OVERNIGHT MONEY: Banking on Biden

“Does it make sense to go through a partisan markup now, which risks people hardening their positions, making it harder to have any bipartisan leadership agreement actually passed?” Conrad asked The New York Times in an interview.

For their part, Republicans marked Thursday as Day 750 since the Senate last passed a budget. (Sen. Jeff Sessions [R-Ala.], Budget’s ranking member, even brought a poster emblazoned with that number to the Senate floor.)

Sessions also noted that Conrad had previously said he was trying to give the Gang of Six time to figure out a way forward. “Today’s announcement is just another excuse for delay — delay with no end in sight,” Sessions said. 

WHAT ELSE TO WATCH FOR:

Speaker’s circuit: Richard Trumka, the AFL-CIO president, is scheduled to give a Friday morning speech at the National Press Club. Kevin Bogardus, our ears in organized labor, says, among other things, to expect some discussion about the recent hullabaloo in Wisconsin. 

Think tank roundup: The Heritage Foundation will delve into the hefty workload facing the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Friday, as that agency works to put in place new rules on derivatives mandated by Dodd-Frank. Conservatives say the CFTC is moving too fast to draft the rules and is failing to take into account the economic implications of their actions. House Republicans are even pushing legislation to delay the derivatives rules until the end of 2012. Scott O’Malia, a Republican CFTC Commissioner, will be on hand to discuss the issue.

{mosads}Moving left on your political spectrum, the Brookings Institution will explore the future of trade in Central America at a Friday event with Laura Chinchilla, the Costa Rican president, as the planned keynote speaker. 

The IMF aftermath: Our Erik Wasson was on the scene as John Lipsky, the current acting chief of the IMF, spoke at Washington’s Peterson Institute. With Dominique Strauss-Kahn now officially resigned and granted bail, check back with On the Money for updates on Lipsky’s comments. 

Economic indicators:

The Labor Department is set to release April’s state and regional unemployment figures and mass layoff information. 

BREAKING THURSDAY:

Not so fast…: Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.), the Senate Banking chairman, does not appear particularly amenable to demands from GOP colleagues that the panel consider making changes to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. In a Thursday statement, Johnson said the latest salvo from Republicans was just more of the same, arguing the GOP simply doesn’t want a strong consumer watchdog. 

“We should not relegislate the bureau when it hasn’t even had a chance to start doing its job,” Johnson said.

Testing Tester: Sen. Jon Tester might have reduced the amount of time, to 15 months, that he wants to delay the Durbin amendment. But, as National Journal reports, the Montana Democrat isn’t sure he’ll have a vehicle to attach his measure pushing back new debit-card fee rules. 

As the senator feared, it does not appear likely that his measure will be attached to a Patriot Act extension.  

Hatch on the prowl: Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), the ranking member on Senate Finance, has indicated he’s launching an investigation into Social Security’s disability program, after the Wall Street Journal reported that a West Virginia judge had paid out benefits in a full 100 percent of his cases this fiscal year. (The average, as the Journal points out, is more like 60 percent.)

Twitter fun! Don’t worry, Sen. John McCain’s tweet this afternoon about Douglas Holtz-Eakin, an adviser to his 2008 presidential campaign, was a joke. (What did the Arizona Republican say? “Had a great meeting with my friend and advisor @djheakin, only if he had better staff…”

WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED:

On the Money’s Thursday:

Timothy Geithner wants an IMF successor, pronto.

House Dems want an Elizabeth Warren appointment, recess-style.

Tom Coburn doesn’t hold back on Harry Reid.

Conservatives want those two (and the 98 other senators) to disavow tax increases.

Democrats want a five-year TAA renewal.

Senate Judiciary passes a Patrick Leahy/Chuck Grassley fraud bill.

Existing home sales drop…

But so do initial jobless claims.

Feedback, tips and the like are welcomed at bbecker@digital-release.digital-release.thehill.com.