In This Issue:

- Legislation to Renew Fast-Track Consideration for Trade Agreements Introduced

- Congress Passes FY 2014 Omnibus Appropriations Bill

- An Insider's View: Obama's Mid-Term Blues

- What's in Store For Tax Legislation in 2014

- Dodd-Frank: The Volcker Vortex

- Healthcare Update: But How Will They Pay For It?

- Congress Taking Action to Address Data Security

- Members Seek Update to Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act

- Excerpt from Dodd-Frank: The Volcker Vortex:

In its simplest form, the Dodd-Frank Act's Volcker Rule prohibits U.S. bank holding companies and their affiliates from engaging in "proprietary trading" and from sponsoring hedge funds and private equity funds. While the original idea was straightforward – to prevent speculative, excessively risky activity by insured depository institutions – drawing a clear line between proprietary trading and permissible market-making activity has proven much more difficult than many had anticipated...