Overnight Finance: Lew sets Nov. 5 debt deadline

TOMORROW STARTS TONIGHT: TREASURY SETS NOV. 5 DEBT DEADLINE. From The Hill’s Pete Schroeder: Congress will need to address the debt limit by Nov. 5 or risk a catastrophic default on the nation’s debt, according to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew. The deadline is the first the Obama administration has set for raising the $18.1 trillion debt limit, and comes in somewhat earlier than what most experts had predicted.

The timeline gives lawmakers just a few weeks to hammer out some sort of agreement, and sets the stage for what could be a hectic scramble, particularly in the House as Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is looking to accomplish as much as possible before resigning at the end of October.

{mosads}In a new letter to Congress, Lew said the latest figures coming into his department show that the government will have less than $30 billion on hand “on or around” Nov. 5. He added that that amount would be “far short” of what is needed on certain days, when government bills can total as much as $60 billion. http://bit.ly/1PQM8QS

THIS IS OVERNIGHT FINANCE, and are you ready for the hurricane this weekend? Tweet: @kevcirilli; email: kcirilli@digital-staging.thehill.com; and subscribe: http://digital-staging.thehill.com/signup/48. Back to work…

EXCLUSIVE: ECONOMISTS SLAM BROOKINGS FOR CAVING TO ELIZABETH WARREN. In an exclusive letter obtained first by The Hill, top economists are attacking Brookings for forcing nonresident economics fellow Robert Litan to resign after Warren suggested he used the Brookings’ name to peddle an industry-backed study critical of the administration. Here’s the letter:

“As economists who have served in or been aligned with various Democratic Administrations, we are writing to express our concern over our colleague Bob Litan’s treatment at the hands of the Brookings Institution and Senator Elizabeth Warren. Businesses sometimes finance policy research much as advocacy groups or other interests do.  A reader can question the source of the financing on all sides, but ultimately the quality of the work and the integrity of the author are paramount.  In Bob’s Litan’s case, both have been impeccable over a career of four decades.  And, in keeping with those standards, he has been completely transparent about the support for, and conduct of, the study in question, as both Brookings and Senator Warren were well aware from the day he first testified before the Congress on the matter. To attack him as being “bought,” or to sever ties with him over an incidental bureaucratic issue, is below the standards that support free and open policy debate. 

“Moreover, Senator Warren’s approach (and Brookings’ complicity with it) threatens ad hominem attack on any author who may be associated with an industry or interest whose views are contrary to hers.  Those who differ with Litan instead should offer a substantive rebuttal to the paper in question, which would do much more to clarify the issue than implicitly depicting him as being inherently corrupted by the sponsorship of his work.  This incident takes thinkers who share important values far too close to the ideological, fact-free schisms that characterize the other party.  Our side should avoid going down that road at all costs.”

— WHO SIGNED: W. Bowman Cutter, Roosevelt Institute; Everett Ehrlich, ESC Company; Robert Z. Lawrence, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University; Joseph Minarik, Committee for Economic Development; Hal Singer, Economists, Incorporated.

JOBS PREP, via WSJ: “The September jobs report will show the U.S. economy’s resilience in the face of stock-market turmoil and economic troubles abroad. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal estimate payroll growth of 200,000 and a jobless rate holding steady at 5.1%.” http://on.wsj.com/1hf1xyp

MORE MOMENTUM FOR EX-IM: PELOSI BACKS DISCHARGE PETITION. One day after I exclusively reported that Rep. Stephen Fincher (R-Tenn.) is moving behind the scenes to file a discharge petition to reauthorize the embattled bank, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is throwing her support behind the bipartisan push, which we’ve reported for weeks has the 218 votes needed. Mike Lillis for The Hill: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) vowed Thursday that Democrats will happily join Republican supporters of the Export-Import Bank in their bid to force a vote to renew its charter… Pelosi, who like most Democrats is a strong supporter of the bank, said Thursday that her party will endorse that petition in “overwhelming” numbers — provided Fincher can make up the difference with Republican signatures. http://bit.ly/1VsOxTq

GOP WARNS OBAMA ON TOBACCO, via Vicki Needham: A pair of North Carolina Senate Republicans said Thursday that targeting tobacco in a sweeping trans-Pacific trade agreement puts congressional approval at risk. Sens. Thom Tillis and Richard Burr argued that they will work to defeat the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) if tobacco is excluded from protections provided to other agricultural products in the pact. http://bit.ly/1QNExD2

RETAILERS SWIPE AT BANKS OVER MICROCHIP MANDATE, via Cory Bennett: Retailers are appealing to Capitol Hill ahead of a Thursday deadline requiring them to install machines that accept a more secure, microchip-embedded credit card, or foot the cost of any credit card fraud. In a bid to reduce the rash of cyber crime that has plagued the U.S. private sector, credit card issuers announced in recent years they would stop absorbing the cost of fraudulent transactions at merchants that haven’t upgraded their payment terminals to accept the new cards.

That switch finally occurs Thursday.  Financial institutions say the move will drastically reduce counterfeit fraud and help thwart hackers. But retailers maintain they haven’t had the time to make the multi-billion dollar transition to the new technology and believe the change will only shift digital fraud to other outlets. The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA), a leading D.C. advocate for merchants, made its concerns known in a letter that hit Hill offices on Wednesday. http://bit.ly/1iPh7lG

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