On The Money: Wave of companies cut off donations, much of it to GOP | Wall Street braces for tougher rules under new Democratic majority |

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THE BIG DEAL— Wave of companies cut off donations, much of it to GOP: A wave of corporations on Monday said they would cut off donations to any politicians who opposed the Electoral College results, putting new pressure on Republicans to break with President Trump and end their attacks on the election.

• Blue Cross Blue Shield Association said it would suspend contributions to lawmakers who “voted to undermine our democracy.” Separately, in an internal email obtained by The Hill, it said it will not give its annual contributions to the National Republican Congressional Committee or the Republican National Committee.
• Marriott will be suspending donations to the GOP senators who objected to certifying President-elect Joe Biden’s victory and said it will judge other donations based on which lawmakers oversee leadership political action committees (PACs).
• Oil giant BP also announced a halt in all political donations.
• Multiple companies, including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Mastercard, also have said they will temporarily stop making all political contributions to lawmakers of both parties.

Some GOP lawmakers said they believe that the pause in donations will be temporary, but others fear the vote could prove to have a long-term impact on the GOP’s fundraising abilities.

The Hill’s Alex Gangitano and Juliegrace Brufke have more here. 

LEADING THE DAY

Wall Street braces for tougher rules under new Democratic majority: The Democratic takeover of the Senate means the financial services industry can expect stricter rules and tougher oversight once President-elect Joe Biden takes office.

• Victories by Sens.-elect Jon Ossoff (D) and Raphael Warnock (D) in Georgia last week will split the chamber 50-50 and give Democrats control on Jan. 20 with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris casting any tie breaking votes.
• Narrow Democratic majorities in both chambers will likely prevent the party from passing the most ambitious parts of its agenda, but flipping the Senate still allows Democrats to install tougher financial regulators and give them more powerful tools to accomplish long-standing goals.

“There was practically no window with Republicans holding the Senate to push any positive change legislatively. There now is a window,” said Gregg Gelzinis, senior policy analyst at liberal Center for American Progress. “To ensure that we have a safer, more stable financial system, to make our financial system less predatory, to protect consumers and investors, help homeowners and renters — that’s all possible now.” I break it down here.

Quick turnover at regulatory agencies: Biden will no longer need GOP support for his nominees to be confirmed, so long as Democrats remain united, and he can count on the Democratic Senate to expediently replace Trump-appointed regulators.

“It’s not just who gets nominated, but how quickly they’re actually able to get through the confirmation process and start playing the leadership role in setting a new agenda,” said Columbia University law professor Kathryn Judge.

“The process of having to kind of deal with foot-dragging by the Senate can result in significant vacancies and that’s been a real problem in recent administrations.”

Fierce Senate watchdog: Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), one of the chamber’s fiercest critics of big banks and the financial sector, will soon become chairman of the Senate committee that oversees them.

Brown is likely to hold the financial sector’s feet to the fire with an intense focus on big bank business practices, the housing finance system, and how the financial industry can use its power to fight climate change.

Deficit hits $572 billion in first quarter of fiscal year: The federal deficit in the first quarter of the 2021 fiscal year surpassed a half trillion, reaching $572 billion, according to an estimate by the Congressional Budget Office.

The deficit set a new record of $3.1 trillion in 2020, as the pandemic whacked the economy and the government rushed in with emergency spending to keep it from deflating. Spending was up 18 percent in the first quarter, while revenues dropped 1.1 percent.

The Hill’s Niv Elis breaks it down here.

GOOD TO KNOW

• The IRS on Monday released a report to Congress that outlines strategies for improving its taxpayer service, employee training and organizational structure in response to bipartisan legislation Congress passed in 2019.
• Twitter’s stock plunged roughly 7 percent on Monday following the company’s decision Friday evening to permanently ban President Trump from the platform.
• More than 100 progressive groups, labor organizations and advocacy groups are calling on President-elect Joe Biden to use the soon-to-be Democratic majority in both chambers of Congress to move quickly on a major coronavirus relief bill.

ODDS AND ENDS

• Social media company Parler sued Amazon on Monday, alleging that its suspension from Amazon’s hosting service violated antitrust law and breached the companies’ contractual arrangement.
• Payment processing company Stripe cut ties with President Trump’s campaign after his supporters rioted at the Capitol last week, a person familiar with the matter confirmed to The Hill on Sunday.