The Fed’s $600 billion bond-buying effort — the so-called QE2 — is scheduled to wind down at the end of this month. But with the economy having added just 54,000 jobs in May and the release of other disappointing economic indicators in recent weeks, some Fed observers are speculating there is more of a chance that the central bank will go for another round of quantitative easing.
Several other government releases expected next week could give further clues about the state of the economy, including Thursday data from the Commerce Department on international trade. The Labor Department is also scheduled to release figures on labor turnover on Tuesday, and imports and exports on Friday.
Elsewhere, Sens. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) — two members of the Senate Gang of Six — are scheduled to discuss the federal budget and debt ceiling at a Wednesday event sponsored by the Economic Club of Washington, D.C.
That same day, Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) will be joined by a colleague from the other side of the Capitol, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), at a conference with The Atlantic on a proposed national infrastructure bank.
On the hearing front, the Senate Finance Committee — helmed by Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), a participant in the Biden talks — is scheduled to discuss the place of revenues in the deficit-reduction discussion on Tuesday.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, meanwhile, is expected to hold a hearing on for-profit colleges Tuesday, after the Obama administration released a regulation this week aimed at ensuring that graduates of for-profit institutions earn enough to pay back their student loans. Republicans on the panel have indicated they will only participate in the part of the hearing featuring Education Secretary Arne Duncan.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is scheduled to get together on Tuesday to discuss a tax treaty with Switzerland. Treaty amendments were negotiated to give U.S. tax collectors better information on secretive Swiss bank accounts. Tax transparency advocates have argued it does not go far enough toward providing full disclosure.
Finally, with the House away, Rep. Sandy Levin (D-Mich.), the ranking member on the Ways and Means Committee, is set to head to Colombia to gauge progress on workers’ rights and other issues. Republicans continue to press the ratification of trade pacts with Colombia, Panama and South Korea.