OVERNIGHT FINANCE: NFL drops tax-exempt status

TOMORROW STARTS TONIGHT: NFL FORFEITS TAX EXEMPTION. Bernie Becker for the hometown paper: “The National Football League on Tuesday decided to give up the tax-exempt status for its league office, agreeing to the demands of lawmakers who denounced it as an unconscionable giveaway. Roger Goodell, the league’s commissioner, essentially told NFL owners in a memo that the tax incentive wasn’t worth what had become a years-long public relations hassle. But the move also offers the league new ways to shield information — including Goodell’s $44 million salary in 2012 — from public view.” 

{mosads}–ROGER GOODELL: IT’S A ‘DISTRACTION.’ More from Becker: “In his memo, Goodell insisted that the league’s tax status has ‘been mischaracterized repeatedly,’ noting that the government taxes income from television rights fees, ticket sales and any other revenues generated by the 32 professional football teams. He added that abandoning the tax exemption wouldn’t change how the NFL operates. With that in mind, both Goodell and Bob McNair, the owner of the Houston Texans, said it was past time for the league to get rid of the ‘distraction’ caused by the tax exemption. ‘The fact is that the business of the NFL has never been tax exempt,’ Goodell wrote.” http://bit.ly/1HONVUD

THIS IS OVERNIGHT FINANCE, and it’s only Tuesday. So keep you head up, keep truckin’ along. We’re in Washington, folks. Tweet: @kevcirilli; email: kcirilli@digital-release.thehill.com; and subscribe: http://digital-release.thehill.com/signup/48. Back to work…

DAYS UNTIL EX-IM EXPIRES: 62. Scott Wong: “House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) reiterated Tuesday that he thinks the Export-Import Bank should be allowed to expire in two months, saying he hasn’t changed his position from last summer.” http://bit.ly/1DIS47z 

— Hot in Ex-Im critics’ corner: Mercatus Center’s Veronique de Rugy and Heritage’s Diane Katz teamed-up for a new paper on the Export-Import Bank’s top foreign buyers. The banks’ critics say: “A new analysis of government data reveals that Ex-Im Bank’s top 10 overseas buyers are large corporations that primarily purchase exports from multinational conglomerates.” Study: http://bit.ly/1DIWHPc

Meanwhile…

FRED FIGHTS BACK: EX-IM PREZ TAKES ON CRITICS… BUT IS IT TOO LATE? A defiant, embattled Export-Import Bank president Fred Hochberg offered an unapologetic defense of his leadership and his bank in an exclusive interview with The Hill. In a no-holds-barred nearly half-hour interview at the luxurious Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, Hochberg pushed back against his Tea Party critics and defended Boeing. 

My takeaways:

1.) Ex-Im is embracing Boeing. In recent weeks, politicians on both sides of the aisle have fought back against Ex-Im critics who say the bank is little more than “corporate welfare” and “cronyism,” designed to prop up Boeing — which received more than one-third of the bank’s loan commitments between 2007 and 2013. But Hochberg has never ventured into the Boeing battle — until now. Asked during an interview with The Hill whether the nickname “Bank of Boeing” is unfair, Hochberg snapped, “Yes, of course it is… Do we want those jobs to be in the state of Washington and South Carolina and the 15,000 companies in the supply chain of Boeing?” the Ex-Im president asked. “Or do we want them to be in Toulouse and Hamburg and the Airbus supply chain overseas? That’s the choice we have. … We have an obligation not to turn our backs on American workers.”

2.) Ex-Im will talk small business — but only on their terms. Ex-Im supporters on Capitol Hill and in the business community have fought for months to portray the bank as a resource for Main Street. And several of the legislative proposals would require the bank to increase the percentage of its portfolio that finances small business projects. Sens. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) and Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) want to increase the small business portfolio requirement from 20 percent to 25 percent. Hochberg often sounded like a broken record during my interview, saying the bank “is all about small business.” But when I asked Hochberg how much of the bank’s portfolio should go to small business — and whether he agreed with Heitkamp-Kirk’s requirement — he repeatedly dodged. Tea Partiers who are supporting the bank despite vehement opposition from their own base will no doubt have questions about whether the bank is interested in doing more with small businesses or just sticking to PR talking points.

3.) Hochberg isn’t thrilled about the coal provisions. The fight behind the scenes for Ex-Im will be less about how many years it gets reauthorized and more about what it looks like once it’s reauthorized. All Democrats in the House support the bank — without overturning regs that restrict the bank from doing business with coal-plants that don’t adopt greener technology. Hochberg’s take: “We should not be using government resources to be backing coal-powered fire plants, except in the poorest countries… They have less options, and they’re going to put up coal-fired power plants, and we want to make sure we’re in that game.”

4.) Hochberg doesn’t think he’s campaigning for the bank’s survival. Since 2011, the bank has held nearly 80 “global access” forums across the U.S., partnering with the U.S. Small Business Administration and the Commerce Department to hold seminars on federal resources available to small-business exporters, bank officials said. But is it appropriate for him to be meeting with local and state business and political leaders? “I’ve been in this job for six years. I travel around the country all the time… My job is to meet with U.S. exporters and help spur them on.”

5.) Hochberg hasn’t met with Hensarling — but he has met with House GOP leadership staff. Hochberg told me he hasn’t met with Hensarling this Congress, but that he has met with staffers in Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) office. The lack of communication underscores how tense the negotiations have become between Hensarling and Hochberg. Hochberg said that he’s surprised at how controversial the reauthorization — once a nonpartisan vote in Congress — has become inside-the-Beltway. “It does surprise me,” Hochberg said. “Especially since we’re supporting all of these jobs.” Video: http://bit.ly/1AbcgxC Story: http://bit.ly/1bzR7am

DEMS QUESTION FINANCIAL ADVISER CRACKDOWN: “Key Democratic senators are raising concerns about President Obama’s push for tougher regulations on financial advisers. In separate interviews Tuesday, Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va.), Ben Cardin (Md.) and Jon Tester (Mont.) said they were concerned about Department of Labor rules increasing disclosure requirements for financial advisers.

“The administration says the regulations will better protect Americans from receiving faulty financial advice from advisers looking to sell bad investments in hopes of pocketing lucrative commissions. The business community — along with Republicans and now some Democrats — say the regulations would end up keeping lower-income Americans from receiving financial advice.

‘That’s the issue — that’s the fundamental concern: whether people are going to be denied any advice,’ Cardin said.” http://bit.ly/1QGaM90

FED PREP: WHAT TO WATCH FOR TOMORROW, via WSJ’s Pedro Nicolaci Da Costa: “Don’t expect any clear signals out of this meeting about the timing of the Federal Reserve’s first interest rate increase. The central bank has made clear it won’t start moving rates at its two-day policy meeting this week. Chairwoman Janet Yellen is not holding a press conference afterward and central bank officials are not releasing new economic projections.

“So investors’ only new clues from the meeting about the Fed’s thinking will lie in its statement, to be released Wednesday at 2 p.m. EDT. The Fed will probably repeat that it won’t start lifting borrowing costs until it sees more improvement in the labor market and is reasonably confident inflation will move toward its 2% target. Beyond that, any changes could be very subtle.” http://on.wsj.com/1bQxhIC

MILLENNIAL MADNESS: RECESSION CAUSES 20-SOMETHINGS NOT TO HAVE BABIES. Neil Shah for WSJ: “That the Great Recession of 2007-09 made Americans have fewer kids is no surprise, but a new study shows how big the toll was. Birth rates for U.S. women in their 20s dropped more than 15% between 2007 and 2012, just before and after the recession, the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan policy research group, said in a new analysis of data from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention released Tuesday. Among Hispanic 20-somethings, the birth rate dropped 26%. Non-Hispanic blacks? 14%. By contrast, non-Hispanic white 20-somethings saw an 11% decline.” http://on.wsj.com/1GBBM3M

THE SCENE — Dozens of protestors rallied outside of the Supreme Court of the United States earlier today, the first day the highest court in the nation is set to take up what could be a definitive ruling on gay marriage. Some supporters of gay marriage held “EQUALITY” signs. Some critics of gay marriage held signs that stated, “God Hates F**s,” and “Homo Sex is a Threat to National Security.” 

— NPR’s Mara Liasson: 3 Reasons Republicans Might Cheer A Pro-Gay-Marriage Ruling: 1.) Public opinion is changing — at lightning speed. 2.) A court ruling in favor of same-sex marriage would let Republican candidates off the hook. .) A Supreme Court ruling for same-sex marriage would mark a truce in the culture wars. http://n.pr/1DHfNFn

BALTIMORE: UNDERSTANDING THE CHAOS. Michael Pooler for the Financial Times: “After briefly dipping to fractionally below the nationwide average just before the financial crisis hit, unemployment more than doubled as the recession gripped. Though it is still well above the national rate, the jobless number has been on a downward trend for the past five years. However, this apparent economic improvement belies the poverty in which almost one-quarter of all Baltimore residents live (based on 2013 statistics).

“A stark contrast is seen with the wider county and state, where poverty is far less pronounced. Both are inexorably linked to poor levels of education. Without a high school diploma, many doors are closed. Again, Baltimore scores badly… Even if the curfew holds and the deployment of national guard troops calms the streets in Baltimore, many deep-seated social and economic ills remain.” http://on.ft.com/1zkbALo

BLOGGIN’ BEN: BERNANKE BLASTS TAYLOR RULE. The former Fed chair’s latest blog post: “Monetary policy should be systematic, not automatic. The simplicity of the Taylor rule disguises the complexity of the underlying judgments that FOMC members must continually make if they are to make good policy decisions.” The rule calls for automatically linking rates to inflation and GDP and has the support of some Fed critics. http://brook.gs/1baf8Ed

2016 WATCH: RUBIO TURNS RIGHT — SIGNS TAX PLEDGE. Ben Kamisar: “Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) has signed a pledge opposing all tax increases as he jockeys for the White House, the third presidential candidate to make the oath to the popular conservative group Americans for Tax Reform… Rubio joins fellow Republican Sens. Rand Paul (Ky.) and Ted Cruz (Texas), who signed the pledge last week. Former Fla. Gov. Jeb Bush has said he wouldn’t sign any pledge if he decides to run for president, his spokeswoman Kristy Campbell told CNN.” http://bit.ly/1PSsvZi

AD WARS – – TRADE EDITION. My latest with Vicki Needham: The business community is out with a six-figure television advertising campaign to support President Obama’s trade agenda. The Trade Benefits America Coalition — which is backed by the Business Roundtable — will begin airing the ads on national cable networks and in targeted media markets across the country this week. The ad — dubbed ‘One Thing’ — urges lawmakers to pass trade promotion authority (TPA) in order to “fast-track” Obama’s effort to pass the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a 12-nation economic agreement. http://bit.ly/1FuXLut

MORE TRADE, via Jordan Fabian: President Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday expressed confidence they could reach a deal on trade that would pave the way toward a sweeping new free-trade pact among a dozen Pacific Rim nations. The two leaders said they made progress during meetings on Tuesday, but acknowledged they must overcome political opposition to finalize an agreement.” http://bit.ly/1EAMwA6

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