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In June 2014, credit unions reached 100 million memberships. With growth in credit union membership, and an American public that is increasingly skeptical of traditional financial institutions since the 2008 bank bailouts, The Hill is convening a discussion on the new financial services landscape. Register here.
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RT @SenateSAA, Senate Sergeant at Arms: “Flags fly at half-staff over the #Senate office buildings and DC to commemorate the 13th anniversary of #September11. pic.twitter.com/URlnaCfDVP”
{mosads}TOMORROW STARTS TONIGHT – STOPGAP BUDGET IN FLUX. The Hill’s Scott Wong sets the stage: “Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Thursday that the House is still on track to vote next week on a funding bill to avert a government shutdown, but he didn’t say whether President Obama’s request to authorize training and arming Syrian rebels would be attached to the measure.” http://bit.ly/1up7Mmx.
— DELAY WON’T IMPACT EX-IM, via me: “House Republicans won’t change a deal that extends the Export-Import bank for nine months despite a delay in voting on a stopgap funding measure, a spokeswoman for House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) said Thursday.
“Asked if the delayed vote would re-open debate on extending the life of the Export-Import Bank, Rogers’ spokeswoman Jennifer Hing said, ‘No.’
“’There is no other issue but Syria,’ Hing said.” Read more: http://bit.ly/1rPjNwT
— ABOUT LAST NIGHT, Julie Pace for The Associated Press: “For a president criticized as overly cautious and reluctant to lead, Barack Obama is taking a huge risk. He is thrusting U.S. fighting forces into a growing military operation with clear dangers, unknown costs, an indefinite length and unpredictable consequences.
“After years of resistance, the president who wanted to end America’s wars will now oversee a sweeping airstrike campaign in both Iraq and Syria, a country mired in an intractable civil war. He’s sending hundreds more U.S. troops to Iraq to help train security forces there.
“And he’s pressing Congress for authority to pour U.S. weaponry into Syria to strengthen opposition forces fighting both the Islamic State militants and President Bashar Assad’s government. All three are precisely the scenarios Obama has assiduously sought to avoid.” http://bit.ly/1lYpwE7.
THIS IS OVERNIGHT FINANCE. Tweet: @kevcirilli; email: kcirilli@digital-release.thehill.com; and subscribe: http://bit.ly/1jNxwa2
SPORTS BLINK: DC PILES ON NFL More bad news for Roger Goodell. Megan Wilson with a must-read for the hometown paper: “Problems are piling up for the NFL in Washington. From the Ray Rice scandal to the end of sports blackouts to the controversy over the Redskins name, America’s most popular sport is under fire like never before in the nation’s capital…”
— REVIVED TAX FIGHT? “Some lawmakers and activists have taken aim at the league’s tax-exempt status. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) introduced legislation that would strip the tax exemption from the NFL and a number of other major sports leagues, and could come up again if Congress tackles tax reform next year.”
— NO LOBBYING RAMP-UP? “During the first half of this year, the NFL spent $590,000 on lobbying. If kept constant, the league could spend $1.18 million by the end of the year — the highest amount since 2011, when it hammered out a collective bargaining agreement with players. Adolpho Birch, the NFL’s senior vice president of labor policy and government affairs, said that the league is not ramping up its advocacy or changing its lobbying strategy in response to the various controversies.” http://bit.ly/1uJURd5.
Thirsty Thursday?…
SHOT, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) in a letter to Burger King, which is considering inverting overseas to lower its taxes: “We believe you will find that turning your back on your loyal, U.S. taxpaying customers by renouncing your corporate citizenship is not in the best interest of Burger King or its shareholders.” Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Carl Levin (D-Mich.) also signed the letter.
CHASER, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), top Republican on Finance, in a speech earlier today: “Their knee-jerk response was to claim arguments about patriotism were out of bounds… Now they feel free to openly and plainly question people’s patriotism, so long as they qualify it as being ‘economic’ and only do so during an election year.” Bernie Becker reports: http://bit.ly/1whwEw2.
SURVEY SAYS: US OUTLOOK GOOD; GLOBAL OUTLOOK BAD. Nick Timiraos for The Wall Street Journal: “Economists aren’t that worried about the U.S. economy—it’s the rest of the world that’s getting worse. The Wall Street Journal’s monthly forecasting survey polled economists on whether their outlook for the world’s largest economies had improved or deteriorated.
— US OUTLOOK: “The survey of 48 economists—not all of whom answered every question—showed that a resounding majority believe things are likely to improve over the coming year, versus the first half of 2014, in the U.S.”
— ASIA OUTLOOK: “One-quarter of economists said their outlook for China had improved, versus nearly 40% that said it had deteriorated. Around 40% said their outlook for Japan had improved, while around one in eight said it had deteriorated.”
— EURO OUTLOOK: “For Europe, about one-third said their outlook had improved, roughly balanced with the share seeing a worse outlook.” http://on.wsj.com/1upe2Ld.
WSJ EDITORIAL BOARD SLAMS GOP ON EXIM / CR: “Believe it or not, the White House and liberal Democrats like Elizabeth Warren and Nancy Pelosi have picked up the subsidies for the rich and powerful cudgel. You have to love these tribunes of redistribution and the highest corporate tax rate in the developed world pretending to be friends of business. Maybe they have Aaron Copland’s ‘Fanfare for the Common Man’ playing in the background during their meetings with CEOs…
“[GOP] House leaders are worried that if they don’t include an Ex-Im reauthorization in a government funding bill, President Obama would veto the entire bill. That could trigger another government shutdown, and more blame for Republicans, on the eve of what ought to be a GOP election victory…
“The problem with all of this fine-tuned political calculation is that Ex-Im’s big-business-big-government canoodling will live to fight another day. Republicans will face another lobbying onslaught next year to extend Ex-Im, and the leadership may find new reasons not to take the heat.”
— WSJ’s KICKER – – > “One of these years House Republicans will have to stand for something other than their own re-election.” http://on.wsj.com/1wincLt.
— FOR YOUR ENTERTAINMENT: Aaron Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man,” which was inspired by a speech from former-Vice President Henry Wallace: http://bit.ly/1stedEo.
RILA’s BIG NEW BUY – – > The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) today announced Nicholas Ahrens, a former senior official at the U.S. Commerce Department, will join the association as vice president of privacy and cybersecurity.
Wonder what he’ll be working on?…
SENATORS CALL FOR NEW CYBER LAWS. Julian Hattem for The Hill: “A pair of Senate Democrats say that major hacks at Home Depot and Apple show the need for a new data privacy bill.
“‘We have been advocates for data security and breach notification legislation that would better protect consumers and improve corporate responsibility,’ Sens. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) said in one of the letters, to Apple chief Tim Cook. ‘The recent data security incidents that have affected major corporations, including Apple, demonstrate the need for such federal legislation.’” http://bit.ly/1qo5gg7.
APPLE PAY AND BLURRED LINE FOR BIG BANKS. Georgetown Law professor Adam J. Levitin, who serves on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) Consumer Advisory Board: “Apple Pay has been getting a lot of attention, and I hope to do a longer post on it, but for now let me highlight one possible issue that does not seem to have gotten any attention.
— BOTTOM LINE: “I think Apple may have just become a regulated financial institution, unwittingly. Basically, I think Apple is now a “service provider” for purposes of the Consumer Financial Protection Act, which means Apple is subject to CFPB examination and UDAAP [Unfair, Deceptive or Abusive Acts or Practices].” http://bit.ly/1rXErks.
BLOCKED: BERNIE’s CAMPAIGN FINANCE AMENDMENT. “Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked a constitutional amendment meant to reverse two recent Supreme Court decisions on campaign spending. Senate Democrats needed 60 votes to end debate on the measure, but fell short in the 54-42 party-line vote.” Ramsey Cox. http://bit.ly/1lYtIny.
BAD NEWS FOR RADIOSHACK. William Aldean for DealBook: “RadioShack, the struggling electronics retailer that is quickly running out of cash, said on Thursday that it might have to file for bankruptcy protection if it cannot arrange a lifeline.” http://nyti.ms/1qKnmbp.
2016 WATCH — BIDEN FOLLOWS HILLARY TO IOWA. Peter Sullivan for The Hill: “Vice President Biden will travel to Iowa on Wednesday, just three days after potential presidential primary rival Hillary Clinton appears in the state, The Des Moines Register reports.” http://bit.ly/1rOQIS8.
QUOTABLE, Republican Texas Gov. Rick Perry: “I may not run in 2016, but I’ve spent the last 20-plus months preparing,” Perry told Bloomberg TV. “If I don’t run, it won’t be because I’m not prepared.” http://bit.ly/1qNAvPv.
NOTABLE: END OF IPOD ERA. Scott Butterworth for WaPo: “It came in with a simple promise, a hefty price tag and a man with something white sticking in his ears bopping around his apartment. Soon, it would transform music as we know it, inspire a business model built around pocket change and turn a struggling computer maker into the most valuable company in the world.
“Yet the death Tuesday of the iconic iPod just before its 13th birthday went unacknowledged by that company and by a Silicon Valley crowd that wildly applauded the unveiling of a new phone and a smartwatch — products that stood on the slim, metal shoulders of its predecessor. Instead of an announcement, there was only the sad implication of a redirected online page, sending visitors not to information about the iPod Classic but rather to Apple’s home page.
“When the iPod debuted, a few weeks after 9/11, it was the latest testament to the idiosyncrasy of Apple’s chief executive, Steve Jobs. Simplify, he ordered the engineers. A user should be able to do anything with this in no more than three clicks.” http://wapo.st/1xOGLg8.
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