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–House sends Trump border aid bill after Pelosi caves to pressure from moderates: The House passed a clean version of a bipartisan Senate bill that would address the crisis at the southern border, dealing a major blow to House Democratic leadership.
The 305-102 vote marked a blow to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and liberal lawmakers who had demanded additional protections for migrant children. President Trump is expected to sign the $4.6 billion measure into law.{mosads}
What happened: Pelosi and her leadership team had initially scheduled a Thursday vote on their amped-up version of the border-funding legislation, which included new safety and care standards for law-enforcers working with migrants — provisions demanded by liberals.
But party leaders faced heavy pressure from more moderate lawmakers — particularly the so-called “front-line” members, who are seen as most vulnerable at the polls next year — to take up the Senate bill immediately.
- Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), a leader of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, told Pelosi Thursday morning that he had rallied enough moderate Democrats to take down the rule on the amended House bill.
- “Children are suffering at the border and we must act now to stop it,” tweeted freshman Rep. Ben McAdams (D), who represents a swing-district in Utah. “The House should vote to approve the Senate version of the bill…”
Blowback: Liberals hammered Pelosi for abandoning plans to push for stronger protections for migrant children. Some called on Democratic leaders to keep Congress in Washington to negotiate a deal more favorable to Democrats.
- “We have time. We can stay in town. We can at LEAST add some amendments to this Senate bill,” tweeted freshman firebrand Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). “But to pass it completely unamended with no House input? That seems a bridge too far.”
- “Since when did the Problem Solvers Caucus become the Child Abuse Caucus?” tweeted Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), a leader of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
The Hill’s Mike Lillis and Scott Wong explain how we got here.
LEADING THE DAY
McConnell dismisses one-year stopgap bill floated by White House: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Thursday that a one-year continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government past Sept. 30 was “unacceptable,” breaking with a plan mulled by Trump administration officials.
“Equally unacceptable is a one-year CR from a defense point of view, almost as bad as a sequester,” McConnell said.
Congress has until Sept. 30 to pass government funding bills and avoid a second government shutdown of the year. But they’ve struggled to clinch a deal to raise the defense and nondefense spending caps, which are, in turn, used to craft the individual appropriations bills.
McConnell, on Thursday, laid out three possible paths to funding the government: Getting a caps deal, passing the one-year CR stopgap bill that would renew funding at current levels or enacting sequestration, which would result in steep across-the-board budget cuts.
The Hill’s Jordain Carney tells us about the state of play for negotiations here.
Mnuchin pushing Trump to put Secret Service under Treasury control: Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has reportedly been pushing President Trump to put the Secret Service back under the control of the Treasury Department.
Discussions on the matter have been taking place between the White House, the Treasury and Secret Service officials over the past year, The New York Times reported Thursday, citing administration officials.
The Times reported Trump supports the idea of placing the service under Treasury control, but some senior Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials have been contesting the move.
The DHS officials have expressed concerns about no longer controlling an agency that includes cybersecurity and investigative elements.
GOOD TO KNOW
- Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke said after the first presidential debate that he does not support a 70 percent marginal tax rate for individuals, after not directly answering questions on the topic during the event.
- Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo have teamed up against President Trump’s escalating trade war with China, warning that the president’s tariffs on Chinese goods could cause significant disruption to the gaming industry and its consumers.
- Black homebuyers in America are more than twice as likely to be denied a home mortgage than are white homebuyers, even when controlling for applicant incomes, according to a new analysis of federal data.
- Deutsche Bank passed an annual stress test by the Federal Reserve, clearing a second hurdle at a critical time for the German lender.
- Bloomberg News: “The White House is developing a plan to cut taxes by indexing capital gains to inflation, according to people familiar with the matter, in a move that would largely benefit the wealthy and may be done in a way that bypasses Congress.”
ODDS AND ENDS
- The Senate passed a mammoth $750 billion defense bill Thursday, though it still needs to resolve a fight over Iran.
- Ford plans to cut 12,000 jobs in Europe by the end of next year as part of a broader cost-cutting effort, according to Reuters.