OVERNIGHT FINANCE: Happy birthday, Dodd-Frank?

TOMORROW STARTS TONIGHT – A DODD-FRANK ‘DEATH PANEL.’ Who better than retired-Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), the former chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, to celebrate Dodd-Frank’s fourth birthday?

Frank offered a no-holds-barred defense of his namesake legislation passed in 2010 to reform Wall Street in his submitted testimony before House FinServ. He’ll testify tomorrow morning as the Democrats’ witness at the hearing on Dodd-Frank’s four years.

{mosads}A GOP senior staffer emails OVERNIGHT – – > “I pity the freshman GOPers on HFSC that will attempt to take a go at him as they haven’t had the chance to before.”

Read his testimony here: http://1.usa.gov/1o7o018. We’ve picked out two of his best bits:

1.) On Dodd-Frank death panels: “The legislation we supported in 2010 does create death panels. But they found them in the wrong place. The Federal Government now has the power to terminate the lives of large, heavily indebted financial institutions, not frail, gravely ill old people… The Dodd-Frank Act is clear: not only is there no legal authority to use public money to keep a failing entity in business, the law forbids it.”

2.) On the pace of D-F implementation: “The fault for that will rest with Republican appropriators withholding adequate funding and Republican Senators filibustering to maintain the DC Circuit as a right-wing bastion.”

THIS IS OVERNIGHT FINANCE, where we’re all set for tomorrow morning’s hearing. Tweet: @kevcirilli; email: kcirilli@digital-staging.thehill.com; and subscribe: http://digital-staging.thehill.com/signup/48.

HAPPENING THIS WEEK: SENATE VOTE ON HIGHWAY TRUST FUND. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters today that the Senate would take up the House highway bill this week. “We’re going to have votes on the Highway Trust Fund before we leave here. I’d like to do it tomorrow or the next day.” Keith Laing reports: http://bit.ly/1r4zFNl.

HOUSE COULD VOTE NEXT WEEK ON BUDGET BILL. What government shutdown? Cristina Marcos on the news that surprised the Beltway earlier today: “House Republicans are considering a vote before the August recess on a stopgap bill that would avoid a government shutdown on Oct. 1. Congressional aides cautioned that no final decision has been made, but the party appears to have a strong interest in completing a continuing resolution (CR) well before the deadline.

“The last government shutdown in 2013 sent the GOP’s poll numbers plunging to historic lows. While Republicans are not making noise about another standoff this year, Democrats are likely to use the possibility of a shutdown to go on the attack…

— THE BOTTOM LINE, Marcos reports: “A vote in the House next week would give the Senate little, if any, time to react before leaving town for the five-week break. Moving on the issue sooner rather than later would establish the House’s opening salvo and pressure the Senate to move quickly.” Read this to stay ahead of the ‘shutdown round two’ story: http://bit.ly/1tx38AT.

ELIOT SPITZER IS BACK. Sydney Ember for The New York Times: “Since his bid for New York City comptroller failed last fall, Mr. Spitzer, the disgraced former governor of New York, has largely stayed out of the limelight. But on Tuesday, he was again on CNBC…

“Mr. Spitzer was on the show to discuss his latest venture, a website called TipRanks, an Israeli start-up that aims to hold financial experts accountable for their stock recommendations. Mr. Spitzer, who is on the company’s board, has also provided significant financial backing for the website.” http://nyti.ms/1kRnqje.

FIRST LOOK — DAYS UNTIL EX-IM EXPIRES: 70. In letters first obtained by OVERNIGHT, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) wrote today to Export-Import Bank President Fred Hochberg. McHenry chairs the House FinServ subcommittee on oversight and investigations.

McHenry wants Hochberg to hand over all documents Ex-Im officials have internally discussing what is permissible and not permissible in terms of lobbying for reauthorization. He also wants Hochberg to submit all Freedom of Information Act requests since May 30, 2012. McHenry wants answers by July 29, 2014. Read the lobbying letter: http://bit.ly/1qyTkJp. Read FOIA letter: http://bit.ly/1tx1xep.

QUOTABLE — Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on being criticized in a recent episode of “True Blood” on HBO: “Well, I’m sorry to have lost the vampire vote, but am astonished (and amused) that HBO is suggesting that hard-core leftists are blood-sucking fiends.” Cruz made the quip on his Facebook page: http://on.fb.me/Wz9Onh.

NOTABLE — NATE SILVER: Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) would be the most liberal Democratic presidential candidate since 1972. http://53eig.ht/1qWJb53.

WALL ST. UNINVITED FROM JACKSON HOLE. Simon Kennedy for Bloomberg: “Wall Street (SPX) doesn’t lead to Jackson Hole this year. As the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City prepares to host next month’s annual gathering of central bankers in Wyoming, seasoned Fed watchers from the financial markets, including the chief U.S. economists of the biggest American banks, aren’t being invited, according to past participants…

“The exclusion of Wall Street may reflect a dispute between some regional Fed bank presidents who are more worried by loose monetary policy than Fed governors in Washington including Yellen.”http://bloom.bg/1wTVYa8.

THE NEXT 9/11: CYBER TERRORISM? Julian Hattem for the hometown paper: “Ten years after releasing a landmark report on the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the members of a former government commission are raising new alarms about the threat of cyberterrorism.

“Members of the 9/11 Commission said [in a new report published earlier today] that the country was practically asleep at the wheel when it came to preventing attacks on computer systems, just as intelligence failures left the national vulnerable to terrorist groups like al Qaeda before 2001.” STORY:http://bit.ly/1p87r1C. REPORT: http://bit.ly/1p6Mm7H.

DEMS SLICE WHITE HOUSE BORDER BUDGET REQUEST, via Alexander Bolton and Pete Schroeder: “Senate Democrats will chop $1 billion from President Obama’s emergency spending request to secure the Texas border but have rejected Republican demands to change legal protections for child immigrants from Central America.” http://bit.ly/1nc8XTM. 

CONNECT WITH THE HILL’s FINANCE TEAM – Write us with tips, suggestions and news:vneedham@digital-staging.thehill.com; pschroeder@digital-staging.thehill.com; bbecker@digital-staging.thehill.com; kcirilli@digital-staging.thehill.com.

–Follow us on Twitter: @VickofTheHill; @PeteSchroeder; @BernieBecker3; and @kevcirilli.