Overnight Finance: Wall Street awaits Brexit result | Clinton touts biz support | New threat to Puerto Rico bill? | Dodd, Frank hit back

DODD AND FRANK FIGHT TO DEFEND DODD-FRANK: The primary authors of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law have joined a court fight over one of its central powers.

A group of 20 current and former lawmakers, all Democrats, filed an amicus brief Thursday arguing a judge missed the mark ruling against regulators in a critical test of the law’s powers.

{mosads}Among those signing on to the effort are former Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and former Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.).

In the brief, the lawmakers argued that if a district judge’s ruling stands, it would “fundamentally undermine” Congress’s vision for Dodd-Frank as drafted. Both have since retired from office.

“By substituting its own judgment for that of [regulators], the district court undermined not only the statutory scheme that Congress put in place in Dodd-Frank, but also the nation’s ability to prevent another financial crisis,” they wrote. The Hill’s Peter Schroeder explains: http://bit.ly/28RjxxE.

RYAN REBUKES OBAMA ON BREXIT: House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Thursday called out President Obama for weighing in on the United Kingdom’s vote to stay in or leave the European Union.

Ryan joined several Republican lawmakers by refusing to state a preference as British voters head to polls, while Obama has urged the nation to stay in the EU.

“I’m going to do exactly what the president did not do and not weigh in on this, and send the signal to our great friends and allies in Britain that we stand with them regardless of what decision they make,” Ryan told reporters. I’ll tell you why here: http://bit.ly/28QJEmB.

And check out TheHill.com for the result.

CLINTON CAMPAIGN BOASTS BOOST FROM BUSINESS LEADERS: Hillary Clinton’s campaign on Thursday released a list of corporate leaders from both parties that have endorsed her, pushing back on Donald Trump’s claims of support in the business world. We’ve got the full list–including Sheryl Sandberg and Magic Johnson–right here: http://bit.ly/28TzSVy.

HAPPY THURSDAY and welcome to Overnight Finance, where we’re saluting our colleagues who stayed up as long as the Democrats did. I’m Sylvan Lane, and here’s your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line.

Tonight’s highlights include trouble for the Puerto Rico debt bill, Obama’s warning for Wall Street and a line in the sand on ObamaCare.

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

PUERTO RICAN OFFICIALS PLEAD WITH SENATE TO PASS DEBT RELIEF: Top Treasury Department and Puerto Rican officials are begging the Senate to move quickly on a bill to help the commonwealth handle more than $70 billion in unpayable debt.

Funding for public services in Puerto Rico is drying up under the commonwealth’s shrinking economy and lack of access to credit markets, so leaders are pushing the Senate to clear a House-passed bill before a crucial debt payment that is due July 1.

“We need the bill by July 1,” Puerto Rico Gov. Alejandro García Padilla (D) said during a Thursday panel hosted by the progressive Center for American Progress Action Fund. “We need the bill yesterday.” I’ll tell you here about their concerns: http://bit.ly/28TzEhe.

SENATE DEM OPENS DOOR TO BLOCKING BILL: Senate Democrats are pushing to amend a House-passed debt relief bill for Puerto Rico, and one says he won’t rule out blocking the bill if they don’t get the chance.

“I will consider all of my options if I don’t get a chance to amend it,” Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), a long-time critic of the House bill, said Thursday.

Menendez could put a “hold” on the bill, blocking it from consideration unless at least 60 senators vote to advance it.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is expected to schedule a vote right before the Senate breaks for its July 4 recess. That would force Democrats to back the bill without a chance to amend it.

A senior Senate Republican leadership aide said this month that any amendments would need unanimous approval, and a senior Democratic leadership aide said most Democrats would support the bill without a chance to amend it: http://bit.ly/290mNXR.

AREA DAD TALKS ABOUT DAUGHTERS, FINANCIAL REGULATION: President Obama knows one place his daughters won’t end up working: Wall Street.

In a new interview, Obama laughed off the idea that anyone in his family would end up working in the financial sector. In fact, he suggested that too many talented Americans may be wooed by power and paychecks on Wall Street and could use their abilities elsewhere.

“If you start getting to the point where 40 percent of the economy is taken up by the financial sector and that our best and brightest are going into financial work as opposed to engineering or computer science, then we could actually lose our competitive edge over time,” he told Bloomberg Businessweek.

“I’m pretty certain that my daughters will not end up working on Wall Street,” he said when asked about their future.

Obama went on to argue that the financial sector still needs to take a broader perspective on its role in the country and the lingering anger in the public toward Wall Street. Peter Schroeder has more: http://bit.ly/28QafUL.

REID: HOUSE-PASSED ZIKA DEAL A DISGRACE: Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) ripped a GOP deal to provide $1.1 billion to fight the Zika virus hours after it passed the House.

“It’s a disgrace. It’s a mockery of how Congress should treat an emergency,” he said from the Senate floor. “This is something that I’m sorry to say is part of the McConnell-Trump tactics we’ve found lately.”

Reid’s comments come after House Republicans approved the plan in an early morning vote over the protest of Democrats.

The Zika deal — which is attached to a larger military and veterans spending bill — would be partially paid for by using money from other health department proprieties, including the Ebola virus fund.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) tried to temper Democratic opposition, saying the House-passed deal “represents our only chance to put Zika control money to work right now.”

“The House did its part. Now the Senate needs to do its part,” he added. The Hill’s Jordain Carney takes us there: http://bit.ly/28TzZ3s.

FED WEIGHS CHANGES AFTER HEIST: The Federal Reserve is considering “enhanced monitoring” for certain kinds of transactions, after hackers stole $81 million from the Bangladesh central bank’s account at the New York branch, Fed chairman Janet Yellen told lawmakers Wednesday.

“We expect the institutions we supervise to make sure that they comply with procedures to control access to critical payment services and to review and insure that they’re meeting security requirements,” Yellen said in response to questions from Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), who said she was “very concerned” about the breach.

“I think this is a threat to the U.S. banking system,” Maloney said.

The New York Fed’s systems weren’t compromised, Yellen emphasized during a House Financial Services hearing on monetary policy.

In February, unknown hackers stole $81 million from the Bangladesh Bank account at the New York Fed in what is considered the largest cyberheist in history.

To pull off the heist, the hackers exploited a flaw in SWIFT, a messaging network used by banks across the globe to exchange information about financial transfers. The Hill’s Katie Bo Williams breaks it down: http://bit.ly/290n7pE.

GOP DRAWS BATTLE LINE WITH OBAMACARE: Speaker Paul Ryan on Wednesday formally unveiled the House GOP alternative plan for the Affordable Care Act, billing it as the culmination of years of party pledges and effort.

“For six years now, we’ve promised to repeal and replace ObamaCare and make healthcare actually affordable,” the Wisconsin Republican said at an event at the American Enterprise Institute. “Well, here it is: a real plan — in black and white — right here.”

The plan envisions a simpler system than ObamaCare with limited financial assistance, lighter regulation and less federal spending on healthcare. It allows for less generous, basic health plans, as opposed to ObamaCare plans, which must cover an array of required elements.

Democrats immediately attacked the plan, saying it is just a broad outline, and one that, if ever implemented, would roll back the coverage gains of ObamaCare. The Hill’s Peter Sullivan explains: http://bit.ly/28QazTu.

CONFEDERATE FLAG BAN DROPPED FROM SPENDING BILL: A measure to restrict the display of the Confederate battle flag in national cemeteries approved by the House last month has been pulled from the chamber’s final compromise spending bill.

The House passed a spending package along party lines early Thursday morning that includes appropriations for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), as well as emergency funding for combating the Zika virus.

Rep. Jared Huffman’s (D-Calif.) amendment, adopted as part of the House’s version of the 2017 VA spending bill, would have prohibited the large-scale display of the Confederate battle flag in cemeteries run by the VA, such as flying the banner over mass graves.

It would still have allowed families to still place small flags on individual graves on two days of the year: Memorial Day and Confederate Memorial Day. Here’s more from The Hill’s Cristina Marcos: http://bit.ly/28VG7qe.

TAX BREAK TALK: House Ways and Means Committee ranking member Sandy Levin (D-Mich.) on Thursday expressed optimism that Congress will eliminate the carried interest tax break in the future.

“If we go to the public … my guess is that the overwhelming number of people would say, overwhelmingly, that carried interest is a loophole that needs to go,” Levin said at a press conference.

Carried interest refers to the share of profits that investment fund managers take in exchange for running the funds. Carried interest is currently taxed as capital gains rather than like normal income.

Levin and Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) last year introduced legislation that would tax carried interest as income. The lawmakers spoke about the need to end the tax break along with members of the Patriotic Millionaires, a group of wealthy individuals who want to reduce income inequality. The Hill’s Naomi Jagoda tells us more: http://bit.ly/28VG7qx.

FURMAN SAYS PACIFIC TRADE DEAL WILL PASS THIS YEAR: A top Obama administration official said Thursday that Congress will pass an expansive Pacific Rim trade agreement before President Obama leaves office.

Jason Furman, chairman of the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers, said he expects lawmakers on Capitol Hill to pass the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) during the lame-duck session after the November election.

“I think the support is there,” Furman said during a discussion with Bloomberg Politics.
Furman said passing the TPP is “perfectly reasonable” — even with a new administration moving into the White House in January — because the agreement will have been available for public scrutiny for a year by that time, much longer than most legislation gets vetted. The Hill’s Vicki Needham tells us why: http://bit.ly/28ON3Du.

POLL: TRADE POPULAR IN SWING STATES AND WITH DEMS: Trade is more popular with voters in swing states than the presumptive Democratic and Republican presidential nominees might think, especially among Democrats, according to a new poll.

Voters in four battleground states — Colorado, Florida, Nevada and Ohio — expressed positive views about the U.S. expanding trade, even while Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump call for major changes to the nation’s global commercial outreach.

A new Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) poll on Wednesday shows that by a 55 to 32 percent margin swing-state voters say that new high-standard trade deals can help the U.S. economy and support good-paying jobs.
Democrats are particularly supportive, 66 to 25 percent.

All four states will play an outsized role in who wins the presidency in November: http://bit.ly/28TZS15.

Write us with tips, suggestions and news: slane@digital-staging.thehill.com, vneedham@digital-staging.thehill.com; pschroeder@digital-staging.thehill.com, and njagoda@digital-staging.thehill.com. Follow us on Twitter: @SylvanLane,  @VickofTheHill; @PeteSchroeder; and @NJagoda.