OVERNIGHT MONEY: Obama talks economy in North Carolina

In my mind I’m going to Carolina: President Obama is headed to North Carolina on Wednesday to talk about the rebounding economy at the Daimler Trucks manufacturing plant near Charlotte, N.C., which has picked up hiring. 

In a key swing state, Obama’s poll numbers are improving as the economic picture brightens, but he still has some work to do as the majority of voters in the state still disapprove of how he’s handling the economy and his job overall, according to a new Elon University/Charlotte Observer poll released Tuesday. 

{mosads}Within the past week, first lady Michelle Obama and Vice President Biden also visited North Carolina, a state the president narrowly won — by 14,000 votes — in the 2008 race. 

The Democratic National Convention is being held in Charlotte in early September.

n the poll, about 51 percent of those surveyed said they disapprove of Obama’s handling of the economy, while 43 percent approve.

Generally, though, more people than not have a favorable opinion of the president, personally — 47 percent to 44 percent.

The nearly month-long rise in gas prices is weighing on voters’ confidence.

Obama insisted Tuesday that his administration is reviewing all options to protect consumers from soaring gas prices, aggressively pushing back on GOP claims that the White House wants higher prices at the pump.

“We’re going to do everything we can to make sure that consumers aren’t hurt by [gas prices],” Obama said Tuesday during his first White House press conference since November. 

He said his administration is reviewing short-term options to tackle gas prices and longer-term options to wean the country off its dependence on oil.

About 48 percent said they disapprove of the president’s overall job performance, while about 45 percent approve, the poll showed. 

WHAT ELSE TO WATCH FOR

More on trade: U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk will talk to lawmakers on the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday about the nation’s brimming trade agenda. Hot topics will include the U.S.-China trade relationship, as well as a progress report on the implementation of three free-trade agreements recently passed with Colombia, Panama and South Korea. With negotiations ongoing on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, lawmakers are likely to ask how talks are going on letting Japan, Mexico and Canada join the discussions. 

Foreclosure abuses: Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez of the Civil Rights Division will discuss lending discrimination practices and foreclosure abuses with lawmakers on the Senate Judiciary Committee. 

Securities check: A House Financial Services subcommittee will devote its Wednesday morning to the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC). That government-mandated, privately run entity basically serves as a backstop for the nation’s investors, ensuring that if their broker-dealer goes belly up, SIPC can step in and restore funds.

SIPC has come under fire in recent years, however, as a number of high-profile fraudsters **cough Madoff cough** have put stresses on the entity. So SIPC officials, attorneys and experts will be on hand to offer their take, alongside Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), who has closely followed SIPC’s handling of the $7 billion fraud perpetrated Ponzi schemer R. Allen Stanford. In a matter of serendipitous timing, the hearing comes a day after Stanford was found guilty on 13 out of 14 charges of fraud stemming from his scheme.

Diving into the weeds: The House Ways and Means Committee, in their latest hearing on tax reform, will discuss how accounting rules affect decisions made by closely held businesses. A closely held business, for the record, has a small number of shareholders. A publicly traded company, on the other hand, sells its shares to the public-at-large. The hearing also comes as House Republicans — not to mention the White House and Senate Democrats — are pushing a package of measures to help small businesses.

BUDGET WRAP 

Frenzied budgeting: House appropriators continue to earn their reputation as the busiest members of Congress. 

On Wednesday, a wide variety of fiscal 2013 budget hearings continue around the Capitol with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius testifying before the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Labor, HHS and Education; FBI Director Robert Mueller III is at the House Appropriations subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science while Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Craig Fugate visits the House Appropriations subcommittee on Homeland Security.

FEMA funding became a major last-minute holdup in last year’s spending debate. Ultimately, Republicans and Democrats agreed that the August debt deal should be allowed to stand and extra money above the spending cap should be spent on disasters.

This year, FEMA’s hearing comes days after key appropriators like House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) saw massive tornado damage in their states.

Farm policy is front and center this year with the five-year farm bill expiring in September. The House Agriculture Committee examines the programs under its jurisdiction on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the House Appropriations subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government will talk about the budget for the Office of Treasury Inspector General and Office of Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration with Treasury Inspector General Eric Thorson and Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration J. Russell George. 

Other budget hearings will cover the Army’s request, with Secretary of the Army John McHugh and Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Raymond Odierno testifying before the House Appropriations subcommittee on Defense. And Assistant Energy Secretary Peter Lyons of the Office of Nuclear Energy and Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko will discuss their budgets at the House Appropriations subcommittee on Energy and Water Development.

Also before House Appropriations subpanels are budgets for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. Rear Adm. James Watson will testify before the House Appropriations subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Subcommittee to discuss military installations, environment, energy and base realignment and closure programs.

The House Armed Services Committee will discuss the 2013 defense authorization budget requests from U.S. Central Command, U.S. Special Operations Command and U.S. Transportation Command.

And the House Science, Space and Technology will talk with National Aeronautics and Space Administration Administrator Charles Bolden.

BREAKING NEWS

Budget bottleneck: Republicans on the House Budget Committee have intensified their push to overcome differences and produce their 2013 budget resolution, meeting almost daily. The GOP wants to be able to pass a budget without reaching out to any conservative Democrats, so it must find a way to resolve differences on discretionary spending and entitlements within the party conference. 

Focus on housing: The White House rolled out the next phase of its plan to bolster the ailing housing market by providing mortgage relief to members of the military and homeowners with government loans who are current on their payments.

President Obama discussed the steps Tuesday at his first press conference in five months to help homeowners who have experienced a wrongful foreclosure or have been denied a lower interest rate on their mortgages. He also detailed a reduction of fees for Federal Housing Administration borrowers looking to refinance. 

Taking stock, again: Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) is worried that her legislation curbing insider trading could be losing steam and that a weaker version of the bill could become law.

The original backer of the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act wrote to House and Senate leaders Tuesday, begging them to establish a conference committee where backers of tougher provisions of the bill have a “fair chance” to protect them.

LOOSE CHANGE

The limits of bipartisanship: President Obama and House Republicans have been talking up their ability to work together to help small businesses in recent days, and the Obama administration even officially backed the GOP package of bills on the issue. But as the president illustrated on Tuesday, there still appear to be more than a few areas of disagreement. At his news conference, Obama called out Congress for not passing his “Buffett Rule” on taxing millionaires, his proposal to end certain tax breaks for multinational companies and his plan to give some homeowners more flexibility to refinance their mortgage. 

“Now, if Congress refuses to act, I’ve said that I’ll continue to do everything in my power to act without them,” the president said in his opening remarks.

But as The Wall Street Journal pointed out on Tuesday, the administration did not include the Buffett Rule in its own budget, and has called it more of a guideline for tax reform — something few Washington observers expect to happen this year. 

The rule, as spelled out by the president in his State of the Union address, would mandate that those making at least $1 million a year pay a minimum tax rate of 30 percent. Democrats in both the House and the Senate have introduced legislation based on that principle.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS 

ADP Employment Change: The group will measures private-sector employment for February. The report comes two days before the government drops its figures for February, which are expected to show that the economy added more jobs last month. 

MBA Mortgage Index: The Mortgage Bankers Association releases its weekly report on mortgage application volume. 

Consumer Credit: The Federal Reserve releases its monthly measure of consumer debt.

Productivity-Unit Labor Costs: The Labor Department releases a report that measures the productivity of workers and the costs associated with producing a unit of output. 

WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED

— SEC head indicates slow going on Volcker Rule
— Baucus concedes long odds for tax reform in 2012
— House passes bill allowing anti-subsidy duties against non-market countries
— But Club for Growth argues countervailing duties bill will increase taxes
— Issa slams Bush and Obama over ‘secretive’ trade agreement
— The Obama administration officially backs House small business plan
— US takes India to WTO over ban on poultry imports
— And Senate Democrats push plan to rehabilitate vacant houses, buildings

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