Overnight Finance: Ryan’s new rules for spending bills | House hopes for strong Puerto Rico vote | Obama, Indian leader vow to boost trade ties

INDIAN LEADER TOUTS ECONOMIC TIES IN SPEECH TO CONGRESS: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday touted cultural and economic ties with the United States in an address to a joint session of Congress — a sharp turnaround from a decade ago, when he was blacklisted from entering the country.

Modi highlighted the contributions of Americans descended from Indian immigrants.

{mosads}”Connecting our two nations is also a unique and dynamic bridge of 3 million Indian-Americans. Today, they are among your best CEOs, academics, astronauts, scientists, economists, doctors, even spelling bee champions,” Modi said. “They are your strength. They are also the pride of India. They symbolize the best of both our societies.”

Modi noted that India trades more with the U.S. than with any other nation, a notable comment in light of Donald Trump and other presidential candidates’ opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

“Ties of commerce and investment are flourishing,” he said. “And, the flow of goods, services and capital between us generates jobs in both our societies.”

India is interested in joining the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, a requirement for joining the 12-nation Trans Pacific Partnership. Obama said Tuesday that the U.S. welcomes India’s interest in joining but has yet to fully endorse the move. The Hill’s Vicki Needham and Cristina Marcos report: http://bit.ly/1UETQ3W.

OBAMA, MODI VOW TO BOLSTER TRADE RELATIONS: President Obama and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed on Tuesday to continue strengthening their economic and trade ties.

During Modi’s visit to Washington, the leaders said they would ramp up engagement on intellectual property rights while agreeing to make travel easier between their two nations for a broad range of visitors including professionals and students.

U.S. business groups have expressed frustration about the lack of progress on the sensitive issue of intellectual property rights and have urged Modi and his government to ramp up protections that they say would attract more foreign investment and boost India’s economic growth.

Obama and Modi said that the two nations reaffirmed their commitment to using the high-level working group on intellectual property “to continue to make concrete progress on IPR [intellectual property rights] issues by working to enhance bilateral cooperation among the drivers of innovation and creativity in both countries.” http://bit.ly/1RXt0j6.

PUERTO RICO BILL’S SENATE SUCCESS HINGES ON STRONG HOUSE VOTE: The House wants to run up the score on a Puerto Rico bill, hoping that a strong bipartisan vote could clear a path for speedy Senate consideration.

After weeks of negotiations, the chamber appears set to pass a bill addressing the island’s debt crisis Thursday. But with a skeptical Senate awaiting the measure, bill backers want to put forward a strong showing.

“The bottom line is, the better the vote here, the less likely it’s going to come back in a significantly altered form,” said House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah).
Both parties are sounding a confident tone on the measure, which has earned the rare backing of both Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

But it was also clear Wednesday that both sides are trying to button up as much support as possible in a bid to push to Senate to take the measure as-is. The Hill’s Peter Schroeder and I tell you why: http://bit.ly/1Ug06AF.

RYAN CHANGES RULES FOR SPENDING BILLS: House GOP leaders on Wednesday announced that they will begin restricting contentious amendments on spending bills, a move that critics say violates the party’s commitment to regular order.

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) used most of a conference meeting Wednesday morning to outline the party’s new strategy to unjam the appropriations process. For remaining spending bills, all amendments will be approved by the House Rules Committee before the debate reaches the floor.  

GOP leaders hope the new rules will lend control to what has been a chaotic appropriations process this spring. Several Republicans in the room said Ryan described it as a last-ditch attempt to block Democrats’ “poison pills,” amendments they say are designed to derail the underlying spending legislation. The Hill’s Sarah Ferris takes us there: http://bit.ly/1swizyo.

HAPPY WEDNESDAY and welcome to Overnight Finance, where we’re getting ready to pick apart the Puerto Rico vote. 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 Senate spending battle, a veto from Obama and a fine for a major financial firm.

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://bit.ly/1NxxW2N.

MCCONNELL SETS UP SPENDING SHOWDOWN: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is turning the Senate toward a battle over the two-year budget deal.  

The Kentucky Republican teed up procedural votes on a proposal from Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) that would increase defense spending by $17 billion, as well as a measure from Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) that would increase non-defense spending.

Reed is offering his proposal as an addition to McCain’s, which has been filed as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The Senate is currently debating the wide-ranging policy bill.

Unless senators can reach a deal, procedural votes would take place Thursday, with 60 votes needed for either of the amendments to move forward.

Both McCain and Reed predicted a lengthy debate over the two amendments. The Hill’s Jordain Carney gives us a preview: http://bit.ly/28lafSy.

OBAMA VETOES RESOLUTION TO REPEAL FIDUCIARY RULE: President Obama blocked Republicans from rolling back new investor protections.

The Labor Department’s controversial fiduciary rule would require financial advisers to act in the best interest of retirement savers.

Democrats believe the rule will bring a greater level of fairness to the process of saving for retirement. But Republicans say it will raise the cost of professional advice and prevent middle-to-low income Americans from building a nest egg for the future.

The Senate and House voted in April to overturn the regulation under the Congressional Review Act, but President Obama on Wednesday vetoed the measure.

“This rule is critical to protecting Americans’ hard-earned savings and preserving their retirement security,” President Obama wrote in the veto. The Hill’s Tim Devaney tells us more: http://bit.ly/1PJ7DI1.

MORGAN STANLEY TO PAY $1M FINE FOR DATA BREACH: The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Wednesday announced that Morgan Stanley will pay $1 million to resolve charges that it allowed customer information to be hacked and posted online.

According to the SEC, security failures at the bank allowed a then-employee to inappropriately access and transfer customer data from 730,000 accounts to a personal server, which was then hacked by a third party.

The breach was discovered when Morgan Stanley client information began popping up online in late December 2014. It was first discovered on the text-sharing site Pastebin. The Hill’s Katie Bo Williams explains: http://bit.ly/28l9cSA.

DEM WANTS TO REQUIRE NOMINEES TO RELEASE TAX RETURNS: Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) is trying to link a push to require presidential nominees to release their tax returns to a defense policy bill.  

“Right now we are in the midst of a presidential election, the nominating conventions are just weeks away and one of the candidates who has become it’s party’s presumptive nominee has thus far refused to release his tax returns,” Wyden said from the Senate floor.

Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee, is under pressure from Democrats — and some Republicans — to release his tax returns. But the businessman has said he won’t release them until he is done being audited by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

The stance has fueled speculation about Trump’s financial net worth after the IRS said nothing — including an audit — prevents anyone from releasing their own returns. Naomi Jagoda has more: http://bit.ly/1UEXhI2.

HOUSING ADVOCATES PRESS FOR FINANCE SYSTEM OVERHAUL: Housing and mortgage industry advocates are ramping up pressure on Congress to devise a legislative solution to overhaul the nation’s housing finance system.

In a letter sent on Wednesday to Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Mel Watt, five groups urged lawmakers to finish the final major issue leftover from the 2008 financial crisis or be prepared for more problems in the future.

The government took over mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2008 and injected nearly $188 billion of taxpayer money to keep them afloat.

“We believe that the current state of conservatorship has provided stability, but policymakers and stakeholders need to continue to work together on the important efforts to advance housing finance reform through a legislative solution,” the groups wrote. Vicki Needham walks us through the request: http://bit.ly/1UoSbgn.

SENATE PANEL ADVANCES SOCIAL SECURITY NOMINEE OVER DEM OBJECTIONS: The Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday advanced two Social Security and Medicare trustees nominations over the objections of Democrats, who took issue with the fact that one of the nominees has advocated for cutting Social Security benefits.

The nominations of Charles Blahous, a Republican, and Robert Reischauer, a Democrat, were sent to the full Senate on party-line votes.

The Social Security and Medicare trustee boards produce annual reports on the programs’ trust funds. The boards consist of two public members as well as the secretaries of Treasury, Labor and Health and Human Services and the Social Security commissioner.

Blahous and Reischauer have already served terms as the public members of the Social Security and Medicare trustee boards, and the nominations are for additional terms of four years: http://bit.ly/25MSyt9.

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