What’s New?

Congress is in session, but for how long? This week, the focus on both sides of the Capitol will be on not letting the government shut down when current spending measures expire at midnight Sept. 30. The Senate this week is expected to consider a spending bill that would keep the government open until Dec. 9, then send it to the House for consideration, where it is expected to face some opposition. If such a bill passes, it would mean that Congress would have to address spending beyond Dec. 9 during a lame-duck session after the elections. Adding tension to the debate: The Senate has threatened to adjourn at the end of this week, which would leave the House with the choice of either passing the Senate’s stopgap spending measure or letting the government shut down at the end of the month. S ...

Sunday marks 15 years since the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and the crash of Flight 93 near Shanksville, Pa. So naturally a number of events this week focus on terrorism and its prevention. “Fifteen Years Later: Are We Any Safer?” is the topic of a discussion hosted by The Atlantic magazine Thursday. Concurrently, the Heritage Foundation hosts (and webcasts) “The Evolving Threat: Islamist Terror 15 Years After 9/11.” More Terrorism-Related Events: On Wednesday, the Brookings Institution conducts a discussion on “Disrupting ISIS Recruitment Online”; the Institute of World Politics holds a lecture focused on “getting ahead of the terrorist attack cycle in the era of ‘lone wolves’ and ‘self-radicalization’” and the Council on Foreign Relations discusses “Fighting ...

A highly selective view of events in the week ahead with important financial, legislative and political implications, put together by your friends at Sphere Consulting. Edited by Edward Wyatt President Obama heads to the Far East at the end of the week to attend three economic summit meetings, beginning with the G20 on Sunday in Hangzhou, China, on the country’s southeastern coast. The president is expected also to conduct bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The trip is part of an eight-day swing through China and Laos, which will host the U.S.-ASEAN Summit and the East Asia Summit. New regulations governing the commercial use of drones take effect today, and the F.A.A. is bracing for floods of people aiming to take the written exam that for-hire operators of drones – offici ...

The disclosure wars By: Jim Courtovich The Hill When the New York Times unveiled its  two-part series accusing think tanks and corporations of “influence peddling” with demands for further disclosure, I could not ignore the timing of its release. Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s corresponding interview led the reporting, and I knew that we were in for another front in the “disclosure wars”. The business community won the last round, supporting an amendment in the 2015 omnibus that prohibited the Securities and Exchange Commission from mandating that public companies disclose their political spending beyond existing federal and state law. This was a blow for the liberal policy and activist community, which following Citizens United seized on the strategy of using the SEC’s unique powers to force com ...

Flood insurance is one of those things easily dismissed until it’s too late. Just ask the folks in Baton Rouge, where FEMA has told uninsured flood victims that the government will pay no more than $33,000 per household to aid recovery. Only 12 percent of the homes in Baton Rouge were covered, below the statewide average of 21 percent, according to the state Insurance Department. More than 86,000 people have registered with FEMA for assistance, with more than 17,000 flood insurance claims filed. President Obama will visit flood-scarred Baton Rouge on Tuesday. Congress, meanwhile, is expected to take up reauthorization of the National Flood Insurance Program next year; current authorization will expire on Sept. 30, 2017. But the process is not expected to be an easy one: The Flood Insurance ...