Overnight Finance: McConnell close to highway deal with Dems

TOMORROW STARTS TONIGHT: SENATE COULD TEE UP HIGHWAY VOTE TUESDAY. Bernie Becker: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Monday that he is on the verge of clinching a long-term transportation agreement with a top Democrat.  McConnell told reporters in Kentucky that he had been negotiating all weekend with Sen. Barbara Boxer (Calif.), the top Democrat on the Senate panel that oversees highway policy. ‘I spoke with her yesterday and we’re hoping to be able to announce tomorrow a major bipartisan multi-year highway bill,’ McConnell said in Shepherdsville, Ky. … The Senate is scheduled to take its first procedural vote on a highway bill on Tuesday, just 10 days before the July 31 deadline for replenishing the Highway Trust Fund.” http://bit.ly/1TMQ7AC

{mosads}– THE BOTTOM LINE: BIG WEEK FOR EX-IM. Conservatives will look to wind down the clock to prevent folks like Sens. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) from offering an amendment to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank. It’s very unlikely that will be able to work, despite conservatives having momentum.

THIS IS OVERNIGHT FINANCE, and it’s only Monday and I’ve lost my wallet twice (found it both times, thank you). Tweet: @kevcirilli; email: kcirilli@digital-release.thehill.com; and subscribe:http://digital-release.thehill.com/signup/48. 

— TUNE IN: I’ll be on Fox 5 tomorrow morning at 7:30 a.m. in-studio discussing politics. Tune in. And catch my segment with Neil Cavuto on Fox Business Network’s “Cavuto: Coast to Coast” here: http://bit.ly/1MgAqQ0

FIDUCIARY FIGHT – – > K-STREET BRACES FOR OBAMA BATTLE. My latest for the hometown paper: Business groups are flooding the zone with criticism of President Obama’s proposed regulations for financial advisers. Advocates for industry are lining up to bash the new regulations, known as “fiduciary standards,” arguing the more stringent disclosure requirements for advisers will have a host of negative consequences for the country.

1.) The business community is united. The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) were among the K Street heavyweights that denounced the proposal on Monday, the day before the Department of Labor’s comment period was set to close.

2.) They say it’s about low-income workers. Their criticism, while wide-ranging, centered on one idea: that the proposed requirements would raise the costs of obtaining financial advice for low- and middle-income Americans who need it the most.

3.) They are also arguing that the Labor Department is making a power-play. “We believe DOL is the wrong regulatory to be in the head here, and the rule as written completely misses the mark,” said Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr., SIFMA president and CEO. My story: http://bit.ly/1HFboH8

NOMINATED: DOMINGUEZ TO FED. Pete Schroeder: “President Obama on Monday nominated an economics professor to fill one of several openings at the top of the Federal Reserve. The president announced plans to pick Dr. Kathryn Dominguez, a professor of public policy and economics at the University of Michigan, to join the central bank’s board of governors. If confirmed, she would fill a spot at the seven-member board that is currently making do with just 5 governors…

— Meanwhile, “in January, Obama nominated community banker Allan Landon to also join the Fed board. But the former head of the Bank of Hawaii has seen his nomination stuck in the Senate, as lawmakers have engaged in a broader debate about potentially overhauling the Fed’s operations.” http://bit.ly/1OioZ90

FIRST LOOK: EX-IM VIDEO. A group fighting to get the Ex-Im Bank reauthorized, the Exporters for Ex-Im Coalition, released a 2-minute video that criticizes groups for celebrating the lapse in Ex-Im’s reauthorization, saying the move harms small businesses. The video comes just as the Senate could vote on attaching Ex-Im to a highway funding bill. WATCH: http://bit.ly/1LofJT1

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DODD-FRANK! I’ll be joining Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) tomorrow at 11 a.m. I’ll be joined by Paul G. Mahoney, the dean of the University of Virginia Law School; and Norbert Michael, a financial regulations research fellow at Heritage. Diane Katz moderates. Don’t miss this one, folks. Register here: http://herit.ag/1dP6MDf

— Start your morning with THIRD WAY, which is getting “Frank” on Dodd-Frank. Third Way will host an event with former Congressman Barney Frank tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. in the Columbus Club Room at Union Station to commemorate Dodd-Frank’s five year anniversary. More info: http://bit.ly/1CuuIYn

HENSARLING: DODD-FRANK IS A FAILURE. House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) in a WSJ op-ed: “Too-big-to-fail institutions have not disappeared. Big banks are bigger, small banks are fewer, and the financial system is less stable. Meanwhile, the economy remains in the doldrums. Dodd-Frank was based on the premise that the financial crisis was the result of deregulation…  Washington not only failed to prevent the crisis, it led us into it… What is most disturbing about Dodd-Frank is the authority it gives bureaucrats to control huge swaths of the economy.” http://on.wsj.com/1fX9BUR

— Plus, watch the House Financial Services Committee’s D-F anniversary video: http://bit.ly/1fhWwET

HILLARY WATCH: CLINTON PREPS TAX PLAN, via Becker: “Hillary Clinton plans to propose at least a new third rate for capital gains taxes, as the Democratic front-runner plots a framework to increase long-term economic growth in the U.S. Currently, the highest-earning taxpayers can owe either a 23.8 percent or 39.6 percent rate on their investment returns. Clinton will propose at least a third rate that would be higher than the 28 percent rate that President Obama has floated for the highest earners, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.” http://bit.ly/1GwUWEO

SANDERS CALLS FOR $15 MINIMUM WAGE, via Tim Devaney: “Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is pushing new legislation to raise the minimum wage for all workers to $15 an hour. The Democratic presidential candidate, who has made addressing income inequality a centerpiece of his campaign, will introduce the minimum wage bill Wednesday. Sanders has long called for a $15 minimum wage, but this is the first bill he is introducing to do so.” http://bit.ly/1Ifq5Ee

MORE FIDUCIARY FALL-OUT: SIFMA STUDY BLASTS PROPOSED RULE, per a SIFMA release: “To address shortcomings in the DOL’s regulatory impact analysis, SIFMA included in its comments a study conducted by NERA Economic Consulting based on customer account-level data provided by SIFMA member firms.

“It finds that commission-based accounts do not underperform fee-based accounts and that over 57% of retirement holders would lose access to financial advice if the proposal were implemented. It also finds that investors choose the fee model that best suits their needs and trading behavior.”

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