Overnight Finance: McConnell tees up Puerto Rico vote | Britain’s credit rating slashed | Clinton vows to appoint trade prosecutor

MCCONNELL TEES UP PUERTO RICO BILL: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is teeing up a vote on the House-passed Puerto Rico bill, ahead of a looming end-of-the-month deadline.

The Senate Republican leader lined up a procedural vote on the debt legislation on Monday evening. Absent a deal, the Senate will take its first vote on the legislation as early as Wednesday.

If McConnell can get every GOP senator to support the Puerto Rico bill, he will still need at least six Democrats to agree to move forward to get the House measure over the initial procedural hurdle. The Hill’s Jordain Carney with what’s at stake: http://bit.ly/28YkW3O

DEM SENATOR URGES SUPPORT: McConnell’s move came after Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) pushed his colleagues to back the House-passed Puerto Rico debt-relief bill ahead of a looming July 1 deadline.

“This legislation that the House has crafted is certainly not the bill that I would have crafted, but it’s the only bill that we have before us that could get by the Tea Party element in the House,” Nelson said from the Senate floor Monday. “We’re out of time. We need to act, and this bill is the only bill moving.”

Nelson’s comments are a marked shift after weeks of silence from Senate Democrats, who have largely refused to publicly support the House bill and argued it needs to be changed.

If senators make any changes to the House bill, the legislation will require another vote in the lower chamber, guaranteeing it doesn’t get to President Obama’s desk until after the deadline: http://bit.ly/29hOTg9.

LEW: SENATE MUST PASS PUERTO RICO BILL NOW: Treasury Secretary Jack Lew is warning the Senate that any delay to legislation to fix Puerto Rico’s debt crisis could carry dire consequences for the island.

In a letter sent Monday, Lew said that if Congress fails to pass a bill by July 1, a torrent of litigation from creditors could put the territory’s public services at risk.

On that date, the island has $2 billion in debt payments due, and island officials have warned they do not have the funds to pay it. Congress is working on legislation to allow the island to restructure its $70 billion in debt under strict new oversight, and Lew called for immediate action on that bill.

“In the event of default, and if creditor lawsuits are successful, a judge could immediately order Puerto Rico to pay creditors over essential services such as health, education, and public safety,” he wrote. “This could force Puerto Rico to lay off police officers, shut down public transit, or close a hospital.”

Lew added that even if Congress were to miss the July 1 deadline and pass something retroactively, it would not be able to halt such a judge’s order, meaning the island’s public services will be at risk if no bill is passed by the end of the week.

“Doing nothing now to end the debt crisis will result in a chaotic, disorderly unwinding with widespread consequences,” he said. The Hill’s Peter Schroeder tells us more: http://bit.ly/28YACrK.

S&P, FITCH SLASH BRITAIN’S CREDIT RATINGS: Standard & Poor’s Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings slashed the United Kingdom’s credit grade on Monday in the wake of the country’s stunning referendum vote to leave the European Union.

{mosads}S&P dropped the U.K.’s credit rating from AAA to AA, according to multiple reports, while Fitch demoted the U.K.’s grade from AA+ to AA, pointing to the economic risk and uncertainty stemming from last Thursday’s vote.

“In our opinion, this outcome is a seminal event, and will lead to a less predictable, stable, and effective policy framework in the U.K,” the agency said in a statement obtained by CNBC. “We have reassessed our view of the U.K.’s institutional assessment and now no longer consider it a strength in our assessment of the rating.” I have more for you here: http://bit.ly/292YUzz.

BREXIT POLITICAL CHAOS TANKS MARKETS AGAIN: From Politico’s Ben White recaps a rough day: “Markets suffered another day of Brexit-induced chaos as the British pound continued to plunge, big banks came under pressure and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew went on TV to reassure the public that, really, this isn’t the Lehman Brothers-induced global meltdown all over again.

“The pain was slightly less severe on Wall Street than on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down nearly 300 points in afternoon trading after falling over 600 points to close out last week. The S&P 500 dropped close to 2 percent to its lowest level since March as the overall decline in European shares since the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union reached 11 percent.
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“The British pound dropped another 3.6 percent to fall to levels not seen since 1985. The FTSE 100 in London dropped 2.6 percent and the German DAX index fell another 3 percent after falling nearly 7 percent on Friday. The dollar gained strength while gold rose and U.S. Treasury bond yields fell as investors once again sought safety.”: http://politi.co/28Z4uQo.

HAPPY MONDAY and welcome to Overnight Finance, where we’re keeping England’s fragile heart in our thoughts and prayers. I’m Sylvan Lane, and here’s your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line.

Tonight’s highlights include Sanders and Clinton on trade and new online worries for the IRS.

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.

ON TAP TOMORROW:

• Senate Finance Committee: Hearing entitled “Examining the Proposed Medicare Part B Drug Demonstration,” 10 a.m. http://1.usa.gov/28QApUG.
• Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee on Primary Health and Retirement Security: Hearing entitled “Small Business Health Care: Costs and Options,” 2 p.m. http://1.usa.gov/28QEmso.

IRS UNDER FIRE FROM HACKERS: The Internal Revenue Service canceled its embattled electronic PIN authentication service last week after hackers once again tried to steal user credentials.

The PINs made sure attackers cannot file fraudulent returns.

In a press release, the agency said it was able to stop the attack before it affected more than “a small number of e-File PINs.”

This attack only affected users who had not already filed their taxes.

“We were able to identify this issue because of additional defenses put in place earlier this year, and backend protections remain in place,” said the IRS. The Hill’s Joe Uchill explains: http://bit.ly/295ZKfD.

CLINTON VOWS TO APPOINT TRADE PROSECUTOR: Hillary Clinton said Monday that she would appoint a trade prosecutor to protect U.S. workers against bad global policies.

The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee said during a rally in Cincinnati that the nation’s economy will be bolstered and workers’ lives improved by opposing the sweeping Pacific Rim trade agreement under consideration in Congress.

“We will defend American jobs and American workers by saying no to bad trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and unfair trade practices like when China dumps cheap steel in our markets or uses weak rules of origin to undercut our car-makers,” she said during the rally in Ohio with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).

Ohio is one of several swing states that will help decide whether Clinton or Republican rival Donald Trump moves into the White House next year.

Clinton told a cheering crowd that the trade prosecutor would report to the president to “end the abuse of our market, our workers, our people.” http://bit.ly/2909GJw.

SANDERS URGES DEM TO OPPOSE HOLDING TPP VOTE: Bernie Sanders is urging Democrats to oppose holding a vote on a massive Pacific Rim trade deal.

The Vermont senator wants the party’s platform to make its opposition clear on the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which the White House is trying to push through Congress before President Obama leaves office.

“The Democratic Party must go on record in opposition to holding a vote on the trade deal during the lame-duck session of Congress and beyond,” Sanders said.

Sanders has said that the TPP would have “disastrous” consequences for U.S. workers and the environment: http://bit.ly/28Zsvtp.

MANUFACTURES PUSH FOR PACIFIC TRADE DEAL PASSAGE: Manufacturers are calling on U.S., Mexican and Canadian leaders to join forces to advance an expansive Pacific Rim agreement before President Obama leaves office.

Jay Timmons, president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), on Monday urged President Obama, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to pass the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) to bulk up the trading relationship between the three nations.

“As you seek to advance the North American relationship this week, manufacturers in the United States urge you to build on the strong basis our three countries have forged by advancing the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), taking additional actions to facilitate North American trade and investment and promoting a pro-growth business and innovation climate across North America,” Timmons wrote in a letter ahead of the North American Leaders’ Summit starting Wednesday in Ottawa, Canada.  The Hill’s Vicki Needham tells us more: http://bit.ly/29hN02T.

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.