Happy Wednesday and welcome back to On The Money, where we’re bracing for a long night of debate coverage and border funding battles ahead. I’m Sylvan Lane, and here’s your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line.
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THE BIG DEAL–Senate passes $4.5B border bill, setting up fight with House: The Senate on Wednesday passed legislation to give President Trump billions of dollars in new border funding, setting up a clash with House Democrats, who passed their own version of the bill earlier this week.
Senators voted 84-8 on their $4.5 billion bill, which includes nearly $3 billion in humanitarian aid.
Lawmakers had hoped to get a bill to Trump’s desk before they leave for the July 4th recess. Leadership indicated after the Senate’s vote that they would be talking about how to reconcile their bills, but absent an 11th hour agreement the border funding is stalled until after the break.{mosads}
Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) said he expected staff discussions and talks between the “four corners,” leadership in both parties and both chambers, would start “soon.”
“The House bill has got a lot of provisions that would not be conducive to a quick agreement,” Shelby added. “We’ll see if the corners fit; I hope they fit.” The Hill’s Jordain Carney explains here.
The dispute:
- Though the House and Senate largely align on the top line figure for their border bill, they are divided over several hot button policy issues including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
- Senate Republicans have indicated that they don’t want to go to conference, despite the political and policy differences.
- But House Democrats have shut down calls to take up and pass the Senate bill as its currently written, with leadership arguing they have some changes they want in the final bill.
ON TAP TOMORROW
- The Senate Banking Committee holds a hearing on reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank, 10 a.m.
LEADING THE DAY
2020 Dems fight over socialism: Democratic presidential candidates on Wednesday battled over socialism ahead of the first presidential debate, the latest sign that contenders are grappling over the future direction of the party and the message they believe is best suited to defeat President Trump in the general election.
Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) walked through the spin room at the Ziff Ballet Opera House, telling reporters that embracing socialism is a surefire general election loser for Democrats.
“That’s a tough hill to climb in Ohio, in Michigan, in North Carolina, in Pennsylvania, in Wisconsin,” Hickenlooper said. “These are states where they care about jobs and are very cautious about this thing called socialism. They get anxious about that.”
On the other side: As Hickenlooper addressed reporters from the floor of the elegant opera house in downtown Miami, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a self-described democratic socialist, was in the adjacent room giving an interview to MSNBC’s Kasie Hunt.
Sanders gave an impassioned defense of democratic socialism, telling Hunt that he’ll explain to voters why it shouldn’t be viewed as outside the mainstream.
“I’ll take care of the label, first by telling the American people what I believe,” Sanders said.
The Hill’s Jonathan Easley is on the scene in Miami for the first Democratic debate. He’s got more on the party’s fight over socialism here.
Mnuchin: We were ‘about 90 percent of the way there’ on China trade deal: Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Wednesday said that the U.S. was close to reaching a deal with China before negotiations fell apart last month and expressed optimism about the potential for a deal in the future.
“We were about 90 percent of the way there and I think there’s a path to complete this,” Mnuchin said in an appearance on CNBC.
“The message we want to hear is that they want to come back to the table and continue because I think there is a good outcome for their economy and the U.S. economy to get balanced trade and to continue to build on this relationship,” he said.
Mnuchin’s comments as President Trump prepares to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G-20 summit Saturday as he seeks to reboot trade talks after they fell apart in May.
- Trump and China appeared close to a deal in April, but the president threatened to impose tariffs on $300 billion in Chinese goods in May after Beijing officials reportedly backtracked on previous commitments.
- The breakdown in trade talks between the U.S. and China rattled financial markets as both economies strain under the pressure of a nearly year-long trade war.
Export-Import Bank deal in peril amid Democratic backlash: A bipartisan deal to reauthorize and overhaul the Export-Import Bank is in peril after a House committee was forced to delay action on the measure amid backlash from Democrats.
The House Financial Services Committee was set to vote Wednesday on a bill from Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and ranking Republican Patrick McHenry (N.C.) to fund and reform the polarizing export subsidizer for five years.
That plan changed abruptly Wednesday when Waters was forced to pull the measure from a markup under pressure from her Democratic colleagues to loosen restrictions on lending to Chinese firms.
“We have a consensus that everyone wants to see Ex-Im reauthorized,” Waters said while announcing the delay. “I am not giving up and I am asking Mr. McHenry not to give up.”
I’ll tell you what went wrong here.
- After years of Republican efforts to shutter or limit the Ex-Im Bank, the deal between Waters and McHenry could represent the best chance to pass a bipartisan revamp of the agency.
- But with a September deadline to fund the bank looming alongside partisan battles over budget caps and the federal debt limit, lawmakers are facing a dwindling timeline to strike a new deal.
- Lawmakers are set to leave Washington as soon as Thursday and will spend the next week in their districts before returning to Capitol Hill. Waters and McHenry will then have just three weeks to strike and win support for a new deal before Congress breaks until September.
GOOD TO KNOW
- Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) on Wednesday rolled out legislation to create a new tax credit to help low-and middle-income people,
- House Republicans on Wednesday scored a procedural victory by successfully amending a spending bill to include language that would increase funding to strengthen Iran sanctions.
- President Trump on Wednesday said tech giants Google and Facebook should be sued over alleged bias toward conservatives.
ODDS AND ENDS
- The Senate Health Committee on Wednesday voted to advance a bipartisan package aimed at lowering health care costs to the full Senate.
- Critics are pushing back after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced this week that it is rolling back the union protections offered to its employees.