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Month: July 2018

TRP’s Davenport Credited with Key Role in Beach Restoration Project

Posted on by Thornrun

A recent article for The Islander News cites Thorn Run Partners’ Jim Davenport for his role in securing Congressional support in adding the Village of Key Biscayne to Miami-Dade County’s federal beach restoration project. Village Council Member Gary Gross credited Davenport’s role in securing the a letter signed by members of the Miami-Dade Country Congressional Delegation — including Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), Mario Diaz Balart (R-FL) and Carlos Curbelo (R-FL) — to the Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers expressing their support for the beach restoration efforts. “We support of the Village’s and County’s efforts to have the Key Biscayne shoreline included in the Dade County Beach Erosion Control and Hurricane Protection Project,” the letter states. “We also support the Village’s request to participate in Section 111 of the Continuing Authorities Program, which authorizes the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to initiate investigations and studies in the interest of mitigation of shore damage attributable to Federal Navigation work.”

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Financial Services Report

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Looking Ahead

Near Term

The House is in Recess until September. The Senate is in session this week and is expected to finish up its work on its mini-bus of the T-HUD, Ag, Interior and FSGG spending bills. 

After that, the Senate could vote on any of the following:

  • A short-term funding reauthorization for the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP);
  • Approving the FY19 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) conference report (H.R. 5515); and
  • A vote on the nomination of Britt Cagle Grant to be United States Circuit Judge for the Eleventh Circuit.

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Health Policy Report

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The Week in Review

The White House rode a wave of positive economic news last week as President Trump touted his tax and regulatory policies as drivers of the best economic growth in nearly four years. The U.S. economy expanded at a 4.1 percent rate in the April-to-June quarter, the highest level since growth hit 5.2 percent in the third quarter of 2014, the Commerce Department reported. Republicans are hoping that a string of good economic news will bolster their hopes in the November midterm elections, and President Trump recently indicated he plans to take an active role in bringing that message to voters — the President told Fox News' Sean Hannity on Friday "I will go six or seven days a week when we're 60 days out and I will be campaigning for all of these great people that do have a difficult race." While President Trump has proven his power to sway GOP primaries, it remains to be seen how voters will react to his midterm message, particularly in swing districts that will determine which party has control of the House.

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Financial Services Report

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Looking Ahead

Near Term

  • The Senate is expected to take up its version of a minibus spending bill comprised of the financial services, interior, transportation and agriculture spending measures this week.
  • The Senate Banking Committee will hold anominations hearing on Thursday to consider multiple vacancies, including SEC Commissioner, Head of Ginnie Mae, and the Director of OFR.
  • USTR Lighthizer is scheduled to appear before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday, where NAFTA and Tariffs is expected to dominate.
  • The House is scheduled to take up three health care related bills this week.
  • The House Financial Services Committee is holding its last mark-up of the summer on Tuesday.
  • The House and Senate are expected to vote on the final, conferenced version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the law the sets defense policy this week.  Included in that legislation are major changes to the CFIUS process.

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Health Policy Report

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The Week in Review

Buzz in Washington focused last week focused on President Trump’s performance in a press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin during a bilateral summit in Helsinki, Finland. Political commentators and a number of politicians on both sides of the aisle criticized President Trump for appearing too conciliatory to his Russian counterpart, particularly on the issue of Russian interference in the 2016 election. Given Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s ongoing probe of the Trump campaign’s connection to Russia and a reported invitation from the White House for Putin to visit this fall, it appears that American-Russian relations will continue to stay in the headlines for weeks to come.

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Financial Services Report

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Looking Ahead

Near Term

  • The House will take up two bills of importance to the financial services industry. First, they continue to move forward with another minibus spending bill. This one comprised of the Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) measure. Second, on Tuesday, the full House, under the suspension calendar (i.e., non-controversial) will take up S. 488 – the JOBS and Investor Confident Act and amend it to include nearly 50 bills that have already passed the House. This will be the JOBS 3.0 bill that Chairman Hensarling has negotiated with Ranking Member Waters. Whether the Senate will take it up remains to be seen.
  • The Senate will continue to move forward with judicial and non-judicial nominations, including the nomination of Randy Quarles to the Fed Board. While already confirmed as Vice Chair for Supervision, but the Governors Board seat requires a separate confirmation.  
  • Speaking of the Fed, Chairman Powell will be on the Hill twice this week to offer his bi-annual Humphrey-Hawkins report.
  • The Senate Banking Committee is also teed up to hold a nominations hearing for Kathy Kraniger to be the next director of the CFPB (or CBFP).
  • Will third time be the charm? On Tuesday the FSOC meeting and once again the question of de-designating a non-bank SIFI (presumably Prudential and Zions Bank) is on the agenda. 

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Health Policy Report

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The Week in Review

The domestic news highlight of the week was President Trump’s primetime announcement of D.C. Circuit Judge Brett Kavanaugh as the nominee to replace Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court. Kavanaugh, who will likely start his lifetime term at age 53, comes with the sterling credentials expected of Supreme Court nominees having graduated from Yale Law School, published a number of influential legal articles and spent over a decade on the nation’s second-highest court. However, Democrats are expected to take issue with the political positions on his resume, such as serving in a lead role of Ken Starr’s investigation into former President Bill Clinton and being White House Staff Secretary under President George W. Bush. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is hoping to shepherd Kavanaugh through the confirmation process before this November’s midterm elections.

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Health Policy Report

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The Week in Review

Both chambers were in recess this week in celebration of Independence Day. For the White House, the main action came on Thursday, as tariffs went into effect against $34 billion worth of Chinese imports. Despite world markets’ concerns over the looming trade war, President Trump has continued to insist that the new charges are necessary in order to improve the trade balance between the world’s two largest economies.

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Financial Services Report

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Our Take

Wednesday marks the 242nd anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.   As anyone who has seen or heard “Hamilton” knows, people most frequently quote the document’s most famous lines, about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  But those are the start of the Declarations’ second paragraph.   As any good history nerd knows, the first line is,
 
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

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Health Policy Report

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The Week in Review

The week’s biggest headline came out of the Supreme Court on Wednesday when Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy announced he will retire on July 31 after three decades on the nation’s highest court. The 81-year-old has been the Court’s most important figure in recent years, acting as the critical swing vote in 5-4 decisions on some of the Court’s most consequential cases, including on same-sex marriage, campaign finance, abortion protections, and last week, upholding President Trump’s travel ban affecting predominantly Muslim countries. The White House and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) have both indicated that they will try to confirm a new justice before this fall’s midterm elections, despite calls from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to delay the confirmation process in order to give voters a voice in the decision – a logic that McConnell used in blocking the consideration of Merrick Garland’s consideration after Justice Antonin Scalia died in early 2016. In any case, the back-and-forth over filling Kennedy’s seat is sure to be a dominant narrative in the coming weeks.

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