04 Apr
2016
Fiduciary Rule, Ex-Im, Trade – TenCount 4.4.16
- Voters go to to the polls again this week as Wisconsin conducts its presidential primary on Tuesday, Colorado conducts its very confusing slate of district and state Republican Conventions on Friday and Saturday, and Wyoming Democrats caucus on Saturday. The House of Representatives is still on Spring Break, while Senators return to work on Monday.
- The long-awaited Fiduciary Rule, nearly six years in the making, is slated to be unveiled Wednesday by Labor Secretary Thomas Perez at an event at the Center for American Progress. The rule, which has drawn fierce opposition from Wall Street and the asset management industry, will require brokers to act as fiduciaries, acting in their customers’ best interests, when advising them on retirement accounts
- “Promoting Retirement Security Makes Good Business Sense” is the subject of a Tuesday event co-sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Social Security Administration, featuring economists, employers and others who will discuss how the current Social Security retirement program can be used to supplement employer-provided retirement savings.
- The Export-Import Bank is back up and running, although in limited fashion: Because its board comprises only two members currently, the bank cannot act on transactions larger than $10 million. Nonetheless, the bank will conduct a meeting of its Advisory Committee on Thursday to receive updates on past and future recommendations, the financing pipeline and a report on competitiveness.
- More than in most election years, foreign trade is a subject on the lips of all of the presidential candidates in 2016. How to wield it as an instrument of policy is a subtle art, however. On Monday, Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker journeys to the Council on Foreign Relations to discuss “commercial diplomacy,” the department’s mission to use America’s commercial power to influence policy in markets around the world.
- Regulation of consumer finance will get two looks this week from the Senate Banking Committee, which on Tuesday will conduct a hearing “Assessing the Effects of Consumer Finance Regulations,” featuring witnesses from the Chamber of Commerce and others. On Thursday, the committee gets its semiannual report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, with CFPB Director Richard Cordray in the witness chair.
- It’s Broadband Tuesday at the New America Foundation, as the institute hosts a pair of Internet-related events. At noon, “Boosting Broadband Competition” features Mark Cooper of the Consumer Federation of America and a panel discussing infrastructure issues, while at 4 p.m. a different panel will discuss how basic Internet literacy can affect legislation on digital issues.
- The Obama Administration’s nuclear deal with Iran has been the subject of frequent remarks on the presidential campaign trail this year. On Tuesday, Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker will preside over a hearing on “Recent Iranian Actions and Implementation of the Nuclear Deal,” featuring testimony from Thomas Shannon, undersecretary for political affairs at the State Department.
- “Transportation Security: Protecting Passengers and Freight” from attacks that could result in mass casualties on trains, subways, busses and ports will be the subject of a Wednesday hearing by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and featuring Transportation Security Administration Administrator Peter Neffenger.
- The Fed never sleeps, or so it seems, so this week there is yet more activity involving the Federal Reserve. On Wednesday the Fed will release minutes of its March meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, which held interest rates steady but talked of further increases later this year. And on Thursday, Fed Chair Janet Yellen will join a first-ever public discussion with three other former Fed chairs – Ben Bernanke, Alan Greenspan and Paul Volcker.