OVERNIGHT FINANCE: GOP wants details on financial adviser regs

TOMORROW STARTS TONIGHT: SENATE BRACES FOR ‘FIDUCIARY’ FIGHT. My take for The Hill: “Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) is pressing Obama administration officials on how they’ll impose looming regulations for financial advisers that Republicans say will cut access to low-income Americans. Johnson is asking Department of Labor Secretary Thomas Perez to explain how the new regulations won’t ‘adversely affect middle and low-income Americans,’ according to the Feb. 5 letter obtained first by The Hill on Monday.”

{mosads}– WHAT OBAMA WANTS: Administration officials want more stringent disclosures requirements — known as the “fiduciary rule” — for the industry about their commissions, arguing that it’ll cut back on bad actors selling faulty financial plans while pocketing commissions off unsuspecting Americans.

— WHAT CENTRISTS, GOPERS WANT: Critics argue that the regulations — which failed to gain traction in 2010 — would change the industry’s payment model so radically that financial advisers would no longer have a financial incentive to serve low- and middle-income Americans’ accounts, which are less lucrative than big businesses. As a result, low- and middle-income Americans would lose out on financial advice, they argue. My story: http://bit.ly/1zqcr6h.

— ELIZABETH WARREN ENTERS FIDUCIARY FIGHT: Last week, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), alluding to the issue at a Senate Special Committee on Aging hearing, signaled that she would support the administration. “We need to do more to protect our seniors, but also particularly to make sure that financial advisers don’t steer their clients into retirement products that maximize the advisers’ profits while they drain away the clients’ savings,” Warren said at the hearing.

THIS IS OVERNIGHT FINANCE. Hope everybody had an awesome weekend. Tweet: @kevcirilli; email: kcirilli@digital-release.thehill.com; and subscribe: http://digital-release.thehill.com/signup/48. Manic Monday almost over… pick it up…

TALK OF THE TOWN – – BIBI DOUBLES DOWN. David McCabe for The Hill: “Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday doubled down on his intention to speak to a joint session of Congress next month, despite criticism from Democrats who say they will boycott the event.

“Netanyahu said he fully intended to make the speech and that he will use the moment to criticize negotiations the Obama administration is holding with Iran, which he argues are endangering Israel.” http://bit.ly/1veqyen

— THE HILL’S WHIP LIST: Mike Lillis is keeping count of the Democrats who are skipping the speech: http://bit.ly/1IFIlq1

— BERNIE SANDERS: I’M SKIPPING BIBI. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) became the first senator on Monday to announce he won’t be attending Netanyahu’s March 3 joint address to Congress. My story: http://bit.ly/1zq6rKw

Speaking of Sanders…

SANDERS: I WILL RUN ‘TO WIN’ IN 2016. Sanders at the left-leaning Brookings Institution in Washington earlier today: 

— ON 2016: “I am giving thought to running for president of the United States… But don’t tell my wife. … If I run, I want to run to win and to run to win we need to have millions of people actively involved… [But] I will not be a spoiler… If I run and if Secretary Clinton runs, what I would hope would happen is that we have a debate about how you rebuild the middle class… I also understand political realities, and that is, when you take on the billionaire class, it ain’t easy.”

— ON WALL STREET: “Casino capitalism, runaway capitalism — which is what we’re experiencing right now — is a disaster… [Wall Street is] an island unto itself, where its goal is to make as much money as it can… I don’t want to be too dramatic here, but I happen to believe that the business model of Wall Street is fraud and deception.” My story: http://bit.ly/1A6LdZ8.

JACK LEW: OBAMA’S CRITICS PROVEN WRONG. Pete Schroeder for the hometown paper: “Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said Monday that critics who argue the Obama administration was hurting the economy have been ‘proven wrong.’ In an interview with CNBC, Lew said that the U.S. economy has ‘really turned the corner’ and is now enjoying sustainable growth. While Republicans blasted the administration for years as pushing onerous regulations and job-killing policies, Lew said the facts say otherwise.” http://bit.ly/1z1U1d5

QUOTABLE, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) at a Christian Science Monitorbreakfast: “I’m not white? That’s a revelation. I will give you permission in every picture you run of me… you have my permission to put in a disclaimer that I’m not white.” Jonathan Easley: http://bit.ly/1CMLLUo

NOTABLE, Philadelphia Federal Reserve President Charles Plosser called Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-Ky.) “Audit The Fed” plan “scary” in an interview with Fox Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo. Video: http://bit.ly/1A6Ntj8. You already know: Paul’s plan would allow the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to audit the Federal Reserve’s portfolios… Fed officials say it would politicize the central bank… The Wall Street Journal‘s Kate Davidson has more Fed presidents criticizing the plan: http://on.wsj.com/1Fr5siQ

PAUL RYAN’S TRADE WAR. Vicki Needham from over the weekend with the must-read: “Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) is putting his muscle into reaching a deal on trade with President Obama. The new chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee is speaking about the trade agenda on an almost daily basis, and sending the signal that the White House and congressional Republicans can reach an agreement to approve fast-track negotiating authority, which would speed the consideration of two pending trade deals… 

“While Democrats are more divided on fast-track — and Ryan has argued that Obama must deliver support from his own party — the Ways and Means chairman is also focused on producing Republican votes. Ryan sees trade as an area where the Republican-controlled Congress and Obama can work together, and where the GOP can show its ability to govern… Fast-track, which would prevent Congress for amending the trade deals, was last approved by the House in 2002.” http://bit.ly/1ESumuj

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