OVERNIGHT MONEY: Supercommittee back on the hearing circuit

WHAT ELSE WE’RE WATCHING

Fed chat: Don’t forget about the Federal Reserve’s policy-setting committee — they will convene tomorrow for the start of a two-day meeting where discussions will focus on whether to tweak its current policy heading. Enthusiasm about this meeting is slightly lower than recent ones, given that the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) just recently got under way on “Operation Twist” — its attempt to boost the economy by overloading the Fed’s portfolio with longer-term securities. Nonetheless, chatter abounds about potential next moves by the central bank to boost a lagging economy, including setting an explicit inflation or unemployment target that would guide its policies. Either way, when the FOMC wraps up its meeting on Wednesday and issues a statement, headlines will follow — Ben Bernanke is slated to give a public press conference to hash out the Fed’s thoughts and decisions.

Farm bill harvest: Tuesday marks the self-imposed deadline for the top lawmakers on the Senate and House Agriculture committees to offer up their recommendations to the supercommittee for cuts to farm programs. The panels have said they want to offer no more than $23 billion in cuts, and those recommendations will come before they begin work on a new farm bill next year. Recommendations could include changing direct payments to farmers into a type of income insurance program.

LOOSE CHANGE

Here’s one for the Gipper: Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood — a former Republican congressman — is scheduled to head across the Potomac tomorrow to help unveil a statue of Ronald Reagan at the airport that bears the 40th president’s name. 

{mosads}The Reagan statue weighs in at a hefty 900 pounds, stands 9 feet tall and, as The Huffington Post notes, will make its debut as part of the celebrations of what would have been Reagan’s 100th birthday.

To Russia with trade love: An administration official emails that the next round of negotiations with Russia over its World Trade Organization accession will be held next week in Geneva. U.S. negotiators are continuing to push Russia on intellectual property rights, investment, sanitary barriers and other issues raised over the weekend by the heads of the congressional trade committees.

The U.S. Trade Representative said it is “confident” that Russia will accede in December, a stance that makes some in Congress nervous the U.S. will cave in on long-held demands over compact disc piracy, mp3 websites, poultry barriers and restrictions on investment in automotive plants. If Russia is admitted to the WTO, Congress will have to vote to lift the Jackson-Vanik amendment permanently from application to Russia. The amendment, which prevents permanent normal trade relations, was put in place to pressure the Soviet Union to release Jewish émigrés in the 1980s. If Russia accedes and the U.S. does not lift Jackson-Vanik, Russia would be able to retaliate against U.S. goods for the U.S. failure to grant permanent normal relations.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

Construction spending: The Department of Commerce releases its report on spending that is broken down between residential, non-residential, and public expenditures on new construction. The monthly changes are volatile and subject to huge revisions and rarely has a market impact. 

ISM Index: The Institute for Supply Management releases its index that measures the pace of growth of the manufacturing sector.

BREAKING MONDAY

Get on the minibus: Senate Democrats are
ready to package another group of 2012 spending bills in a “minibus,”
and plan to begin floor consideration Wednesday or Thursday. The first minibus, which contains funding for the Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Transportation and Housing and Urban Development departments, is up for a vote on final passage Tuesday and is expected to pass. The bills would then head to a House-Senate conference.

Parsing Perry: The nonpartisan Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, taking a deep dive into Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s flat-tax plan, finds the proposal would bring in close to $1 trillion less in revenue in 2015 — a 27 percent deduction — when compared with current law. 

The tax center said, based on public statements from Perry’s campaign, that the governor would allow the Bush tax cuts and other provisions to expire on schedule. If the Bush rates and other provisions were extended, the lost revenue would amount to $570 billion.

As tax center experts had previously noted, the Perry plan would be a windfall for the richest taxpayers — with 96 percent of those making north of $500,000 getting a tax cut, according to Bloomberg. Overall, about 40 percent of Americans would pay less, while 40 percent, many of them in the middle class, would pay more. 

WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED

— Durbin calls on banks to release earnings from fees

— Grover Norquist could have problem with GOP supercommittee offer

— Amid controversy, Cain defends tax plan

— Rockefeller wants assurances Mexican trucks adhere to safety standards

— GAO details Fed’s efforts to save AIG

— MF Global, headed by former governor, declares bankruptcy

— Trade committee chairmen voice worries on Russia WTO bid