Photograph by Brian Harkin/Getty Images

Bill Gates, co-chair and trustee of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, talks with former President Bill Clinton, right, during the closing plenary session of the annual Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) on September 23, 2010 in New York City.

Former President Bill Clinton and Microsoft’s Bill Gates discuss America’s future at the annual Peterson Foundation Fiscal Summit. They’ll be followed by speakers including Senate Budget Chairwoman Patty Murray, House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan and Assistant to the President for Economic Policy Gene Sperling.

U.S. regulators face renewed pressure from Congress to ease Dodd-Frank Act derivatives rules amid mounting criticism from Wall Street and overseas that they overreach, Bloomberg News reports. The House Financial Services Committee is scheduled to vote on nine measures that would allow more swaps to be traded in units of banks such as JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc. that hold government-insured deposits.

President Barack Obama meets with South Korean President Park Geun-Hey at the White House today to discuss issues including security, one day after Park said her country would “make them pay” if North Korea were to mount a similar attack to the 2010 sinking of a warship, Bloomberg News reports. Meanwhile, the Dalai Lama gives a lecture on peace at the University of Maryland.

Also today, Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter speaks at the National Press Club on the impact of budget uncertainty on the military. Pentagon contracts tumbled 52 percent in April from a month earlier as federal budget cuts took hold, Bloomberg News reported.

A special election being held today for the vacant House seat in South Carolina pits former Republican Gov. Mark Sanford against Democratic nominee Elizabeth Colbert Busch, sister of political satirist Stephen Colbert. Polls close at 7 p.m.

Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, appears on Bloomberg TV. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew discusses state of U.S. economy at City Club of Cleveland. A House Appropriations panel hears from Chairman Mary Jo White on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s proposed budget.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, Rep. Marsha Blackburn, former Sen. Jim DeMint and Forbes CEO Steve Forbes participate in a Heritage Foundation event to honor the late Margaret Thatcher. Later, Majority Leader Eric Cantor and other House Republicans hold a roundtable discussion with private sector employees and working parents followed by a media briefing.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit hears arguments in Texas challenge over federal takeover of the state’s carbon-emission rules. A House Science, Space and Technology panel holds a hearing on Keystone pipeline. A House Energy and Commerce panel holds a hearing on prospects for exports of U.S. energy including liquefied natural gas.

Secretary of State John Kerry visits Moscow to meet with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and other Russian officials. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee hears from Deborah Kay Jones, nominated to become ambassador to Libya, at her confirmation hearing. UN Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos participates in discussion of international response to Syria, hosted by Middle East Institute.

And tennis legend Chris Evert discusses her charity work at the National Press Club.

Original post is Washington Daybook: Bill and Bill’s American Adventure by Political Capital.

Photograph by Nicholas Roberts/AFP via Getty Images

This September 15, 2008 file photo shows the sign for Lehman Brothers headquarters in New York.

Many critics of the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory overhaul will say that the bill’s biggest shortcoming is its failure to reduce the size of the largest banks — the ones that are “Too Big To Fail.”

Federal Reserve Governor Daniel Tarullo, who is running the Fed’s efforts to implement those regulations, says the biggest gap lies elsewhere: In the short-term wholesale funding markets where banks borrow overnight.

“We would do the American public a fundamental disservice were we to declare victory without tackling the structural weaknesses of short-term wholesale funding markets,” Tarullo said today in Washington at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

After all, the financial system still remains vulnerable to the risk that short-term funding could be withdrawn and financial institutions would face the type of liquidity crisis that led to the collapse of Bear Stearns Group Cos. and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in 2008.

Tarullo outlined how, using authority granted to the Fed under Dodd-Frank, the central bank could crack down further on the largest financial institutions, requiring them to hold more capital and liquidity to buffer against risks in short-term markets.

His speech comes as top U.S. bank regulators and lawmakers are pushing for further action to limit the risk that the government again winds up bailing out one or more of the nation’s biggest financial institutions.

Sen. Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat, and Republican Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana unveiled legislation last month that would mandate a 15 percent capital cushion for banks with more than $500 billion in assets. An analysis of that proposal by Standard & Poor’s said the largest banks may split themselves up rather than face such a requirement.

Tarullo’s proposal is more incremental, focused on dialing up the existing approach. And he made clear that, if regulators are to go further, it will have to be Congress that makes the call.

“Proposals to impose across-the-board size caps or structural limitations on banks–whatever their merits and demerits–embody basic policy decisions that are properly the province of Congress,” he said.

Original post is Dodd-Frank’s Missing Link by Political Capital.

Photograph by Jin Lee/Bloomberg

Ron Johnson, chief executive officer of J.C. Penney Co., arrives at State Supreme court in New York, on March 1, 2013.

Ron Johnson, the former chief executive officer of J.C. Penney Co., received a compensation package 1,795 times higher than the average wage and benefits of a U.S. department store worker, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Such disparities are why the Dodd-Frank financial regulation law requires public companies to report their CEO-to-employee salary ratios, a provision being challenged by corporations trying to keep that data secret.

Original post is Bloomberg By the Numbers: 1,795 by Political Capital.

Photograph by Greg Fiume/Getty Images

Stephen Strasburg #37 of the Washington Nationals pitches against the Miami Marlins at Nationals Park on September 7, 2012 in Washington, DC.

Congress is out on its second week of spring recess. President Barack Obama and first Lady Michelle Obama host the White House’s 135th annual Easter Egg Roll, with celebrity story-tellers, chefs and athletes.

The Washington Nationals will put star pitcher Stephen Strasburg on the mound in the MLB season opener against the Miami Marlins.

A new rule governing high-risk loans takes effect; the rule may change how FDIC-insured banks invest in collateralized loan obligations as they assess the cost of holding assets calculated in their ability to withstand stress.

The Cato Institute hosts a discussion on the Dodd-Frank Act’s Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and orderly liquidation authority provisions, and the health-care law’s Independent Payment Advisory Board.

The Peterson Institute for International Economics presents its semi-annual global economic outlook, which will look at the Cyprus bank bailout, political turmoil in Italy and economic policy in Latin America.

The U.S. Trade Representative will release annual assessments of global trade barriers, including a study on technical, health and safety trade restrictions.

Securities Exchange Commission Chairman Elisse Walter speaks on financial literacy and public service at George Washington University.

Sequestration-related cuts begin at the Homeland Security Department, which is set to shrink hours of Border Patrol agents and Customs and Border Protection officers, starting today. The Federal Aviation Administration will begin furloughing staff and closing more than 230 control towers at smaller and mid-sized airports.

Film director Martin Scorsese speaks at a National Endowment for the Humanities sponsored lecture at the Kennedy Center tonight.

Original post is Washington Daybook: Play Ball by Political Capital.

Photograph by Christopher Polk/Getty Images

Actor Daniel Day-Lewis and wife Rebecca Miller arrive at Hollywood & Highland Center on Feb. 24, 2013 in Hollywood.

Fresh from a mixed Oscars performance, the reanimated spirit of Abraham Lincoln can seek solace today in the 150th birthday celebration kicked off by one of his lesser-known legacies.

While fighting the Civil War and emancipating slaves, the 16th president also found time to breathe life into a federal banking system, starting with the National Currency Act on Feb. 25, 1863. That law led to the establishment of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Today the OCC, as it’s known, announced with pride the start of a yearlong celebration of its heritage.

“I am especially proud to lead the agency as it achieves this milestone in its distinguished history,” said the OCC’s current chief, Thomas Curry, issuing a huzzah to his agency’s “long heritage of public service.” Recognition will continue at agency events throughout the year.

As with most regulatory efforts, Lincoln’s was born of crisis: a little matter of finding a way to pay for the war. Today’s members of Lincoln’s Republican Party will likely spend the OCC’s sesquicentennial year looking askance at the stiffening of banking regulations provided in the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act.

No word yet on whether Daniel Day-Lewis will be available to blow out candles.

Original post is No Best Picture, but Another Washington Party for Lincoln by Political Capital.

Photograph by Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg

A Bank of America Corp. branch in New York City.

Rep. John Campbell plans to offer legislation aimed at reducing the size of “too-big-to-fail” banks by requiring them to hold more capital including long-term debt.

Campbell’s bill comes as a number of lawmakers and regulators from both parties — including Federal Reserve Governor Daniel Tarullo — argue that the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act failed to curb the growth of large banks and express support for renewed efforts to limit the kind of systemic risk that fueled the 2008 financial crisis, Bloomberg News reports.

“Being big is not a problem in and of itself, but being big in a sense that it creates a competitive disadvantage and a systemic problem is a bad thing,” Campbell, a California Republican, said in an interview today with Bloomberg
Government. “If you want to stay big that’s fine, you can stay big. But it’s going to be rather expensive.”

Some critics of “too big to fail” banks have proposed breaking up the institutions. Campbell said that’s not a decision the government or regulators
should make.

“The reason I’m proposing this kind of thing and not a break-up is because how are you going to break them up?” Campbell said. “Are you going to break them up regionally, by business line, are you going to break them up into 10 different things or two different things? What are you going to do? I don’t that’s our decisions.”

Read the full story here.

Original post is Bill to Limit Too-Big-to-Fail Bank Risk Prepared in House by Political Capital.

Photograph by Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

Richard Cordray, director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), testifies during a Senate Banking Committee hearing in Washington.

Almost from the moment that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was created in 2010, Republican and Democratic lawmakers began fighting over whether the agency should be run by a commission or a director.

Democrats are content with the single-director structure set up by the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory law, saying it helps the agency operate efficiently and leaves no question about who’s in charge. Republicans say the model invests too much regulatory power in one person. They want a five-member commission instead.

Now if you’re looking for ideological consistency in Washington, please avert your eyes.

Over at the Consumer Product Safety Commission, one current and one former Republican commissioner say they want to dismantle that agency’s commission in favor of a single director. Meantime, the former Democratic chairman of the panel says the commission model worked just fine.

The two consumer agencies have similar mandates. The product safety commission is a watchdog over goods including appliances, baby cribs and toys. The consumer finance bureau sets rules for credit cards, mortgages and other products and protects borrowers from unscrupulous lenders or debt collectors.

Anne Northup, a Republican who was a product safety commissioner from 2009 to 2012, said in an interview that a single director clarifies accountability. “If the president chooses a director who ruins the market, it’s on his shoulders, and if he does not, he’ll get the credit,” Northup said.

On the other side, Ann Brown, a Democrat who headed the product safety commission during the Clinton administration, said the multi-member structure brings a wider range of views and forces people to “work together to make decisions.”

Nancy Nord, a Republican serving on the product safety commission, said the benefits of the collegial model that Brown describes are overrated.

Unless the subject is “mundane,” the group splits along party lines, Nord said. And she contends that the legal requirement that commissioners conduct much of their debates in front of the public limits the informal exchanges that can improve decision-making.

None of the three is saying that their opinions about the product safety commission necessarily apply to the consumer finance bureau.

Last year, House Republicans pushed through a bill to replace the consumer finance bureau’s director with a commission. The legislation got nowhere in the Democrat-controlled Senate. The product-safety agency didn’t come up in that debate, but it may well do so if the bill is revived.

Original post is Single Consumer Director? Depends on Which Agency You Mean by Political Capital.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s board votes today on final Dodd-Frank rules governing annual internal “stress tests” for 26 firms under its jurisdiction that have at least $10 billion in assets. These include Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based BB&T Corp. and New York-based American Express Co.’s Centurion Bank. The agency will also vote on finalizing a rule it proposed in March to change how banks evaluate assets to determine their payments to the deposit insurance fund.

Steve Rattner, who oversaw the Obama administration’s auto industry bailout, speaks about the legacy of the program and the stresses that remain on the industry in a speech to the Center for American Progress.

And stresses on the business environment will be the main topic of discussion at the Newseum today as John Engler, president of Business Roundtable; Jay Timmons, president of National Association of Manufacturers; and Matt Shay, president of National Retail Federation speak at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce discussion on the economy and government policies that affect growth rates and taxes.

On the energy front, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar makes an announcement regarding renewable energy on public land. Bloomberg New Energy Finance’s head of policy analysis Ethan Zindler; Calpine Corp. director of governmental relations Yvonne McIntyre; and Enel Green Power’s associate of regulatory affairs Jack Thirolf participate in a discussion on “Renewable Energy Markets: Investment & Policy Trends” at 2168 Rayburn.

Also today, Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York speaks at the National Press Club on how the presidential election should influence Democrats’ approach to tax overhaul. The IRS holds hearing on proposed regulations relating to basis of indebtedness of corporations to their shareholders. And speaking of stress, Banco Santander Vice Chairman Matias Rodriguez Inciarte speaks on restructuring Europe’s stressed financial system at the Peterson Institute.

Original post is Washington Daybook: Stressed Out by Political Capital.

There’s a new scapegoat this year, with spending higher than ever.

As we report on Bloomberg Television today, one of every 10 political TV ad dollars has gone to spots hitting the financial services sector — $91 million of the $897 million spent between mid-April and mid-September, according to data compiled by Kantar Media/CMAG.

President Barack Obama’s campaign has been the single biggest spender. One ad alone has $22 million behind it, hitting Republican Mitt Romney for saying that he would repeal the Dodd-Frank financial regulations and “roll back regulations on big banks.”

All told, $65 million in ads have referred to “bailouts,” regulations and bonuses, corporate tax breaks. Some have singled out companies — such as Bank of America, Citi and Goldman Sachs, by name or logo.

And it’s not just Democrats — the Republican National Committee spent $6.4 million on an ad criticizing Obama’s economic record — hitting him for driving up the debt by aligning him with the federal government’s bank bailout, showing an image of a Wall Street sign.

What about the real four-letter word of this election cycle. Bain?

Obama might not have mentioned Bain Capital, the firm where Romney made his fortune, in the debate last week, but for anyone in one of the handful of swing states where the campaigns are fighting hardest, the Obama campaign is saturating the air with the private equity firm Romney founded — with $26 million spent in ads slamming Bain. The president’s campaign and the super-PAC supporting him account for 99 percent of that spending.

Bain has sustained more negative political advertising than BP faced in 2010, when $25 million went to targeting the company that year for the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

BP actually provided a template for he financial sector on how to respond to the attacks.

The company spent $229 million in TV advertising responding to the criticism – and granted it had to deal more than mean campaign ads. But Kantar estimates the sector could be looking at nearly $1 billion to rehabilitate its image after the 2012 campaign.

Here’s the newest from Obama: Bernie Madoff, Ken Lay… and Big Bird:

Original post is Wall Street as Campaign Demon: One in 10 TV Ads Aired: $91 Mln by Political Capital.

Photograph by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama during the Presidential Debate at the University of Denver on October 3, 2012 in Colorado.

Updated at midnight EDT

For all the anticipation of the first presidential debate, the lasting impressions may be few.

Republican Mitt Romney scored with a forceful debating stance, but left the stage without a memorable line.

President Barack Obama reeled out a painful line of attack, yet maintained a reserved, perhaps too-cool tone.

Pressing Romney for the lack of details in his tax proposals and plans for replacing Dodd-Frank financial regulation and “Obama-care,” the president delivered what had the sound of a practiced, yet effective, line:

“At some point, I think the American people have to ask themselves, is the reason that Governor Romney is keeping all these plans to replace secret because they’re too good? Is it — is it because that somehow middle-class families are going to benefit too much from them?”

This also came well into a 90-minute debate at the University of Denver that opened with an aggressive Republican nominee and a somewhat nervous-sounding president — and for those who tuned out after a half-hour there was little more memorable than that.

This is supposed to be the economy election, the contest in which 43 months of unemployment over 8 percent will weigh heavily on the Nov. 6 vote. Romney mouthed the word “jobs” 23 times in debate, Obama 14 times.

“I like PBS,” Romney told moderator Jim Lehrer of the Public Broadcasting Service as he spoke of cutting government spending for public television. “I love Big Bird. Actually like you, too.”

The president missed an opportunity to hold Romney to account for his recently reported fundraising comment about 47 percent of Americans paying no taxes and becoming “victims” of government dependency.

Instead, it was Romney who attempted to capitalize on Vice President Joe Biden’s campaign-trail remark that the middle class has been “buried” the last four years.

“The people who are having the hard time right now are middle-income Americans,” Romney said. “Under the president’s policies, middle-income Americans have been buried. They’re just being crushed.”

Yet he failed to say that it was the president’s own running mate who had said so.

The initial take on the debate, from a quick CNN poll of registered voters who watched the debate:

67 percent said Romney won, and 25 percent said Obama won.

By a two-to-one margin, uncommitted voters called Romney the winner in a CBS News poll of 500 people after the debate: 46 percent gave it to Romney, 22 percent Obama. Also, 56 percent of those surveyed said they viewed Romney in a better light after the debate. Eleven percent said their opinion of him dropped, and 32 percent reported no change.

What the polls say in the days ahead will say more about lasting impressions.

Missed opportunities, tougher body language by a hungry rival, self-restraint by a cautious incumbent and dearth of memorable remarks make for an encounter that may not be long remembered as the campaign carries on —  two weeks until another presidential debate.

Original post is Obama-Romney: Lasting Impressions by Political Capital.