OVERNIGHT FINANCE: Kochs targeted in Ex-Im fight; Trade vote this week?

TOMORROW STARTS TONIGHT: CLINTON ALLY DAVID BROCK’S GROUP ENTERS EX-IM BATTLE. You read it here first: The policy arm of the liberal super-PAC American Bridge is attacking Charles and David Koch for opposing reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank, arguing the conservative billionaires are trying to kill the agency for financial gain. American Bridge’s Bridge Project released a report dubbed ‘Banking on Obstruction,’ which portrays Koch Industries as opposing Ex-Im in order to hurt its business rivals. My story: http://bit.ly/1GpOmEA

— THE POLICY BEHIND THE POLITICS: The report says Koch-owned companies have received modest financing benefits from the bank when compared to Koch’s competitors. Koch-owned companies received $16.2 million in financing from Ex-Im, the report says, while rivals of the company received a total of $19.4 billion.

{mosads}– WHAT THE REPORT SAYS: “Koch profits behind the opposition to Ex-Im… Opposition to reauthorization may serve to benefit the Kochs financially… Research demonstrates that Koch opposition to the bank may be less about ideology and more about self-interest.” Read the report: http://bit.ly/1S2swuQ

— REACTION, VIA HERITAGE ACTION AND AMERICANS FOR PROSPERITY: Dan Holler for Heritage: “[They’re] a seedy Democrat opposition research firm… Apparently, the group shills for corporate welfare in its spare time.” … Levi Russell for AFP: “The left’s unhealthy obsession with Koch is nothing if not predictable… Americans for Prosperity opposes Ex-Im for the same reasons Senator Barack Obama did when he called it ‘corporate welfare'” when he was campaigning for president during the 2008 cycle.”

— LEGISLATIVE DAYS UNTIL EX-IM’s CHARTER EXPIRES: 11.

THIS IS OVERNIGHT FINANCE, and it’s only Tuesday. So stay grateful, thankful and hungry (in my case — hungry for boneless buffalo wings). Tweet: @kevcirilli; email: kcirilli@digital-release.thehill.com; and subscribe: http://digital-release.thehill.com/signup/48. Back to work… 

GOOD DAY? CHRIS CHRISTIE. The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that Gov. Chris Christie (R) can move ahead with his proposed $1.57 billion cut to the state’s public employee pensions system to clean the Garden State’s fiscal house. The decision came as much-needed good news for Christie, who is expected to announce whether he’ll run for president in the coming weeks. In a statement, Christie hailed the court’s ruling as a victory for taxpayers, “who simply cannot afford these unsustainably high costs.”

— WHY IT MATTERS: Christie has been dogged by bad headlines and sagging polls numbers as his critics attack his fiscal policies; credit rating agencies have downgraded the Garden State’s credit score nine times since he took office. And then there’s “Bridgegate,” as authorities investigate his former senior officials in connection with the 2013 closure of lanes on the George Washington Bridge as an apparent act of political payback. My story: http://bit.ly/1ItpCe8

TWEETABLE MOMENTS, via Democracy For America spokesman Neil Sroka: “Last night, the Run Warren Run campaign delivered more than 365,000 petition signatures to Senator Warren urging her to run for President and formally suspended our Draft Warren efforts.” See the pic of Warren: http://bit.ly/1T9YZ45

BIG Q – – > HOUSE TRADE VOTE THIS WEEK? Scott Wong for the hometown paper: Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions (R-Texas) said House Republicans will decide in a ‘family meeting’ Wednesday morning whether to bring critical trade legislation to the floor later this week. But so far, GOP leadership has not made any decision on the timing of the vote to give President Obama so-called ‘fast-track’ trade authority. 

— SESSIONS SAYS: The decision has “got to be made tomorrow if we’re going to go this week, because I don’t think we’re going to be here this weekend… “There has been a process that has been allowed to play out properly… We didn’t surprise anybody. People have studied it.” Scott has the story: http://bit.ly/1B0K5Yh

QUICK Q – – > ARE COLLEGE PRESIDENTS WORTH IT? Emily Jane Fox for CNN Money: “As tuition at public colleges and universities has continued to climb, so have the salaries of public university presidents. The average public college president earned just over $428,000 in 2014, up 7% from a year earlier, according to an analysis of 238 chief executives at 220 public universities from the Chronicle of Higher Education. That’s 3.8 times more than what the average full-time professor makes.” http://cnnmon.ie/1FF1sdj

MAKING MOVES: ROBERTS GIBBS TO MCDONALDS. Jesse Byrnes: “Robert Gibbs, President Obama’s former press secretary, has been hired by McDonald’s as an executive vice president, the company announced Tuesday.” http://bit.ly/1KTSHjd

Wonder what the First Lady thinks…

Let’s move…

HENSARLING TALKS TO WSJ… House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) gave an interview to the Wall Street Journal. (You can read my interview with the chairman here: http://bit.ly/1dhn48T) Here’s what he told WSJ:

— HENSARLING ON EX-IM: “It really goes to what kind of society do we want? Is this the type of economic growth that we want, where you are essentially rewarded, not by how hard you work on Main Street but by who you know in Washington? And that’s what a lot of the Export-Import Bank is about.”

— HENSARLING ON DODD-FRANK: “There is a direct correlation between this onslaught of federal regulation, a lot of it represented by Dodd-Frank, by Obamacare, by the EPA, by all of alphabet soup government. And we’ve got to try to do something about it and I think ultimately we can.” http://on.wsj.com/1dr4Xwq

FEDS NOT PREPARED FOR CYBERATTACKS. Cory Bennett is all over the story: “The main system used by the federal government to protect sensitive data from hacks has been plagued by delays and criticism that it is already outdated — months before it is even fully implemented. The Einstein system is intended to repel cyberattacks like the one revealed last week by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) — a breach now believed to be the worst in the government’s history. Four million federal workers had sensitive data exposed in the hack, with that information now thought to be part of a Chinese database that could help Beijing steal U.S. secrets.” http://bit.ly/1Is3Qr7

FIDUCIARY FIGHT: BIZ PREPS FOR LONG-TERM BATTLE, via me: The business community is steeling for battle against the Obama administration’s proposed rule for financial advisers, and could mount a court challenge if congressional efforts to block the regulations fall short. Brad Campbell, an attorney at Drinker Biddle & Reath, left the door open to taking the administration to court if the Labor Department proposal is enacted as drafted.

— THE POLITICS BEHIND THE POLICY: It’s unclear whether the industry will use Congress to seek a legislative fix or whether they will continue to lobby DOL officials. Rep. Ann Wagner (R-Mo.) introduced legislation that would give lawmakers more oversight in the rule-making process, but it’s unclear whether Obama would veto the legislation. It’s also unclear whether such a bill could pass in time to delay a final rule from being proposed, which is on course for early next year.

— MONEY QUOTE: “There are a number of moderate Democrats interested in this issue… What we’ve heard from the vast majority of our members is that the [proposed rule is] almost impossible to work,” said Alice Joe, a managing director at the chamber. My story: http://bit.ly/1ID5Sb1

Let’s drink… to tough messaging?…

SHOT, via Putnam Investment’s CEO Robert Reynolds, criticizing the fiduciary proposal: “The client’s best interest is our best interest without a doubt.”

CHASER, via Putnam Investment’s SEC filing from March 2015: “Doing business with our affiliates could involve conflicts of interest if, for example, we use affiliated products and services when those products and services are not in our clients’ best interests.” See the filing, page 28: http://bit.ly/1e1pSXQ

TALK OF THE TOWN: Hastert pleads not guilty: http://bit.ly/1QmsXTq

HOUSING CRISIS ISN’T OVER. WSJ: “More than 40% of Americans surveyed believe that the country is still in the middle of the housing crisis, while one in five anticipate that the worst is yet to come, according to a survey commissioned by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.” http://on.wsj.com/1MmbwMp

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