OVERNIGHT MONEY: Drilling Diamond

by Bernie Becker, Peter Schroeder, Erik Wasson and Vicki Needham - 05/12/11 12:37 AM ET

But before all that fun: The senators will first vote on a number of administration nominees, including several within the Treasury. Still, the center of attention will almost certainly be Peter Diamond, the nominee for the Federal Reserve Board who has (much to his chagrin) become a regular at the committee.

Diamond, a Nobel Prize winner in economics, has gotten committee approval twice, then seen strong GOP opposition, helmed by Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), prevent his nomination from reaching the Senate floor. Diamond cannot be blamed for hoping the third time will be the charm, yet it does not appear as if the landscape has fundamentally changed in his favor.

WHAT ELSE TO WATCH FOR:

Always a big day for talking deficits: As it stands, the Biden deficit commission will meet for a third time on Thursday, while President Obama is set to host the full Senate Republican caucus at the White House for a discussion of what it will take to raise the nation’s debt ceiling.

{mosads}An E2 cut-in: Our friends at OVERNIGHT ENERGY are at your service to bring an extensive breakdown of top oil-and-gas executives’ appearance before the Senate Finance Committee. (The topic: tax incentives for the industry.)

Now, back to regularly scheduled programming…: At House Oversight on Thursday, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) – aka Obama’s “tormenter-in-chief” – looks likely to call the administration to task over a draft executive order that would require federal contractors to disclose political contributions.

Issa had demanded, unsuccessfully, that Jack Lew, the White House budget director, testify. Now, after threat of a subpoena, Daniel Gordon, an administrator of the Office of Management and Budget’s federal procurement policy, is set to sit before the panel.

For its part, the administration argues that the order is designed to prevent politics from corrupting the procurement process. But the GOP believes the policy would be used to apply a “litmus test” to contractors in order to squeeze donations to the Obama campaign.

The hearing is also slated to feature some lobbying all-stars – the Aerospace Industries Association, Wiley Rein, the Professional Services Council and the U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce.

A quick word about tax reform: House Ways and Means comes back to the issue once more on Thursday, after already holding a string of hearings this Congress. Tomorrow’s tete-a-tete will focus on the potential impact of a tax overhaul on American companies’ place in the worldwide economy.

Back to Banking: Over in the House, settle in for a long one at Financial Services: The panel will likely consume most – if not all – of tomorrow’s daylight debating several bills that would make changes to Dodd-Frank.

One bill on tap for Thursday would delay the implementation of new rules on derivatives for 18 months, while a trio of bills would make several changes to the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. A fifth bill rounding out the markup would reform the National Flood Insurance Program.

Republicans and Democrats have thoroughly different takes on what the bills would accomplish. The GOP sees the measures as tweaks on the road to improvement; Democrats view them as a path toward a sliced-and-diced law.

And finally…: Lawmakers and Obama administration officials will discuss proposals for the federal government to set up a nine-person Civilian Property Realignment Commission, similar to the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission (BRAC), to decrease its real estate holdings.

Legislative proposals by Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.) and the administration to use a BRAC-like process to liquidate civilian properties, reduce the federal footprint and save upward of $15 billion will be the focus of the hearing. The U.S. controller and a State Department representative are scheduled to testify.

Economic indicators:

— The Labor Department is set to weekly initial unemployment claims.

— Also expected to be released: the producer price index, April retail sales and business inventories.

BREAKING WEDNESDAY:

Ch-Ch-Chaffetz: Rep. Jason Chaffetz, the chairman of the House Oversight subcommittee on foreign operations, grilled Rajiv Shah, the USAID administrator, about waste in his operation’s operations. The Utah Republican noted that one-third of USAID projects are lacking complete audits, just as the GOP announced plans to try to institute deep cuts to the State Department budget in 2012.

D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray gets his turn in the Oversight hot seat on Thursday (albeit at a different subcommittee).

And the survey says… A new Reuters/Ipsos poll finds Americans not necessarily afraid of using taxes to help reduce deficits, with 52 percent backing a mix of new revenue and spending cuts. That finding is not out of line with recent surveys on the issue.

WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED:

On the Money’s Wednesday:

Jeff Flake’s not huge on mimes.

Richard Burr gets Senate Finance seat, to Jim DeMint’s chagrin.

House appropriators plow ahead.

Conrad considers millionaire surtax.

Sens. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) want to keep public assistance money from going to places of ill repute.

And Baucus sees June as a possibility for Colombia trade vote

House conservatives want half as much deficit by next year.

Democrats: GOP approach on Wall Street would lead to higher gas prices.

Ways and Means clears unemployment insurance bill.

Business groups: It’s time to raise the debt ceiling.