OVERNIGHT FINANCE: Boehner pushes for Ex-Im plan; House passes GOP budget

TOMORROW STARTS TONIGHT: BOEHNER WON’T TIP HAND ON EX-IM. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) weighed-in Ex-Im Thursday. But will he support Tea Partiers or the business community in the fight to reauthorize everybody’s favorite federally backed bank, the Export-Import Bank, which expires June 30 unless Congress acts? Boehner is waiting for House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling’s (R-Texas) plan.

{mosads}– WHAT BOEHNER SAID, via Scott Wong: “Listen, I support any plan that the chairman can get through his committee, whether it would reform the bank, wind it down,” Boehner said. “But there are thousands of jobs on the line that would disappear pretty quickly if the Ex-Im Bank were to disappear… The risk is that, if he does nothing, the Senate is likely to act, and then what?” http://bit.ly/1zi1la1

I don’t know, Mr. Speaker, then what?

— HOW IT PLAYED: Hensarling, who opposes the bank, said he was “heartened” after hearing of Boehner’s remarks. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on Hensarling’s panel who supports the bank, said she “certainly” agrees with Boehner about the effect on jobs. Stay tuned… My story: http://bit.ly/1EGP6Ve

THIS IS OVERNIGHT FINANCE. And tomorrow is Friday. Thank God. Tweet: @kevcirilli; email: kcirilli@digital-release.thehill.com; and subscribe: http://digital-release.thehill.com/signup/48. Back to work…

HOUSE APPROVES BUDGET, via Bernie Becker: “The House on Thursday passed a Republican budget that would boost defense spending, slash social welfare programs and target ObamaCare, in what GOP leaders cast as a victory for fiscal sanity. The joint House-Senate budget, which was unveiled on Wednesday, passed by a 226-197 margin, with 14 Republicans joining every Democrat in opposition.” http://bit.ly/1JcXFGR

EX-IM CHIEF IN HOT SEAT: From my story: “Republicans on Thursday accused Export-Import Bank president Fred Hochberg of failing to implement reforms mandated by Congress in 2012.

“In 2012, Congress reauthorized the bank but required that Treasury Department officials work with administration and international officials to eventually wind it down — and others like it worldwide.

“At a House hearing on the issue Thursday, Republicans pressed Hochberg for why he hasn’t done more to contribute to those discussions.

“‘Did you ever talk about winding down the bank?’ Rep. Mia Love (R-Utah) asked Hochberg during the more than three-hour hearing organized by two House subcommittees.

“‘No,’ Hochberg said, while insisting that his team has fully complied with Congress.” http://bit.ly/1zi7ljj

While Hensarling and Waters were showing Boehner love on Ex-Im, the White House was not…

OBAMA TRASHES BOEHNER ON TRADE. Vicki Needham and Mike Lillis: “The White House fired back at Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Thursday after he suggested that President Obama isn’t doing enough to rally Democrats behind his trade agenda. White House spokesman Josh Earnest questioned why GOP leaders, who control the largest House majority since the Hoover administration, can’t marshal their own troops on an issue traditionally championed by Republicans.”

— JOSH EARNEST, White House press secretary: “First, let me point out the irony of Republicans campaigning very aggressively to win a majority of both houses of Congress so that they could advance their policy agenda, and three months later, turning around to all of you asking what the president is going to do to get their work done,” Earnest told reporters. “Yes, it is also part of the president’s agenda, which is why he is going to do his part to make his case to the American public and to Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill” on why trade deals are in the best interest of the United States, Earnest added. http://bit.ly/1dyAFIt

UFCW TO CONGRESS: SAY NO TO FAST TRACK. The United Food & Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) sent a letter to lawmakers today urging them to oppose President Obama’s “fast-track” authority. From the letter: “On behalf of the 1.3 million hard-working men and women of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), I urge you to oppose ‘fast track’ trade promotion authority. With all due respect to President Obama and the elected politicians who support this trade deal, this agreement will hurt hard-working families, workers, and our shared future.” http://bit.ly/1bZOJKB

— PELOSI SPEAKS, via Keith Laing: “House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday that the 2016 Republican budget “ignores our crumbling infrastructure.” http://bit.ly/1zvDBjg

IRS IS NOT WATCHING YOU ANYMORE. Becker: “The government watchdog investigating the IRS said the agency has made ‘significant’ progress in cleaning up the problems that led to improper scrutiny of Tea Party groups. Treasury’s inspector general for tax administration said the IRS is no longer asking inappropriate questions of groups seeking a tax exemption, and is moving much more quickly to approve groups seeking 501(c)(4) status. The Treasury inspector general first detailed the IRS’s singling out of Tea Party groups in May 2013, through the agency’s use of so-called Be on the Lookout Lists, or BOLOs.”

“Lois Lerner, the former agency official at the center of the controversy, apologized for the IRS’s actions that May, setting off congressional and Justice Department investigations that remain largely unfinished almost two years later. John Koskinen, the IRS commissioner, has said for months that the agency had worked to implement the inspector general’s recommendations. On Thursday, the agency said it appreciated the watchdog’s ‘acknowledgement of the significant actions we took.'” http://bit.ly/1OK7L9b

BLOGGIN’ BEN TROLLS WSJ, via Pete Schroeder: “Former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is picking a fight with The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board. In a post on his blog, Bernanke argued it was rich for the conservative editorial page to criticize the Fed’s work, given its own efforts to predict the direction of the economy.” http://bit.ly/1EGPt20

DEMS TALK HIGHER-WAGE, via Eric Morath for WSJ: “Democratic lawmakers upped the ante Thursday in their push to raise the federal minimum wage, latching onto an income-inequality debate that is quickly becoming a focal point of the 2016 election. Sen. Patty Murray (D., Wash.) and Rep. Bobby Scott (D., Va.) proposed legislation to lift the federal minimum wage to $12 an hour by 2020, well above a federal floor that has stood at $7.25 an hour since 2009. The lawmakers say their proposal will boost wages for nearly 38 million Americans.” http://on.wsj.com/1JcYEaj

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