THE SCENE – – Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump concluded a 40-minute interview with Bob Cusack and me yesterday in his top-floor office inside Manhattan’s gorgeous Trump Tower by having an aide play rapper Mac Miller’s hit song Donald Trump. (Read about that: http://bit.ly/1VzfLe3) Much more on the Donald later, but first…
TOMORROW STARTS TONIGHT: MCCONNELL AND RYAN HEADED FOR HIGHWAY SHOWDOWN. Alex Bolton for The Hill: “Senate and House Republicans are headed to a showdown over transportation spending. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) wants to pass a six-year highway deal before Thursday to give the House time to take it up before the August recess, according to a Senate GOP leadership source.
{mosads}But opposition to the Senate bill is growing on the other side of the Capitol. House Republican leaders want the Senate to instead pass a five-month highway patch and won’t say whether they would give the Senate transportation bill a vote in their chamber. McConnell is betting that House GOP leaders will relent once they have the bill in their laps, with the Highway Trust Fund due to expire on Aug. 1. The House adjourns for the August recess at the end of next week.” http://bit.ly/1JhYl0s
THIS IS OVERNIGHT FINANCE, and tomorrow is Friday. Tweet: @kevcirilli; email: kcirilli@digital-stage.thehill.com; and subscribe: http://digital-stage.thehill.com/signup/48. I’ll be on News Channel 8 tomorrow at 10 a.m. and D.C.’s CBS affiliate at 11:30 a.m.
SHELBY ON OFFENSE: SENATE PANEL ADVANCES DODD-FRANK OVERHAUL. Rebecca Shabad has the play-by-play: “The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday advanced a $20.6 billion bill containing legislation that would impose a sweeping overhaul of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street financial reform law. Appropriators approved the bill, which funds Financial Services and General Government services, in a party-line 16-14 vote.” http://bit.ly/1gR7Vwh
— YOU ALREADY KNOW: Shelby’s bill would significantly reform the controversial Dodd-Frank law. And now nobody knows what will happen next. It’s a clear sign that Shelby isn’t messing around in terms of getting something done while he has the gavel — and he’s slamming down a marker that he’s unafraid to go beyond his committee to get the job done. Don’t expect for the entirety of the bill to pass, but it’s a sign that the seasoned politician has a few more tricks up his sleeves.
GOP: ADMIT IT, IRS: YOU TARGETED REPUBLICANS. Bernie Becker: “GOP lawmakers told the IRS commissioner on Thursday to just admit that the tax agency targeted Tea Party groups. John Koskinen’s response: Not my call to make. Koskinen, speaking to a House Ways and Means subcommittee, reiterated that the IRS was wrong to single out groups seeking tax-exempt status based solely on their names.” http://bit.ly/1g8lPtZ
Back to highway drama…
QUICK Q – – > WHO THE HECK CAME UP WITH HOW TO PAY FOR THE HIGHWAY BILL? Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen, K Street, Wall Street AND liberals are all complaining about how the upper chamber wants to pay for the transportation bill (for different reasons, obviously). Keith Laing on the left: “House Democrats criticized Republicans in the Senate Thursday for offering a set of “outrageous” payment methods for an extension of federal highway funding that is currently set to expire at the end of the month.” http://bit.ly/1IlnbMl
CHANGE YOUR PASSWORD: TREASURY IS HACKABLE. Cory Bennett: “A Treasury Department network used by U.S. spies to swap confidential information on foreign countries and militant groups could be vulnerable to cyberattacks, according to a government audit prepared in late 2014. Investigators found that up to 29 percent of devices connected to the Treasury Foreign Intelligence Network did not adhere to federal cybersecurity guidelines.” http://bit.ly/1ekBEvF
OK, time for the Donald…
TRUMP THREATENS THIRD PARTY RUN. Bob Cusack and me for the hometown paper: NEW YORK — Donald Trump says the chances that he will launch a third-party White House run will “absolutely” increase if the Republican National Committee is unfair to him during the 2016 primary season.
“The RNC has not been supportive. They were always supportive when I was a contributor. I was their fair-haired boy,” the business mogul told The Hill in a 40-minute interview from his Manhattan office at Trump Tower on Wednesday. “The RNC has been, I think, very foolish.”
Pressed on whether he would run as a third-party candidate if he fails to clinch the GOP nomination, Trump said that “so many people want me to, if I don’t win.”
“I’ll have to see how I’m being treated by the Republicans,” Trump said. “Absolutely, if they’re not fair, that would be a factor.” http://bit.ly/1CWy0nC
1.) WATCH: A behind-the-scenes look at our interview: http://bit.ly/1LGnmml
2.) TRUMP: Stewart “begging” me to come on his final show: http://bit.ly/1eiLGxm
3.) TRUMP: Why is gov’t making money on student loans? http://bit.ly/1IoJRNE
FIDUCIARY FIGHT – – > HOW WILL BUSINESS FORCE OBAMA’S HAND? The big storm ahead for the business community will be whether or not they can come together to oppose President Obama’s retirement regulations. There appear to be growing cracks among Congressional Democrats over opposing the new proposed rules for retirement advisers. However, there also are a few alternative plans circulating in wonk world that lawmakers have yet to introduce. How that shapes up in the coming weeks remains to be seen…
EX-IM WATCH: CRUZ ON OFFENSE IN PHILLY, via The Chris Stigall Morning Show in Philadelphia, by Chris Stigall: “While campaigning forP resident, Texas Senator Ted Cruz took aim at the latest transportation bill being debated in the Senate. Cruz told Chris Stigall on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT there is one specific portion of the legislation that really bothers the Presidential candidate. ‘There’s an awful lot happening on the transportation bill. One of the biggest fights is that an awful lot of folks in Washington are trying to use this as a Christmas tree to re-authorize the Export/Import Bank. Now, what is the Export/Import Bank? It’s one of the classic examples of corporate welfare and cronyism in Washington. It is a bank that exists that gives hundreds of billions of dollars of loans to giant corporations. It’s you and me, the American taxpayer, subsidizing giant corporations.’ He took the time to criticize career politicians for reviving an expensive program that was almost eliminated.” http://cbsloc.al/1fq6JPC
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