Tough loss for the Birds last night, but hey — anything is better than being a Redskins fan!
TOMORROW STARTS TONIGHT: BUDGET BATTLE. OBAMA TO PRESSURE GOP ON BUDGET. Jordan Fabian for The Hill: “President Obama will appear before business leaders on Wednesday to warn Republicans of the economic consequences of a government shutdown. Obama will take questions at a meeting of the Business Roundtable, press secretary Josh Earnest announced, where the president will call on Congress to pass government funding bills that raise spending caps. Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill are locked in a stalemate over a budget agreement to keep the government open ahead of a Sept. 30 deadline to pass spending bills.
{mosads}”Obama and his Democratic allies say they will not accept funding bills that keep sequestration spending caps in place. But Republicans are wary of raising spending levels, especially during in the midst of the 2016 presidential race. Further complicating negotiations, a group of conservative lawmakers in the House of Representatives has pledged to oppose any spending bills that fund Planned Parenthood. http://bit.ly/1W12pXb
SHORT-TERM FIX? More from Jordan: “The White House on Wednesday indicated it is open to accepting a short-term funding bill that keeps in place spending caps in order to avert a government shutdown. Press secretary Josh Earnest said a stopgap measure would not conflict with President Obama’s pledge to veto any budget resolution that locks in limits on defense and domestic spending, known as sequestration. http://bit.ly/1KdYYFf
— Meanwhile, our Rebecca Shabad reports that “the conservative Republican Study Committee (RSC) on Tuesday unveiled a government funding package for the next fiscal year that takes direct aim at Planned Parenthood, President Obama’s immigration proposals and the Iranian nuclear deal.” http://bit.ly/1QDVq3s
— My take for Fox News: http://fxn.ws/1QfVANz
Wake me up when September ends…
THIS IS OVERNIGHT FINANCE, and what a busy day in wonk world. Tweet: @kevcirilli; email: kcirilli@digital-release.thehill.com; and subscribe: http://digital-release.thehill.com/signup/48. Back to work…
DEBATE PREP: TRUMP, FIORINA SET FOR CLASH IN BATTLE OF THE BOARDROOM. Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump will once again stand center stage at the Republican presidential debate tomorrow night. And there is no question that former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina is poised to continue her rise on the national stage. But Jeb Bush also faces a crucial test.
Maeve Reston and Tal Kopan for CNN: “No one has more on the line in Wednesday night’s Republican presidential debate than Jeb Bush. The former Florida governor with one of the most recognizable names in politics and $100 million in the bank is facing one of the most crucial moments of his political career at the CNN debate held at the Reagan Library.
“In the unpredictable GOP race for president, Bush is struggling to regain his footing in the midst of Hurricane Trump. He first tried to ignore the bellicose billionaire before changing course and punching back hard. He has released detailed tax and immigration reform plans to show he is about substance, not style. He has kept a rigorous pace on the campaign trail, squeezing in Monday meetings with tech leaders in Seattle before heading off to Nevada and Michigan post-debate.” http://cnn.it/1KPei0v
We’ll have more debate prep tomorrow night… but back in the weeds…
EX-IM WATCH: GENERAL ELECTRIC SHIPS 500 JOBS OVERSEAS; BLAMES CONGRESS. My latest for the hometown paper: General Electric announced Tuesday it is moving hundreds of U.S. jobs overseas as a result of Congress’s failure to reauthorize the Export Import Bank. GE officials announced in a release that they’re working with the French export credit agency to back financing on some of their $11 billion worth of global power projects. As a result, GE says they’re moving 500 jobs from Texas, South Carolina, Maine and New York to France, Hungary and China.
OK, let’s drink… make it a double?
— SHOT, via White House press secretary Josh Earnest: “It sounds like, based on what GE has reported today, that Republicans have killed quite a few jobs on their own.”
— DOUBLE SHOT, via Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), top Democrat on House Financial Services: “GE’s announcement today reflects the human costs of continued Republican obstruction to any efforts to renew the charter of Export-Import Bank over the long-term.”
— CHASER, via Dan Holler, spokesman for Heritage Action, which opposes Ex-Im: “GE is a multinational company that appears to be using the expiration of corporate welfare as political cover to move jobs overseas.” My story: http://bit.ly/1KliH4S
SCOOP: FIDUCIARY FIGHT – – > HOUSE DEMS SLAM OBAMA’S FINANCIAL ADVISER RULES. My latest: House Democrats are raising concerns about President Obama’s proposal for financial advisers. Nine House Democrats are circulating a letter calling on Obama and Department of Labor (DOL) officials to refine its regulatory proposal for financial advisers.
The administration wants to increase regulations for financial advisers to better protect consumers from financial advisers who make money off selling bad advice to consumers by earning commissions from financial institutions.
But the financial advising industry argues that the regulations are unneeded, since they have protocol in place to weed out bad actors, and that the new rules would end up raising costs on low- and middle-income Americans.
— WHAT THEY WROTE: “We continue to hear from constituents, academics, providers, and investors that there are specific provisions of the Rule that may cause market disruptions and limit the ability of segments of the market to reasonably access advice… In order to have a successfully implemented rule, it is vital that the proposal doesn’t limit consumer choice and access to advice, have a disproportionate impact on lower- or middle-income communities, or raise the costs of saving for retirement.”
— WHO SIGNED THE LETTER: Democratic Reps. Gwen Moore (Wis.), Grace Meng (N.Y.), Ron Kind (Wis.), Emanuel Cleaver (Mo.), Ann McLane Kuster (N.H.), John Larson (Conn.), Richard Neal (Mass.) and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) signed the letter. Source emails OVERNIGHT: “Not only are they all Democrats, but this has to be the most diverse Dem coalition: New Dems, establishment, all over the country, different caucuses. This IS the Dem party.” My story: http://bit.ly/1Mq8afs
JANET YELLEN BRACES FOR THE MEDIA. There is no question that Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen’s legacy will hinge on how she is able to navigate the post-financial crisis world. At times, Fed officials have seemed daunted at a new era of political pressure from both lawmakers and journalists alike who have questioned the central bank’s transparency in decision making. Regardless of whether Yellen and company announce an interest rate increase, her reasoning is sure to draw criticism no matter what she decides. And how she weathers that criticism will set the course for future Fed chairs in the coming years. Her decision is likely to be magnified on a broader, national stage because…
…oh yeah, and isn’t there a debate tomorrow night? Two quick points:
1.) There’s growing criticism that it’s not the right time to raise rates. Liberals are arguing that the economy hasn’t recovered enough to raise interest rates. With unemployment trending downward to 5.1 percent, they argue that the labor participation rate (the number of people administration officials use to calculate the rate) remains at the lowest rate since 1978: 62.6 percent. Conservatives are also wary about a rate increase, but for different reasons. They think that the Fed’s policy of quantitative easing has essentially been “easy money” that will lead to inflation (i.e. price bubbles) in the market in years to come.
— LARRY SUMMERS: DON’T RAISE RATES. The man who would’ve been Fed chair pulled no punches in a Washington Post op-ed today about where he stands on the interest rate debate: “Communication is a key part of the art of monetary policy. The Fed for a generation has caused its tightening moves to be anticipated because it learned from the 1994 experience. The same approach should be taken going forward. Even if it were otherwise a good idea to tighten, no adequate predicate has been laid for a rate increase this week.” http://wapo.st/1LwBIlY
2.) No one has any idea if a rate increase is coming tomorrow, which is unprecedented. Most assume that a rate hike is coming by the end of the year or early next year, but as Mr. Summers notes in the aforementioned op-ed — we’re still in unchartered waters here. USA Today sums it up: “With the market and investors divided on the question of whether the Fed will hike short-term rates for the first time in nearly a decade at the end of their two-day meeting, which starts Wednesday, traders are still on edge as they wait to find out what the Fed decides to do when the policy statement is released at 2 p.m. ET Thursday.” http://usat.ly/1FdGSpV
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