Overnight Finance: House votes to rein in IRS; Ryan won’t set Puerto Rico timeline

CLINTON SAYS MIDDLE CLASS CAN’T AFFORD CRUZ, TRUMP: Hillary Clinton on Tuesday took aim at GOP presidential hopefuls Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, arguing that the two candidates undermine America’s middle class.

During a speech to the 2016 Legislative Conference of North America’s Building Trades Unions in Washington, Clinton appeared to pivot her attention to the general election and train her fire on the leading GOP candidates on issues ranging from the economy to foreign policy.

{mosads}Clinton took a swipe at Trump for saying that wages are too high in the country, and she argued the need for higher-paying jobs to help grow the middle class.

She also chided Cruz for encouraging right-to-work laws, which prohibit businesses and unions from requiring all workers, not just union members, to pay union dues. The Hill’s Lisa Hagen takes us there: http://bit.ly/23XQY6H.

RYAN: NO TIMELINE FOR PUERTO RICO: Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) made no prediction Tuesday on when the House would again take up a stalled Puerto Rico debt relief bill other than to say Republicans were making “good progress.”

Speaking to reporters, Ryan deferred questions on when the House Natural Resources Committee would again take up the legislation to that panel’s chairman, Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah).

“He’ll go when he’s ready to go,” said Ryan. The Hill’s Peter Schroeder tells us what’s up: http://bit.ly/1SRuMmL.

HOUSE PASSES IRS BILLS: The House on Tuesday easily passed legislation to rein in the Internal Revenue Service as part of political messaging to mark this week’s deadline for Americans to file their tax returns.

Lawmakers approved the two noncontroversial bills by voice vote. The first piece of legislation would ban the IRS from using funds to target citizens for exercising their First Amendment rights. The Hill’s Naomi Jagoda tells us about the rest here: http://bit.ly/1MGrkPC.

HAPPY TUESDAY and welcome to Overnight Finance, where we’re saluting the citizens of Crystal City on a major victory. I’m Sylvan Lane, and here’s your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line.

Tonight’s highlights include a bicameral push against the “fiduciary” rule, more support for an Elizabeth Warren tax bill and strong words from Joe Biden.

See something I missed? Let me know at slane@digital-stage.thehill.com or tweet me @SylvanLane. And if you like your newsletter, you can subscribe to it here: http://www.digital-stage.thehill.com/signup/48.

ON TAP TOMORROW:

• Senate Budget Committee: Hearings to examine restoring stability to government operations, 10:30 a.m. http://1.usa.gov/1Sc42xV
• Joint Economic Committee: Hearings to examine our complex tax code and the economy, 2:30 p.m. http://1.usa.gov/1Ww2EeQ
• House Small Business Committee: Hearing entitled “Small Business and the Federal Government: How Cyber-Attacks Threaten Both,” 11 a.m. http://1.usa.gov/1MGNMYU

Special Event Weathering the Storm: A Forum on Navigating Volatile Markets

The volatile economic climate, changing workplace structures, and an antiquated system of retirement benefits have a profound effect on individuals’ ability to save for retirement. How can policymakers and employers collaborate to help workers financially save at all stages of life, from young adults to retirees?

Join The Hill tomorrow for a discussion on ongoing legislative and industry efforts to help individuals secure their fiscal future.

April 20, 2016
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Featured speakers include:

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.)
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Amy Hinojosa, Financial Literacy Trainer, Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement
Eric Hoplin, Executive Director, Financial Services Roundtable
Will Hurley, Chief Executive Officer, Honest Dollar
Jen Mishory, Executive Director, Young Invincibles
Jim Poolman, President, Indexed Annuity Leadership Council
Virginia Reno, Deputy Commissioner, Office of Retirement & Disability Policy, Social Security Administration

Hosted & moderated by:

Sylvan Lane, Staff Writer, The Hill
Peter Schroeder, Staff Writer, The Hill
Ian Swanson, Managing Editor, The Hill

BIDEN PUSHES BACK ON BERNIE’S CRITICISM: Vice President Biden rejected criticism from Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) that the Obama administration hasn’t done enough for middle- and working-class Americans, citing crises that occupied much of the White House’s time.

“We had about eight atom bombs dropped on our desk,” Biden said in a CNBC interview released Tuesday. “It took us the auto recovery; it took us Dodd-Frank; it took us the Recovery Act; it took us all those God-awful difficult things we had to do, including raising the top rate for the wealthiest Americans so there’s $600 billion more income now — it took us five years to get that done.”

Biden praised Sanders for highlighting income inequality but criticized him for not outlining the steps needed to make his pledge to break up big banks and ramp up Wall Street regulation a reality. I’ve got it all here: http://bit.ly/1VAg6zb.

LAW PROFS AND ECONOMISTS BACK WARREN BILL: A group of 54 law professors and economists has signed a letter supporting a bill from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) to simplify and reduce the cost of tax filing.

Warren’s bill, called the Tax Filing Simplification Act, would allow taxpayers to download data from third parties that the Internal Revenue Service already receives, such as wage, interest and dividend information. To make this possible, the bill requires third parties to report information to the government in a timely fashion.

Also under the legislation, introduced last week, people with simple returns can request returns that have already been filled out. The experts said that pre-prepared returns are already standard in other countries. Naomi Jagoda has more: http://bit.ly/1qXcslW.

SENATE, HOUSE LAWMAKERS TAKE ON DOL RULE: Republicans are looking to roll back the Obama administration’s controversial financial adviser rule.

Dozens of Senate Republicans filed a motion of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act to overturn the Labor Department’s so-called fiduciary rule, which requires investment advisers to disclose more information in the best interests of their clients.

Democrats say this will prevent conflicts of interest, but Republicans fear it will raise the cost of investment advice and make it unaffordable for low-income retirees.

Rep. Phil Roe (R-Tenn.) also introduced a motion of disapproval Tuesday that would overturn the controversial rule: http://bit.ly/1qX7WE5.

PLANTING THE SEEDS: Devry Boughner Vorwerk always seemed destined for a career that would meld her love of agriculture with international trade policy.

Growing up in what she calls “Steinbeck country” in rural California, Vorwerk joined Future Farmers of America as a cure for the slow pace of small-town life, a decision that would later steer her toward globetrotting jobs navigating trade and investment barriers from Asia to Latin America.

But it was a single college course in agricultural policy — taught by a professor who knew the ins and outs of Washington — that truly hooked the Akin Gump senior policy adviser.

“The seeds were planted and the field grew,” Vorwerk said during an interview with The Hill’s Vicki Needham: http://bit.ly/1NkFQfQ.

CONGRESSMAN VICTIM OF ID THEFT: A tax season warning: A Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee shared his story of being a victim of tax-related identity theft at a hearing on Tuesday.

“As a taxpayer and tax preparer for almost 30 years, it is apparent to me that identity theft is real,” Rep. Jim Renacci (R-Ohio) testified at a Ways and Means oversight subcommittee hearing on the tax filing season.

Last year, someone filed a fake return in Renacci’s name that included a fake W-2 from the House. The return claimed a “significant” refund and instructed that the refund be deposited in a foreign bank account, Renacci said: http://bit.ly/1VhnCyy.

GOP SLAMS IRS HEAD ON IMMIGRANT TAX RETURNS: House Republicans at a hearing Tuesday grilled Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner John Koskinen about the agency’s handling of illegal immigrants’ tax returns.

“What I find absolutely outrageous is your suggestion that when it comes to illegal immigrants, the IRS couldn’t really be bothered when it comes to these folks stealing Americans’ Social Security numbers,” said Rep. Sam Johnson (R-Texas). “And I think that’s wrong, and it ought to stop now.”

The issue involves cases in which illegal immigrants used others’ Social Security Numbers (SSNs) to get jobs and then filed their taxes using their IRS-issued individual taxpayer identification numbers (ITINs). The IRS does not go after undocumented workers who engage in this practice, and it doesn’t inform those whose SSNs were fraudulently used: http://bit.ly/1rggDts.

CONSERVATIVE NON-PROFIT PRAISES SHELBY ON EX-IM: Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, a free-market non-profit, is thanking Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) for not advancing a nominee to the Export-Import Bank board, “protecting taxpayers from exposure to foreign business deals and reducing the influence of cronyism in Washington.” Read it here.

Write us with tips, suggestions and news: slane@digital-stage.thehill.com, vneedham@digital-stage.thehill.com; pschroeder@digital-stage.thehill.com, and njagoda@digital-stage.thehill.com. Follow us on Twitter: @SylvanLane,  @VickofTheHill; @PeteSchroeder; and @NJagoda.