PUERTO RICO BILL DELAYED… AGAIN: Work on Puerto Rico legislation has stalled yet again in the House.
Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) announced Wednesday that legislation due to be unveiled the same day was not going to be forthcoming. Grijalva is the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, which is handling the measure.
{mosads}”We are making progress, but we are not there yet. The situation in Puerto Rico is dire, but a bill that doesn’t solve the problem, or doesn’t pass, won’t help anyone,” he said in a statement.
The delay comes just days after Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah) predicted a bill would be forthcoming Wednesday.
The delay is the latest in a series of fits and starts for the legislation, which Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has said is critical to help the island deal with its debt crisis and get its economy back on track. The Hill’s Peter Schroder tells us what happened: http://bit.ly/1TbljtB.
…WHILE THE SENATE GETS ANTSY: Senators are growing impatient with the House’s prolonged effort to pass legislation on Puerto Rico’s debt crisis.
House Republicans were hoping to regain momentum for their Puerto Rico bill Wednesday, when Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah) intended to unveil a reworked version of the measure.
But while the Senate is willing to let the House take the lead, lawmakers in the upper chamber made clear Tuesday they are not willing to wait forever.
“We should move quickly to help Puerto Rico,” Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said.
“We’ve been waiting for the House, but I would hope the Senate leadership on both sides of the aisle — I know our side would — would act if it looks like the House is tied in a knot.” http://bit.ly/1rGC1It.
TRUMP TO RELEASE TAX RETURNS AFTER AUDIT:
Donald Trump on Wednesday clarified that he will release his tax returns once his audit is completed, not after the election.
In an interview with The Associated Press, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee said he would not release them before November election.
“There’s nothing to learn from them,” Trump told the AP on Tuesday, adding he’s facing an ongoing audit and doesn’t think voters care.
But later on Wednesday, Trump tweeted: “In interview I told @AP that my taxes are under routine audit and I would release my tax returns when audit is complete, not after election!” Lisa Hagen has more. http://bit.ly/24N6CSQ
MITT ROMNEY HITS TRUMP ON RETURNS: Donald Trump’s clarification Wednesday that he would release his tax returns after an audit, not after the election, came after 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney said not releasing them would make him ineligible for the presidency.
“It is disqualifying for a modern-day presidential nominee to refuse to release tax returns to the voters, especially one who has not been subject to public scrutiny in either military or public service,” the 2012 Republican presidential nominee wrote on Facebook.
“There is only one logical explanation for Mr. Trump’s refusal to release his returns: there is a bombshell in them. Given Mr. Trump’s equanimity with other flaws in his history, we can only assume it’s a bombshell of unusual size,” Romney said. The Hill’s Jessie Hellman has more on Romney’s response. http://bit.ly/24PzBsJ
DEM SUPER PAC RAMPS UP PRESSURE: The liberal super-PAC American Bridge is launching a new site pushing Donald Trump to release his tax returns as Democrats seize on the issue heading into the general election.
TrumpReleaseYourReturns.com points to several Republican and Democratic presidential candidates who have released their returns, including Mitt Romney and Hillary Clinton.
The website questions why Trump is “backing off his earlier promises to release his tax returns,” citing Trump’s remarks in 2012 that it was a “positive” for Romney to release his taxes: http://bit.ly/1VTzOG2.
HAPPY WEDNESDAY and welcome to Overnight Finance, where we’re wondering if Rep. Alan Grayson was making a Destiny’s Child or “Breaking Bad” reference when confronting Harry Reid. I’m Sylvan Lane, and here’s your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line.
Tonight’s highlights include progress for the energy spending bill, some industry name-calling and Sen. Elizabeth Warren calling out the Education Department’s student loan servicer.
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://bit.ly/1NxxW2N.
TRUMP ASKS CNBC HOST FOR HELP ON TAX PLAN: Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has tasked two conservative economists for help in revamping his tax plan to reduce the amount it would add to the deficit, Politico reported Wednesday.
The news outlet reported that the Trump campaign has enlisted CNBC host Larry Kudlow and Stephen Moore of the Heritage Foundation to lead the effort.
Kudlow and Moore, who were brought on last month, want Trump to raise the top individual tax rate in his plan to 28 percent and cut the number of people who would pay no income taxes. Their suggestions also include allowing businesses to immediately write off the full cost of capital investments.
“The full effect of all the things we talked about would have a very important reduction in the deficit,” Kudlow told Politico. “The economic growth would be increased, as would jobs and wages.” Here’s more from The Hill’s Naomi Jagoda: http://bit.ly/27es0Cu.
SENATE EDGES CLOSER TO FINAL VOTE ON ENERGY SPENDING BILL: The Senate voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to clear a key procedural hurdle on an annual spending bill for energy and water development programs.
In a 97-2 vote, the Senate ended debate and moved to a final vote on the $37.5 billion spending bill, which would provide funding for the Department of Energy and the Army Corps of Engineers for fiscal year 2017.
If it passes, it will be the first appropriations bill that the Senate passes this year.
It was the fourth time in recent weeks that Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) tried to win a cloture motion ending debate on the energy bill. The Hill’s Timothy Cama tell us how we got here: http://bit.ly/1TAeak3.
WARREN SLAMS STUDENT LOAN SERVICER: Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called out the Department of Education’s student loan servicer for spending millions on lobbying Congress while failing to pay back to the federal government millions in overcharged loan subsidies.
Navient, formerly known as Sallie Mae, services federal student loans for the Department of Education. Federal and state officials, including Warren, have spoken out against what they consider unethical and irresponsible ways the company assists borrowers.
“Federal student loan borrowers deserve to have their loans serviced by companies that do not regularly flout the law, and the Department’s contracting officers must consider the entire record of a company’s behavior towards student loan borrowers in order to protect taxpayers, students and families,” wrote Warren in a letter released Wednesday to James Runcie, chief operating officer of the Education Department’s Office of Federal Student Aid.
Warren highlighted the $24 million Navient spent on lobbying since 2010, compared to the $22 million in overcharged student loan subsidies. She said that the money spent on influencing Congress instead should have been put toward reimbursing taxpayers. I’ve got more here: http://bit.ly/1Wqho0n.
CLINTON SURROGATES SLAM TRUMP ON WOMEN’S FINANCIAL ISSUES: Surrogates for Hillary Clinton on Wednesday called out Donald Trump for taking positions they say are harmful to women.
“Donald Trump has made it entirely clear throughout the entirety of this campaign that he would be a terrible choice for women voters and women broadly,” former Clinton policy adviser Neera Tanden said on a call held by the Democratic presidential front-runner’s campaign.
“Hillary is definitely running an issues campaign, and Donald is trying to change the subject,” Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) said on the call, adding, “The facts do speak for themselves. There is a gender gap in pay.”
Tanden criticized Trump for his opposition to the right to an abortion as well as his positions on four economic issues: equal pay, the minimum wage, childcare and taxes.
She blasted Trump for saying that the way to remedy the wage gap between men and women is for women to do a better job and for saying that it should be up to employers to address rising childcare costs.
She also criticized Trump for saying on Sunday that he does not support a federal floor for the minimum wage. Tanden said that doing away with a federal floor “would basically devastate many, many families.” Naomi Jagoda tells us the rest: http://bit.ly/1TQIPwb.
GOOGLE BANS ADS FOR PAYDAY LOANS: Google on Wednesday announced it will ban advertisements on its platform for so-called payday loans, which are short-term cash advances that have large interest rates.
The search giant said the new ban is designed to protect its users from “deceptive or harmful” financial products. The policy goes into effect on July 13.
“We’ll continue to review the effectiveness of this policy, but our hope is that fewer people will be exposed to misleading or harmful products,” David Graff, Google’s director of global product policy, said in a statement.
Google said the ban would not affect advertising for mortgage loans, car loans, student loans, commercial loans or credit cards.
The move puts payday loan ads on a list with other items Google has banned from advertising on its search engine, including alcohol, gambling, healthcare services and others’ copyrighted content. The Hill’s Mario Trujillo explains: http://bit.ly/1QYZ6uv.
BANK CHIEFS’ NAME-CALLING: Banks big and small sparred Wednesday after the head of JPMorgan Chase called the chief of the nation’s small bank lobby “a jerk.”
The long-simmering feud between the nation’s biggest financial institutions and some of its smallest erupted Wednesday, as name-calling and pointed fingers flew fast across the industry.
In an interview with CNBC, Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of the nation’s largest bank, had blunt words for Cam Fine, the head of the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA).
Dimon was asked about Fine dismissing Dimon’s earlier call for banks of all sizes to get on the same page. Dimon made that argument in a Wall Street Journal editorial published in early April.
In response, Fine told Bloomberg that community banks are in no rush to line up at Dimon’s request. He went on to contend that big banks like Dimon’s want to use small banks as political cover while presidential candidates rail against Wall Street.
The back-and-forth reached CNBC Wednesday, where Dimon lobbed an insult.
“I think the guy who wrote that is a jerk, OK?” said Dimon when read Fine’s response. It didn’t end there. Here’s more on the war of words from Peter Schroeder: http://bit.ly/1Tblbu4.
SENATE SENDS TARIFF RELIEF BILL TO WHITE HOUSE: The Senate cleared a long-delayed measure on Tuesday that will provide tariff relief for U.S. manufacturers while complying with the congressional ban on earmarks.
The Senate passed by unanimous consent the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB), which will overhaul the process for reducing or eliminating tariffs on imported inputs and products not available or in short supply domestically, sending the measure to President Obama’s desk for his signature.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and panel ranking member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) applauded passage of the measure.
“This legislation helps American manufacturers level the playing field through tariff relief, which lowers production costs on parts that simply can’t be found here at home,” Hatch said.
“While long-overdue, this legislation represents a true bipartisan, bicameral commitment to helping our economy with more jobs, bigger paychecks and a stronger American manufacturing base,” he said. The Hill’s Vicki Needham brings us up to speed: http://bit.ly/1UTrHIB.
OBAMA SIGNS TRADE SECRETS BILL: President Obama on Wednesday signed legislation into law that will provide a federal remedy for U.S. companies seeking relief from the theft of trade secrets costing billions every year.
Flanked by a bipartisan group of seven lawmakers, the president praised congressional efforts to pass an enforcement bill that allows companies to seek damages through criminal and civil actions against those who steal valuable trade secrets.
“As many of you know, one of the biggest advantages that we’ve got in this global economy is that we innovate, we come up with new services, new goods, new products, new technologies,” Obama said.
“Unfortunately, all too often, some of our competitors, instead of competing with us fairly, are trying to steal these trade secrets from American companies,” he said: http://bit.ly/1TFRUoK.
TRUMP AIDE SAYS PLAN COULD LEAD TO $7 TRILLION SURPLUS: An adviser to Donald Trump’s campaign on Wednesday estimated that the businessman’s policies would lead to a $4.5 trillion to $7 trillion surplus over a decade.
The projection — made by Trump national campaign co-chairman Sam Clovis at an event hosted by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation — is not in line with an estimate from the Tax Foundation, which scored Trump’s tax plan as costing about $10 trillion over a decade when economic growth is considered.
But Clovis disputed that the group uses so-called “dynamic scoring” and said that the creation of additional economic growth would make the $10 trillion figure a “much more manageable number.”
Tax Foundation Director of Federal Projects Kyle Pomerleau tweeted after the event that the group did use dynamic scoring to come up with the $10 trillion figure: http://bit.ly/1VTKaWB.
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