Week ahead: Ex-Im supporters look to force vote

The fight over the Export-Import Bank is taking center stage as supporters try to force a vote to reauthorize its charter.

Rep. Stephen Fincher (R-Tenn.) set the wheels in motion by circulating a discharge petition to bypass GOP leaders and bring the bill to the House floor.

He needs to secure 218 signatures needed to force a vote on the bank, whose congressional charter lapsed June 30.

{mosads}The business community, which says the bank helps sustain thousands of American jobs, believes it’s poised for a win over Tea Partyers who deride the institution as corporate welfare.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) both oppose to the bank.

But centrist Republicans are looking to build support and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) says Democrats will help back the petition.

Lawmakers will also begin turning their attention to the debt ceiling, with Treasury Secretary Jack Lew setting a Nov. 5 deadline for Congress to raise the limit or risk a national default.

That gives lawmakers only a few weeks to act, just as outgoing Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and President Obama are expected to begin budget talks.

Elsewhere, the Obama administration is working to defend its proposed fiduciary rule for financial advisers. Support for the proposal among Democrats has deteriorated out of concern it will hurt low- and middle-income Americans by making it more expensive for them to seek financial advice.

Labor Secretary Tom Perez will be making the case for the rule to Democrats.

On Capitol Hill, the House Financial Services Committee will have a hearing on Thursday titled “The Future of Housing in America: 50 Years of HUD and its impact on Federal Housing Policy.”

The Federal Reserve’s policymakers will release a summary of their September meeting on Thursday. The Federal Open Market Committee is sure to give clues about whether Fed policymakers are going to raise interest rates soon.

Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen and her team decided not to raise rates in September, a sign that they aren’t yet confident in domestic and global economies. The rate has remained near zero percent since the 2008 economic collapse.

The same day the Fed releases its meeting information, San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank president John Williams is scheduled to speak in the afternoon.

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