OVERNIGHT FINANCE: Dem weighs tying Ex-Im to trade bill

TOMORROW STARTS TONIGHT: MARIA CANTWELL TO EX-IM’S RESCUE? Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) is considering attaching an amendment that would reauthorize the Export-Import Bank to the trade promotion authority (TPA) “fast-track” bill in the Senate, according to her spokesperson.

Cantwell’s amendment would reauthorize the controversial bank for five years, spokesman Reid Walker told The Hill, but additional details are still being worked out.

It’s unclear whether any House members would use TPA as a vehicle for Ex-Im — especially given how contentious a political fight Obama’s trade policy has become. http://bit.ly/1GBLyWl

{mosads}THIS IS OVERNIGHT FINANCE, and we hope you survived nerd prom weekend. Tweet: @kevcirilli; email: kcirilli@digital-stage.thehill.com; and subscribe: http://digital-stage.thehill.com/signup/48.  Chin up. Keep going. It’s only Monday…

OBAMA: WARREN, TRADE CRITICS ‘UNREALISTIC.’ Jordan Fabian: President Obama on Monday warned his critics on trade that if a pact with Pacific Rim nations collapses, China will boost its economic influence over the United States. ‘If we don’t write the rules, China will write the rules out in that region,’ Obama said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. ‘We will be shut out — American businesses and American agriculture. That will mean a loss of U.S. jobs.'” http://bit.ly/1zgPedQ

ON-TAP FOR THE WEEK: Fed, Ex-Im and more – – My preview of the week in Washington for the financial services crowd: http://bit.ly/1Dv1mCP

GOP CLOSE TO BUDGET DEAL: House and Senate Republicans are closing in on a budget deal, signaling confidence that they can muscle a joint blueprint through Congress for the first time in a decade.

Negotiators are expected to release the agreement as early as Monday night, according to congressional aides, with GOP leaders planning to hold votes on the resolution by the end of the week.

Aides say the final resolution will drop the House’s plan to transition part of Medicare into a premium-support program by 2024. Senate Republicans facing reelection in 2016 had balked at that proposal, viewing it as politically risky. http://bit.ly/1z7AmxS

NATIONAL REVIEW ON OBAMA’S FIDUCIARY PROPOSAL: “Is Jonathan Gruber — the MIT economist who seemingly dropped out of public view after he was caught on camera bragging about how he and other Obamacare architects misled the American public — now advising the Department of Labor?” http://bit.ly/1GolcBQ

Moving on…

DAYS UNTIL EX-IM SHUTS DOWN: 63 — Mark Pfeifle for WSJ: “Only in Washington can a prominent example of corporate welfare be described as a ‘critical element’ of America’s national security. That’s exactly what former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, former Secretary of Defense William Cohen and 10 other former federal officials claimed in a recent letter to Congress, in which they pleaded with lawmakers to renew the Export-Import Bank’s charter before it expires in June. 

“National Security Adviser Susan Rice, speaking at last week’s Ex-Im annual conference, similarly declared that the bank ‘is a very important part of our diplomacy.’ Most Americans would be hard-pressed to name the Ex-Im Bank, much less identify it as crucial to U.S. national security. The bank is a New Deal-era federal agency that provides taxpayer-backed financial assistance to foreign businesses that purchase American products.” http://on.wsj.com/1diQRh7

— Meanwhile, Matt Fuller for Roll Call has an interview with Steve Scalise: “Majority Whip Steve Scalise doesn’t seem to be making any reversals on the Export-Import Bank. In an interview with CQ Roll Call, the Louisiana Republican signaled continued opposition to an Ex-Im reauthorization.

“Asked what he thought would happen to the export credit agency, which finances and insures foreign purchases of U.S. goods, Scalise offered a simple prediction. ‘It’s set to expire,’ he said. Pressed on that answer a bit — Of course it’s set to expire, but will it? — Scalise was a little clearer. ‘At this point, [Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling of Texas] has said he wants it to expire, and I think it’s on track to go that way,’ Scalise said.” http://bit.ly/1OwYvVV

QUICK Q – – > Aren’t Scalise’s statements at odds with Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), who said last month she was “optimistic” Ex-Im would get reauthorized? My piece from last month here: http://bit.ly/1EjEMy5

2016 WATCH: Ben Kamisar: “Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Monday called for a congressional investigation into whether donations to the Clinton Foundation influenced Hillary Clinton’s conduct while leading the State Department.” http://bit.ly/1dm6SCO

GOOD DAY: APPLE. Reuters: “Apple beat Wall Street’s revenue and profit forecasts on Monday on the back of surging iPhone sales, especially in China, but it gave no sales figures for its new Apple Watch. As investors had expected, the most valuable publicly traded U.S. company raised its dividend and boosted its share repurchase program. Its shares rose 1.6 percent in after-hours trading to $134.52.

“Apple sold 61.2 million iPhones in the quarter, up 40 percent from the year-ago quarter, but down from the record-breaking holiday quarter. It sold 12.6 million iPads, down 23 percent from a year ago.” http://reut.rs/1FsoUyn

US SENDS AID TO NEPAL, via Rebecca Shabad: “The United States is sending $10 million in aid to Nepal following a devastating earthquake over the weekend. Secretary of State John Kerry announced $9 million in aid on Monday, in addition to an initial $1 million in assistance that was offered Saturday. The $1 million was sent to relief organizations in Nepal that are working to meet humanitarian needs following the magnitude-7.8 earthquake.” http://bit.ly/1DQMH5t

FED WATCH, via Sam Fleming for FT: “Having entered 2015 in a bullish mood, the US Federal Reserve’s top policy makers are now acknowledging a run of weaker data that makes a June interest rate rise much less likely than it appeared just a month ago. The surging dollar, the drag of falling oil investment and signs that America’s soaring jobs market is drifting back to Earth have all chipped away at the case for early rate increases. Setting the tone for the Wednesday meeting will be gross domestic product numbers for the first quarter, which will reflect the leaden influence of the winter freeze that settled over the US East Coast early this year.” http://on.ft.com/1bxAhc3

ROBERT HURT: CFPB ‘DANGEROUSLY UNACCOUNTABLE.’ Rep. Robert Hurt (R-Va.) in an op-ed for The Augusta Free Press: “The CFPB remains an opaque and dangerously unaccountable agency equipped with unrivaled power over America’s financial system and consumers’ personal data.  In actuality, it is using its power to adopt policies that often harm, rather than help, the very Americans it is tasked with protecting.” http://bit.ly/1DQPQSH

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