Washington

The Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act last week achieved a milestone by garnering bipartisan cosponsorship by more than half of the 435 members of the House.

The Federal Open Market Committee lowered the fed funds rate target to between zero and ¼% in an emergency meeting on Sunday, but while analysts say the move was needed, they feel it will take more to offset the effects of COVID-19.

In an unprecedented move, the Federal Reserve on Sunday cut rates to near zero.

Perhaps most important, nobody involved in this issue has argued that issuers or anybody else would benefit in any way from exempting MAs from appropriate regulation.

As COVID-19 impacts the U.S. economy, muni market participants want to bring back tax-exempt advance refunding, raise the cap on bank-qualified debt, among others.

The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act continues to influence the composition of the municipal bond market.

“Anybody who’s having an event between now and May is considering what to do about it,” said Mike Nicholas, CEO of the Bond Dealers of America.

Congressional offices may decide to minimize or ban face-to-face meetings as virus concerns grow.

NAMA believes the order will strengthen protection for issuers in keeping with the recent reforms in the municipal market.

Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden are proposing to spend hundreds of billions of dollars that would require the support of lawmakers in both chambers of Congress.