On The Money: Waters wants more scrutiny of Trump finances | IRS says average refund up 1.3 percent | Senators offer resolution to block Trump border emergency

Happy Thursday and welcome back to On The Money. I’m Sylvan Lane, and here’s your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line.

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THE BIG DEAL–Waters calls on House to boost scrutiny of Trump’s finances: Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) on Thursday called for greater congressional scrutiny of President Trump’s finances, including allegations that he used his charitable foundation to avoid taxes.

Waters told reporters Thursday that the House should be focused on exposing whether Trump committed financial crimes alleged by his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, before a House panel Wednesday.

{mosads}She said she believes Trump may have used his charitable foundation “to avoid paying taxes on money that he has earned.

“I think there’s more than we know about at this time,” said Waters, the chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee. She added that she received a letter “from somebody who told me about a situation that they want to talk with me more about,” but did not elaborate.

“We should be seeing what we can unveil about his finances and about his taxes and the crime that is being committed or has been committed because of the way that he has handled and managed money,” Waters said. I’ve got more on what that could entail here.

The background:

• In testimony before the House Oversight Committee, Cohen accused Trump of inflating and deflating the value of his assets to reduce his tax bill, boost insurance coverage and rank higher on the Forbes list of wealthiest people.
• Cohen also said that the president used his personal foundation to pay an individual for bidding up the price of a portrait of Trump that being auctioned. Trump agreed to shut down the foundation in December after the New York attorney general sued the president, alleging the charity engaged in a “shocking pattern of illegality.”

What comes next: Waters declined to say if she’d subpoena witnesses to testify before the Financial Services panel on Cohen’s allegation, adding she did not want to “pre-empt my staff.”

She is already leading a probe into Trump’s finances through his connections to Deutsche Bank, who lent the president millions of dollars when other banks wouldn’t touch him.

LEADING THE DAY

US economy grew 2.9 percent in 2018, just below Trump’s goal: The U.S. economy grew 2.9 percent in 2018, a strong rate that fell short of the Trump administration’s goal for yearly gross domestic product (GDP) growth.

The 2.9 percent GDP growth last year, reported by the Commerce Department on Thursday, was one-tenth of a percentage point below President Trump’s promise of 3 percent yearly growth.

The economy slowed to an annualized growth rate of 2.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2018, following 3.4 percent in third quarter and 4.2 percent in the second quarter. I’ve got more on the data here.

Trump’s economy: The pace of GDP growth accelerated under Trump, who helped stimulate an already strong economy with stimulus from a $1.5 trillion tax cut. But GDP growth on a yearly basis has fallen short of the ambitious 3 percent goal set by the president and his advisers.

As a candidate, Trump promised years of growth above 3 percent after relatively sluggish growth under former President Obama. His administration brushed off criticisms from liberal and conservative economists who doubted that the U.S. economy could sustain that level of growth.

IRS says average refund up 1.3 percent: The IRS released data on Thursday showing that the average tax refund so far this year is slightly larger than it was last year, after earlier data from the agency showed a decline in the average refund amount.

The average refund was $3,143 through Feb. 22. That’s 1.3 percent greater than the average refund of $3,103 through Feb. 23, 2018.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said earlier in the day that tax refunds are now “basically” the same size as last year.

The latest numbers are notable because the first three batches of filing-season data showed a smaller average refund. Refund amounts are being closely watched this year because it’s the first time people are filing tax returns that reflect President Trump’s 2017 tax law. The Hill’s Naomi Jagoda gets us up to speed.

Senators offer bill to block border emergency: Senators unveiled a resolution on Thursday to block President Trump’s emergency declaration to construct the U.S.-Mexico border wall.

Sens. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) introduced the resolution on the Senate floor, where it’s expected to be taken up within a matter of weeks.

The two senators, in back-to-back speeches, stressed that the Senate’s vote wasn’t about whether a senator supported the U.S.-Mexico border wall or Trump but about maintaining a separation of power between the executive and legislative branches on funding the government.

{mossecondads}”I support, strongly support, protecting the institutional prerogatives of the United States Senate and the system of checks and balances that is central to the structure of our government,” Collins said.

State of play: All Democrats are expected to back the resolution once it comes to the Senate floor. They’ll need four Republican senators to get it to Trump’s desk, where he’s said he will veto it. So far three Republicans back the resolution. The Hill’s Jordain Carney has more here.

GOOD TO KNOW 

• The director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) will appear before the House Financial Services Committee next week as Democrats ramp up their oversight of the controversial regulator.
• Senate Finance Committee leadership on Thursday offered a bill to renew a host of tax breaks that expired at the end of 2017 and 2018.
• The World Trade Organization (WTO) on Thursday ruled in favor of the U.S. in a long-running dispute over Chinese subsidies for wheat and rice farms, according to multiple reports.
• Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) said in a new interview that he is planning to introduce legislation next week proposing a tax on stock market trades.

ODDS AND ENDS

• New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) has been attempting to convince Amazon executives to revive plans to put the company’s second headquarters, known as HQ2, in New York, The New York Times reported Thursday. 
• The Chinese telecommunications company Huawei pleaded not guilty in federal court Thursday to attempting to steal trade secrets from T-Mobile, the Department of Justice announced.