House passes sweeping tax bill in huge victory for GOP: The House on Thursday passed legislation to overhaul the tax code, moving Republicans one step closer to achieving the top item on their legislative agenda.
The measure was approved by a vote of 227-205. No Democrats voted for the bill, while 13 Republicans broke ranks to oppose it.
“Passing this bill is the single biggest thing we can do to grow the economy, to restore opportunity and help these middle-income families who are struggling,” Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said ahead of the vote.
{mosads}Once the bill reached the magic number for passage, Republicans in the chamber erupted into applause.
Democrats mockingly joined in, with some singing “na na na na, hey hey, goodbye,” like they did when the chamber passed an ObamaCare repeal bill earlier this year.
Passage of the tax bill, which was unveiled just two weeks ago, was relatively drama-free compared to the GOP’s failed effort to repeal ObamaCare earlier this year.
The stakes are high for Republicans, who are feeling pressure to show that they can govern ahead of next year’s midterm elections. The Democratic wave in last week’s gubernatorial and state house elections in Virginia and New Jersey has only added to their anxiety.
GOP leaders are hoping to get legislation to President Trump’s desk by Christmas, an ambitious timeline given the obstacles that are mounting in the Senate.
The Hill’s Naomi Jagoda and Cristina Marcos report: http://bit.ly/2A5wRhm.
See the 13 House Republicans who voted against the GOP tax plan.
Conservative rips Appropriations chairman over no vote on tax reform: A top conservative House leader said Thursday he had “real problems” with powerful House Appropriations Committee Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.) voting against the GOP tax-reform bill but stopped short of calling for him to relinquish his committee gavel.
In an interview with The Hill, Rep. Mark Walker (R-N.C.), the chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee, said he had serious concerns about Frelinghuysen’s vote just as he begins negotiations on a massive spending package needed to avert a government shutdown on Dec. 8.
Frelinghuysen, a top Democratic target in 2018, was the only one out of 21 House GOP committee chairs to cast a no vote.
“It’s going to be an issue and I’m raising it right now. I don’t know how to handle it at this point, but I don’t think when we get back here in a week and a half I’m just going to look the other way,” Walker said after the House passed the sweeping tax-reform bill.
“This is a committee chairman who’s going to be pitching some kind of spending thing,” Walker continued, “and if you can’t get on board and support one of the promises we’ve made to the American people, I have real problems with that.” http://bit.ly/2A3xDeI.
Trump considering Mulvaney to be interim CFPB head: report: President Trump is considering White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney to be interim head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) after former director Richard Cordray announced his resignation from the agency, according to Bloomberg.
If Mulvaney temporarily filled the post, he would be charged with finding someone, or a group of people, who could manage the agency on a daily basis while he focuses on OMB.
An OMB official hinted that such an announcement could be forthcoming.
“We cannot confirm anything until the White House makes an announcement,” the official said.
Trump is permitted under a federal vacancies law to temporarily replace the post with a figure from another agency, who has been confirmed by the Senate. http://bit.ly/2A4lTZH.
Senate confirms Trump comptroller of the currency nominee: The Senate on Thursday confirmed former bank executive Joseph Otting to be comptroller of the currency, the top federal banking watchdog.
Otting was confirmed by a 54-to-43 vote largely along party lines. Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.) were the only Democrats to support him. Otting will replace acting Comptroller Keith Noreika, who has filled the role since May.
Otting was the president and CEO of OneWest Bank, where he worked with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, and a vice chairman at U.S. Bancorp before that. He presided over hundreds of thousands of foreclosures at OneWest Bank, which has been investigated for multiple federal and state housing violations.
Otting will help implement the Trump administration’s plans to tailor aspects of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law long protested by banks. Noreika started the process of reviewing the “Volcker rule” on proprietary trading for changes, which Otting will likely continue. I’ve got more here: http://bit.ly/2A5KY6t.
Conservatives fear end-of-year ‘Christmas tree’ spending bill: Conservatives are growing worried that an end-of-year spending bill will be loaded up with extraneous, expensive provisions as lawmakers rush to prevent a government shutdown and get home for the holidays next month.
“Loading up the Christmas tree right before the end of the year is never good,” said Rep. Dave Brat (R-Va.), a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus. “Push it off to next year, there’s too much in flux right now.”
“Once people get ready to get out the door, a lot of things become acceptable that wouldn’t in other seasons,” added Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.), another Freedom Caucus member.
Democrats are demanding a series of concessions for Republicans to get their votes on the bill, including language to protect young immigrants who received work permits under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that President Trump is winding down.
Republicans are likely to need Democratic votes in both the House and Senate to win passage of legislation to fund the government: http://bit.ly/2A5KMUN.
Happy Thursday and welcome back 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.thehill.com or tweet me @SylvanLane. And if you like your newsletter, you can subscribe to it here: http://bit.ly/1NxxW2N.
Congressional leaders eyeing two-year caps deal up to $200 billion: Congressional leaders are eyeing a deal to raise budgetary caps by as much as $200 billion over two years.
A deal on budgetary caps will be a first step toward hammering out a spending deal for 2018.
Congressional sources tell The Hill that there is still work to do before a deal can be finalized. Democrats are clamoring to raise nondefense spending caps by the same level as defense caps.
This week, Congress approved a defense authorization package that’s $77 billion higher than the 2018 budget cap.
Government funding is set to expire on Dec. 8, and Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has indicated that he expects a short-term continuing resolution to extend funding to the end of the year. Without a spending deal or an extension, the government would shut down.
But current spending levels are higher than the 2018 caps set by the 2011 Budget Control Act. Without a deal to raise the caps, continuing spending at current levels would trigger sequestration, or across-the-board spending cuts, starting in late January: http://bit.ly/2A4g5iP.
Tax cuts in Senate bill would evaporate in a decade: JCT: Tax cuts for individuals in the Senate’s latest tax plan would disappear by 2027, according to an analysis by the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT), with some even seeing a tax increase.
While taxpayers would see their tax bills drop by 7.4 percent on average in 2019 under the bill, by 2027, their taxes would rise by an average of 0.2 percent.
The poor would be hardest hit, with those making between $20,000 and $30,000 seeing their tax bills rise starting in 2021. By 2027, they would see a 25.4 percent increase in their tax bill.
Those making over $75,000 would still see their taxes go down, albeit by less than 1 percent by the final year, while everyone making under $75,000 would see some level of tax increase.
The drop-off is likely attributable to a series of expiring tax cuts introduced in Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch’s (R-Utah) latest update to the bill. The legislation would also eliminate the individual mandate for ObamaCare and lower some individual tax rates: http://bit.ly/2A6RTfA.
Poll: Majority oppose GOP tax-reform bill: A majority of voters oppose the Republican tax-reform bill and believe it will hurt them financially, according to a new poll.
According to the latest Harvard-Harris Poll survey, 54 percent say they oppose the Republican tax reform bill. The same amount — 54 percent — say the GOP plan is more likely to hurt them financially. Three-quarters of Republicans say it will help them financially, while 77 percent of Democrats and 56 percent of independents say it will hurt them.
House Republicans are expected pass a sweeping tax reform package on Thursday, moving the GOP closer to fulfilling a key election year promise before the end of President Trump’s first year in office.
There is widespread public support for Congress to cut taxes on individuals and small businesses and to simplify the tax code. Seventy-three percent of voters say they support broad efforts to overhaul the tax code, but the GOP plan is not viewed as the best way forward, the Harvard-Harris survey found: http://bit.ly/2A65NP9.
Schumer: GOP tax bill is ‘express mail gift from heaven’ for Trump: Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) knocked House Republicans ahead of a vote on their tax plan, arguing the bill would benefit wealthy Americans, including President Trump.
“Republicans have directed a lion’s share of the benefits to the already wealthy, the already powerful corporate America and the rich. There is perhaps no better example than President Trump and his family for whom this bill would be an express mail gift from heaven,” Schumer said from the Senate floor.
Schumer pointed to the legislation’s repeal of the estate tax, as well as the lowering of the tax rate on profits from pass-through businesses.
“All of these things contained in the House Republican bill would likely pile more on top of President Trump’s fortune while millions and millions of middle-class families end up paying more. I’m not so sure any family in America feels that it’s right to subsidize tax cuts for folks like President Trump and his family,” he added: http://bit.ly/2A6dOUg.
Wilbur Ross sued by former colleagues: Three former colleagues of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross are suing him and his former company for allegedly pocketing millions in improper fees he had charged to clients, Forbes reports.
The former WL Ross & Co. employees allege in the lawsuit, filed Wednesday, that Ross charged at least $48 million in management fees and funds to partners who manage investment funds. Those suing claim the charges should have been made to outside investors, not those in charge of managing funds.
Spokespeople for the Department of Commerce and the company did not respond for comment to Forbes on the story.
The company previously paid a $2.3 million settlement to the Securities and Exchange Commission over a probe into its charging of fees and investment practices: http://bit.ly/2A6e1XC.
Dem bill aims to protect threatened pensions: Democrats in both chambers unveiled legislation on Thursday designed to protect workers whose retirement pensions are threatened with deep cuts in the coming years.
Sponsored by Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), the proposal aims to prop up struggling multi-employer pension plans they say could sink the retirement security of more than 1 million workers across the country, largely within the next decade.
Cuts to those pensions, the Democrats argue, would break the contractual promises made to workers that their pension payments would provide retirement security — and be untouchable.
“When you’re at the bargaining table, you give up dollars today so you’ll have health care and you’ll have a secure retirement,” Brown said during the unveiling in the Capitol, where a handful of lawmakers were surrounded by scores of union workers.
“It’s sort-of labor economics 101, but a whole hell-of-a-lot of members of Congress don’t really understand that — and don’t understand you have given up something today,” he added. “That’s why that needs to be assured … that it will be there in 10 years, in 20 years, in 30 years.” http://bit.ly/2A4mmuO.
From The Hill’s opinion pages
With tax reform, the GOP Senate has the House held hostage, by Drew Littman, policy director with Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck
Changes await consumer watchdog agency after Cordray resignation, by Bert Ely of Ely & Company, Inc.,
Even some Republicans agree tax plans won’t help small businesses, by John Arensmeyer, founder and CEO of Small Business Majority
GOP tax bill is full of uncertainty: Who are real winners and losers?, by Chris Markowski, founder of Markowski Investments
Write us with tips, suggestions and news: slane@digital-release.thehill.com, vneedham@digital-release.thehill.com, njagoda@digital-release.thehill.com and nelis@digital-release.thehill.com. Follow us on Twitter: @SylvanLane, @VickofTheHill, @NJagoda and @NivElis