On The Money: Trump revives shutdown threat over border wall | Trump, Trudeau dig in on NAFTA talks | House GOP leaders plan ‘tax cut 2.0’ vote this month | Sanders bill targets Amazon

Happy Wednesday and welcome back to On The Money, which is not written by an anonymous senior administration official. 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–Will he or won’t he? Trump threatens border-wall shutdown again: Trump on Wednesday again threatened to shut down the government at the end of the month, days after indicating that he wanted to avoid such a move.

“If it happens it happens. If it’s about border security, I’m willing to do anything,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday.

Trump was heading into a meeting to discuss spending with congressional leaders, who were hoping to dissuade Trump from considering a shutdown ahead of November’s midterm election.

While Trump had threatened to shut down the government if Congress failed to adequately fund his proposed border wall earlier in the year, in recent days he had seemed to back off the threat.

“I don’t like the idea of shutdowns,” Trump said in a Sunday interview with The Daily Caller published earlier Wednesday. “I don’t see even myself or anybody else closing down the country right now,” he added.

Trump’s comments came soon after a top White House official and congressional leaders sought to downplay the threat of shutdown weeks before the midterm election. White House budget director Mick Mulvaney personally assured lawmakers in the conservative Republican Study Committee that Trump did not want to shut down the government, according to sources in the room.

 

House Republicans though say they are confident there won’t be a shutdown. House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said during a Wednesday press conference that Trump is aware that “not in anyone’s interest, and he knows that.”

Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.) said he thinks the president made the remarks to put pressure on Congress to act, adding there is “no question” he believes shutting down the government is a bad idea.

“I highly doubt it’s going to happen,” Curbelo told reporters. “I think he likes to say things like that, but I highly doubt it’s going to happen,” he told reporters.

 

ON TAP TOMORROW

• The Senate Banking Committee holds a hearing on “Outside Perspectives on Russia Sanctions: Current Effectiveness and Potential for Next Steps,” 10 a.m.
• House Financial Services Committee: Hearing entitled “A Failure to Act: How a Decade without GSE Reform Has Once Again Put Taxpayers at Risk,” 10 a.m.
• The American Enterprise Institute and Urban Institute host an event entitled “What comes next? A look at student borrowers in default,” 1 p.m.

 

LEADING THE DAY

Trump, Trudeau dig in as NAFTA talks resume: The U.S. and Canada resumed negotiations Wednesday to hammer out the final details of an updated North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) before an end of September deadline.

The two major trading partners spent most of last week trying to whittle down and resolve the toughest issues ahead, such as more U.S. market access to Canadian dairy, intellectual property protections and dispute settlement rules.

Before heading in to meet with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland told reporters that the U.S. and Canada had worked over the weekend and she was looking forward to constructive talks.

Freeland addressed concerns that Canada was being left behind, saying: “We are back, as we said we would be last week.”

But despite the public optimism, negotiators face a tough task ahead. The Hill’s Vicki Needham tell us why here. 

• Trump is embarking on a high-stakes gamble, cutting a deal with Mexico first, in hopes of forcing Canada to acquiesce. Last week, Trump notified Congress of his plans to sign a trade deal with Mexico, replacing NAFTA.
• Trump lashed out at Canada after talks last week failed to yield a final agreement, tweeting that “there is no political necessity to keep Canada in the new NAFTA deal.”
• Trudeau is also digging in and vowing that Canada won’t be pressured into a deal, saying “We’re going to continue to be constructive and thoughtful and focused on getting to the right deal around the table but we’re not going to accept that we should have to sign a bad deal just because the president wants it.”

 

House GOP leaders say ‘tax cuts 2.0’ vote will happen this month: House GOP leaders insisted Wednesday that they plan to hold a floor vote this month on a second round of tax cuts, dismissing reports that they may drop such an effort.

“Correct,” Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) told reporters when asked if there would be a floor vote in September.

“On the floor,” House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) added.

The central component of the new legislative package would be to permanently extend the tax changes for individuals from the 2017 law, but The Hill’s Naomi Jagoda tells us why that could hit a snag. 

 

Sanders bill takes aim at Amazon: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is escalating his feud with Amazon and its founder, Jeff Bezos, introducing a new bill that would charge big companies for the federal welfare programs that support their low-wage workers.

Sanders introduced the bill on Wednesday that they named the Stop Bad Employers by Zeroing Out Subsidies Act, or Stop BEZOS Act.

“At a time of massive income and wealth inequality, when the 3 wealthiest people in America own more wealth than the bottom 50 percent and when 52 percent of all new income goes to the top one percent, the American people are tired of subsidizing multi-billionaires who own some of the largest and most profitable corporations in America,” Sanders said in a statement.

Sanders cited a report by the nonprofit New Food Economy suggesting that a third of Amazon employees in Arizona — and thousands in other states — rely on food stamps.

Amazon, the senator said, paid half its workforce just $28,500 a year, or $13.67 an hour. Many other workers, he added, were hired through subcontractors, who might pay less.

 

GOOD TO KNOW

• The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report Wednesday arguing that the decline of community bank lending is due more to economic and market trends than excessive regulation, rebutting a frequent argument from bank lobbyists.
• The White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) on Wednesday pushed back on federal data that shows wages have been stagnant or even falling, arguing that the government figures omit important information.
• Shares of American Express declined after the release of a media report that the FBI is investigating pricing practices at its foreign-exchange operations.
• The Nasdaq and S&P 500 also fell as Netflix led a steep tech sell-off, according to CNBC.
• Christine Lagarde said male domination of the banking industry made the collapse of Lehman Brothers more likely.

 

ODDS AND ENDS 

• Scandal-ridden health startup Theranos announced Tuesday that it will formally dissolve, just weeks after its founder was hit with federal fraud charges, The Wall Street Journal reported.
• Attorney General Jeff Sessions has scheduled a meeting with state attorneys general in September to discuss a “growing concern” that tech companies may be “intentionally stifling” the free flow of ideas on their platforms.
• The U.S. trade deficit widened for the second straight month in July and by the most since 2015 on record imports, despite President Trump’s focus on lowering the trade deficit.
• Op-Ed: Desmond Lachman, resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, argues why Argentina is running out of tools to lift its plunging currency

 

Join us Wednesday, September 12 for “A Healthy Start: Infant and Early Childhood Nutrition,” featuring Reps. Nanette Barragán (D-Calif.) and Bobby Scott (D-Va.), and Administrator of the Food and Nutrition Service Brandon Lipps. Editor in Chief Bob Cusack will sit down with the headliners to discuss maternal, infant, and early childhood nutrition, and what steps can be taken to establish healthier eating patterns across all communities. RSVP Here.