In This Issue:

Leading the Past Week; Fiscal Cliff; Legislative Branch; House of Representatives; Executive Branch; and International.

Excerpt from Leading the Past Week

As quick as members returned from their districts, it seems they‘ve left again, as the Senate passed the continuing resolution (CR) measure to fund the government for an additional six months. The Senate vote on the CR was delayed by timing problems of the vote and a move by Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) to cut foreign aid to Libya, Egypt and Pakistan. When Congress returns on November 12th it will certainly have a lot to deal with as the nearly year long practice of punting difficult issue until the lame duck will come home to roost. From the farm bill, to the defense authorization, to countless other legislative initiatives including how to deal with the expiring tax cuts and sequestration, the lame duck is quickly shaping up to potentially be one of the busiest in memory. Also worth noting from this past week was Congress‘ first major foray into examining issues related to high frequency trading, as well as hearings that will set the stage for future work on capital gains and pension reform. It also emerged this week that the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations intends to use the JPMorgan trading loss to push for a tighter implementation of the Volcker Rule.