OVERNIGHT FINANCE: Warren fights back on trade

A former senior staffer to House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) went on the record about Ex-Im… 

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TOMORROW STARTS TONIGHT: ELIZABETH WARREN LASHES BACK AT PRESIDENT OBAMA. My latest for The Hill: Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) fired back at President Obama Wednesday over remarks he made a day earlier about her position on trade, further underscoring the increasingly bitter divide among Democrats on the issue.

{mosads}Appearing Tuesday on MSNBC’s “Hardball,” the president said Warren and other liberal critics of the administration’s position on a sweeping international trade deal known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) were on the wrong side of the debate. Warren — spurred on by labor unions and outside progressive groups — argues that Obama’s policies would benefit big businesses and hurt U.S. workers.

“I love Elizabeth. We’re allies on a whole host of issues. But she’s wrong on this,” Obama said. On Wednesday, Warren responded via Twitter.

“The Obama Admin says I’m wrong — we shouldn’t worry about TPP. So why can’t the American people read the deal?” she questioned. It was a direct attack against the administration’s handling of the negotiations, which liberals say lack transparency. Story: http://bit.ly/1QjwnDO

— SENIOR AIDE FOR A DEMOCRATIC HOUSE MEMBER: “The deal isn’t finished yet. The American people get to see it for 60 days when it is. I probably shouldn’t bother to ask, but does she even read up on this stuff?”

THIS IS OVERNIGHT FINANCE, and happy hump day. What a week. Chin up. Tweet: @kevcirilli; email: kcirilli@digital-stage.thehill.com; and subscribe: http://digital-stage.thehill.com/signup/48. 

C-SPAN, CIRILLI AND THE CFPB: My take for C-SPAN on the legislation that passed earlier today on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: http://cs.pn/1DOFENG Cristina Marcos’ story for The Hill on the House passage of the bill: http://bit.ly/1HudGJH

DAYS UNTIL EX-IM SHUTS DOWN: 70. The latest, via me: House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) said Wednesday he will hold a full committee hearing on the Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank before the bank’s charter is set to expire June 30. Hensarling slammed Boeing CEO James McNerney for declining to testify before the committee, despite Boeing receiving one-third of Ex-Im’s total loan commitments, according to a 2014 report from Standard & Poor’s.

“Boeing is by far the Export-Import Bank’s biggest beneficiary and its most ardent supporter. So it is extremely disappointing that Boeing’s CEO refuses to appear before our committee for a hearing about the public policy and economic rationale for the Bank,” Hensarling said in a statement. http://bit.ly/1d1BMjE

— Meanwhile, ExIm Bank President Fred Hochberg has a lengthy op-ed in Foreign Affairs fighting for the bank’s survival: http://fam.ag/1Hud7Q9

— Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) urged for Congress to let the bank expire earlier today. Marcos reports: http://bit.ly/1FeY5gT

More on Ex-Im at the end… keep reading…

QUICK Q – – > HOW MUCH IS THE U.S. WORTH? Eric Morath for WSJ: “Americans tend to have a good handle on how much their house is worth. But what about the land it sits on? Or all the land in their state? Or, heck, how much is the continental U.S. really worth? A government economist puts that figure, from sea to shining sea, at $22.98 trillion. That’s William Larson’s estimate for the value of the 1.89 billion acres of land that accounts for the 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia.” http://on.wsj.com/1JuQg5L

QUOTABLE, FOX BUSINESS NETWORK’S MARIA BARTIROMO, speaking last night at American Action Forum’s fifth anniversary dinner at the Newseum: “Every time there is a policy decision, or lack of, I turn to Doug [Holtz-Eakin] to explain it all to our audience and make sense of it.”

LESSONS LEARNED: FLASH CRASH. Maureen Farrell for WSJ: “Nearly five years after the May 6, 2010 ‘flash crash’ — during which the Dow Jones Industrial Average suddenly plunged 1,000 points before recovering — another key player has emerged, recasting the picture of exactly what happened that day. On Tuesday, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the U.S. Justice Department revealed that Navinder Sarao faces charges for his role in the flash crash and for allegedly manipulating markets over several years.” http://on.wsj.com/1OfkcJV

BUSINESS OPPOSES HEALTHCARE PITCH. Peter Sullivan for The Hill: “Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) unveiled legislation on Tuesday that would allow people to temporarily keep their ObamaCare plans if the Supreme Court guts the law’s subsidies. Johnson’s bill is the latest Republican effort to put forward contingency plans for the possibility that the high court could strike down subsidies that help 7.5 million people afford health insurance.

“Many Republicans, including Johnson, who is up for reelection next year, worry that without a plan, they will face intense political pressure to simply restore coverage under ObamaCare to the millions of people who would lose insurance in the case King v. Burwell. A ruling is expected in June. Johnson’s plan would allow people to keep their ObamaCare plans and their subsidies until August 2017. That is intended to give time for a Republican president to take office, allowing for ObamaCare to be fully repealed and replaced with a GOP alternative.” http://bit.ly/1Fc7ztn

— BUT, eHealth (EHTH) CEO Gary Lauer tells The Hill that Johnson’s bill “is flawed because it is not in the best interest of the consumer and still requires low income individuals to go through the government exchange to get their subsidy. Why not provide low income individuals the same choices provided to everyone else?”

WHERE IS THE IRAN MONEY GOING? My story on this morning’s Financial Services special task force hearing: A former Treasury Department official raised concerns on Wednesday about terrorists obtaining some of the international community’s financing to Iran. The U.S. is ceding $11.9 billion in cash transfers to Iran between November 2013 and June 31 as the Obama administration looks to finalize a nuclear deal with Tehran. “I am concerned that some of these funds have already found their way to terrorist groups, and that much more terror finance could be on the way,” Jonathan Schanzer, a former Treasury counterterrorism analyst, told lawmakers at a hearing. http://bit.ly/1K5Viqm

HENSARLING’S EX-SENIOR COUNSEL TALKS EX-IM. I caught up with J.W. Verret, who until last week was chief economist and senior counsel to House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas). Now Verret is assistant professor of law at George Mason University, along with being senior counsel at the Mercatus Center. I asked him to email me his Ex-Im reform wish-list, and below is his response:

“Any meaningful reform of the Export-Import Bank must, at a minimum, include three things in my view.

1.) The Export-Import Bank must where appropriate be subject to similar portfolio risk limitations to those we expect of large private banks. That means the Ex-Im Bank’s exposure to the aircraft industry must be dramatically reduced. That means its exposure to individual companies, and the suppliers and customers of those companies, needs to be dramatically reduced.

2.) The real credit risk of the Export-Import Bank must be recognized along lines previously explored by the CBO.  A more realistic accounting method would show that the Bank represents an annual loss to the taxpayer.

3.) The recipients of loans or guarantees by the Ex-Im Bank make representations about the availability of alternative financing.  The False Claims Act should clearly spell out that if those representations are false, or if recipients of support do not conduct reasonable diligence to determine if alternative financing is available (even if at a higher interest rate), then the value of the loan or guarantee must be immediately paid back and that party will be permanently barred from further dealings with the Bank.”

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