| | | | |  | | By Michael Stratford | Presented by CareCredit, a Synchrony Solution | Editor’s note: Morning Money is a free version of POLITICO Pro Financial Services morning newsletter, which is delivered to our subscribers each morning at 5:15 a.m. The POLITICO Pro platform combines the news you need with tools you can use to take action on the day’s biggest stories. Act on the news with POLITICO Pro.
| | President-elect Donald Trump has stayed away from out-of-the-box picks for his economic team, turning to veterans of Wall Street or established Republican figures for key roles in his administration. Those picks are, predictably, playing well with Republicans on Capitol Hill as senators begin meeting with nominees like hedge fund manager Scott Bessent, Trump’s Treasury pick, who began making the rounds on Capitol Hill this week. But some are also earning early praise from moderate Democrats as well. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), a senior member of the Senate Banking Committee, said he thought he could work well with members of Trump’s economic team, citing Bessent and Kevin Hassett, the president-elect’s choice to lead the National Economic Council. “I had a great working relationship with Steve Mnuchin,” Trump’s first-term Treasury chief, Warner said, adding that it would be a good thing if he could “have half the relationship I had with him with the new Treasury secretary.” Warner said he’d “heard some good things” about Bessent and looked forward to meeting him. Of Hassett, Warner said: "I don't always agree with his politics, but I think he's smart. I think he's capable.” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) praised Trump’s selection to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission, calling longtime regulator Paul Atkins a “strong choice” whom she was inclined to support. “He has the right experience, and I think he’s a commissioner that would work well with Congress,” she told our Jasper Goodman. Republicans have been torn by Trump’s nominees for key departments like Defense and the DOJ. And they’re also bracing for intraparty skirmishes on economic policy ahead, namely on issues pitting their Wall Street backers against party populists pushing for Trump’s punishing trade tariffs. But, those fights aren’t yet playing out with his nominees for the economy team. Sen. Mike Crapo, who will be the chair of the Finance Committee and will be the Senate GOP’s top tax writer next year, said this week he “felt very good about” Trump’s economic appointments. Bessent was warmly greeted by GOP senators on the Hill where his nomination hasn’t encountered any major obstacles. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who says he’s supporting Bessent, thinks the nominee has the potential to attract some Democratic votes. (While Janet Yellen’s nomination in 2021 sailed through the Senate on an 84-15 vote, Mnuchin’s vote was far more contentious. In fact, Sen. Joe Manchin, now an independent, was the only Democrat who voted for him, on a 53-47 vote.) Progressives, meanwhile, are sure to put up a fight over some of Trump’s Wall-Street-centric choices. “Trump's picks on the economic front are great news for Wall Street and lousy news for hard-working families,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who will lead Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee next year. “So far, with the exception of the labor nominee, there doesn't seem to be a single person who's concerned about what people pay for their groceries or their mortgages.” But Warren and other progressives say they’re still planning to meet with Trump’s picks and that they’re hoping to use the confirmation process to get nominees to back Trump’s more populist economic ideas. “Donald Trump has already made the populist policy commitments,” such as capping credit card interest rates, Warren said. “I want to see which one of his nominees is planning to advance that and work for it.” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), chair of the Finance Committee, said Trump talked about “all kinds of ideas to help working families” on the campaign trail. “Now we’ll have to see if, in these nomination hearings, the nominees are going to give us some concrete ideas about how they’re going to do it.” IT’S FRIDAY — Get in touch at mstratford@politico.com. And, as always, you can find Sam at ssutton@politico.com.
| | | | A message from CareCredit: Health and wellness care can be expensive even with insurance. But healthcare expenses don’t need to be budget busting. Financial options, such as CareCredit, help people pay for health and wellness care over time. They also provide flexibility, with utility across a range of products and treatments including hearing aids, cosmetic procedures, Lasik eye surgery and even veterinary care for pets. To learn more, visit CareCredit’s WellU website: https://www.carecredit.com/well-u/ | | | Shameless plug — On Tuesday, Sam will be moderating a post-election outlook webinar hosted by Edelman Smithfield. It will include Nationwide Mutual Chief Economist Kathy Bostjancic, Morningstar Chief Investment Officer for the Americas Philip Straehl, and Edelman Managing Director and U.S. Co-Lead for Financial Services Sean Neary. You can register here.
| | | | Billions in spending. Critical foreign aid. Immigration reform. The final weeks of 2024 could bring major policy changes. Inside Congress provides daily insights into how Congressional leaders are navigating these high-stakes issues. Subscribe today. | | | | | | | | | Trump taps crypto czar: David Sacks, the venture capitalist and major Trump fundraiser, will be the White House’s artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency czar, the president-elect announced Thursday night, Irie Sentner reports. Sacks, a former PayPal executive, will also lead the President's Council of Advisors for Science and Technology, Trump said. Sacks “will focus on making America the clear global leader” in artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency, Trump wrote on Truth Social, calling the emerging fields “two areas critical to the future of American competitiveness.” As part of the role, Trump said, Sacks will work to “safeguard Free Speech online” and “work on a legal framework so the Crypto industry has the clarity it has been asking for.”
| | | | First in MM: Senate Republicans raise concerns with Treasury Iran sanctions — Senate Banking ranking member Tim Scott leads a letter to Treasury today criticizing its enforcement of sanctions on Iranian oil, Eleanor Mueller reports. “Unfortunately, delays in fully implementing the SHIP Act remain a concern, as does the need for increased sanctions enforcement,” Scott and eight other Senate Banking Republicans write to Secretary Janet Yellen, referring to the Stop Harboring Iranian Petroleum Act, designed to boost sanctions against Iranian oil exports. “Lax sanctions enforcement has enabled certain nations, particularly in Southeast Asia, to openly disregard U.S. sanctions and sell Iranian crude to China.” The South Carolina Republican is in line to chair the panel next Congress. Treasury declined to comment.
| | | Outbound investment state-of-play: Senior lawmakers in both chambers are scrambling to reach a compromise on legislation limiting U.S. investments in China as negotiators are working off a newer version of the draft bill that would take a more business-friendly approach, Eleanor and Jasper Goodman report. Lawmakers have made a renewed push to reach a deal on so-called outbound investment since House Financial Services Chair Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) successfully fought to keep it out of must-pass defense legislation last year. Now, leaders are holding eleventh-hour bicameral talks in hopes of including a compromise in this year's National Defense Authorization Act. "We’re really hoping to include that. So hopefully we get it done," House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters Thursday. Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.), who has played a lead role in guiding negotiations, said late Thursday that a deal is “really in the hands of the speaker and the Senate Majority Leader right now.” He said the House Financial Services Committee has “submitted additional comments” to Johnson’s office on a draft that lawmakers on the panel were given. Barr said he “was not super comfortable” with language added by the Senate that would authorize new rulemaking at the SEC. But, he said, “this is a bicameral negotiation and I don’t want to let the perfect be the enemy of the good.”
| | Lummis pushes debanking: Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), one of the Senate’s most stalwart backers of the crypto industry, says she wants Republicans to hold hearings next year and press forthcoming financial regulatory nominees on “debanking,” when certain politically charged businesses like gun manufacturers or crypto firms are denied banking services. As MM reported earlier this week, the issue — which Trump discussed on a couple of occasions on the campaign trail — is gaining new steam. Marc Andreessen, whose firm invests in crypto startups, said on Joe Rogan’s podcast last week that tech founders have had their bank accounts closed because of pressure on financial institutions from Biden-appointed regulators. The issue is “much bigger and much more sinister than a lot of us knew,” Lummis told reporters Thursday, adding that Andreessen’s comments had “opened the floodgates on social media” for people to report that their firms were debanked. “We're going to need to have hearings in the Banking Committee, and it's going to have to be a major topic of discussion with Treasury noms and people at the Fed,” Lummis said.
| | | | A message from CareCredit:   | | | | | CFTC cautions on AI: Wall Street’s top derivatives regulator issued a new advisory warning financial exchanges, trading shops and other firms to wade carefully when it comes to using artificial intelligence, Declan Harty reports. CFTC said its staff is “closely tracking the development of AI technology and AI’s potential benefits and risks” across the derivatives markets and that complying with the regulator’s rules should be paramount. New CFPB record: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced Thursday it is returning $1.8 billion to 4.3 million consumers who were allegedly mistreated by a credit repair conglomerate. As Katy O'Donnell reports, it’s the largest-ever distribution from the agency’s victims relief fund. The group of companies, including Lexington Law and CreditRepair.com, allegedly charged illegal advance fees and “used deceptive, bait advertising to generate referrals,” according to the legal judgment the CFPB secured against the conglomerate in August 2023. Judge bats down anti-money laundering law — A federal judge in Texas has blocked the enforcement of a sweeping anti-money laundering law designed to take aim at anonymous shell companies, our Declan Harty reports. U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzant wrote in an 80-page opinion published Tuesday that the Corporate Transparency Act of 2021 — a push to require companies to report their ownership details — was “unprecedented” and that it, along with its related rules, was “likely unconstitutional.” “For good reason, Plaintiffs fear this flanking, quasi-Orwellian statute and its implications on our dual system of government,” Mazzant wrote in the order. The law had been challenged by the National Federation of Independent Business, along with several small companies and organizations. Attorneys for the government moved to appeal the decision on Thursday.
| | | | Write your own chapter in the new Washington. From the Lame Duck Congress Series to New Administration insights, POLITICO Pro delivers intelligence across 22+ policy areas to help you anticipate and navigate change. Discover how a Pro subscription empowers you. Learn more today. | | | | | | | | | DOGE meets The Appropriators: Factions of Republican lawmakers at war over how to slash federal spending are scrambling to recruit Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to their cause, our Jennifer Scholtes and Katherine Tully-McManus report. The tug-of-war continued Thursday as Musk and Ramaswamy made the rounds on Capitol Hill in one of their first big moves as Trump’s key deputies on downsizing government. The meetings come as Republican lawmakers lobby Musk and Ramaswamy on clashing approaches over how to trim Washington spending: One camp, including hard-line conservatives and House Freedom Caucus members, wants to cut funding for federal agencies and the Pentagon. The other camp, led by senior GOP lawmakers who have the task of drafting spending legislation, wants the duo to look for big savings in mandatory programs like Medicaid and food stamps.
| | | | First in MM — Paul Rosen, who has served for the last two-and-a-half years as Treasury’s assistant secretary for investment security, is leaving the administration, an agency spokesperson says. Rosen oversaw and led the Biden administration’s efforts to beef up oversight of foreign investment at CFIUS and Treasury’s outbound investment measure to crack down on U.S. investment in China and other countries of concern that may pose national security concerns. Jonathan Levin, co-founder and chief strategy officer at blockchain data platform Chainalysis, has been appointed as chief executive officer by the company’s board of directors. The company also appointed Paul Auvil to serve as an independent director on its board.
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Visit CareCredit’s WellU website, which offers financial health articles and information about options to save and pay for out-of-pocket healthcare costs https://www.carecredit.com/well-u/ | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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