September Outlook: Wake Me Up When September Ends

09 Sep September Outlook: Wake Me Up When September Ends

Members of the House return to Washington today to be greeted by a Senate that was in session for a significant part of August. Foregoing the traditional summer break, the Senate worked through appropriations bills and nominations, including confirming positions at the Fed and CFTC. There’s still a lot of work to be done this month, especially on the spending bill front as we head towards the end of the fiscal year on September 30^th. Along with funding the government, hearings begin today on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. In addition, amid criticism from the President, executives from some of the major tech companies are scheduled to testify in the House and Senate this week on their efforts to prevent foreign intrusion and election meddling. The Senate Banking Committee (SBC) and House Financial Service Committee (HFSC) also will be active this month, with a hearing on implementation of S. 2155, the financial services regulatory reform legislation, planned for next week in SBC and four hearings on the docket for this week in HFSC, including one on GSE reform. All of this and more will occur during a short month (the House is scheduled to be in town for only eleven voting days in September, and the Senate for sixteen) where the Mueller investigation and the August news on Cohen and Manafort linger over Washington and the mid-term elections are just two months from now. We highlight these and other issues below as we preview what we believe will be the focus in Washington for this quick but extremely busy September work period, subject as always to external or unexpected events that could disrupt the schedule.