Happy Thursday and welcome back to On The Money. I’m Sylvan Lane, and here’s your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line.
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THE BIG DEAL–Senate rejects border declaration in major rebuke of Trump: The Senate voted on Thursday to nix President Trump’s national emergency declaration to construct the U.S.-Mexico border wall, setting up the first veto battle with his White House.
Senators voted 59-41 to pass the resolution of disapproval blocking Trump’s declaration. Underscoring the broad base of concern over Trump’s actions within the Republican caucus, 12 GOP senators broke rank and voted with all the Democrats.
The measure passed the House last month, 245-182.
{mosads}The resolution now heads to Trump’s desk, where he is expected to use the first veto of his presidency to defeat it. Neither chamber has the votes to override the president, who tweeted shortly after the vote was closed, “VETO!”
“I look forward to VETOING the just passed Democrat inspired Resolution which would OPEN BORDERS while increasing Crime, Drugs, and Trafficking in our Country,” Trump tweeted. “I thank all of the Strong Republicans who voted to support Border Security and our desperately needed WALL!”
The Hill’s Jordain Carney tells us how we got here.
The background:
- Trump made a last-minute plea to Republican senators. He renewed his pledge to veto the resolution and signaled he could be open to future changes to his emergency powers. He also accused Republicans who voted “yes” of standing with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
- Even so, he failed to squash the momentum behind the resolution, which garnered support from various factions of the GOP caucus, including moderates, members of leadership and libertarian-leaning senators.
- Here are the 12 Republicans who defied Trump on the vote.
What comes next: Congress will likely be unable to overturn Trump’s veto, which requires support from two-thirds of both houses. But the vote marks a significant setback for Trump, who has made his pledge to build the wall a focal point of his presidency.
LEADING THE DAY
Dems press Mnuchin on Trump tax returns: House Democrats on Thursday pressed Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on whether he would comply with a request to turn over President Trump’s tax returns, a long-sought goal of congressional Democrats.
“Are you willing to provide and fulfill the command of the statute, and your mandatory duty to properly release any personal and business tax returns for President Trump that you’re requested to provide,” Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) asked Mnuchin during a House Ways and Means Committee hearing.
Mnuchin responded by saying he would first consult with legal counsel at the Treasury Department.
“The answer is, if I receive a request, which I presume from what I’ve read in the press I will receive, I will consult with the legal department within Treasury and I will follow the law,” he said.
The Hill’s Niv Elis tells us more here.
- Democrats cited section 6103 of the tax code, which instructs the Treasury secretary to turn over any tax returns requested by the chair of the Ways and Means Committee. The provision also allows for the heads of the Senate Finance Committee and Joint Committee on Taxation to request the documents.
- Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.) has faced pressure from progressives to request the returns but has yet to formally start the process.
- Mnuchin testified that Trump has not asked him to intervene if Congress requests his tax returns and said he had not discussed the issue with anyone at the White House, including Trump’s attorneys. But Mnuchin raised questions about whether turning over the returns might violate the president’s privacy, previewing a possible reason to refuse the request.
Relief for taxpayers: Mnuchin also said Thursday the administration will consider providing additional penalty relief for people who didn’t have enough money withheld from their paychecks last year amid pressure to provide more help for taxpayers in the first filing season under President Trump’s tax-cut law.
Context: The IRS said Thursday that the average size of tax refunds and percentage of returns with refunds are about the same as they were last year. Most people are getting a tax cut, and it’s possible for taxpayers to have received a tax cut even if they have a balance due to the IRS. But people often count on their refunds for savings and to make major purchases.
Maxine Waters says Wells Fargo should fire its CEO: Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) on Thursday said Wells Fargo should fire president and CEO Timothy Sloan. Her comments came one day after the bank announced it would boost his pay and two days after he was grilled by the congresswoman’s House committee.
Waters, head of the House Financial Services Committee, said Sloan “should be shown the door” and renewed her call for federal regulators to consider canning the bank’s chief.
Wells Fargo revealed in a regulatory filing Wednesday that Sloan received $18.4 million in compensation last year, including a 5 percent pay raise and $2 million bonus. He was paid 284 times more than the median salary of a Wells Fargo employee.
Waters said Wells Fargo’s decision was “outrageous and wholly inappropriate” after the bank paid billions in fines from regulators and legal settlements in 2018. I’ll tell you why here.
- Sloan testified before the Financial Services committee on Tuesday, where he faced bipartisan backlash over Wells Fargo’s recent string of sales scandals. While Sloan said the bank had made major improvements, he failed to convince Waters and dozens of her colleagues.
- “It was very clear from Mr. Sloan’s testimony that Wells Fargo has failed to clean up its act,” said Waters. She plans to reintroduce a bill that would break up big banks with track records of consumer abuse.
GOOD TO KNOW
- President Trump’s former economic adviser Gary Cohn said White House trade adviser Peter Navarro on Wednesday is the only Ph.D-holding economist in the world who believes in the effectiveness of tariffs.
- Sens. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) and Doug Jones (D-Ala.) on Thursday introduced legislation to fix a provision in President Trump’s 2017 tax-cut law that adversely affects the retail and restaurant industries.
- A top executive for Huawei’s U.S. branch on Thursday defended the Chinese company against allegations that it poses a national security risk, saying it wants to work with the U.S. to address those concerns.
- Chinese trade negotiators “have suggested combining a long-discussed state visit by President Xi Jinping to the United States with the announcement of any forthcoming agreement,” according to CNBC.
- The United Kingdom Parliament voted Thursday in favor of delaying the country’s withdrawal from the European Union (EU) until the end of June as it continues debate on a transition deal.
ODDS AND ENDS
- A California jury on Wednesday ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $29 million to a woman who claimed its baby powder caused her to contract terminal cancer.
- Op-Ed: Lisa Servon, a professor and department chair at the University of Pennsylvania, argues why Philadelphia was “right to ban discriminatory cashless stores.”
- Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday announced the company’s top executive in charge of products, Chris Cox, and Chris Daniels, the head of WhatsApp, will be leaving the company.
- Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar revealed Thursday that his department is in talks with states about instituting block grants in Medicaid without congressional approval.