Washington

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said he hopes Congress and the Obama administration can work in a bipartisan way to authorize qualified public infrastructure bonds or another type of bond program.

With almost $1 billion of January bond sales in the books, Washington plans to return to market next week with another $483.6 million in general obligation bonds.

The White House generated fresh ideas aimed at curing the nation's infrastructure woes in its budget proposal, but shot itself in the foot by including a limit on the federal tax exemption for municipal bonds.

The Internal Revenue Service is seeking applications from issuers for unused volume cap of new clean renewable energy bonds.

Senate public works panel will continue development of multiyear transportation bill without proposed tax on corporate overseas profits.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's requested fiscal year 2016 budget of $1.722 billion would allow the commission to hire hundreds of examination staff and step up enforcement, as well as help the muni office coordinate with self-regulators.

Ex-JPMorgan bankers have asked a federal judge to dismiss federal pay-to-play charges related to the sewer deals that helped push Jefferson County, Ala., into bankruptcy.

Jennifer Johnston, vice president and research analyst in the municipal bond department of Franklin Templeton Investments is the new chair of the National Federation of Municipal Analysts, the NFMA announced Monday.

Sen. David Vitter, R-La., has reintroduced legislation that would prevent the federal government from providing assistance to any state or local government, including loans, loan guarantees, lines of credit, and grants. It would, of course, have exceptions for responses to disasters like Hurricane Katrina.

The Internal Revenue Service has recently closed two audits of bonds issued in Colorado with no change to the bonds' tax-exempt statuses.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Service raised its long-term rating to AA from AA-minus on the Washington Economic Development Finance Authority's series 2011 wastewater revenue and refunding bonds.

President Obama plans to propose a revised version of last year's $302 billion, 4-year transportation bill.

A federal judge ordered the former comptroller of a Harvey, Ill., to pay more than $200,000 in fines and barred him from participation in any future municipal issues for his role in misleading investors on several of the south Chicago suburb's past bond offerings.

Reps. John Duncan, R-Tenn., and Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., have once again sponsored legislation to exempt water and sewer private-activity bonds from state volume caps.

State and local governments of all sizes are using direct bank loans as an alternative to traditional bond financing, Standard & Poor's said Wednesday, renewing its call for more transparency surrounding bank debt.

The Internal Revenue Service's interim guidance on how certain accountable care organizations can be structured to avoid resulting in private business use is limited in its scope, the National Association of Bond Lawyers and the American Hospital Association said.

A congressional bipartisan duo filed a bill to capitalize a $50 billion infrastructure bank with 50-year taxable bonds bearing 1% interest.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's rule 15c2-12 governing continuing disclosure of issuer financial information is outdated and could be streamlined to reduce the regulatory burden for issuers and underwriters, bond lawyers and underwriters told the SEC.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board will discuss municipal advisor qualification examinations, as well as comments on proposals restricting MA gift giving and requiring dealers to disclose reference prices on confirmation sheets at its quarterly meeting in Alexandria, Va., next week.

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said Wednesday that congressional Republicans and the Obama administration are too far apart on individual tax reform but could reach an agreement on business tax reform.