Clinton: Trump’s Fed comments risked meltdown: Hillary Clinton on Tuesday said Donald Trump risked global financial chaos with recent criticisms of the Federal Reserve and proved he’s unfit to lead the United States.
Clinton told reporters that Trump crossed the line with a recent claim that the central bank is holding interest rates low to boost President Obama’s economic record.
{mosads}”You should not be commenting on Fed actions when you are either running for president or you are president,” said Clinton, according to multiple reports.
“Words move markets, words can be misinterpreted, words can have effects in people’s 401(k)s, their pension funds, their stock portfolios.” http://bit.ly/2ceerjm.
Flashback: That didn’t stop Clinton, then a senator, from commenting on Fed actions in 2008 as a presidential candidate: http://n.pr/2c5FYix.
Moody’s model sees Clinton pull away from Trump: Low gas prices and President Obama’s rising popularity are bolstering Hillary Clinton’s chances of winning the White House, according to a closely followed economic election model from Moody’s Analytics.
The August model forecasts that Clinton will notch a win over Trump, in part thanks to historically low gas prices and Obama’s popularity.
The model, which chooses a party, not a candidate, to win, awards Electoral College votes based on state-by-state outcomes.
The most important economic variable is income growth by state, including job and wage growth, hours worked and the quality of the jobs being created in the two years leading up to an election. The Hill’s Vicki Needham breaks it down for us: http://bit.ly/2c4ZbAB.
US banks wary of being Trump’s immigration enforcer: The financial industry is making clear it wants no part of Donald Trump’s plan to force Mexico to pay for a border wall.
The GOP nominee says he would convince Mexico to cover the multibillion-dollar cost of his wall by barring Mexicans who are working in the U.S. illegally from sending money back home.
But banks and other financial companies say they do not want to get involved on the front lines in a contentious immigration battle, arguing there are questions about how effectively such a policy could be implemented.
“It should not be for the banking system to be the police or the immigration task force,” said one banking lobbyist. “I don’t think it should be left to banks to report that someone has come in to remit money to whatever country, and it may or may not be legal. That’s not our role.” The Hill’s Peter Schroeder has more: http://bit.ly/2cm8Ncj.
Obama, Congress at odds over Pacific trade deal: President Obama and congressional leaders remain at odds over whether an Asia-Pacific trade agreement will get a vote before he leaves office.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Tuesday that he didn’t see a path for Congress to vote on the massive Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) during the lame duck session after the November elections.
“TPP, the administration knows it has problems, that it should have solved already, to work through, I haven’t seen them solve those issues,” McCarthy told reporters.
“There is nothing on the horizon that I see as of right now that would come up into a lame duck,” he said.
For his part, the president continued to make a push for Congress to ratify the agreement before he leaves office, arguing that the TPP deal “is a core pillar of America’s rebalance to the Asia Pacific” representing the importance of U.S. leadership in the Pacific Rim while also acknowledging the uphill battle with lawmakers. Vicki Needham explains: http://bit.ly/2bRihJW.
HAPPY TUESDAY and welcome to Overnight Finance, where we’re tanned, rested and ready to cover the rest of the Congressional year. I’m Sylvan Lane, and here’s your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line.
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://bit.ly/1NxxW2N.
On tap tomorrow:
- House Financial Services Committee: Hearing entitled “Federal Reserve Districts: Governance, Monetary Policy, and Economic Performance,” 10 a.m.
- House Ways and Means Committee: Hearing entitled “Unemployment Insurance: An Overview of the Challenges and Strengths of Today’s System,” 10 a.m.
- House Ways and Means Committee: Hearing entitled “Incentivizing Quality Outcomes in Medicare Part A,” 2 p.m.
Join The Hill on Wednesday, September 14 for “Preparing for the Next Disaster: A Policy Discussion on Community Resilience,” featuring Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Mo.), and Timothy W. Manning, Deputy Administrator for Protection and National Preparedness at FEMA. Topics of discussion include preparedness efforts to increase community resilience and the role of federal, state & local government in pre-disaster mitigation. RSVP here.
House GOP gears up for IRS impeachment fight: House conservatives and Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) are on a collision course this fall over demands to impeach IRS Commissioner John Koskinen.
Members of the hard-line House Freedom Caucus have been pressing for a vote on the matter for months and intend to force a vote if leadership won’t schedule one.
Ryan’s leadership team has been decidedly reluctant to hold an impeachment vote. On Wednesday, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) released an agenda for September that did not include one.
The battle will pit Ryan and other GOP lawmakers who want to avoid an impeachment vote against conservatives — some of whom have little to lose. The Hill’s Naomi Jagoda takes us there: http://bit.ly/2c8CePd.
Senate rejects Zika funding: A divided Senate on Tuesday again rejected a funding bill to fight the Zika virus, proving that Congress’s months-old stalemate went resolved over its lengthy summer recess.
In a 52-46 procedural vote, the Senate failed to win the 60 votes necessary to move forward and end debate on a conference report with the House on the issue.
Democrats unanimously voted to block the $1.1 billion funding bill, which was approved by House Republicans in June but has now failed three times in the Senate because of divisive language targeting Planned Parenthood. The Hill’s Sarah Ferris has the story: http://bit.ly/2c5GBbI
But lawmakers are also eyeing a year-end spending bill in hopes of a deal.
Top GOP senator: Zika money could end up in short-term spending bill: Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), the Senate’s No. 2 Republican, said Tuesday he expects money to fight the Zika virus will ultimately be attached to a short-term government funding bill, despite a current stalemate over the issue in Congress.
“You know, I assume that it would be wrapped in the year-end fiscal negotiations that would lead to some sort of continuing resolution. That’s my assumption,” the Senate majority whip told reporters. “It would be grossly irresponsible not to deal with it. Of course it’s been pretty grossly irresponsible to filibuster it.”
Pressed if he meant that Zika money would likely be included in a continuing resolution (CR), a stopgap measure to keep the government funded after the end of the fiscal year ends in a few weeks, Cornyn said: “Basically it would become part of it, yeah.” Here’s more from The Hill’s Jordain Carney: http://bit.ly/2ceqWvi.
House panel to examine tax-exempt college endowments: The House Ways and Means Committee’s oversight subcommittee is slated to hold a hearing next week on tax-exempt college endowments.
Lawmakers have been scrutinizing endowments given the rising costs of higher education. The endowments of private, nonprofit colleges are tax-exempt, and the schools are not required to spend a minimum percent of their endowments annually.
The hearing, scheduled for Sept. 13, comes after top House and Senate GOP tax-writers sent letters earlier this year to private colleges with endowments over $1 billion, asking for information about the funds.
Witnesses at the hearing will include representatives for colleges as well as other experts, according to a news release. Naomi Jagoda explains: http://bit.ly/2cb1OUx.
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