–Treasury Secretary To Testify To Senate Banking & House Fin Services
–Congress To Continue Debating Fiscal Cliff Issues
–House To Vote On Rep. Paul’s Fed Audit Bill This Week
–House Ways and Means To Mark-Up Bill For Normal Trade With Russia

By John Shaw

WASHINGTON (MNI) – Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner will travel to
Capitol Hill twice this week to testify on the annual report of the
Financial Stability Oversight Council.

Geithner will testify to the House Financial Services Committee
Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. ET and then he will testify to the Senate Banking
Committee Thursday at 10 a.m. ET.

While the hearings are focused on the Financial Stability Oversight
Committee’s report, it is likely that the Geithner will be questioned
about current economic conditions and other issues such as the fiscal
cliff and the LIBOR rigging scandal.

Congress will continue to debate aspects of the coming fiscal cliff
this week. This refers to the convergence of three fiscal events later
this year or early next year: the expiration of Bush-era tax cuts,
across-the-board spending cuts, and increasing the statutory debt
ceiling.

A subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee will hold a
hearing Wednesday at 10 a.m. ET on how the scheduled across-the-board
spending cuts will impact education programs.

Sen. Pat Toomey, a Republican member of last fall’s so-called Super
Committee, will speak at the Brookings Institution Tuesday at 9 a.m. ET
and is expected to offer a GOP perspective on the coming fiscal cliff.

Both the House and Senate are expected to vote in the next two
weeks on President Obama’s plan to renew only those Bush-era tax cuts
for families making $250,000 or less as well as a Republican plan to
extend all of the tax cuts.

The full House will vote this week on a bill by Rep. Ron Paul that
would authorize a wide-ranging audit of the Federal Reserve.

Paul has said that his bill would allow the Government
Accountability Office to audit the Fed’s discount window and open market
operations and the Fed’s agreements with foreign governments and other
central banks.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said last week that the bill would have a
chilling effect on the Fed’s monetary policy deliberations.

The bill will be considered on the House’s suspension calendar so
it will require a two-thirds majority to pass. Paul has said his bill
has 270 co-sponsors. Paul’s bill faces a very uncertain fate in the
Senate if it should pass the House.

The House Ways and Means Committee will mark-up legislation this
week that would establish permanent normal trade relations with Russia
and remove Russia from the 1974 Jackson-Vanik amendment. The panel is
expected to announce the mark-up schedule Tuesday.

The Senate passed its version of Russia PNTR legislation last week
on a 24 to 0 vote. Russia is scheduled to become a member of the World
Trade Organization August 1.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus has said the U.S.
should pass Russia PNTR before the end of July. He said that without
this legislation, U.S. firms would be at a disadvantage compared with
other companies from other WTO nations which already have agreements
with Russia.

In other action this week on Capitol Hill, the Senate Banking
Committee will hold a hearing Tuesday at 10 a.m. ET on housing
partnerships in Indian Country.

One of the Senate Banking panel’s subcommittees will hold a hearing
Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. ET on private student loans.

The Senate Finance Committee will hold a hearing Wednesday at 10
a.m. ET on education tax incentives.

Several subcommittees of the House Financial Services Committee
will hold hearings this week.

One subcommittee will hold a hearing Tuesday at 10 a.m. ET on
consumer credit access concerns.

Another subcommittee will hold a hearing Tuesday at 2 p.m. ET on
the Dodd-Frank law’s impact on the insurance industry.

A third subcommittee will hold a hearing Thursday at 9:30 a.m. ET
on the impact of Sarbanes-Oxley disclosure regulations.

The House Ways and Means Committee will hold a hearing Wednesday at
9:30 a.m. ET on tax exempt organizations.

** MNI Washington Bureau: (202) 371-2121 **

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