Happy Tuesday and welcome back to On The Money. 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—Pelosi, citing ‘leverage’ over Trump, holds strong to $2.2T in COVID-19 aid: Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Tuesday shot down entreaties from some Democrats to cut a $1.8 trillion deal with the White House on coronavirus relief, arguing that President Trump’s pleas for Congress to “go big” have given her leverage to hold out for more aid.
“I appreciate the, shall we say, a couple people saying, ‘Take it, take it, take it,’” Pelosi said in a phone conference with Democrats, according to source on the call. “Take it? Take it? Even the president is saying, ‘Go big or go home.’”
- Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have been in near-daily talks in search of an elusive stimulus agreement, even as the prospect of a deal before the Nov. 3 elections has faded.
- Mnuchin last week had offered a $1.8 trillion package, up from an earlier proposal of $1.6 trillion, prompting a growing number of House Democrats to urge the Speaker to come down from her $2.2 trillion proposal.
- That figure was already a reduction from the Democrats’ $3.4 trillion HEROES Act, passed by the House in May.
Most of those pleas have come from the Democrats’ moderate wing, particularly from vulnerable lawmakers facing tough reelections next month. Yet even a few liberals have emerged in recent days to press Pelosi to accept the White House’s latest offer. The Hill’s Mike Lillis has more here.
Pelosi dug in even deeper in an interview with CNN, during which she told Wolf Blitzer that “you really don’t know what you’re talking about” and calling him an “apologist” for Republicans. The Hill’s Cristina Marcos recaps it here.
McConnell to force vote on ‘targeted’ coronavirus relief bill next week: As the White House and Pelosi squabble over a bill Senate Republicans have already deemed too costly, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Tuesday that the Senate will vote on a “targeted” coronavirus relief bill next week that will include more aid for small businesses hit hard by the fallout of the pandemic.
“When the full Senate returns on October 19th, our first order of business will be voting again on targeted relief for American workers, including new funding for the PPP,” McConnell said in a statement, referring to the Paycheck Protection Program.
McConnell, during a stop in Kentucky on Tuesday, said the bill would be “highly targeted” and authorize around $500 billion. The bill, he noted, would include money for schools, hospitals and protections from coronavirus-related lawsuits.
The Hill’s Jordain Carney explains here.
LEADING THE DAY
Trump again asks Supreme Court to shield tax records: President Trump on Tuesday filed an emergency request to the Supreme Court asking the justices to shield his tax records from a New York grand jury subpoena.
The filing from Trump’s personal attorneys marks the second time the president has asked the court to block Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance (D) from obtaining eight years of his tax records.
- In July, the justices voted 7-2 to reject Trump’s argument that presidents have sweeping immunity from the criminal process, but said Trump could mount other legal objections in lower court proceedings.
- Since then, New York-based federal district and appellate courts have roundly rejected Trump’s additional assertions that the subpoena should be blocked because it is overly broad and was issued in bad faith and designed to harass the president.
The Hill’s John Kruzel walks us through the new filing here.
Read more: Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett declined to say on Tuesday if President Trump can pardon himself or if he should be required to disclose his debts.
Conservative think tank: Biden proposals would cut taxes for most in 2021: The tax proposals of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden would raise $2.8 trillion over 10 years and reduce taxes for most households in the near-term, according to an analysis released Tuesday by the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute (AEI).
- Biden has offered a number of tax proposals aimed at raising taxes on wealthy individuals and corporations.
- These include undoing portions of President Trump’s 2017 tax-cut law that cut taxes for people making over $400,000, subjecting earnings over $400,000 to Social Security taxes, raising the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent and changing how U.S. companies’ foreign profits are taxed.
AEI estimated that Biden’s plans would increase federal revenue by $2.8 trillion from 2021 to 2030, with most of the revenue gain coming from tax increases on businesses. In 2021, Biden’s proposals would increase taxes for households in the top 5 percent of income but reduce taxes for those in other income groups, according to the analysis. The Hill’s Naomi Jagoda breaks it down here.
GOOD TO KNOW
- The financing arm of Nissan Motor Company will pay a $4 million fine to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to settle charges that it wrongfully repossessed vehicles and committed other unfair and deceptive practices, the regulator announced Tuesday.
- The World Trade Organization (WTO) on Tuesday opened the door for the European Union to impose tariffs on $4 billion worth of U.S. exports, saying the EU’s retaliation over America’s tax breaks for Boeing were legal.
- The global economy may take a smaller hit from the coronavirus recession in 2020 than was once expected but faces significant long-term challenges that will likely widen inequality, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Tuesday.
- Stocks closed lower on Tuesday as talks over a fifth COVID-19 relief package remained in limbo.
- Officials in Wisconsin on Monday informed Foxconn, the Taiwan-based company that pledged to create 13,000 jobs across the state, that it has missed employment targets necessary for being approved for state tax credits for the second year in a row.
ODDS AND ENDS
- Amazon workers are planning demonstrations across the country to coincide with the two days of the e-commerce giant’s annual Prime Day sale, with workers protesting over health and safety concerns they argue have increased amid the coronavirus pandemic.
- Global carbon dioxide emissions are expected to increase after the pandemic, but may not exceed 2019 levels until 2027 due a decline in fuel demand, according to a projection from the International Energy Agency (IEA).