Overnight Finance: Harriet Tubman bumps Jackson on the new $20

TREASURY BUMPS JACKSON FOR TUBMAN ON $20: President Andrew Jackson will be replaced on the front of the $20 bill by Harriet Tubman, the Treasury Department announced Wednesday.

{mosads}The move means Alexander Hamilton, the first Treasury secretary and inspiration for the eponymous hit Broadway musical, will remain on the $10 bill.

Jackson will instead appear with an image of the White House on the back of the $20 bill. The new design for the back of the $10 bill will feature leaders of the suffrage movement: Lucretia Mott, Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Alice Paul.

The back of the $5 bill will also be changed to feature depictions of events at the Lincoln Memorial. I’ve got all the details here: http://bit.ly/1Slgewo.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING:

• “So much of what we believe has changed for the better in our country is represented by [Tubman’s] story.” —Treasury Secretary Jack Lew.
• “A woman, a leader, and a freedom fighter I can’t think of a better choice for the $20 bill than Harriet Tubman.” —Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton: http://bit.ly/1XJeMY6.
• “Having a woman prominently on the face of the 20 will finally send a powerful message on our currency about the important role women have played in our nation’s history.” —Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H).
• “[Jackson] is from my state, and I think that there could have been another solution other than the one they came up with. I think they should look at the history of what he did for our country, and I wish that they would reconsider their actions.” —Rep. Dianne Black (R-Tenn.).

RYAN HUDDLES WITH HISPANIC CAUCUS ON PUERTO RICO: The Puerto Rico debt crisis took center stage Wednesday at Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) first meeting with Hispanic leaders in Congress since he took over as House Speaker.

Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) members after the meeting praised Ryan’s willingness to engage in dialogue, while conceding it was unlikely Congress would be able to pass legislation on Puerto Rico’s debt before a key May 1 payment deadline.

The CHC said the meeting was “productive and cordial,” and “urged the Speaker to swiftly usher through the House legislation on Puerto Rico that allows the Island to restructure a meaningful portion of its debt, provides for reasonable, respectful and independent oversight of Puerto Rico’s fiscal affairs, and does not include labor provisions that harm workers.” The Hill’s Peter Schroeder and Rafael Bernal take us there: http://bit.ly/241OOmH.

HOUSE VOTES TO RESTRICT IRS FUNDING, HIRING: The House passed two bills on Wednesday that place restrictions on the Internal Revenue Service’s hiring and spending as part of a package of legislation aimed at reining in the IRS.

The measures passed largely along party lines. The Obama administration has said it opposes the bills and explicitly threatened to veto one of them.

The first of the two measures approved Wednesday, by a vote of 254-170, would prevent the IRS from hiring new employees until the Treasury Department either certifies that no agency employees have seriously delinquent tax debt or issues a report explaining why it cannot make that certification. Here’s more from The Hill’s Cristina Marcos and Naomi Jagoda: http://bit.ly/1STY7wG.

FEDS OPEN PANAMA PAPERS CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION: Federal prosecutors in New York have started a criminal investigation related to the Panama Papers.

“The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York … has opened a criminal investigation regarding matters to which the Panama Papers are relevant,” U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a letter to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). The letter was published by The Guardian.

The Panama Papers are documents from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonesca, which sets up offshore shell companies for its clients. It is not illegal merely to have an anonymous shell company, but the companies can be used for illegal purposes such as tax evasion and money laundering: http://bit.ly/1STYFCN.

HAPPY WEDNESDAY and welcome to Overnight Finance, where we’re hearing the faint cheers of “Hamilton” fans across the country. I’m Sylvan Lane, and here’s your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line.

Tonight’s highlights include Democratic praise for the $20 bill move, a study from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on online loans, more lofty promises from Donald Trump and a warning to Congress from President Obama.

See something I missed? Let me know at slane@digital-release.thehill.com or tweet me @SylvanLane. And if you like your newsletter, you can subscribe to it here: http://www.digital-release.thehill.com/signup/48.

ON TAP TOMORROW:

• Senate Finance: An oversight hearing to examine the Customs and Border Protection agency, 2 p.m. http://1.usa.gov/1QcBbat
• House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets: Hearing on “Continued Oversight of the SEC’s Offices and Divisions,” 9:15 a.m. http://1.usa.gov/1SQqFHV

EXCLUSIVE: REALTORS CALL ON RYAN TO MOVE FLOOD INSURANCE REFORM: In the wake of this week’s deadly floods in Texas, the National Association of Realtors and SmarterSafer, a coalition of groups that work on federal catastrophe policies, will send a letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan. The letter asks him to move forward with a vote on the Flood Insurance Market Parity and Modernization Act, which passed the House Financial Services Committee in March. We’ve got some excerpts here:

“The federal government also needs to make resiliency and mitigation efforts a greater priority, both in and out of NFIP. Strengthening infrastructure and helping homeowners take preventative measures will minimize the damage when storms hit and reduce the costs of post-disaster recovery. In addition, flood maps should be updated using modern technology to give consumers a clear picture of their susceptibility to flooding. Accurate maps would also ensure that flood insurance rates reflect the true risk that a property faces requiring fewer homeowners to file expensive appeals.
“The Flood Insurance Market Parity and Modernization Act will benefit millions of Americans by giving them more choices and better options for flood insurance while shielding taxpayers from the burden of assuming the NFIP’s debts.”

OBAMA WARNS GOP AGAINST BLOCKING WATER RULE: The Obama administration is warning Senate Republicans that their attempts to block a contentious water pollution rule through appropriations legislation puts the whole bill at risk.
A senior administration official told The Hill Wednesday that if the GOP attaches an amendment to the spending bill for energy and water programs to defund the Clean Water Rule, Obama would veto the legislation.
The Senate is planning to start considering the bill and any amendments Wednesday. It currently does not have any riders to dictate or affect specific policies, and it enjoys bipartisan support, having passed nearly unanimously out of the Appropriations Committee last week.

But the GOP has taken numerous opportunities to attack the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Water Rule, also known as the “waters of the United States,” since it was proposed in 2014. Both the House and the Senate voted last year to overturn it, but Obama vetoed that bill. The Hill’s Timothy Cama tells us more: http://bit.ly/1VCHxZl.

HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS HIT IRS WEBSITE FOR TAX EXTENSIONS: The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) website was filled with traffic Monday, as hundreds of thousands of individuals waited until the deadline to download documents asking for an extension to file their tax returns.  
On Monday, more than 253,000 people downloaded files from the IRS page, “Extension of time to file your tax return.” More than 110,000 others downloaded similar extension documents on the deadline from the IRS website, according to data from Analytics.gov.

In fact, the 10 most popular downloads on any government website all came from the IRS on Monday. Already a popular government website, IRS.gov received 80 million visits over the last 30 days. Here’s more from The Hill’s Mario Trujillo: http://bit.ly/1STYkA8.

GOP BLOCKS OBAMA’S SANCTIONS CZAR: Republicans thwarted a push by Senate Democrats to confirm President Obama’s long-stalled sanctions czar on Wednesday.

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) requested unanimous consent to bring up Adam Szubin’s nomination to be the Treasury Department’s under secretary for terrorism and financial crimes.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), however, objected, citing concerns that the Obama administration will lift restrictions on Iran’s access to U.S. currency.

“Secretary Lew has all but announced that the United States government will allow Iran to dollarize their foreign transactions,” he said. “Until President Obama and Secretary Kerry and Secretary Lew publicly and conclusively renounce any intent to allow Iran to dollarize a foreign transaction, I will object to this nomination.”

His comments come after the Associated Press reported last month that the Obama administration was considering allowing some offshore banks to use dollars to do currency trades for financial transactions with Iranian businesses: http://bit.ly/1SucOtf.

SENATE PANEL APPROVES ID THEFT, TAXPAYER PROTECTION BILLS: The Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday approved two bipartisan bills aimed at protecting taxpayers and preventing identity theft and tax refund fraud.

The bills passed by voice vote.

One of the bills includes more than a dozen provisions aimed at curbing identity theft and tax refund fraud, which have been top tax concerns in recent years.
The provisions include increasing the penalties for certain crimes and renewing the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) “streamlined critical pay authority,” which allows the agency to quickly recruit and retain top information technology personnel: http://bit.ly/1SbHErK.

CONTINUING THE CONVERSATION: Miss our event on navigating a shaky economy to save money? Catch up on it here with managing editor Ian Swanson and reporter Peter Schroeder (http://bit.ly/1WG6XEf), and you can watch the whole event here: http://bit.ly/1T0fCMe.

TRUMP SAYS HE’D REPLACE YELLEN… BUT HE CAN’T: Donald Trump would likely want to replace Janet Yellen as head of the Federal Reserve if elected president.

The GOP front-runner told Fortune Magazine that while he thought she had done a “serviceable job,” he would be looking at fresh blood at the Fed.

“I don’t want to comment on reappointment, but I would be more inclined to put other people in,” he said in the interview.

Of course, Trump could have difficulty removing Yellen. She is currently only halfway through a four-year term, and the president does not have the power to remove the Fed chief.

And even if Trump were to replace Yellen at the top of the Fed after her term as chairwoman expired, she could still stay on as a voting member of the Fed’s Board of Governors until 2024, when her term as a governor expires: http://bit.ly/1SuggnT.

TRUMP’S BIG JOBS PROMISE: Donald Trump courted support in Indiana the day after his big win in the New York primary, telling voters there that he would bring back manufacturing jobs as president.

“If I were president, Carrier would not be leaving Indiana. That I can tell you,” Trump said during a rally in Indianapolis, his first in the state.

“Do you like the idea of taxing the hell out of their air conditioners?” Trump asked the crowd, adding, “you’re going to pay a damn tax when you leave this country.”

Trump in his stump speeches has often mentioned Carrier air conditioning and its recent relocation of thousands of jobs to Mexico, but the issue hits home in Indiana, where manufacturing plays a big role in the state’s economy. Carrier’s Indianapolis plant announced in February it would close and outsource 1,400 jobs over the next three years.  

Indiana is another crucial state for the businessman as he seeks to reach the 1,237 delegates necessary to clinch the GOP nomination. The state votes May 3, with 57 delegates up for grabs. The Hill’s Jessie Hellmann has more: http://bit.ly/1NlJBSp.

CONSUMER BUREAU STUDY: ONLINE LOANS LEAD TO BANK WOES: Many Americans are facing steep bank fees and even losing their accounts after signing up for online payday loans, according to a new government report.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reported Wednesday that half of all Americans that have taken out an online loan have ended up paying an average of $185 in bank penalties.
The agency, which is considering new rules on the payday lending industry, identified several potential issues that can arise when online lenders have the authority to debit bank accounts of borrowers.

When borrowers do not have enough money in their accounts, they can end up facing a host of overdraft fees or failed transactions. And when borrowers do get hit with a bank penalty, the CFPB found that a third end up losing their accounts thanks to the failed transactions or negative account balances that are the end result. Peter Schroder walks us through the problems: http://bit.ly/1U6PKDj.

NIGHTCAP: We’re just going to let you guys have fun with this one.

Write us with tips, suggestions and news: slane@digital-release.thehill.com, vneedham@digital-release.thehill.com; pschroeder@digital-release.thehill.com, and njagoda@digital-release.thehill.com. Follow us on Twitter: @SylvanLane,  @VickofTheHill; @PeteSchroeder; and @NJagoda.