OVERNIGHT MONEY: Here comes THUD

by Peter Schroeder, Erik Wasson and Bernie Becker - 07/31/13 10:46 PM ET

As a result, Rogers said, lawmakers must find a way to replace the sequester. The Senate will make its mark on the sequester debate ahead of the fall’s fiscal fights with tomorrow’s THUD vote.

WHAT ELSE WE’RE WATCHING:

Hey, look – an ObamaCare hearing: This time, it’s the House Ways and Means Committee’s turn to take another swing at the Affordable Care Act. The tax-writing panel is carving out a chunk of time Thursday morning to take a hard look at the implementation of the law, which has come under heavy GOP criticism following the White House’s decision to push off the employer mandate requirement for a year.

{mosads}Republicans have questioned the president’s ability to unilaterally delay the law, while President Obama has dismissed those claims out of hand. On Thursday, Gary Cohen, a top Health and Human Services official, will be on hand to testify.

Is the healthcare law not necessarily your cup of tea? Worry not! Acting IRS head Danny Werfel will also be present to testify, so there are better than even odds that a few questions about the IRS’s treatment of tax-exempt groups might work their way into the debate.

BREAKING NEWS:

Clear your calendars: Tax reform is happening. After months of talk and letters and talk and field trips, the House Ways and Means Committee looks to be actually putting pen to parchment with a tax reform markup this fall. Our own Bernie Becker has the skinny, with Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) telling members behind closed doors Wednesday that he wants committee action before Congress has to deal with the debt ceiling. Camp also said he was open to tying a tax reform measure to the debt ceiling.

Camp’s timeline puts him even more in line with Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), who has also vowed to act this fall.

Class dismissed: Our long student loan national nightmare is over. After weeks of debate, division and gridlock, the House passed a compromise student loan bill – rather easily, 392-31 – and sent it to the president’s desk.

Obama has said he’ll sign the bill, which would tie student loan borrowing rates to the government’s borrowing costs – letting it rise and fall with the tides of the 10-year Treasury bond. The measure cleared the Senate after some grumbling from liberal Democrats, who wanted to see loan rates that doubled to 6.8 percent on July 1 re-lowered and frozen, and are vowing to refight the battle when Congress tackles the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act next year.

In the meantime, students can enjoy lower student loan interest rates — at least until rates rise enough that they could begin to bump up against the 8.25 percent cap in the bill.

Lew’s 2: A top Fed official is poised to take control of some big reins at the Treasury Department. On Wednesday afternoon, Obama announced his plans to nominate Sarah Bloom Raskin to serve as a deputy secretary at Treasury. Currently a governor on the Federal Reserve Board, Raskin would take the No. 2 spot being vacated by Neal Wolin if confirmed. Wolin has been a top Treasury spot since 2009, and a key overseer of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law. He also put in a brief stint as acting secretary in between Tim Geithner and Jack Lew, but he’s heading for greener pastures at the end of August, opening a spot for Raskin.

In a statement, Jack Lew called Raskin a “proven leader” who has the skills to be a “tremendous asset” to the Treasury.

For you Fed watchers, there’s – of course – an aspect of how this all plays into the ongoing Larry Summers-Janet Yellen debate. Obama’s pick of Raskin would pull a woman off the Fed board, which would leave Yellen as the lone female after fellow Fed governor Elizabeth Duke steps down shortly. House Democratic women have not been shy in noting how they would love to see Yellen become the first female head of the central bank, so Raskin’s nomination could complicate the calculus for the president as he mulls the key economic pick.

The president has maintained he hasn’t settled on a nomination yet, but spent some of his time meeting with Democrats on Capitol Hill defending Summers’s record from recent attacks.

LOOSE CHANGE:

Happy talk: Bipartisan feelings should get a boost when Senate appropriators take up the 2014 Defense bill tomorrow. The panel is expected to pass a $594.4 billion bill Thursday that keeps Pentagon spending at pre-sequester levels in 2014.

The bill, which includes $516.4 billion in base defense spending and $77.8 billion in war spending, does not take sequestration into account, following the same path as the other three defense bills Congress has moved this year.

If lawmakers cannot find a way to dodge sequestration, the Pentagon’s 2014 budget proposal would face a $52 billion cut.

Where?: House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) discusses one of his favorite topics on Thursday – his Make it in America agenda.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

Challenger Job Cuts: The firm measures the number of jobs cuts planned by U.S. employers in July.

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

ISM Index: The Institute for Supply Management will release its July index that measures the manufacturing sector’s pace of growth.

Construction Spending: The Commerce Department releases its June 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 have a market impact.

WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED

– US economy grows at 1.7 percent pace in second quarter

– Private sector job growth shakes off fiscal pinch

– Paul: Invest in Detroit, not Cairo

– Pfeiffer says Fed chair pick coming in fall

– Senate Banking signs off on FHA reforms

– Report: Corporations have $1.2 trillion abroad

– Fed sticks with existing policy

– African leaders call on Congress to renew trade pact for 15 years

– Court orders lower cap on swipe fees

– No sign of progress in latest round of White House debt talks

– Appropriations chief lashes out at GOP after spending bill is pulled