TOMORROW STARTS TONIGHT — Welcome back from recess. Fear not, there’ll be plenty of financial services fireworks in the weeks ahead as Congress wrestles with the fate of the Export-Import Bank; Terrorism Risk Insurance; and, to some extent, resolving funding for the Highway Trust Fund.
All that could prove just a warm-up to a September 30 grand finale, when Congress must pass a continuing resolution or — (dare we say it) — risk another government shutdown.
{mosads}— WHAT IT ALL MEANS, Jason Rosenstock of Thorn Run Partners, sets the stage for OVERNIGHT FINANCE: “It is unclear whether the chasms between the sides, magnified this year by the mid-term elections, can be bridged or whether a collage of short-term punts will be necessary.
— THE BRIGHT SIDE, Rosenstock notes: “And while we will learn the results in the coming weeks, we can at least rejoice in the fact that this year, our August crisis doesn’t involve the debt ceiling.”
THIS IS OVERNIGHT FINANCE, where we’re recharged after a great Fourth weekend. I spent the day BBQ-ing on a lake with friends, playing beach soccer (still recovering from last week’s depressing loss). As always, Tweet: @kevcirilli; email: kcirilli@digital-staging.thehill.com; and subscribe: click here.
Pick up the pace, it’s only Monday…
DAYS UNTIL EX-IM EXPIRES: 84. Export-Import Bank President Fred Hochberg doesn’t seem to be sweating it. He tweeted a pic of him eating Philly’s Bassett ice cream, a beneficiary of Ex-Im financing, while in Shanghai. See the pic: http://bit.ly/1kwVMYy.
Maybe he’ll save a celebratory scoop for the coal industry?
ICYMI: COAL INDUSTRY POISED FOR EX-IM WIN. My latest for the hometown newspaper from the weekend: “The coal industry is poised to score a rare victory over the Obama administration in the fight over the Export-Import Bank. Both of the working proposals in the House and Senate to renew the bank’s charter would reverse Ex-Im guidelines that prevent financing for overseas power plants that decline to adopt greener technology…
“Up until now, coal-state Democrats such as Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) have lacked political leverage to fight back. But that’s changing thanks to the looming Sept. 30 deadline to reauthorize the 80-year-old bank. Opponents of the power plant guidelines are seizing on the time crunch to win concessions.” http://bit.ly/1vOcfgh.
2014 WATCH: SHAHEEN OUTRAISES BROWN, via Alexandra Jaffe: “Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) posted her best fundraising quarter yet this cycle, raking in more than $2.8 million over the past three months.” http://bit.ly/1jhMiFG
2016 WATCH: NO ONE IS TAKING THE POST’S WARREN COVERAGE SERIOUSLY. Yesterday, The New York Post led with a story by Edward Klein claiming that Obama would back Warren for 2016. Here’s Katherine Miller for BuzzFeed: http://bzfd.it/TXvQhP.
Meanwhile, in actual 2016 news…
CLINTON WATCH: HILLARY STEPS AWAY FROM OBAMA. Peter Nicholas for The Wall Street Journal: “Hillary Clinton has begun distancing herself from President Barack Obama, suggesting that she would do more to woo Republicans and take a more assertive stance toward global crises, while sounding more downbeat than her former boss about the U.S. economic recovery.
“People are ‘really, really nervous’ about their future, Mrs. Clinton said at an event in Colorado last week that included hints of her emerging strategy to convey that she would be more effective in the pursuit of Democratic policy goals than Mr. Obama has been during his time in office.” http://on.wsj.com/1mopKC5
ON-TAP FOR TOMORROW: Treasury Secretary Jack Lew arrives in Beijing, China, for the 2014 U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue… Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) will speak at 9:30 a.m. at the Center for American Progress in Washington on Social Security…
Brown better jet back to Dirksen in time for his 10 a.m. Banking Committee hearing on electronic trading in the equity markets… Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) hosts a panel dubbed “Critical Issues in Dark Money” at 10 a.m. in SVC-201 inside the Capitol… House Veterans’ Affairs Committee hosts another 7:30 p.m. hearing on the V.A. scandal.
QUOTABLE: SARAH BLOOM RASKIN. The newly sworn-in deputy Treasury secretary talked student loan debt with CNBC: “One thing we want to make sure we do right is that we give students and their families the opportunity to compare … compare different education options and compare schools and compare levels of debt and do standardized comparisons across schools, across colleges so that students are well-informed before they go into a debt situation. We need to make sure that they have the tools to understand the investment, to understand the ramifications of what these debt levels will mean.” http://cnb.cx/1qcQp4l.
FIRST LOOK — SEC RESPONDS TO ROYCE. House Financial Services Committee member Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.) wrote to Securities and Exchange Commission Chairwoman Mary Jo White in May about concerns over Pershing Square Capitals “hostile” takeover of Botox-maker Allergen Pharmaceuticals. (Botox is big in Royce’s SoCal district.)
At the time, Pershing had filed what’s known as a “proxy statement” to the SEC, signaling they wanted to take over Allergen. Royce and other lawmakers were concerned that such filings don’t offer a complete picture to shareholders. Pershing has since tweaked their strategy, but White responded and we’ve got the letter:
“It is critically important that information provided to shareholders of pubic companies be complete and accurate. The staff of the Division of Corporation and Finance selectively reviews filings to monitor and enhance compliance with applicable disclosure requirements and issues comments to filers when improvements can be made,” White wrote in the letter.
Royce has requested that a Financial Services subcommittee host a hearing on the issue in July.
Read the SEC response: http://bit.ly/1xIo5Ly
LEVIN: U.S. CORPORATIONS FLEEING OVERSEAS, our Bernie Becker reports: “U.S. corporations increasingly have sought to move their legal addresses abroad in recent years, with 42 moving offshore since 2008, according to new data released by a top House Democrat.
“In all, 75 corporations have moved to a foreign country over the last two decades, according to numbers from the Congressional Research Service released by Rep. Sandy Levin (D-Mich.). That tactic, known as inversion, can allow companies to drastically slash their tax bills. According to the data, one corporation moved abroad in 1983 — with the next U.S. inversion not occurring until 1994.” http://bit.ly/1rJ5vT5.
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This post was updated at 8:10 p.m.