Washington

Bond Buyer Washington Bureau Chief Lynn Hume interviews George Friedlander, Chief Muni Strategist at Citi.

Bond Buyer Washington Bureau Chief Lynn Hume interviews Toby Rittner, Pres. and CEO, Council Development Finance Agencies

The U.S. Senate confirmed Mark Mazur late Thursday by a voice vote to serve as the Treasury Department's assistant secretary for tax policy.

The threats to the tax-exemption are the greatest they have ever been primarily due to the level of federal deficit reduction that Congress needs to tackle, several municipal bond market experts said at the annual Council of Development Finance Agencies conference.

A bipartisan Senate package to revive dozens of expiring or expired tax breaks, including several muni provisions, would cost $205.1 billion over 10 years, according to an analysis from the Joint Committee on Taxation.

John Cross, the associate tax legislative counsel in the Treasury's Office of Tax Policy, is to become director of the SEC's new Office of Municipal Securities in September.

MSRB has sent a two-page letter to nine organizations requesting a meeting.

A diverse group of municipal market participants has criticized the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's recent concept release related to third-party payments.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has named John J. Cross, 3rd, the head of its Office of Municipal Securities.

States' tax collections grew by 4.7% for the ninth straight quarter in the first three months of 2012 and are now above pre-recession levels, a new Rockefeller Institute on Government report shows.

Congress will likely take up an online sales tax bill before the end of the year, the chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee told reporters after a congressional hearing Wednesday.

The Council of Development Finance Agencies and the Clean Energy Group have teamed up to create a partnership to help boost clean energy investment through municipal bond financing.

Washington will sell nearly $800 million of mostly refunding bonds next week as low rates continue to drive large refinancing deals.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's long-awaited report on the municipal market asks Congress to give it authority to set disclosure standards for muni issuers and to provide the tools to enforce those standards.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has scheduled a conference call with reporters at 11 a.m. Tuesday to discuss the agency's long-anticipated report on the municipal securities market.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board announced it will begin a multi-month review of muni bond indexes with the aim of increasing transparency and educating market participants about how the they are developed and used.

The IRS has closed an audit without changing the tax-exempt status of $43.45 million of Series 2006 general obligation refunding bonds that were issued by the St. Vrain Valley, Colo., School District in April 2006.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is encouraging states and cities to submit letters of interest for an available $1.7 billion under the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act loan program, which LaHood said could ultimately help leverage $50 billion in transportation investment.

Amtrak's roughly $7 billion master plan for a complete overhaul of Washington D.C.'s Union Station will likely involve a large collaborative effort mixing public and private funding sources, according to a company spokesman and industry experts.

Sussex County board member Eric Fly voiced his concern over the process and the plan itself, "The whole process is backwards. VDOT isn't going to give the public any time to voice their opinion prior to submitting their final application to the Federal Highway Administration. They clearly know that the public is against the idea and are therefore trying to jam it through before any public comment.