Overnight Finance: GOP struggles to find budget answers

NO END IN SIGHT: House Republicans appear no closer to coalescing around a budget plan after a closed-door meeting on Thursday, in which GOP leaders pitched another tactic to trim spending.

In a 90-minute meeting on Thursday, House Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price gave a PowerPoint presentation describing plans to keep spending levels set by last fall’s deal with the White House, while promising to offset the extra $30 billion in spending in a legislative “sidecar.”

{mosads}But the Georgia Republican did not offer details on how the House GOP would achieve those savings in a way that would appease both fiscal and defense hawks fighting over the $1.07 trillion spending levels, several members said. Fiscal hawks want to cut spending further, while defense hawks oppose more cuts. The Hill’s Sarah Ferris explains the deadlock: http://bit.ly/1RLn7sj.

WARREN ‘BERNED’ BY SANDERS SUPPORTERS: Supporters of presidential candidate Bernie Sanders are lashing out at Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) for staying neutral in the Democratic primary.

Some Sanders fans are particularly upset that Warren didn’t tilt the scales in the Vermont senator’s favor in her home state of Massachusetts, where Hillary Clinton pulled out an important win on Tuesday.

“Senator Warren, you’re all talk, no walk. Used to respect you but now I’ll take that respect and give it to Tulsi Gabbard, who actually deserves it,” said one commenter on Warren’s Facebook page. The Hill’s Peter Schroeder breaks down why the Warren Wing is angry at its icon: http://bit.ly/1VTCaS1.

SENATE BANKING CHAIRMAN TO MOVE ON OBAMA NOMINEES: Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby told The Hill this week that he will review the 16 nominees up for positions and announce which the committee will consider next week, the first sign of movement on the picks after long delays.

But Sen. Sherrod Brown (Ohio), the top Democrat on the committee, told The Hill that senators on both sides of the aisle were frustrated with Shelby’s refusal to hold hearings or votes for Obama administration nominees. The empty positions include posts at the Export-Import Bank, Federal Reserve and the top anti-terrorism finance job at the Treasury. Here’s more from me: http://bit.ly/1LXkTSc.

OBAMA NOMINATES TWO FOR CFTC: President Obama nominated two new commissioners Thursday to join the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

The White House announced that the president would tap Brian Quintenz, a Republican, and Chris Brummer, a Democrat, to join the financial regulator. If confirmed in short order, the nominees would bring the derivatives regulator to full power for the first time in a year and a half: http://bit.ly/1Sm2pSb.

HAPPY THURSDAY and welcome to Overnight Finance, where we wish we could take some of Monday’s weather for today. I’m Sylvan Lane, and here’s your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line.

Tonight’s highlights include tough talk from Bernie Sanders on trade, the AFL-CIO president going after Donald Trump and an analysis of Hillary Clinton’s tax plan.

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

ANALYSIS: CLINTON TAX PLAN WOULD RAISE $1.1 TRILLION: Tax proposals from Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton would raise federal revenue by $1.1 trillion over the next decade, with most of the tax increases falling on the wealthy, an analysis from the non-partisan Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center (TPC) found.

TPC Director Len Burman told reporters that Clinton’s plan is a “very incremental proposal.” Many of Clinton’s ideas are carry-overs from President Obama’s budgets, and the new proposals are targeted at high earners, he added. The Hill’s Naomi Jagoda has all of the details: http://bit.ly/1ppig74.

SANDERS HITS HILLARY ON TRADE: Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders on Thursday went after rival Hillary Clinton’s record on trade, highlighting their “very different points of view.”

The Vermont senator blasted Clinton’s record of supporting the North American Free Trade Agreement, establishing trade relations with China and the changing of her stance on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), noting he has vigorously opposed those deals.

“Secretary Clinton and I have very, very different points of view,” Sanders said during a press conference in Lansing, Mich., ahead of Tuesday’s primary contest in the state.
He called trade “an issue of huge consequence.” The Hill’s Vicki Needham has more: http://bit.ly/1QvoKbg.

RYAN TALKS POVERTY AT CPAC: House Speaker Paul Ryan continued his push for anti-poverty legislation today at the Conservative Political Action Conference: http://bit.ly/21HBmXl.

TRUMKA V. TRUMP: A top labor union leader on Thursday leveled harsh criticism against Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump, arguing that his policies hurt U.S. workers.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said Trump is full of “baloney and bluster” and has shown through his actions that he is an anti-union candidate who won’t lend a hand to struggling workers.

“He is also a bigot,” Trumka said in remarks to the Plasterers and Cement Workers union. Vicki Needham takes us there: http://bit.ly/1RLjWB4.

EX-IRS CHIEF CALLS ON TRUMP TO RELEASE RETURNS: A former Internal Revenue Service (IRS) commissioner and presidential candidate is urging GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump to release his tax returns.

“Trump either stands by his returns — which he previously promised to release — or he doesn’t,” Mark Everson, who served as IRS commissioner while George W. Bush was president, told NBC News: http://bit.ly/1VT9gRU.

MILITARY STUDENT DEBT: The Department of Education is coming under congressional scrutiny for allegedly turning a blind eye to members of the military who were overcharged for their student loans.

Senate Democrats urged acting Education Secretary John B. King Jr., to “correct this injustice” in a letter sent Thursday.

“The men and women in uniform who were overcharged on their student loans while serving our country deserve better,” the Democrats wrote. http://bit.ly/1ppwd4T

NIGHTCAP: San Francisco owes $6.1 million in overpaid parking tickets. The late Steve Jobs, California attorney general and U.S. Senate candidate Kamala Harris and Uber CEO Travis Kalanik all are owed money (CNBC).

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