Washington

President Obama's two nominees to the Securities and Exchange Commission navigated their confirmation hearing before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday only to have David Vitter hold up their nominations.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has proposed to delay some rules for the swaps market until as late as Dec. 31, 2011.

The Department of Transportation is proposing high-speed rail projects be built with 100% American-made parts and equipment.

An advisory committee is scheduled to meet Wednesday and submit five reports to the Internal Revenue Service, including one on the role of conduit issuers in tax compliance and another on tribal economic development bonds, according to members.

WASHINGTON - State and local governments will lose at least $10.1 billion this year in tax revenue not collected on Internet transactions - a figure some experts believe is too low - while federal legislation that would grant states the authority to collect online sales taxes has stalled amid anti-tax sentiment.

WASHINGTON - Market participants are urging the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to clarify, in its proposed business-conduct standards for swap dealers, that dealers should not be required to put a state or local government issuer's interests ahead of their own.

WASHINGTON — The Bond Dealers of America unveiled guidelines Wednesday designed to help dealers comply with suitability, disclosure and pricing rules when dealing with retail investors.

WASHINGTON — The Village Center Community Development District in Florida is asking the Internal Revenue Service for legal advice on whether it is a political subdivision — an issue critical to the tax-exempt status of million of bonds it issued.

Bond lawyers are urging the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service to avoid issuing new guidance to address whether Build America Bonds issued by a state or locality would continue to exist, or be considered “extinguished,” if they were purchased by a related entity such as the public pension fund or state lottery.

The National Association of Bond Lawyers is urging the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service to include, as a priority, guidance on whether the benefits provided to bonds issued under the stimulus law would apply to refundings of those bonds.

When the Build America Bond program ended there were two schools of thought. One argued that BABs would become an orphan class, with prices in the secondary market suffering from illiquidity. Another group thought there would be some scarcity value to the product and they would appreciate in value.

A coalition of House Democrats is calling for Build America Bonds, a national infrastructure bank, and high-speed rail as part of a plan to improve transportation and stimulate job growth.

WASHINGTON Three former officials from CDR Financial Products Inc. are urging a federal judge to dismiss the Justice Department’s charges against them, arguing prosecutors should not proceed to trial on a fraud theory the Supreme Court rejected last year.

The top Democrat on the House tax-writing committee defended itemized tax deductions Friday that would be repealed under some tax reform proposals, but did not take a position on whether to maintain the federal tax exemption for interest earnings from state and local bonds.

SAN FRANCISCO — Washington State lawmakers have passed a budget that closed an almost $5 billion hole for the upcoming two fiscal years and includes a compromise on reducing the debt limit.

WASHINGTON — State revenues are expected to rise in fiscal years 2011 and 2012, but a record jump in Medicaid costs, combined with voters’ reluctance to take on new debt, could keep states from issuing bonds for infrastructure and other investment projects, officials and market participants said Thursday.

WASHINGTON — The chairman of the Governmental Accounting Standards Board plunged into the debate over municipal market disclosure Thursday, urging state and local governments to generate more timely financial reports.

WASHINGTON — U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has scheduled a second meeting with local officials in Virginia for Friday as he tries to break an impasse over the cost of the second phase of the Washington, D.C., Metrorail extension to Dulles International Airport.

Moody’s Investors Service placed $6.7 billion of Aaa-rated municipal debt backed by the federal Bonneville Power Administration under review for possible downgrade Wednesday.

WASHINGTON — State and local transportation decision-making fits no pattern and varies widely cross the country as governments try to cope with needs that overwhelm their available financing, according to a first-of-a-kind report released Wednesday.