OVERNIGHT MONEY: Circling back to the IRS

Carter Hull, a Washington-based tax law specialist charged with reviewing the tax-exemption forms, told investigators he was asked to send an application to a senior adviser to Lois Lerner, something that had never before happened in his 48-year career. 

That claim was first revealed on Wednesday.

{mosads}Meanwhile, Democrats are stressing that the current congressional inquiry hasn’t found any evidence of political motivation. 

Rep. Elijah Cummings (Md.), the panel’s top Democrat, said Tuesday that Republicans had wrongly been accusing the White House of playing a role in the targeting. 

Democrats have been raising new questions about whether the audit work of Treasury’s inspector general for tax administration, J. Russell George, left holes big enough to give Republicans the ability to attack the White House. 

In other IRS news, Werfel said on Wednesday that there was no evidence that the targeting of groups seeking tax-exempt status extended to the business world.

So expect plenty of back-and-forth again on Thursday. 

WHAT ELSE WE’RE WATCHING

He’s back: On Thursday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke returns to Capitol Hill for an encore performance to discuss the central bank’s semiannual monetary policy report to Congress with the Senate Banking Committee.

During a meeting on Wednesday, Bernanke said the central bank would only curtail its massive monetary stimulus effort when the economy was ready to sail on its own. He urged lawmakers to deal with the looming debt-ceiling issue, arrest sequestration’s arbitrary cuts and seek out long-term solutions to the nation’s growing debt. 

Burning down housing finance: The House Financial Services Committee will open up a GOP proposal to revamp the housing finance system to Republican and Democratic scrutiny at a hearing on Thursday. The GOP plan unveiled last week would eliminate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and end the government guarantee for mortgages, an idea that isn’t sitting well with most Democrats or industry leaders.

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), a lead co-sponsor of the Senate’s bipartisan effort, called the House measure an “ideologically pure exercise that will never have a single Democrat support it.”

He said he doesn’t expect the plan to gain any traction outside of the House panel because it “upends” the housing finance system by ending the government guarantee and, in turn, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage.

A little more tax talk: Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) will join forces again to update the Economic Club of Washington on their tax reform efforts.

Nominations time: There’s a new trend on Capitol Hill, and the Senate Banking Committee will try to maintain the momentum by approving another batch of nominees on Thursday. The panel is set to approve, on a party-line vote, Rep. Mel Watt (D-N.C.), President Obama’s nominee to lead the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said Wednesday that he and the panel’s other Republicans will oppose Watt’s nomination.

The panel also is set to push through Jason Furman to be chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers; Kara Stein and Michael Piwowar to be members of the Securities and Exchange Commission; Richard Metsger to be a member of the National Credit Union Administration Board; and Mary Jo White, to be a member of the SEC for a term expiring June 5, 2019.

More on that front: The Senate Finance Committee on Thursday will consider three nominations — Michael Thornton, to serve a second term on the U.S. Tax Court, Joseph Nega, to serve on the U.S. Tax Court, and F. Scott Kieff, to be a member of the U.S. International Trade Commission.

Floor action: The Senate voted 60-40 on Wednesday to end debate on the the controversial nomination of Tom Perez to be secretary of Labor.

The close vote came after several GOP senators complained that Perez has engaged in “ethically questionable” actions while heading the civil rights division at the Justice Department.

The vote sets up 30 hours of debate before a final vote on Perez, who has faced tough opposition from members of the Senate GOP who have questioned how he has run his division. 

Don’t forget about trade: Sure, there are taxes, monetary policy and nominations to chatter about, but the House Ways and Means Committee will hit on another hot topic. Lawmakers will talk to Michael Froman, the U.S. Trade Representative, to discuss the Obama administration’s far-reaching trade agenda. Trade promotion authority is likely a top agenda item, but Froman has been busy in his first month in the job and will have plenty to talk about, from Europe to the Asia-Pacific. 

The hearing takes place amid the 18th round of Trans-Pacific Partnership trade talks in Malaysia, where Japan had made its debut at the negotiating table.

Another topic will be about the suspension of negotiations in Geneva toward an expanded Information Technology Agreement at the World Trade Organization.

“Unfortunately, a diverse group of members participating in the negotiations determined that China’s current position makes progress impossible at this stage,” Froman said. “We are hopeful that China will carefully consider the concerns it heard this week from many of its negotiating partners, and revise its position in a way that will allow the prompt resumption of the negotiations.”

Talking about those regulations: A House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee will talk about how the Dodd-Frank financial law affects the community banking industry with banking experts and academics. 

Picking up the pace: The House Appropriations Committee is set to approve its legislative branch spending bill for next year on Thursday while the Senate panel tackles two more measures — Commerce, Justice, Science and the Homeland Security bills. 

The House committee approved its $47.4 billion measure on a voice vote on Wednesday. The spending bill comes in $5.4 billion the Senate’s level. 

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

Initial Claims: The Labor Department releases its weekly filings for jobless benefits. 

Mortgage Rates: Freddie Mac is releasing weekly data on fixed-rate mortgages, which remain around historic lows.

Leading indicators: The Conference Board will release a batch of previously announced economic indicators for June: new orders, jobless claims, money supply, average workweek, building permits and stock prices. 

LOOSE CHANGE

Just a touch away: Interested in staying close to the pulse of the economy? A new smartphone application is providing real-time updates for 19 key economic indicators released from various government entities. Those include key economic measures on employment, manufacturing, international trade, retail sales and residential construction. To download the app, go here. 

Trade bills rolling: Top House Ways and Means Committee lawmakers on Thursday introduced bills to renew the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) through September 2015. The GSP program is set to expire July 31.

The lawmakers also put forth a Miscellaneous Tariff Bill that includes provisions from more than 2,000 bills introduced in the House and Senate.

WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED

— Treasury pushing to have Dodd-Frank in place by year’s end

— Senate confirms Obama’s nominee to lead Export-Import Bank

— Senate votes to end debate on Obama’s nominee to lead Export-Import Bank

— Appropriators spar over DC, ObamaCare abortion restrictions

— Biden swears in Cordray

— Dem fails to stop 24 percent IRS budget cut

— Housing construction slows on drop in apartment building

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