OVERNIGHT FINANCE: House passes budget; Dems see threat to regulators

THE SCENE – – Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) trying to ask another question at a Senate Banking Committee hearing to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew. “I was trying to compliment you,” Lew said, after praising Corker for his bipartisan work on housing finance reform. Corker didn’t care. “Thank you, but I don’t need it,” Corker said.

TOMORROW STARTS TONIGHT: HOUSE BUDGET PASSES. From The Hill’s Rebecca Shabad: “House Republicans adopted a 2016 budget in a 228-199 vote on Wednesday that represents a major victory for GOP leaders after a rocky start to their year. The 2016 budget would increase defense spending next year by boosting the Pentagon’s war fund to $96 billion, well above President Obama’s $58 billion request.

“The provision won over dozens of defense hawks including members of the Armed Services Committee who have called for more robust resources for the Pentagon. Only 17 Republicans voted against the budget, only a few more than the 12 who voted against last year’s budget. Every House Democrat present voted against it.

{mosads}”The Senate is expected to vote on the GOP budget by the end of the week, which if approved will set up a challenge for Republicans in both chambers. While the two GOP budgets are similar, key differences will make it difficult to reconcile the two blueprints — the next step in the budgetary process. The last time a Republican-controlled Congress approved a joint conference agreement was in 2005.” http://bit.ly/1Nhl5f6

ELIZABETH WARREN ENTERS CFPB BUDGET BATTLE. Pete Schroeder for the hometown paper: Senate Democrats are accusing Republicans of trying to undermine financial regulators with their latest budget proposal. [Warren] said the GOP had put financial protections ‘in the center of the bullseye’ with their new budget proposal… Warren, joined by Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Al Franken (D-Minn.), blasted the GOP budget Wednesday, targeting particular ire at a provision that calls for lawmakers to set the funding levels for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

— THE BOTTOM LINE: Schroeder: “The Senate Budget Committee added an amendment to the GOP budget that would subject the agency’s budget to the congressional appropriations process. Currently the CFPB receives its funding directly from the Federal Reserve, and bureau advocates [like Warren] argue that giving appropriators control would allow Republicans to starve the agency of funds.” Story: http://bit.ly/1HGKMao

THIS IS OVERNIGHT FINANCE. Keep smiling. It’s Tuesday. Tweet: @kevcirilli; email: kcirilli@digital-staging.thehill.com; and subscribe:http://digital-staging.thehill.com/signup/48. Pick up the pace…

QUICK Q: WARREN-MANIA HURTING PROGRESSIVES? CNN’s MJ Lee: “Martin O’Malley says he wants to bring ‘fundamental change to the culture of Wall Street.’ Jim Webb is lashing out against the ‘greed and irresponsibility in the financial sector.’ For years, Bernie Sanders has railed against corporate excesses. But they all have one significant shortcoming in the eyes of some progressive activists who otherwise agree with their message: They’re not Elizabeth Warren.

“In the earliest stage of the 2016 presidential campaign, Warren’s devout fans — long enamored of the Massachusetts senator’s anti-Wall Street, middle-class-warrior rhetoric — insist that they’re simply not interested in anyone else…”

— MJ’S BOTTOM LINE: “Their polite refusal to back another Democrat, at least for the time being, underscores the unusual cult of personality that has developed around Warren, who in just a few years has transformed herself from a Harvard law professor into a political icon and leader of the Senate’s liberal wing.” http://cnn.it/1CaKcxb 

— BOLD PROGRESSIVES’ RESPONDS. TJ Helmstetter tells me: “Our organization isn’t focused on any one candidate — we’re seeking to shift the political environment and ensure the Democratic Party stands for big, bold, popular ideas that meet this economic populist moment.”

FOR YOUR RADAR – – > BERGDAHL CHARGED WITH DESERTION. Kristina Wong: “The Army has charged Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl with desertion, reigniting the debate over whether President Obama paid too high a price to secure his release from the Taliban.” http://bit.ly/1FHjjVx

QUOTABLE, U.S. Chamber of Commerce CEO Tom Donohue: “Too many have made Dodd-Frank a line in the sand. You’re either for it or you’re against it… Dodd-Frank is not the beginning and the end of the debate over our financial system… It’s going to take an honest conversation and a thoughtful dialogue… Yes, we need the big global banks that our opponents are so eager to break up. They may not like it, but those banks provide services that no one else can.” Schroeder’s story: http://bit.ly/19lLN8R

RICHARD SHELBY PUTS JACK LEW IN HILL HOT SEAT: My latest: “Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) told Treasury Secretary Jack Lew that regulators were putting ‘the cart before the horse’ in crafting regulations for financial institutions. Shelby argued that regulators that make up the Financial Stability and Oversight Council (FSOC), of which Lew is a member, should wait until the Federal Reserve finishes implementing its policies instead of moving ahead with designating firms as ‘Systemically Important Financial Institutions’ (SIFIs).”

IN THE WEEDS – – > HOUSE FINANCIAL SERVICES MARK-UP: Trey Garrison for HousingWire: “A hard slog of a markup day continues Wednesday into early afternoon as the House Financial Services Committee moves ahead with the often tedious work of marking up 11 key regulatory relief bills, of which several could have a big impact on mortgage lending and mortgage finance.

Let’s drink…

SHOT, via Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), top Democrat on the panel: “I must say you did work with us to garner bipartisan support for smaller bills — only to orchestrate their failure by packaging them with toxic measures that are simply unacceptable special interest giveaways.”

CHASER, via House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas): “These bills – all of them, again, sponsored and co-sponsored by Republicans and Democrats alike – either passed the House or this committee during the previous Congress. In fact, 9 of these 11 bills we will consider today passed the House or this committee without any opposing vote at all.  In other words, no Member voted against them. So it is difficult, perhaps even impossible, to be more bipartisan or less controversial than these 11 bills that we consider today.” http://bit.ly/19QOYGY

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