OVERNIGHT MONEY: The (Chinese) president has landed

Currency will undoubtedly be a hot topic during Hu’s time here in the United States, with Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and two other Democrats announcing this week that they plan to introduce legislation aimed at pushing China to appreciate its renminbi.

But other issues –economic development and intellectual property, to name two – are also expected to be on the list of subjects. Reuters reported Tuesday on business deals that were announced before the Chinese president even landed: An agreement that will allow General Electric to produce 50 gas turbines for China and a pair of cotton import agreements. 

Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), the chairman of the Finance Committee, also pressed Hu on intellectual property earlier this week. 

What Else to Watch For:

The Business Meeting: The White House has released the companies scheduled to be represented at Wednesday’s gathering. On the American side: Microsoft, Goldman Sachs, Motorola, Westinghouse Electric, Sybase, General Electric, Coca-Cola, Dupont, Dow, Boeing, Intel, the Carlyle Group, HSBC and Cargill. As for the Chinese: Lenovo, China Investment Corporation, Wanxiang Group and Haier. 

Break Out the Red Pen: The House Rules Committee is scheduled to gather on Wednesday afternoon to mark up a resolution aiming to transition non-defense discretionary spending to fiscal year 2008 levels. 

The markup would pave the way for the full House to vote on returning to 2008 spending levels, rather than allowing Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.), the Budget Committee chairman, to set a spending ceiling on his own. (Ryan was given that power in the House rules package approved this month.)

The resolution is expected to hit the House floor next week, thus fulfilling the pledge made by Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the majority leader, to have weekly votes on spending cuts. (From the GOP perspective, the vote would also put Democrats on record as opposing cuts the same week as President Obama delivers his State of the Union address.)

More on the Sino Summit: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade and the U.S-China Business Council are set to host a seminar for business executives visiting from China, with both American and Chinese officials invited to give remarks. 

Labor Speaks: Richard Trumka, the president of the AFL-CIO, is slated to speak about the political landscape and the economy at the National Press Club on Wednesday. 

Economic Indicators:

— The Commerce Department is set to drop housing starts for December

— And the American Petroleum Institute is expected to release its weekly figures on gasoline production and inventories. 

Breaking Tuesday:

The Merger: The Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department on Tuesday gave the go-ahead for Comcast to obtain a majority stake in NBC, The Hill’s Gautham Nagesh reports.

Comcast would own 51 percent of NBC if everything proceeds, with G.E. owning the rest. 

Tuesday’s approvals did come with a few strings attached: The Comcast-NBCU partnership will have to give competing providers a reasonable price for its content, while Comcast also agreed to maintain the same amount of local programming and to air more independent and children’s programming.

But even with those strings, Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) and a Democratic member of the F.C.C. said the merger put too much power in one company’s hands.

A Catch?: President Obama may have ordered a broad review of government regulations, but the Wall Street Journal reports that the review will largely skip over regulations dealing with the overhaul of financial regulations and the health care law.

That’s because, according to a White House official, the review will concentrate on old, not new regulations.

Volcker, Vetted: The Financial Stability Oversight Council, in its third ever meeting, unanimously approved a new study and recommendations on implementing the “Volcker Rule,” our Peter Schroeder reports. 

The study found that banks should not be allowed to have impermissible proprietary trading desks or to bail out hedge funds, and should have strong compliance programs.

The Volcker Rule – named for the former Fed chairman – was included in the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill to keep banks from making risky proprietary trades.  The study the F.S.O.C. approved Tuesday is meant to serve as a roadmap for regulators who actually have to implement the Volcker Rule and other parts of Dodd-Frank. 

Power of the Purse: Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), the new chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is renewing the threat to withhold American dues to the United Nations, The Washington Times reports, unless the body undergoes certain reforms. 

In fact, one of the foreign affairs panel’s first hearings this Congress, now scheduled for next week, is titled: “The United Nations: Urgent Problems That Need Congressional Action.” Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.), the committee’s ranking member, says he also has concerns about the U.N., but warned against only making dues available after reforms. 

What You Might Have Missed:

On the Money’s Tuesday:

— Kent Conrad says the farm bill and deficit reduction will be the focus of his last two years in the Senate.

— A Wall Street lobbying group says it’s better for Dodd-Frank regulations to be right than on time. 

— A progressive group says it’s putting seven figures into an ad campaign that looks to dissuade officials from putting Social Security into any deficit-reduction blueprint.

— The home-builder confidence slump continues. 

— And a House Republican wants answers from Elizabeth Warren.