there…
SHELBY: WE NEED MORE TRANSPARENCY AT THE FED. Jeff Kearns and Christopher Condon for Bloomberg: Richard Shelby, the Alabama Republican who heads the Senate Banking Committee, said lawmakers should consider ways to overhaul the Federal Reserve’s structure and tighten oversight by Congress.
“‘We will further explore options to improve the oversight and structure of the Fed,’ Shelby said Tuesday in prepared remarks at a hearing. Arguing the Fed has failed to explain the impact of its extraordinary monetary policies, he said it should “be held accountable for its actions.’ …The Fed is under pressure from both parties in Congress to be more transparent and accountable. Republicans are unhappy with its aggressive monetary policy and some of the regulatory powers it has gained since the financial crisis. Democrats have criticized the New York Fed for being too close to the big Wall Street banks that it oversees.” http://bloom.bg/1EepHmn
— MORE ANALYSIS, via Kate Davidson for The Wall Street Journal: The 2010 Dodd-Frank law expanded Fed oversight of big banks and tasked it with monitoring financial stability. But Congress didn’t examine whether the Fed was ‘correctly structured’ to account for its new authority, Mr. Shelby said… Mr. Shelby said he had asked for input from the Fed’s regional reserve bank presidents.” http://on.wsj.com/1M43qXR
LABOR PLANS TRADE BLITZ. Vicki Needham: “Labor unions are ramping up their campaign against trade promotion authority (TPA) with a planned blitz on Capitol Hill. A group of unions led by the AFL-CIO sent a letter to Congress on Tuesday urging lawmakers to oppose fast-track authority.
“On Wednesday, those groups plan to swamp Capitol Hill to argue that trade deals are bad for jobs and wages and that ‘fast track trade means fewer jobs, lower wages and a declining middle class.’ More than 425 union members including the United Steelworkers (USW), the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka will be on Capitol Hill to meet with more than 100 lawmakers to lobby against TPA.” http://bit.ly/1wTpjSs
KOCH BROS: OPPOSE EX-IM. First in your hometown paper: Koch Industries told lawmakers to oppose reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank in a letter sent to Congress on Tuesday and obtained by The Hill. Philip Ellender, president of government and public affairs at Koch Companies Public Sector, wrote in the letter that “the Ex-Im bank is yet another example of the government intervening in the market to pick winners and losers.”
— WORTH NOTING: Koch Industries and its subsidiaries have utilized the Bank’s financing in the past. According to Ex-Im records, between 2007 and 2015, Houston-based Koch Heat Transfer Company received financing from the bank on a deal worth $403,399. A Koch Industries Inc. business in Wichita received $183,105 in financing during the same time period. Meanwhile, Koch subsidiaries Georgia Pacific in Atlanta and Molex Company in Athens received $701,493 and $263,193, respectively, in financing between 2007 and 2015, according to Ex-Im records.
— KOCH ON TAKING EX-IM MONEY: A Koch spokesman tells me that Koch has “consistently opposed government-funded subsidies and incentives, and will continue to do so. We play by the rules, so where government incentives are already in place, our businesses participate.” Story: http://bit.ly/1zGblDR
JEB HENSARLING CRITICIZES OBAMA’S TRANSPARENCY. This from the hearing on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau earlier this afternoon, via me: “House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) criticized the Obama administration on Tuesday for ‘unprecedented secrecy and stonewalling.’ Hensarling says he’ll subpoena officials at agencies such as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) if, after one-month and two warnings, they don’t respond to his requests for documents. Hensarling laid out the policy in a letter to Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), the panel’s top Democrat on Tuesday.
“In the letter, Hensarling said that he will allow officials two weeks to hand over documents that his panel requests. If he doesn’t get the docs, he’ll send a follow-up letter giving them two more weeks, Hensarling wrote. He contends the policy is needed because of the ‘unprecedented secrecy and stonewalling by the Obama Administration.'” http://bit.ly/1DRx14P
GOP LOOKS TO OVERHAUL CONSUMER AGENCY, via me: Republicans are ramping up their efforts to restructure the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), saying that the agency lacks transparency needed to regulate the financial industry. Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-Texas) announced plans to introduce legislation this week that would replace the agency’s director position with a bipartisan, five-member commission appointed by the president.
— REP. MAXINE WATERS (D-Calif.), panel’s top Democrat, tells me: “This is just the latest measure advanced by Republicans on this Committee to undermine the CFPB’s ability to protect consumers… By eliminating the position of director in favor of a commission, the proposal would weaken CFPB’s ability to be an effective, independent advocate for consumers and likely hamper any efforts by the agency to quickly respond to industry and consumer concerns.”
— SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN’s (D-Mass.) spokeswoman Lacey Rose in an emailed statement: “Senator Warren strongly supports the single director model at the CFPB. The current model has worked very well, as is evident by the consumer agency’s track record of putting in place strong and effective rules to help level the playing field for consumers and returning $5 billion to the pockets of servicemembers, families, students and consumers across the country who were cheated.” Story: http://bit.ly/1aKCHE8
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