OVERNIGHT MONEY: We’re looking at you, Fannie and Freddie

WHAT ELSE TO WATCH FOR:

Talking Trade: Rep. Sandy Levin (D-Mich.), the ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee, is expected to give what is being billed as a “major” speech on revamping U.S. trade policy in a global economy. 

Levin, who is now on board with a trade pact with South Korea after previously being worried about its automobile provisions, is expected to discuss outstanding issues he thinks needs to be resolved in separate trade deals with Colombia and Panama. The congressman has also been pushing legislation aimed at China’s currency policy and will probably touch in his address on the Doha trade talks, which had yet another setback last week.

Speaking of which: The National Foreign Trade Council released a Monday statement suggesting Doha, which looks to help boost less financially stable countries through trade, may not be able to be resuscitated. 

“Unless there is personal engagement from heads of state in capitals around the world, it is unlikely that the Round will progress toward the successful and ambitious conclusion the U.S. business community advocates and which would kick-start the global economy,” the NFTC said.

Risky Business: Financial markets will be keeping an eye on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s Tuesday board meeting, where the agenda includes potential rules implementing a Dodd-Frank provision that would require financial firms to retain at least 5 percent of the risk created from asset-backed securities. 

Also at issue: what exactly would constitute a qualified residential mortgage, which would be exempted from the new risk-retention requirements. 

The FDIC has to propose those rules alongside four other federal regulators – and lo and behold, those regulators announced Monday that a rules announcement would be forthcoming this week.

Hearing roundup: He may not exactly be on a Geithner-like pace, but Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is set for yet another round of congressional testimony on Tuesday. LaHood, slated to sit before a House Appropriations subcommittee on transportation, will likely be called on to explain how the Obama administration can pay for the huge fiscal 2012 increase in transportation spending it has called for, without specifying the mystery tax that will pay for it. 

The Congressional Budget Office caused something of a stir last week by suggesting a mileage surcharge to pay for roadway improvements.

An overnight field trip: Tim Massad, the assistant Treasury secretary for financial stability, is slated to be a little farther north on the Interstate 95 corridor than usual on Tuesday. (Cambridge, Mass., to be exact.) 

Massad is scheduled to talk about TARP – which he has touted as a success that, thanks to Dodd-Frank, need not happen again – and the financial crisis at Harvard’s Kennedy School.  

Economic Indicators:

The Labor Department is slated to drop county employment and wage information for 2010’s third quarter.

BREAKING MONDAY:

Budget Brouhaha: With Senate Democrats and Republicans scheduled to meet up Tuesday for their weekly policy lunches, Democrats will be mulling over a counteroffer to the Republican demands that $51 billion more be cut from government spending this year. 

The proposal, being formulated under White House guidance, would cut $20 billion, but Democrats have not all signed off on where that would come from. Over on their side, Republicans will likely focus on countering Democratic attempts, which bubbled up Monday, to lay the groundwork to blame any shutdown after April 8 on the Tea Party.

For their part, Tea Party activists are preparing to rally at the Capitol on Thursday to demand a full $51 billion in cuts, and are not shy about saying a shutdown should be on the table to force that.

And what about 2012?: House Republicans are discussing reforms to entitlements that the GOP is preparing to unveil as part of its draft 2012 budget resolution. House Budget will discuss options on the resolution, which is expected next week, on Wednesday, with it already becoming clear that block granting for Medicaid is very likely going to be included. 

Currently, the federal government pays a fixed share of state Medicaid costs. But to save money and insulate the federal government from healthcare costs, the GOP is mulling making the federal contribution a fixed dollar amount.  

Difference of opinions: The presidents of the Chicago and Atlanta Federal Reserve Banks said Monday that the American economy needs all of the currently scheduled $600 billion in bond buying, Reuters reported. Those comments came after the president of the St. Louis Fed signaled over the weekend that this latest round of quantitative easing might need to be stopped short.

WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED:

On the Money’s Monday:

— The Chamber says it won’t let the Dodd-Frank implementation out of its sight.

— Cost of that implementation this year: $974 million.

— House Democrats want to fix HAMP, not bury it. 

— Community banks back House GOP push to overhaul the Community Financial Protection Bureau.

— The IRS needs to think more long-term with its mailing strategy.

— Consumer spending and personal income creep up.