Financial institutions are consistently targets of congressional oversight interest. In the last Congress, House and Senate committees held hearings with, demanded documents from, requested interviews with, and hosted briefings from a number of bank and non-bank financial institutions regarding a variety of issues. In a recent client alert, we looked at recent trends in congressional … Continue Reading
After several weeks of negotiations proceeding in fits and starts, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell reached a power-sharing agreement governing the operation of the evenly divided Senate. As expected, the deal, which passed by voice vote, largely conforms to the agreement in place when the Senate was last evenly divided … Continue Reading
Reconciliation is a process under the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (CBA) that allows Congress to implement budget priorities affecting direct spending, revenues, and the debt limit using expedited procedures. The principal benefit to using reconciliation is that a reconciliation bill cannot be filibustered in the Senate. As a result, it takes only a simple … Continue Reading
On January 4, 2021, the narrowed Democratic majority in the House of Representatives passed, in a party-line vote, a set of rules governing the House for the 117th Congress. While the House, unlike the Senate, has to approve its rules every Congress, the rules stay generally consistent from Congress-to-Congress, with more significant amendments often coming … Continue Reading
After the election of two Democratic Senate candidates in the Georgia runoff elections on January 5, 2021, the Senate this year will be equally divided between 50 Democratic Senators (and those caucusing with them) and 50 Republican Senators. Governing in an equally divided Senate presents several challenges regarding the internal rules of the Senate, the … Continue Reading
As both presidential and down-ticket candidates gear up for post-election recounts and related litigation in several states, they and their political parties will be raising new funds to finance these efforts. As with campaign contributions made before the election, there are a variety of rules that apply to contributions to support post-election disputes. The Federal … Continue Reading
The charter of the Export-Import Bank of the United States is due to expire on September 30, 2014. Based on recent events, it is unclear whether Congress will act before this date to extend the charter. The Ex-Im Bank is the official export credit agency of the United States. Its purpose is to support U.S. … Continue Reading