Overnight Finance: House passes bill to avert shutdown

TOMORROW STARTS TONIGHT: SHUTDOWN AVERTED.  The Hill’s Cristina Marcos: Congress is sending President Obama legislation to prevent a government shutdown following a 277-151 vote in the House that will keep federal agencies funded through Dec. 11.

More Republicans voted against the spending bill than in favor of it, however. Republicans objected to the inclusion of money for Planned Parenthood in the bill, leading 151 GOP lawmakers to vote against the bill, compared to only 91 who supported it. Every Democrat voted in favor of the legislation.

{mosads}The vote also split the GOP lawmakers running for leadership positions in the wake of Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) surprise announcement last week that he is resigning. Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), the heavy favorite to succeed Boehner, voted yes, as did GOP Whip Steve Scalise (La.), who is running to succeed McCarthy. But Scalise’s opponent, House Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price (R-Ga.), voted no. So did Rep. Daniel Webster (R-Fla.), McCarthy’s only opponent so far in the Speaker race. http://bit.ly/1JDFWqe

EXCLUSIVE – – > NEW LIFE FOR EX-IM. My latest scoop for the hometown paper: A Republican House member on Wednesday initiated a seldom-used legislative maneuver aimed at forcing a vote to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank, sparking a new battle between backers of the institution and the GOP’s conservative wing. Rep. Stephen Fincher began the formal process allowing him and a group of other House Republicans to file a discharge petition that could bring a vote on an Ex-Im reauthorization bill to the House floor as early as the end of next week, he said. The Tennessee Republican said in an interview that he informed outgoing House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) of his plans, though he declined to discuss the Speaker’s reaction or name any other lawmakers joining him on the petition. … “It’s unfortunate that this is the series of events that has taken place, but we’ve got no choice. We need a vote,” Fincher told The Hill. http://bit.ly/1VnRl9S

THIS IS OVERNIGHT FINANCE, and what a week it’s been, huh? Keep it moving, wonks. Tweet: @kevcirilli; email: kcirilli@digital-stage.thehill.com; and subscribe: http://digital-stage.thehill.com/signup/48. Back to work…

MORE EX-IM: DID G.E. PRESSURE A STATE LAWMAKER TO LIE ABOUT PLANT CLOSURE? Lachlan Markay for The Washington Free Beacon: A General Electric employee pressed a Wisconsin legislator to falsely blame the closing of a facility there on the expiration of federal subsidies, the legislator said this week. State Rep. Scott Allen said in a Monday statement that GE government relations executive Patrick Theisen asked Allen to blame the closing of a Waukesha engine manufacturing facility on the recent expiration of the U.S. Export-Import Bank. “Mr. Theisen was eager to connect me with his public relations department to help me gin up a press release blaming Congress and demanding they act,” Allen said. … GE did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Allen’s allegations. http://bit.ly/1KSApgn

FUN READ: KENNEDY GOT AHEAD BY DRINKING LIQUOR. Adam Clymer in The New York Times: “Senator Edward M. Kennedy always managed to get along with James O. Eastland of Mississippi, the arch-segregationist and chairman of the Judiciary Committee for his first 16 years in the Senate. But the first time they met, Mr. Kennedy paid an 80-proof price. In oral history interviews released Wednesday, Mr. Kennedy talked about how he got subcommittee assignments early in 1963. Mr. Eastland summoned Mr. Kennedy to his office at 10 a.m. He greeted the freshman by asking, “Bourbon or scotch?” After a brief delay, the visitor said “scotch,” and the host poured him a glass. Mr. Kennedy asked for ice, then for soda. Mr. Eastland said he supposed his guest wanted to be on the immigration panel because “you’ve got a lot of Italians up there in Massachusetts.” Mr. Kennedy said he did indeed want that subcommittee. His host replied, “You drink that down, and you’re on the immigration committee.” Interviewed in 2005, Mr. Kennedy said: “I can’t believe that drink. It’ll curl your hair.” He drank it.” http://nyti.ms/1VnHb8Z

Let’s drink…

SHOT, via Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who is speaking out (through statements provided to left-leaning Huffington Post) about her opposition to having the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) be led through a bipartisan commission… like most every other agency. Warren wants just a single director. But more and more Democrats are starting to say they want a commission. Warren to HuffPo: “Give me a break — this is the wolves saying all they care about is Grandma. It is a naked attempt to weaken the agency, and no Democrat who supports the agency should side with the industry in this effort.” HuffPo’s report on how “several House Democrats are preparing to join a GOP assault” on Warren’s brainchild: http://huff.to/1Gi3Qrl

CHASER, via a senior industry source who supports the commission-based approach: “Administration would veto it solo, and likely make veto threats if included in any other larger package, however it has been included in house Approps report language and its included in Shelby’s bill/Shelby’s approps efforts to move regulatory relief legislation… Ultimately, Dems are only going to buck the Administration on a few things, and this isn’t one of them unless it’s worth their while. (Check back in on that under a future GOP President).”

FIRED BROOKINGS ECONOMIST BLASTS WARREN, via me: A Brookings Institution economist forced this week to resign from the left-leaning think take amid questions raised by Sen. Elizabeth Warren is lashing back, comparing the liberal lawmaker’s inquiry to tactics one might expect from Donald Trump.

Robert Litan, now a former nonresident senior economics fellow at Brookings, resigned on Tuesday after Warren (D-Mass.) suggested he was peddling an industry-backed study critical of the administration’s proposed regulations for financial advisers.

“Do I feel bullied? I think Senator Warren’s intent was to shoot the messenger rather to directly address the message,” Litan said in an interview. “I was the messenger. She launched an indirect attack on me which in my opinion was baseless. I wrote a report that I fully stand behind and I did nothing wrong.” http://bit.ly/1KSQ53d

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