While the Democrats choose to move a partisan COVID-19 relief bill by using the reconciliation process for this bill, it remains to be seen whether the remainder of the legislation that will be considered on the floor of the Senate this congress will take the same path. While Democrats in the Senate could attempt to move an agenda on their narrow margin of a majority, the fact remains that it only takes ten Republicans, less than 1\/3 of the Caucus, to move something in a bipartisan manner. And of course, getting this bipartisan effort in the Senate would also ensure a more moderated result from whatever the House passed. Whether this framework ultimately prevails – or if progressives forces continue to strive for the perfect over the good – will be a determining factor in the functionality of Congress, and President Biden’s purported goal of unifying the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Looking Ahead<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n While both chambers will have a busy schedule over the next two weeks, it will not involve passing legislation on the floor of either chamber. The Senate is set to be consumed with the second impeachment trial, while the House is scheduled to be in a remote Committee work period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In notable committee activity next week, Neera Tanden \u2014 President Joe Biden’s pick to lead the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) \u2014 will appear before the Senate for a pair of confirmation hearings next week. Tanden is scheduled to testify before the Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs on Tuesday, followed by the Budget Committee on Wednesday. On the House side, the House Financial Services Committee will mark-up its piece of the reconciliation <\/a>instructions, which among other things, includes the imposition of a Military Lending Act <\/em>(MLA) style rate cap on the $10 billion dollars of small business loans to be administered through the State Small Business Credit Initiative. Later in the week, a Judiciary Subcommittee will hold a hearing on legislation to impose a blanket prohibition on mandatory arbitration clauses, while an Energy and Commerce subcommittee will examine climate change issues. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Last Week in the House <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Floor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n House lawmakers passed a\nbudget resolution by a vote of (218-212<\/a>) on Wednesday that kicked off the\nreconciliation process for another round of COVID-19 legislation. After the\nSenate\u2019s marathon \u201cvote-a-rama\u201d process to debate amendments to the resolution,\nthe House voted on Friday to approve the budget plan \u2014 beginning the process of\nturning President Biden\u2019s stimulus proposal into legislation. The instructed 25\ncommittees across both chambers have until Tuesday, February 16 to write bill\ntext for the $1.9 trillion relief measure. Democratic leadership is aiming to\nget the relief legislation onto President Biden’s desk by March 14 \u2014 the same\nday that the current unemployment insurance benefits expire. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Hearings, etc.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n HFSC Hearing on COVID-19 Relief (2\/4):<\/strong> On Thursday, the House Financial Services\nCommittee held a hearing to discuss the need for additional COVID-19 stimulus\nrelief. The discussion comes after the release of President Biden\u2019s American\nRescue Plan, as well as Congressional Democrats\u2019 efforts to move another virus\nrelief package through budget reconciliation. The topic of discussion\nlargely remained along party lines, with Republicans critical of the size and\n\u201cuntargeted\u201d scope of the Biden administration\u2019s plan, while Democrats urged\nthe need for immediate and significant aid. Conversation around state and local\naid, housing, minimum wage, and enhanced unemployment benefits dominated much\nof the discussion and debate. Republicans maintained that raising the minimum\nwage to $15 an hour will crush struggling small business and harm the most\nvulnerable workers. Democrats called for continued housing relief measures to\nkeep people in their homes, and cited state and local aid as a means to address\nmany of the issues facing middle America. <\/p>\n\n\n\n HFSC Sub on Small and Minority Owned Businesses (2\/4):<\/strong> On Thursday, the House Financial Services\nSubcommittee on National Security, International Development and Monetary\nPolicy held a hearing to address the challenges faced by small and\nminority-owned businesses during the pandemic. The witnesses spoke of the\ndisproportionate hardships faced by these businesses from the pandemic \u2014 due in\npart to a lack of educational awareness efforts on federal aid opportunities,\nas well as inequities in distribution of aid from programs such as PPP and\nEIDL. While Members highlighted the increased CDFI utilization and increased\nset asides in recent legislation to ensure low-and-moderate income communities\nare being served, they called for permanent programs to help these businesses\ngrow long term. Mr. Sands, CEO of Lendistry, outlined the need to\nsystematically change the way capital is deployed. He argued that more capital\nfor large banks often leads to larger loans, and instead called for more\ncapitalized banks to capitalize smaller banks in order to provide smaller loans\nto small and minority owned businesses. Members also provided mixed reviews on\nthe efficacy of the State Small Business Credit\nInitiative<\/a> (SSBCI) and highlighted\nthe bicameral Small Business Credit Act released this week. The discussion\nunderscored the vitality of community banks in facilitating the success of\nsmall and minority owned businesses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Bills Introduced<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n H.R. 659<\/strong><\/a> (Ocasio-Cortez): To repeal the limitation on the construction of\nnew public housing, known as the Faircloth Amendment, and for other purposes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n H.R. 685<\/strong><\/a> (Axne): To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to exempt a\nportion of unemployment compensation received during 2020 from income taxes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n H.R. 725<\/strong><\/a> (Roy): To amend the Internal Revenue Code of\n1986 to expand and improve health savings accounts, and for other purposes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n H.R. 733<\/strong><\/a> <\/strong>(Steil): To authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to require\nspecial measures for domestic financial institutions in connection with INSTEX,\nand for other purposes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n H.R. 738<\/strong><\/a> (Watson Coleman): To require employers to pay essential pay to\nhealth care employees during public health emergencies, and to provide a tax\ncredit for the cost of such pay. <\/p>\n\n\n\n H.Res.100<\/strong><\/a> (Pressley): A bicameral resolution calling for\nPresident Biden to use existing authority under the Higher Education Act to\ncancel up to $50,000 in student loan debt for Federal student loan borrowers.\nThe resolution calls on the President to use executive authority to cancel\nstudent loan debt and ensure there is no tax liability for Federal student loan\nborrowers resulting from administrative debt cancellation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n GREEN Act<\/strong><\/a> <\/strong>(Thompson): Thirty-five House Democrats cosponsored this\nlegislation to expand the use of renewable energy through Federal tax\nincentives, in order to promote clean energy technologies and faster deploy\nzero-emissions vehicles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Other Activity<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n House Financial Services Committee Roster:<\/strong> Outside of losses from the 116th<\/sup>\u00a0Congress, the Committee saw the addition three Democrats \u2014Ritchie Torres (NY), Nikema Williams (GA), and Jake Auchincloss (MA) \u2014 and the loss of both Katie Porter (D-CA) and Jennifer Wexton (D-VA) to other committees. Full current Committee membership can be found here<\/a>. Last week, Ranking Member McHenry also issued a press release<\/a> announcing Republican Financial Services Subcommittee assignments.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n Democrats Call for NOL Provision Repeal<\/strong>: On Tuesday, 120 Democrats wrote<\/a> to Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Schumer, urging the next COVID-19 legislation to repeal changes to the tax treatment of net operating losses (NOLs) for corporations and other taxpayers. The provisions, enacted through the CARES Act, allowed a five-year carryback of any NOL generated in a taxable year beginning after December 31, 2017, and before January 1, 2021. The provisions also allowed taxpayers to elect to waive the carryback period of NOLs from those tax years and only carry those NOLs forward to future years.\u00a0The Members argue that \u201cThese special-interest giveaways will confer over 80 percent of the benefits to just 43,000 taxpayers, each earning at least $1 million per year.\u201d The repeal of these provisions would save over $250 billion, the letter states, \u201cwhich should be repurposed to help Americans who have lost income due to the pandemic and its economic fallout.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Last Week in the Senate<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n committees under\nDemocratic control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Senate Banking\nCommittee, on Thursday, approved the nomination of Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio)\nto lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development by a vote of 17-7 vote.\nThe Committee also unanimously approved Cecilia Rouse to chair the Council of\nEconomic Advisers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Early Friday morning,\nSenators wrapped up consideration (51-50<\/a>) of a budget resolution for COVID-19 relief\nlegislation following roughly 15 hours of debate on amendments. The Senate\nagreed to several amendments during the marathon “vote-a-rama”\nprocess, including provisions such as: <\/p>\n\n\n\n Hearings, etc.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n DOL Nomination Hearing (2\/4):<\/strong> On Thursday, the Senate HELP Committee held a hearing to consider\nthe nomination of Marty Walsh to serve as Secretary of Labor. Mr. Walsh\nexpressed a commitment to advancing inclusion in the workforce for women and\nminorities, including addressing the pay equity gap and advocating for\nworkforce development investments. He is expected to pursue the\nadministration\u2019s labor goals of recovering millions of jobs lost last from the\npandemic, expanding who qualifies for overtime pay and pressing Congress to\nraise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. He expressed support of the PRO\nAct and is expected to pursue the administration\u2019s plans to boost labor unions.\nRepublicans are largely expected to support his nomination, and we expect a\nSenate confirmation vote soon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Bills Introduced<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n S. 175<\/strong><\/a> (Durbin): A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to\nexempt a portion of unemployment compensation received during 2020 from income\ntaxes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n S. 153<\/strong><\/a> (Cruz): A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to\nexpand and improve health savings accounts, and for other purposes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n S. 243<\/strong><\/a> (Cramer): A bill to\namend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to expand tax-free distributions from\nindividual retirement accounts to include rollovers for charitable life-income\nplans for charitable purposes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n S.258<\/strong><\/a> (Peters): A bill to help small businesses\naccess capital and create jobs by reauthorizing the successful State Small\nBusiness Credit Initiative. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Competition and Antitrust Law\nEnforcement Reform Act <\/strong><\/a>(Klobuchar): As the incoming head of the Senate antitrust\nsubcommittee, Sen. Klobuchar (D-MN), is proposing broad changes to U.S.\nantitrust laws to press the issue of perceived monopoly power in technology and\nother industries. The legislation that would bar companies that dominate their\nsectors from making acquisitions unless they can prove their deals don\u2019t\n\u201ccreate an appreciable risk of materially lessening competition\u201d \u2014putting the\nonus on the government to prove a merger substantially lessens competition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Family Security Act<\/strong><\/a> <\/strong>(Romney): A bill to provide a monthly cash benefit for families,\namounting to $350 a month for each young child, and $250 a month for each\nschool-aged child. The Act would replace the Child Tax Credit with a $3,000\nyearly benefit per child \u2014 $4,200 for kids under the age of 5 \u2014 spread out in\nmonthly installments. Sen. Romney predicts this would boost nearly 3 million\nchildren out of poverty. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Other Activity<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Senate Banking Membership: <\/strong>The Senate Banking Committee roster was finalized this week, with\nthe additions of both Georgia Senate Democrats, Jon Ossof and Raphael Warnock,\nand the departure of Hawaii Senator Brian Schatz on the Democratic side.\nRepublicans, having lost two Members last Congress, added Bill Hagerty of\nTennessee, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, and Steve Daines of Montana, with\nNebraska\u2019s Ben Sasse and Arkansas Tom Cotton leaving the Committee. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Committee stands at\n12-12, membership as follows:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Chairman<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Jack Reed (D-RI)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Robert Menendez (D-NJ)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jon Tester (D-MT)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mark R. Warner (D-VA)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Catherine Cortez Masto\n(D-NV)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tina Smith (D-MN)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jon Ossoff (D-GA)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Raphael Warnock (D-GA)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pat Toomey (R-PA), Ranking\nMember<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Richard Shelby (R-AL)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mike Crapo (R-ID)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tim Scott (R-SC)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mike Rounds (R-SD)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thom Tillis (R-NC)<\/p>\n\n\n\n John Kennedy (R-LA)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bill Hagerty (R-TN)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cynthia Lummis (R-WY)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jerry Moran (R-KS)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kevin Cramer (R-ND)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Steve Daines (R-MT)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Full 117th Congress Senate Democratic committee membership can be found in Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) <\/strong>press release<\/strong><\/a>. Senate Republican committee assignments can be found <\/strong>here<\/strong><\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Last Week in the Administration<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Money Market Fund Reform<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n On Thursday, as one of its first moves in the Biden\nadministration, the Securities and Exchange Commission published a request for public comment<\/a> on potential reform measures to improve\nthe resilience of money market funds and prepare for a future economic crisis.\nThe move comes after a December 2020 report by the President’s Working Group on\nFinancial Markets, which said that policymakers should consider taking measures\nto prevent runs on the funds, improve the resilience of short-term funding\nmarkets, and reduce the likelihood that the government will have to intervene\nin the future as it did last March in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n New Agency Staff<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Key staff members were announced recently at Treasury<\/a> and the SEC<\/a>. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen was confirmed\nby the Senate on January 25, with an 84-15 vote. Meanwhile, Commissioner\nAllison Herren Lee is serving as SEC Acting Chair while Gary Gensler \u2014 Biden\u2019s\nnominee for Chairman \u2014 awaits confirmation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Shelton Fed Nomination Withdrawal<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n On Thursday, President Biden formally withdrew Judy Shelton\u2019s\nnomination to the Federal Reserve Board, officially closing the book on her\npursuit to join the central bank. Although the Democratic majority in the\nSenate in January effectively ended any chance of Shelton\u2019s confirmation,\nBiden\u2019s withdrawal merely clears the way for his eventual nominee to fill the\nfinal vacant spot on the Fed board. Biden has not yet indicated who he would\npick to fill the role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Federal Reserve Real Time Payments in 2023<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Last week, the Federal Reserve made clear<\/a> that it expected to have its FedNow real time\nclearing payments system operational by 2023. This revised a previous expected\nstart date of sometime in 2023 or 2024. Despite the stepped up timeline, the he Federal Reserve continues to indicate that\nit is taking a phased approach to bringing the FedNow Service to market, with\nit’s initial launch will include core clearing and settlement functionality and\nkey value-added features, such as a request-for-payment capability and tools to\nsupport participants in their handling of payment inquiries, reconcilements and\ncertain exceptions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n CFPB Reconsiders QM, Debt Collection Rules<\/em> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n On Thursday, the Bureau\u2019s Acting Director David Uejio issued a\u00a0blog post<\/a> discussing priorities and potential changes to Trump era regulations. In the blog post, Uejio announced he is mulling scrapping two Trump-era rules \u2014 a revision of the agency\u2019s \u201cQualified Mortgage\u201d rule and a rule updating requirements for debt collectors. Both rules were finalized last year but have not yet been implemented, and the CFPB staff has been directed by him to \u201cexplore options for preserving the status quo with respect to QM and debt collection rules.\u201d The post also outlined that the Bureau is working hard to address housing insecurity, promote racial equity, and protect small businesses\u2019 access to credit as some of its initial focuses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This Week’s Schedule <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Mon. (2\/8)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Tues. (2\/9)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Wed. (2\/10)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Thu. (2\/11)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \ufeff<\/strong>Fri. (2\/12)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Further Out <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n While the Democrats choose to move a partisan COVID-19 relief bill by using the reconciliation process for this bill, it remains to be seen whether the remainder of the legislation that will be considered on the floor of the Senate this congress will take the same path. While Democrats in the Senate could attempt to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,7],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n