Month: February 2016

Looking Ahead

Near Term

• Senate is scheduled to take up legislation to tackle the growing opioid abuse issue.  In addition, it may return the complete consideration of the Energy bill now that a deal to resolve the Flint water crisis has been reached.
• The House will debate a pair of bills related to Medicaid providers and brick kiln emissions, while the Financial Services Committee will host another marathon mark-up on Wednesday.

• Financial Stability Oversight Council will meet on Wednesday and is expected to discuss a variety of topics including the annual report, the re-evaluation of a non-bank SIFI designation and the Council’s continued work on the asset management industry.   Details here.

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Our Take
The world lost a legal giant on Saturday and the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia threw another monkey wrench into the already frazzled gears of the 2016 Presidential campaign.  Although it would mean leaving the seat vacant for more than 11 months, Republicans, led by Senate Leader McConnell, immediately indicated their preference to wait until the next President is sworn in before considering any nomination to replace Justice Scalia.  Expectedly, Democrats immediately pounced on the politicization of the appointment process, with some noting the irony of modifying the clear constitutional reading on appointments in order to replace one of the leading minds of the originalist theory of judicial interpretation.   With both sides digging in, it is hard to say what happens.  However, it is important to note that the court has some very important cases before it, and 4-4 decisions mean that lower court rulings are upheld, though without setting precedent. 

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Looking Ahead

Near Term

• The President will release his budget to Congress on Tuesday and multiple hearings have already been scheduled to allow heads of Agencies and Departments to justify and defend their requests. 
• Fed Chair Yellen will come back to the Hill for her Semi-annual testimony on monetary policy.  With Friday’s lower than expected jobs numbers still fresh in the minds of many members, she should expect questions on the state of the economy, wages, and future interest rate increases.
• The Senate is expected to wrap up consideration of the Energy bill before turning to legislation to increase sanctions on individuals, foreign governments and financial institutions engaged in prohibited transactions with North Korea.  It is also possible that the Senate will vote on the customs conference report – though extraneous issues related to the inclusion of language making permanent the internet tax freedom act continues to complicate passage as supporters of a controversial measure to impose sales taxes on remote internet transactions continue to want to keep the two issues linked.

Continue reading “Financial Services Report”