Happy Thursday and welcome back to On The Money—no IQ test or pushup contest required. 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—Congress races to beat deadline on shutdown: Congress is racing the clock as they rush to prevent another shutdown poised to start in two weeks.
Though lawmakers have until Dec. 20 to get a funding bill to President Trump’s desk, negotiators say they really have just a matter of days to reach a deal on the fiscal 2020 bills to prevent having to approve another stopgap measure, formally known as a continuing resolution (CR).
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) said the next few days would be “crucial” as lawmakers have struggled to make progress this week.
“We’ve talked a lot and not done a lot. We’ve just got a few days,” Shelby said. “I’m not as optimistic as I was Sunday when I came back here.”
The Hill’s Jordain Carney and Niv Elis explain why.
What to know:
- The tight time frame has sparked a flurry of behind-the-scenes negotiations: Subcommittee heads are meeting around the Capitol, and Shelby spoke by phone on Wednesday with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
- Funding for border security is the main sticking point, and negotiators have been swapping offers.
- Beyond haggling over the amount of new money for barriers, there’s also a rolling debate over Immigration and Customs Enforcement beds and Trump’s ability to reallocate defense money to the border wall.
LEADING THE DAY
Trump asks Supreme Court to shield financial records from House Democrats: President Trump has asked the Supreme Court to shield his financial records from the Democratic-led House Oversight and Reform Committee, in the latest case to bring questions over separation of powers to the justices.
In their Wednesday petition to the court, filed ahead of a Thursday deadline, Trump’s personal attorneys warned the justices that a lower court ruling in favor of the Democratic lawmakers would set a dangerous precedent if allowed to stand.
The big deal: This is the second time Trump has appealed to the high court to prevent the disclosure of financial documents and sets the stage for a potentially groundbreaking ruling on the extent of congressional oversight authority and presidential power. The Hill’s John Kruzel breaks it down here.
House passes bill to explicitly ban insider trading: The House on Thursday passed a bill to explicitly ban making financial trades based on confidential information, a process commonly known as insider trading.
Lawmakers approved the Insider Trading Prohibition Act by a near unanimous 410 to 13 vote, with just 12 Republicans and independent Rep. Justin Amash (Mich.) opposing the bill.
- If passed by the Senate and enacted by President Trump, the bill would create the first direct ban on insider trading.
- Such transactions typically involve a person buying or selling shares of a company based on nonpublic information that will substantially affect the stock price upon release.
- While federal regulators and law enforcement agencies commonly prosecute and convict individuals alleged to have traded on nonpublic information, defendants are typically accused of bank fraud, wire fraud or other explicit crimes.
Mnuchin expresses concerns about proposed taxes on financial trades: Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Thursday said he has a number of worries about financial transaction taxes (FTTs) — taxes on Wall Street trades that are being proposed by progressive Democratic lawmakers and presidential candidates.
“I am very concerned that that would destroy our capital markets, and the cost to American holders of mutual funds would bear the majority of the cost,” Mnuchin said at a House Financial Services Committee hearing.
- Supporters of taxes on financial trades argue that these taxes would target wealthy investors and would help to reduce inequality and inefficiencies in the financial markets.
- But during Thursday’s hearing, Republican lawmakers brought up the Democratic proposals for FTTs, calling them problematic.
The Hill’s Naomi Jagoda has more on Mnuchin’s warning from the hearing, where he also expressed optimism that Congress will pass President Trump’s proposed NAFTA rewrite.
GOOD TO KNOW
- Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is working to remove legal protections for technology companies from the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) in the eleventh hour as lawmakers push to complete the deal before the end of the calendar year.
- The U.S. tax burden fell to the fourth lowest among advanced economies following passage of the GOP tax law, according to data released Thursday by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
- Uber disclosed over 3,000 sexual assaults took place while riders used its service last year in a new safety report released Thursday.
- The Wall Street Journal: “[Furniture]companies expanding American production due to consumer preferences and tariffs are finding a dearth of skilled workers.”
- Reuters: “The U.S. trade deficit dropped to its lowest level in nearly 1-1/2 years in October, suggesting trade could contribute to economic growth in the fourth quarter, though a broad decline in imports hinted at a slowdown in domestic demand.”
- NPR: “Despite Job Boom, More Men Are Giving Up On Work”
ODDS AND ENDS
- The New York Times’s editorial board called on presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg to disclose more information about his time at consulting firm McKinsey & Company.