OVERNIGHT FINANCE: Obama tax plan falls short with GOP

Quick q: Did everybody (cough, cough: 2016ers) get their flu vaccine?

TOMORROW STARTS TONIGHT: BUDGET FALL-OUT: GOP UNIMPRESSED BY OBAMA’S TAX PLAN, Bernie Becker for The Hill: “Republicans and Democrats have been at loggerheads for years over how to overhaul the tax code, and Tuesday’s [House Ways and Means] hearing showed off longstanding divisions over how comprehensive tax reform should be…

Three quick questions…

1.) What does Paul Ryan want? Becker: “[Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.)] and other Republicans on Tuesday specifically questioned why the Obama administration didn’t offer more proposals to help out the businesses — known as pass-throughs — that pay taxes through the individual system.”

{mosads}2.) What does President Obama want? Becker: “Obama and other Democrats have said that they have no interest in reducing the top individual tax rate, now almost 40 percent, but the administration has floated bolstering tax breaks for small businesses.”

3.) Where do both sides agree? Becker: “Republicans on the Ways and Means panel, while welcoming the president’s new proposals on the international tax system for corporations, also insisted that Obama’s tax reform plan falls far short when it comes to helping small businesses… Both sides want to reduce the top corporate rate, which now stands at 35 percent — Republicans to 25 percent, the Obama administration to 28 percent.” http://bit.ly/1BZzVTX

THIS IS OVERNIGHT FINANCE. Chin up, tomorrow is Hump Day. Tweet: @kevcirilli; email: kcirilli@digital-staging.thehill.com; and subscribe: http://digital-staging.thehill.com/signup/48. Pick up the pace…

HOT ON THE HILL: HOUSE VOTES TO REPEAL OBAMACARE. Cristina Marcos and Sarah Ferris: “The GOP House on Tuesday voted for the fourth time to repeal ObamaCare, but this time with instructions for several committees to replace the healthcare law with new policies. Passage fell largely along party lines by a vote of 239-186. Only three Republicans voted against repeal, while every Democrat in the chamber opposed the measure.” http://bit.ly/1x9Pu6o

OVER IN THE SENATE: DEMS BLOCK BILL TO REVERSE IMMIGRATION ACTION. From Alexander Bolton: “The Senate on Tuesday failed to move forward with legislation overturning President Obama’s executive actions on immigration after Democrats united to block it. Most of the Senate’s 55 Republicans backed the motion to proceed to the House bill in a 51-48 vote, but GOP Sen. Dean Heller (Nev.) voted against even considering the legislation.” http://bit.ly/1zcPzM1

Meanwhile…

SESSIONS PUTS DONOVAN IN HILL HOT-SEAT. Rebecca Shabad was there for The Hill: “A day after President Obama unveiled his fiscal 2016 budget blueprint, Sessions asked Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Shaun Donovan whether the proposal spends more than the limits set by a budget deal Obama signed in 2011.” 

Hearing transcript:

DONOVAN: Our budget overall reduces spending relative to current law.

SESSIONS: [interrupting with a laugh] You work for the taxpayers, Mr. Donovan. I’m asking you on their behalf a simple question. Does your budget spend more money next year than current law allows? 

DONOVAN: Overall, our budget reduces spending compared to current law… We are proposing to reverse sequestration.

SESSIONS: I’m going to ask you one more time. Let’s see if we can get this straight. You proposed to spend more next year than the Budget Control Act would allow? STORY: http://bit.ly/1x9IhDv.

ROYCE TO WHITE HOUSE: YOU FORGOT CYBER. Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.) is positioning himself as one of the leading lawmakers on cybersecurity concerns in the financial services sector. Cory Bennett reports for The Hill: “Why doesn’t the Office of Financial Research website have any reference to cybersecurity? That’s what Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.) wants to know, after the office recently redesigned its website. Housed within the Treasury Department, the OFR was created following the 2008 financial crisis to provide quality financial data for lawmakers and better analysis of the financial sector’s performance.” http://bit.ly/1LJ3y1l

NAM BLASTS BUDGET, via me: “Jay Timmons, president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), said Obama’s $4 trillion budget proposal released on Monday would hurt the economy during a speech at Purdue University. ‘You’re getting a world class education at Purdue, but it won’t matter if taxing and spending in Washington limits your opportunities. The president’s budget plan will shut the doors you want to walk through,’ Timmons said during his State of Manufacturing address.” http://bit.ly/1EEgFPo 

GOOD DAY: WALL STREET – – DOW RALLIES 300 POINTS. Anora Mahmudova and Barbara Kollmeyer for MarketWatch: “U.S. stocks rallied into the close for the second-straight session on Tuesday, sending Dow industrials rocketing more than 300 points, as equities kept pace with surging crude-oil prices. A 7% jump in crude oil futures delivered a fillip to energy shares…

“The S&P 500, +1.44%  closed 29.15 points, or 1.4%, higher at 2,050, with broad-based gains across all sectors. But energy stocks were the stars in Tuesdays trading, boosted by a big jump in oil prices.” http://on.mktw.net/1BT8iJZ

BAD DAY: CHELSEA CLINTON’S HUSBAND. Rob Copeland for The Wall Street Journal: “The hedge fund co-founded by Bill and Hillary Clinton’s son-in-law suffered losses tied to an ill-timed bet on Greece’s economic recovery, according to documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

“Eaglevale Partners LP, founded by Marc Mezvinsky and two former colleagues from Goldman Sachs Group Inc., told investors in a letter sent last week they had been “incorrect” on Greece, helping produce losses for the firm’s main fund during two of the past three years, according to the letter. Mr. Mezvinsky married Chelsea Clinton, the former first daughter, in 2010.

“The main fund dropped 3.6% last year, far trailing the 5.7% rise for similar hedge funds tracked by HFR Inc. That followed an Eaglevale gain of 2.06% in 2013 and a loss of 1.96% in 2012, the documents show. It returned 6.24% this January, helped by bets on the U.S. dollar, said a person familiar with the situation, putting it in positive territory since its inception in 2012.” http://on.wsj.com/16uujqC

— RT WSJ’s @pdacosta, Pedro da Costa: “It’s all connected: Hedge fund co-founded by Chelsea Clinton’s husband suffers losses tied to Greece.”

QUOTABLE: REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-Calif.), House minority leader, speaking at Brookings on Congressional Republicans: “They’re off the chart… They don’t believe in governance. They don’t believe in science and they don’t believe in Barack Obama. They have a trifecta going about being opposed to everything that’s proposed.” My recap: http://bit.ly/1zQyhGG

NOTABLE: S&P SETTLES WITH DOJ, via Pete Schroeder for The Hill: “Standard & Poor’s will pay $1.5 billion to the government to settle charges of wrongdoing leading up to the financial crisis. The credit rater, which announced the deal Tuesday, will pay $687.5 million to the Justice Department, $687.5 million to 19 states and the District of Columbia and another $125 to the California Public Employees Retirement System.”

— BACKSTORY, via Schroeder: “The settlement draws to a close a long-running legal battle between the rater and the government, after the Justice Department filed a 2013 suit alleging the rater engaged in ‘egregious’ conduct leading up to the financial collapse of 2008… The government accused the rater of misleading investors with lofty ratings, leading to losses in the billions of dollars.” http://bit.ly/1K93mab

HAPPENING TOMORROW: FSOC EXEC MEETING. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew will hold an executive session of the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) on Wednesday, including a discussion regarding the Council’s outstanding notice seeking public comment on asset management products and activities, per an FSOC release.

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