Week ahead: Senate Dems face tough trade vote

President Obama’s trade agenda will be up for debate in the Senate next week, with a vote possible as early as Tuesday.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Thursday moved to begin debate on a contentious fast-track trade bill that would expand Obama’s negotiating authority as he looks to wrap up the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Obama has made an aggressive push to court Democrats, who are sharply divided, to support what he hopes will be a bipartisan coalition behind his trade agenda.

{mosads}But liberals, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and labor groups argue that the agenda would put U.S. workers in direct competition with low-wage workers overseas. Obama and supporters say it would help boost economic growth and U.S. businesses.

Trade isn’t the only controversial item on the Senate’s docket. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) is expected to unveil a hotly anticipated Federal Reserve overhaul bill. Shelby aims to chair a markup of the bill next week.

It’s unclear whether Shelby’s legislation will be able to attract enough Senate Democrats to pass through the upper chamber. According to an outline, the bill would establish a congressional commission for restructuring the central bank. 

The legislation is also expected to make changes to how the Financial Stability Oversight Council designates an institution as systemically important, or “too big to fail.” The bill would increase the threshold from $50 billion to $500 billion.

Elsewhere on Capitol Hill, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) will hold a full committee hearing Thursday dubbed Protecting Consumers: Financial Data Security in the Age of Computer Hackers.

Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wis.), who chairs the Financial Services subcommittee on oversight and investigations, will have a hearing Wednesday on the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform law.

San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams will speak Tuesday in New York City about the economy. Fed-watchers will be looking for clues on when the central bank’s policymakers will raise interest rates, which have stayed near zero since the economic collapse. 

Most economists expect a rate increase to happen some time between this summer and early next year.

HEADLINES FROM THE HILL:

— Senator drafting Federal Reserve overhaul, by Kevin Cirilli: http://bit.ly/1EluM73

— Sen. Warren seeks to give government more power, by Kevin Cirilli:http://bit.ly/1QtQyy4

— Dems want longer comment period on fiduciary rules, by Kevin Cirilli:http://bit.ly/1csHviD

— Nike backs trade deal ahead of Obama visit, by Jordan Fabian: http://bit.ly/1Eik4zp

— Jobless rate falls to 7-year low, by Vicki Needham: http://bit.ly/1F4lJMD

This story was updated at 10:20 a.m.