Overnight Finance: Fed official under fire for Clinton donation

FED OFFICIAL UNDER FIRE: Republican lawmakers are blasting the Federal Reserve after it was revealed that one of its top officials donated to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), a member of the Senate Banking Committee, said news that Lael Brainard, a Fed governor, had donated $750 to Clinton called into question the central bank’s political independence.

“If anyone had questions about the independence of the Federal Reserve, this makes it crystal clear they’re not,” he said in a statement: http://bit.ly/1TtnoDA.

KOCH GROUP PRAISES SANDERS ON EX-IM: The Koch-aligned nonprofit Freedom Partners is up with a new video Wednesday that stars Bernie Sanders touting the group’s stance on the Export-Import Bank.

“Seventy-five percent of the funds going from the federal government to the Export-Import Bank goes to large, profitable corporations,” Sanders said during the CNN debate. “I don’t think it’s a great idea for the American taxpayer to have to subsidize through corporate welfare profitable corporations.”

The Hill’s Ben Kamisar explains why a conservative group is praising a democratic socialist’s position on Ex-Im: http://bit.ly/1Yy5Zcp.

REMIX TO INVERSIONS, CLINTON’S CASTING ASPERSIONS: Hillary Clinton is putting a target on offshore tax deals as she seeks to defeat Bernie Sanders for the Democratic presidential nomination.

In speeches, debates and ads, the former secretary of State has pilloried the practice known as corporate inversions, arguing companies are exploiting a loophole. The Hill’s Naomi Jagoda tells us why: http://bit.ly/1W9AOmi.

HAPPY WEDNESDAY and welcome to Overnight Finance, where we’re wondering how much warmer it will get before the official start of Spring. I’m Sylvan Lane, and here’s your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line.

Tonight’s highlights include planned testimony from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau chief, a shot at ObamaCare from Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and a grim analysis of GOP presidential tax plans.

See something I missed? Let me know at slane@digital-staging.thehill.com or tweet me @SylvanLane. And if you like your newsletter, you can subscribe to it here: http://www.digital-staging.thehill.com/signup/48.

RUBIO’S NEW OBAMACARE ATTACK: Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) is opening a new front in his attacks on ObamaCare as he campaigns for president.

After trying to bring publicity to his efforts to limit the Affordable Care Act’s “risk corridors” program, Rubio and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), the chairman of the Finance Committee and a campaign backer, wrote a letter on Tuesday arguing that the Obama administration is breaking the law with another “bailout” of insurance companies.

“We are again disappointed with the Administration’s willingness to unlawfully direct money to health insurers at taxpayers’ expense,” they write. The Hill’s Peter Sullivan breaks it down: http://bit.ly/1LdbgnC.

CONSUMER BUREAU CHIEF TO TESTIFY BEFORE CONGRESS: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Rob Cordray will testify for the House Financial Services Committee on Wed. March 16th, the panel announced today. The committee gives us a taste of the rough questions to come for the head of what they call the “most powerful and least accountable” agency here: http://1.usa.gov/1SA5w91.

LIBERAL GROUP PANS GOP TAX PLANS: Most Americans would be worse off under Republican presidential candidates’ tax plans once the proposals’ likely offsets are taken into consideration, the liberal-leaning group Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ) found.

The tax plans from Donald Trump, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz would each cost trillions of dollars over 10 years, and the United States is already projected to face large budget deficits. As a result, the candidates’ tax plans, if enacted, would inevitably lead to spending cuts and/or tax increases, CTJ said in a report released Wednesday. Naomi Jagoda has more: http://bit.ly/1M75Rtj.

MILLENNIALS ACTUALLY NOT AWFUL WITH MONEY: No, millennials aren’t going to take their tax rebates and spend them on $16 bottomless mimosas and avocado toast: 54 percent say they either plan to invest or save their refund or would if they got one, according to NerdWallet. That’s on par with every other age group. As for me? It’s going straight into student loan payments: http://on.mktw.net/1QHB3ET.

WAGES RISE 4% OR FASTER IN EIGHT U.S. COUNTIES: The average is 2.6 percent nationwide: http://on.wsj.com/1UTfMtw.

NIGHTCAP: Elon Musk denies plotting against Donald Trump,’ because of course.

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