–Federal Reserve Board Chairman To Testify To House Budget Panel Thurs
–Congressional Budget Office To Release Updated Econ and Budget Report
–Senate Budget Panel To Hold Hearing on Eurozone Crisis Wednesday

By John Shaw

WASHINGTON (MNI) – Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke will
travel to Capitol Hill Thursday to testify before the House Budget
Committee on the U.S. economic outlook.

Bernanke will testify before the House Budget panel at 10 a.m.
EST.

The Fed chairman is likely to be asked to assess the state of the
U.S. recovery, the central challenges facing American fiscal policy, the
economic impact of Europe’s economic and political struggles, and the
Fed’s recent conduct of monetary policy.

The Congressional Budget Office will release its updated economic
and budget report Tuesday at 10 a.m. The CBO report will cover fiscal
years 2013 through 2022. It will also include an updated deficit
estimate for FY’12.

CBO director Doug Elmendorf will hold a briefing on the report
Tuesday at 11 a.m.

Elmendorf will testify on the CBO’s new economic and budget
report before the House Budget Committee Wednesday at 10 a.m.

The House-Senate conference committee to draft a payroll tax cut
extension policy will meet again Wednesday.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp and Senate
Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus convened the first meeting of the
conference committee last week, with both Camp and Baucus saying an
agreement on a package can be accomplished in the coming weeks.

The panel is trying to draft a $160 billion package to extend the
payroll tax cut, renew unemployment insurance benefits and prevent a
deep cut in Medicare reimbursements for doctors.

Congress passed a two month extensions of these programs which will
expire at the end of February. Both President Obama and congressional
leaders say they want to pass a one year extension of these programs,
but there are scores of policy details to resolve as well as a
budget offset package of at least $160 billion.

House Republicans recommend paying for the package by extending a
federal employee pay freeze, increasing Medicare premiums for upper
income beneficiaries, and cutting funds from the new health care law.

Senate Democrats prefer to pay for the package by imposing a surtax
on those with incomes over $1 million.

In other action this week, the Senate Banking Committee will hold a
hearing Tuesday at 10 a.m. on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Richard Cordray, the CFPB’s director, will testify.

The Senate Budget Committee will hold a hearing Wednesday at 10
a.m. on the outlook for the Eurozone. Fred Bergsten from the Peterson
Institute for International Economics, Simon Johnson of MIT and other
academic experts will testify.

The Senate Budget Committee will also hold a hearing Thursday at 10
a.m. with Elmendorf, the CBO chief.

The Senate Finance Committee will hold a hearing Tuesday at 10 a.m.
on tax reform, with a specific focus on the regular renewal of the 50
tax extenders.

The Senate Energy Committee is holding a hearing Tuesday at 10 a.m.
on the U.S. and global energy outlook for 2012. Experts from the
Department of Energy and the International Energy Agency will testify.

A subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee will hold a
hearing Wednesday at 2 p.m. on the Financial Institutions Examination
Fairness and Reform Act.

Another subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee will
hold a hearing Wednesday at 10 a.m. to examine HUD’s actions to
implement the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act of 2000.

Another subcommittee of the House Financial Services panel will
hold a hearing Thursday at 10 a.m. on the bankruptcy of MF Global.

** Market News International Washington Bureau: (202) 371-2121 **

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