Overnight Finance: WH goes after budget office scoring health bill | Republicans press Trump on earmarks | House passes defense spending bill | Senators weigh how to pay for $1T in infrastructure

White House goes after budget office scoring healthcare bill: The White House on Wednesday questioned the work of the independent Congressional Budget Office (CBO) ahead of its widely anticipated estimate for the GOP’s bill to repeal and replace ObamaCare. 

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said the scorekeeper was “way off last time” in its cost estimate of the Affordable Care Act, arguing its numbers on the Republicans’ replacement should not be taken as the final word.

“If you’re looking at the CBO for accuracy, you’re looking in the wrong place,” Spicer said. 

Spicer indicated the Trump White House plans to release its own estimate of the bill through the Office of Management and Budget.

The Hill’s Jordan Fabian has more: http://bit.ly/2mkcZ0s.

Schumer: ‘Reckless’ to vote on ObamaCare repeal without budget score: Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) blasted House Republicans on Wednesday for moving forward with a plan to replace the Affordable Care Act without details on how it will impact the budget and insurance coverage. 

“It’s reckless for Republicans to make Congress vote on this mess of a plan before we have those answers from the CBO,” Schumer said. 

Both the Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means committees are marking up their replacement proposal on Wednesday — before the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) examines its costs.

Schumer argued that Republicans are rushing the replacement proposal — which Democrats have termed “TrumpCare” — because they believe the CBO score will make it harder for lawmakers to support the legislation. The Hill’s Jordain Carney reports: http://bit.ly/2mkhBDv.

SEC nominee will reportedly separate from Wall Street clients:

President Trump’s nominee to chair the Securities and Exchange Commission pledged to separate himself from his Wall Street law firm and the clients he represented there, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

Jay Clayton will rid himself of a reported 176 assets, valued at millions of dollars, within 90 days of his confirmation and will recuse himself from issues regarding any former clients from the law firm Sullivan & Cromwell.

{mosads}Among those clients, Reuters reported, are Barclays Bank, Royal Bank of Canada and Deutsche Bank AG.

In disclosure forms, Clayton and his wife reported assets worth between $52.3 million and $130.4 million. It is not clear exactly which assets the SEC nominee will get rid of to comply with ethics requirements.

Clayton, a Wall Street attorney specializing in corporate mergers and acquisitions, is set to appear in front of the Senate Banking Committee for his confirmation hearing on March 23. The Hill’s Max Greenwood has more here: http://bit.ly/2mHOUmP

Happy Wednesday and welcome to Overnight Finance. I’m Sylvan Lane, and here’s your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line.

Tonight’s highlights include another Democratic push for Trump’s tax returns, mounting Senate border-adjustment concerns and a battle over earmarks.

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 Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance: Hearing entitled “Flood Insurance Reform: FEMA’s Perspective,” 10 a.m. http://bit.ly/2mjN3E7.

Dems use ObamaCare repeal markup to push for Trump’s tax returns: Democrats on Wednesday used the House Ways and Means Committee’s markup of legislation to repeal and replace ObamaCare to make another unsuccessful push for the panel to request President Trump’s tax returns.

Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) offered an amendment for Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) requesting Trump’s tax returns from the Treasury Department so that the panel could review them.

But Brady ruled that the amendment was unrelated to the health legislation, and Republicans voted to table a Democratic appeal of Brady’s ruling.

The vote came as Democrats have vowed to force Republicans to take repeated votes on Trump’s tax returns. The Hill’s Naomi Jagoda has more: http://bit.ly/2mksrcW.

Dems also push White House on Jared Kushner’s financial holdings: Congressional Democrats want the White House to hand over details of how senior Trump adviser Jared Kushner is following financial conflict of interest rules.

Democrats sent a letter to Stefan Passantino–a deputy counsel and the White House’s designated agency ethics official–asking how the Office of Counsel “plans to monitor and ensure” President Trump’s son-in-law’s “compliance with federal conflict of interest laws.”

“Federal conflict of interest laws prohibit a federal official, such as Mr. Kushner, from profiting off of his government work,” Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Tom Carper (Del.) and Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) wrote in the letter.

While Kushner is not collecting a salary for his work at the White House, the letter points to a ProPublica report that said Kushner will keep some of his real estate holdings.

A White House spokesperson declined to detail what assets Kushner is giving up and which he is keeping, according to the late February report.

The members of Congress requested answers to a series of questions about Kushner’s assets and his recusal plan, and how the Office of the White House Counsel plans to monitor his compliance with conflict-of-interest laws. The Hill’s Jordain Carney explains it all here: http://bit.ly/2mDcNLP

Senate weighs how to pay for Trump’s $1T infrastructure package: Senators began exploring ways to pay for President Trump’s $1 trillion infrastructure package on Wednesday, taking up the biggest question hanging over his ambitious plans.

Panelists and lawmakers at a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing seemed to agree that it’s going to take a wide variety of funding tools to deliver on the kind of massive investments Trump has promised. 

“When I first heard the president’s plan for a $1 trillion infrastructure investment, I was extremely excited. But I started thinking about the financing, and the fact no one was really talking in specific terms,” said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who chairs the subcommittee on transportation, housing and urban development. 

“It’s my hope that this hearing today will help advance the dialogue as we move forward on what could well be one of the few bipartisan activities of this Congress.”

The hearing came the same day as a scheduled infrastructure meeting at the White House expected to include Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, Energy Secretary Rick Perry and business leaders such as Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

The Hill’s Melanie Zanona breaks it down here: http://bit.ly/2mDjj5c

And Trump would want states to get to work quickly…

President Trump is eyeing a plan that would require states to begin infrastructure projects within 90 days of receiving federal funding, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

Trump’s plan would be aimed at pressuring states to streamline their local permitting process, emphasize renovation of roads and highways over the construction of new ones and prioritize projects that are ready to quickly begin construction, according to the report.

“We’re not going to give the money to states unless they can prove that they can be ready, willing and able to start the project,” Trump said during a private meeting with aides and business executives, according to the newspaper.

The Hill’s Max Greenwood has more here: http://bit.ly/2n84kxS

House passes $578B defense spending bill: The House easily passed a fiscal 2017 defense spending bill on Wednesday that would provide $577.9 billion for the Pentagon.

The bill passed on a largely bipartisan vote, 371-48.

Though many Democrats voted for the bill, they took issue with Republicans taking up the defense bill with no indication that Congress will move on other spending bills. They also criticized Republicans for punting on the defense spending bill at the end of last year, only to pass a version now that closely reflects the spending levels agreed to in December.

“Despite my support for this legislation, I am extremely troubled that we are still working on the fiscal year 2017 defense bill five months and eight days into the fiscal year,” said Rep. Pete Visclosky (D-Ind.), ranking member of the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee. “Even more disconcerting is the fact that the defense appropriations act is just one of 11 fiscal year 2017 appropriations bills that need to be completed by the end of next month. There is no excuse for them remaining unfinished.” The Hill’s Rebecca Kheel has more here: http://bit.ly/2mDiVng

GOP senators to Trump: Pledge to veto bills with earmarks: A group of GOP senators are urging President Trump to veto any bill that includes earmarks as House Republicans eye softening the current ban. 

GOP Sens. Jeff Flake (Ariz.), Mike Lee (Utah), John McCain (Ariz.), Ted Cruz (Texas), Rand Paul (Ky.) and Ben Sasse (Neb.) sent a letter to Trump on Tuesday asking the president to “make it clear” that he will oppose any effort to reinstate earmarks.

“We look forward to working with you to make Washington more accountable and stop wasteful spending where it starts, which is often right here in Congress,” the senators wrote.

The letter comes after Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas), the chairman of the House Rules Committee, told reporters that he would look at options for bringing back earmarks in some form and potentially presenting options to the caucus by mid-2017, according to CNN. Jordain Carney has more: http://bit.ly/2mkcIdW.

Black Chamber backs House GOP border tax: The National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) is lending its support to a key provision in the House Republicans’ tax reform blueprint, as the proposal faces opposition from other business groups and GOP lawmakers.

In a policy memo released Wednesday, the NBCC praised the proposed border-adjustment tax, which would subject imports to a U.S. tax and exempt exports.

“The proposed blueprint’s border adjustment provision will … level the playing field for African American-owned businesses, allowing for more job creation and investment back into our communities,” the NBCC said: http://bit.ly/2mkcZgJ.

Flake becomes latest GOP senator concerned about border tax: Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) took to the Senate floor Wednesday to raise concerns about House Republicans’ border-adjustment proposal, becoming the latest GOP senator to criticize a provision that already faces long odds in the chamber.

“There will always be winners and losers in a robust debate on reforming the tax code,” he said. “We ought to make sure that the middle class isn’t in the losing column.”

The border-adjustment proposal, part of the House Republicans’ tax reform blueprint, would subject imports to U.S. tax while exempting exports.

Supporters of the proposal argue that it would raise revenue to pay for lowering tax rates and would end an advantage that foreign-made goods currently have over American-made goods. But opponents believe that the proposal will disrupt supply chains and lead to higher prices on goods: http://bit.ly/2mkcKlP.

Private-sector employers added 298,000 jobs in February: U.S. businesses added 298,000 jobs in February, the most in three years, as unseasonably warm weather boosted growth in several sectors across the labor market.

Construction, mining and manufacturing all grew at their fastest pace in several years, pushing jobs growth above the 261,000 pace in January, according to the ADP employment report, a survey measuring private-sector hiring.

“February proved to be an incredibly strong month for employment, with increases we have not seen in years,” said Ahu Yildirmaz, vice president of the ADP Research Institute. The Hill’s Vicki Needham breaks it down: http://bit.ly/2mkq7SU.

 

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