A Troubling Time
Although federal officials – at least those outside the House of Representatives – are going about their daily business, the awful casualties and looming threat of the Israel-Hamas war hang over a cite that has grown used to other geopolitical risks in Ukraine, Taiwan, and the world’s many other hot spots. The political situation in Washington is fluid not only because the House can do nothing consequential, but also because conditions on the ground change hourly and the prospects for broader conflict loom large. In the near term, we expect hard supervisory questions of large banks with Middle East exposures, bipartisan demands for the Administration to do what it’s already one with the $6 billion Iran-fund freeze, more pressure on Senate Banking Chairman Brown (D-OH) to move the Warren/Marshall crypto-crime bill and HFSC action on numerous sanctions bills if Speaker Pro Tem McHenry (R-NC) is able to trade one gavel for another.