Overnight Finance: Dem calls for ending visa program after Kushner controversy | Trump officials reportedly sought Trudeau to make NAFTA case | ObamaCare repeal throws curve ball into tax reform

Dem pushes to kill visa program after Kushner controversy: A top Democratic senator is renewing her call to end a controversial investment visa program amid reports that it was pitched by companies tied to White House adviser Jared Kushner’s family.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said Monday that the EB-5 visa program, which woos foreign investors to fund United States infrastructure projects with the promise of eventual citizenship, should end.

Feinstein said the EB-5 program presents “a stark conflict of interest” for President Trump and Kushner, both of whom have used EB-5 funding for construction projects. 

“Given that President Trump and Jared Kushner refuse to divest from their vast financial holdings,” Feinstein said, “the only way to eliminate this conflict is for Congress to allow the program to expire in September,” when funding for the federal government runs out. I’ll fill you in here: http://bit.ly/2pZVGDE.

Kushner family sorry for mentioning him at investor event: A company owned by Jared Kushner’s family is apologizing for mentioning him during an investment conference in China.

Nicole Kushner Meyer referenced her brother, who is now a White House adviser, during an event in Beijing last Saturday.

Kushner Companies “apologizes if that mention of [Meyer’s] brother was in any way interpreted as an attempt to lure investors,” a spokesperson said, according to The Daily Beast.

Representatives from Kushner Companies encouraged wealthy Chinese citizens to “invest $500,000 and immigrate to the United States” during last weekend’s event.

“In 2008, my brother Jared Kushner joined the family company as CEO, and recently moved to Washington to join the administration,” Meyer said at the conference.

“Ms. Meyer wanted to make clear that her brother had stepped away from the company in January and has nothing to do with this project,” Kushner Companies said Monday, according to CNN Money. The Hill’s Mark Hensch has more on the controversy here: http://bit.ly/2poRECZ

White House officials reportedly sought Trudeau to help make case for NAFTA: White House officials enlisted Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to help convince President Trump not to unilaterally withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), according to a Monday report.

The unique and potentially embarrassing approach, which was first reported by Canada’s National Post, apparently worked. Following phone calls with Trudeau and Mexican President Peña Nieto, Trump backed off of reported plans to pull out of NAFTA last month.

Instead, Trump announced that he would renegotiate the 23-year-old deal agreement among the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

The threat of a departure from NAFTA brought expressions of concern from the agricultural sector, lawmakers on Capitol Hill, business groups and labor unions.

Trump, who is highly skeptical of free trade agreements, threatened to spike NAFTA more than once during his presidential campaign.

The Hill’s Vicki Needham has more here: http://bit.ly/2poKsGY

Trump’s Dodd-Frank review won’t be done by June: President Trump’s administration will review the Dodd-Frank financial reform law in stages, according to a Monday Reuters report, and will likely miss the president’s self-set June deadline. 

Trump promised on the campaign trail to do a “big number” on the 2010 law that regulates Wall Street banks, which led to new consumer protections, higher capital requirements for banks, and limits to a bank’s ability to make hedge speculative bets.

The president said in February that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin would review the law and report his findings within 120 days. That review, originally slated to be complete sometime in June, is likely to lead to large aspects of the law being cut. 

But because of the many unfilled positions at the Treasury Department, the review will come in batches, sources told Reuters: http://bit.ly/2ptkLpi

Happy Monday and welcome to Overnight Finance. I’m Sylvan Lane, and here’s your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line.

See something I missed? Let me know at slane@digital-release.digital-release.thehill.com or tweet me @SylvanLane. And if you like your newsletter, you can subscribe to it here: http://bit.ly/1NxxW2N.

Sneak peek: The Senate Banking Committee will begin work on their own fixes to the Dodd-Frank Act after the House Financial Services Committee on Thursday passed a sweeping rewrite of the 2010 law. The CHOICE Act, sponsored by Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), passed the panel with unanimous GOP support, and is likely to pass the House.

But the Senate Banking Committee has shown little interest in Hensarling’s bill, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin stopped short of endorsing it last month. Instead, the Senate committee is likely to start with housing finance reform and relief for community banks, two areas of wide bipartisan agreement.

The Banking Committee will also host former Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mel Watt on Thursday for a hearing on government-sponsored housing assistance. Check out what to expect in the week ahead.

ObamaCare vote throws curve into tax reform: The House’s passage of legislation to repeal and replace ObamaCare has thrown a new curve into Republicans’ efforts to overhaul the tax code.The vote, which came just a week after the White House rolled out its tax reform plan, took much of official Washington by surprise. A previous attempt to muscle through the legislation had failed in March.

Experts are mixed on what the sudden progress on ObamaCare repeal means for tax reform. While some said that House Republicans’ ability to coalesce around a bill bodes well for passage of tax legislation, others warned the Senate could get bogged down on healthcare, stalling the agenda. The Hill’s Naomi Jagoda explains: http://bit.ly/2pZXkF2.

Business coalition: Trump tax plan ‘will spark an economic boom’: A coalition of businesses is praising President Trump’s tax plan, arguing that it would boost the economy and stop companies from moving overseas.

Trump’s plan, released last month, proposes lowering the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 15 percent. The Reforming America’s Taxes Equitably (RATE) Coalition argued that the current corporate tax rate is not competitive and has given its members a disadvantage over its competitors from other countries.

“We believe that your proposal will spark an economic boom and make all American companies more competitive in the global marketplace,” RATE said in a Monday letter to Trump. “We also believe that your proposal would stop the steady erosion of America’s corporate tax base by removing the incentive for companies to flee in pursuit of a more favorable tax rate.” Here’s more from Naomi: http://bit.ly/2pZTtrM.

Commerce chief calls Canadian trade threats ‘inappropriate’: Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross fired back at Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Saturday, calling Canada’s trade threats “inappropriate.”

“We continue to believe that a negotiated settlement is in the best interests of all parties and we are prepared to work toward that end,” Ross said in a statement obtained by Reuters. 

“Threats of retaliatory action are inappropriate and will not influence any final determinations,” he added.

A day earlier, Trudeau said in a letter to the premier of British Columbia that he was seriously considering banning U.S. firms from exporting thermal coal from ports in the Pacific coastal province.

The threat came 10 days after the Trump administration moved to slap tariffs of up to 24 percent on Canadian softwood lumber exports to the U.S.: http://bit.ly/2q02lxL.

GOP senator: Border tax would be ‘dead on arrival’: Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) shot down House Speaker Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) call for a border-adjustment tax on Saturday, saying such a proposal would be “dead on arrival” in the Senate.

“Right now, in the Senate anyway, I think the border-adjustment tax is dead on arrival,” Perdue told radio host John Catsimatidis on AM 970 in New York. “It’s a tariff, it’s regressive on a low-income consumer and a middle-income consumer. It really is counter to growth.”

“It’s nothing but a tariff, and that’s the last thing we need,” he added of the proposal to tax imports and exempt exports. http://bit.ly/2q05FZI.

DOJ tackles tuna price-fixing scheme: The Department of Justice (DOJ) is cracking down on one of the largest canned tuna companies in the U.S. over what it says was a major price-fixing scheme.

The California-based seafood company Bumble Bee Foods pleaded guilty Monday to violating U.S. antitrust laws by conspiring to fix canned and pouch tuna fish prices, according to the DOJ.

The price fixing occurred in “shelf-stable tuna fish” products from 2011 through 2013, the DOJ said. The case is being considered in a San Francisco federal court.

If the court accepts the plea deal, Bumble Bee would pay a fine of at least $25 million. However, if the company is sold, the fine could increase to more than $81 million, according to the company’s agreement with the DOJ.

The Hill’s Tim Devaney has more: http://bit.ly/2qUUTE0

Warren Buffett: ObamaCare repeal bill ‘a huge tax cut for guys like me’: Billionaire investor Warren Buffett on Saturday criticized the bill House Republicans passed this week aimed at repealing and replacing ObamaCare, calling it “a huge tax cut for guys like me.”

Speaking at Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholders meeting in Omaha, Neb., Buffett argued that healthcare costs – rather than high taxes – were the biggest problem facing American businesses.

“Medical costs are the tapeworm of American economic competitiveness,” he said, according to The New York Times.

Buffett said his federal income taxes would have gone down 17 percent last year if the GOP bill was in effect: http://bit.ly/2pZSIPg.

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