Noted Wall Street ski buddy and House Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling is moving to re-deregulate derivatives by gutting the Dodd-Frank Act. Apparently one financial crisis this century is not enough for Hensarling and friends as the House today is marking up a slew of bills to help Wall Street avoid derivatives oversight. The Committee [...]

Race you to the bottom. House Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling decided to take some of his constituents with him on a ski trip, no not the people of Texas’ 5th congressional district, Hensarling’s real constituents, Wall Street. In January, Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, ascended to the powerful chairmanship of the House Financial Services Committee. [...]

On both sides of the Capitol, there was news on the committee that holds oversight responsibilities over Wall Street today. In addition to Elizabeth Warren getting her spot on the Senate Banking Committee, Maxine Waters assumed the spot of ranking member on the House Financial Services Committee. Here’s her statement: I am deeply humbled to [...]

Tim Geithner is testifying before the House Financial Services Committee on a number of issues today. It looked like he would skate by without questions on the Libor scandal until Scott Garrett, an unlikely source, tore into him: Garrett’s anger was different. Why? Because he was most upset that Geithner had four years, and meeting [...]

This article planted by Republican operatives looking to absolve their party of blame for failure on the Super Committee suggests that the rank and file are being persuaded to accept tax increases as part of an overall deal. The entire premise of the article is wrong, because it posits as a “tax increase” a deal [...]

When the President said he would “pivot to jobs” after the debt limit deal, I was skeptical, mainly because there was this Super Committee hanging out there that would be the subject of much consternation, negotiation and debate. That focus would get in the way of the jobs agenda and the attempts to pass the [...]

You may have noticed that the only politicians in Washington wanting the Super Committee to “go big” on the deficit are politicians who aren’t on the Super Committee. The Hill finds a member of the aforementioned committee willing to acknowledge that the plan is to go small. The key lawmaker, who spoke on condition of [...]

The Super Committee, what we’ve been calling Catfood Commission II, held its first meeting today. There wasn’t much on the agenda, just the internal governing rules of how the committee will proceed, under the direction of co-chairs Patty Murray (D-WA) and Jeb Hensarling (R-TX). Both sides are talking about compromise and the need for action, [...]

There were no real surprises among the choices made by John Boehner and Mitch McConnell for the Catfood Commission II. It’s perhaps interesting to note that Paul Ryan didn’t make the cut, but I guess Boehner figured that he’s toxic and therefore not a good face to put on the committee. Instead, Boehner picked two [...]

Good thing the White House is taking the imminent government shutdown so seriously. President Obama designated Joe Biden as his lead negotiator with Congress on a long-term plan to set spending for the rest of the year. They had a meeting Thursday, and I’m not certain they followed up on Friday. And now, Biden’s headed [...]

It was inevitable and not really even worth rebutting that Republicans are somehow taking credit for today’s decent February jobs report. Before I introduce you to their argument, let’s go over the three (3) bills that have passed since Republicans came into control of the House: 1) renaming a courthouse in Arizona after John Roll, [...]