Overnight Finance: House to vote on three-month highway bill

HAPPENING NOW: Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) will be meeting with former Rep. Barney Frank and ex-Sen. Chris Dodd of Dodd-Frank fame to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the controversial Wall Street Reform law. 

TOMORROW STARTS TONIGHT: HOUSE WILL LEAVE TOWN C.O.B. WEDNESDAY. Keith Laing and Scott Wong: The House plans to approve a three-month highway spending bill on Wednesday and then leave town, forcing the Senate to approve the short-term measure to prevent a lapse in funding. Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) discussed the decision with his conference at a closed door meeting on Tuesday before confirming the news to reporters. “I want a long-term highway bill that is fully paid for,” Boehner said. “That has been the goal all year and that continues to be the goal.

{mosads}– WHAT ABOUT EX-IM? At this point, technically the Export-Import Bank could be reauthorized through the Conference Committee. But it’d be a long-shot. And it’d be one helluva statement for House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to make to the Tea Party. We shall see, wonks. There’s no escaping that should the bank not be reauthorized this week, it’s another mini-political victory for conservatives who have continued their fight. But will it be short-lived? The fall is shaping up to be a HUGE wonk war.

THIS IS OVERNIGHT FINANCE, and tomorrow is only Wednesday. Thank you to everyone who came out this morning to talk about insurance industry regulations. Hope you had a good time. Tweet: @kevcirilli; email: kcirilli@digital-release.thehill.com; and subscribe: http://digital-release.thehill.com/signup/48.

TUNE IN: My take with Fox News’ Shep Smith on the Iran deal from earlier today: http://fxn.ws/1ON81Aw

NOTABLE: ECONOMIC CONFIDENCE AT 10-MONTH LOW. Rebecca Shabad: An index measuring economic confidence fell to a 10-month low in a Gallup survey released Tuesday. Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index dropped to -14 last week, which was the lowest level recorded since last September. http://bit.ly/1DMS1bd

QUOTABLE: OBAMA SAYS HE COULD WIN THIRD TERM. The president, speaking in Africa: “I actually think I’m a pretty good president… I think if I ran, I could win. But I can’t. … The law is the law.” Video: http://bit.ly/1h3EAiv

INSIDE LOOK: RICHARD SHELBY’S REG RELIEF GAME PLAN. My exclusive for the hometown paper: Senate Banking Committee chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) says he hasn’t given up on his own panel advancing his financial regulatory overhaul package. Earlier this month, Shelby surprised many when he worked behind the scenes to advance his policy proposal — the largest financial pitch since the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform law — through the Senate Appropriations committee, where it advanced on a party-line vote.

— SHELBY: In a brief interview with The Hill, Shelby said that he’s “got two trains running” and that he’s continuing to reach out to moderate Democrats on the panel in an attempt to advance a bipartisan package. “We’ve got two rails going,” Shelby said, referencing both his own committee and Senate Appropriations. “We’re going to see what we can do when we get back [after August recess] with what’s substantive and what’s doable… We’ve got a lot of talk in the back channels going everywhere and I think that’s healthy.”

— SEN. JON TESTER (D-Mont.), whom Shelby told me is one of the key centrist Democrats on Senate Banking that will be involved in negotiations: “We have talked about talking… We’re a long ways from this being over.”

— SEN. SHERROD BROWN (D-Ohio), top Democrat on panel talking about Shelby: “They just try to jam us every single place… He’s not willing to play it straight.” You already know: Liberals such as Brown vehemently oppose Shelby’s plan, arguing that it’s a “Wall Street wish list.” But Shelby is adamant that it’s a regulatory relief package designed to help middle-class Americans. My story: http://bit.ly/1LQqdJI

FED WATCH: RATE HIKE IN FALL? Vicki Needham: “Fewer Wall Street watchers think the Federal Reserve will raise its key interest rate this fall. While a majority are still forecasting that the Fed will hike the rate in September — in what would be the first increase in nine years — expectations are shifting more toward October and December, CNBC’s Fed Survey for July showed on Tuesday.” http://bit.ly/1Kx6iOe

DEM: GOP “SCREWED” FCC IN FUNDING, via Mario Trujillo: “Republican appropriators ‘really screwed’ the Federal Communications Commission in the appropriations process, Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) said during an oversight hearing Tuesday. Eshoo, the ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on communications and technology, lamented the proposed $25 million cuts to the FCC’s budget in the House Financial Services and General Government appropriations bill, as well as the policy riders that would temporarily block enforcement of net neutrality rules.” http://bit.ly/1LQrrVa

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