Updates
The latest news and advocacy information for industrial bankers.
Administration extends pause on student loan payments
The Department of Education announced late this afternoon that it is extending the pause on federal student loan payments from its original expiration date of September 30 to January 31, 2022.
A deal on infrastructure?
The Senate voted 66-28 this morning to proceed with consideration of a bipartisan infrastructure package that would provide $550 billion in new spending on a wide range of projects
We’re running out of money. But when?
Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen wrote to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) today to notify her that the federal government’s outstanding debt will reach its statutory limit on August 1, immediately after the suspension approved in 2019 expires.
Senate plans to vote on infrastructure next week
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said yesterday that he wants the Senate to start voting next Wednesday on a $579 billion infrastructure package. He also wants agreement from Senate Democrats by Wednesday on how to move forward with the $3.5 trillion budget agreement that he, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (D-VT), and Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) announced on Tuesday.
House approves major infrastructure package
Yesterday the House of Representatives voted 221-201 to approve H.R. 3684, the INVEST in America Act, which would provide more than $700 billion over five years for surface transportation programs, climate change mitigation, rural bridges, new safety requirements for all forms of transportation, and a pilot program to test a national vehicle miles traveled (VMT) tax.
Congress nullifies OCC “true lender” rule
The House of Representatives voted 218-208 yesterday to approve S.J.Res.15, which overturns the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s October 2020 rule on “National Banks and Federal Savings Associations as Lenders.”
Happy Juneteenth!
President Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law yesterday, and proclaimed its first day of observance as a federal holiday today. Many federal offices are closed today. Let freedom ring.
Masks off!
The Capitol Hill complex has reached an 85% vaccination rate against COVID-19, which means that vaccinated House members, staff, and visitors no longer need to wear masks in the Capitol or the House office buildings. The House of Representative’s Attending Physician, Brian Monahan, announced the new guidance today. Masks had been encouraged but never required on the Senate side.
Biden budget emphasizes infrastructure, education, tax reform
President Biden sent Congress his FY 2022 budget today, putting price tags on the elements of his American Jobs Plan to rebuild infrastructure and his American Families Plan to help cover basic expenses of childcare, health care, and education.
Executive Order calls for climate risk disclosure and management policies
President Joe Biden issued an Executive Order on Climate-Related Financial Risk yesterday that calls for “consistent, clear, intelligible, comparable, and accurate disclosure of climate-related financial risk” throughout both the private and public sectors. The EO calls for the development within 120 days of a government-wide strategy to measure, assess, mitigate, and disclose climate-related financial risk to federal government programs and assets.
Tai calls for “holistic” approach to trade, legislators urge renewal of TPA, GSP
US Trade Representative Katherine C. Tai spent about eight hours before the Senate Finance Committee and House Ways & Means Committee this week, answering questions about the Biden administration’s “worker-centric” trade policy, the status of 301 tariff exemptions (under review), the need to reauthorize the Trade Promotion Authority and the Generalized System of Preferences, and how the administration plans to respond to Chinese forced labor practices and trade abuses.
Gensler says SEC rules must stay current, consider changes in market structure
At a four-hour hearing yesterday, the House Financial Services Committee grilled new Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler about whether and how the SEC should intervene to prevent volatility events such as the one around GameStop and other “meme stocks” in January. Gensler reminded the Committee that he’d only been in the job three weeks, but said that he had asked SEC staff to prepare a request for public comment on user interfaces for stock trading that may encourage investors to trade more frequently, and could affect users’ financial well-being.
Biden’s American Families Plan targets education, child care, paid leave
Reports about the contents of President Joe Biden’s American Families Plan (AFP) have been circulating for weeks, but the President provided details in his address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday night. Among other provisions, the AFP would make a “generation-defining investment in rural America.”
Senate moves toward comprehensive China legislation
Senate work continued this week toward a massive package of bipartisan legislation that sets forth strategic, economic, and diplomatic responses to China’s challenges to US and global security. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted out its Strategic Competition Act, which includes diplomatic, financial, and military measures to strengthen international alliances, push back against predatory economic behavior, and boost American competitiveness in science, technology, and infrastructure.
Who gets to be a bank?
The House Financial Services Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Financial Institutions held the first of what Chairman Ed Perlmutter (D-CO) said would be multiple hearings yesterday to discuss whether and how fintech companies and other businesses that offer credit should serve customers through nontraditional charters.
President submits “skinny budget”
President Joe Biden began the long process of hammering out a budget today by sending Congress his discretionary funding request for FY 2022, which an administration official described as “reinvesting in the foundation of our country’s strength.”
Big Boat is Stuck
It was a busy week in Washington. A really busy week. The President had his first press conference. The Secretary of the Treasury and the Chairman of the Fed testified twice, on opposite sides of Capitol Hill. The Secretary of Transportation spent more than five hours talking to a House committee about infrastructure. Immigrants gathered at the border, North Korea tested some missiles, another COVID vaccine faced approval delays.
Welcome, Spring
If you wake up at 3:47 Eastern Standard Time tomorrow, you can welcome the vernal equinox in person. The NCAA basketball tournament has started, baseball is only two weeks away, and we have (almost) made it through another winter. Congratulations.
Senate considers revised rescue plan
The Senate will be voting well into the weekend on amendments to H.R. 1319, the American Rescue Plan Act. Senate Democrats have agreed to a number of changes to the House bi
House to vote on COVID-19 relief package
The House of Representatives will vote tonight on President Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package. The House bill includes language to raise the federal minimum wage to $15/hour by 2025, but Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled yesterday that including that language in the Senate bill would violate the Senate rule that protects the bill from filibuster.