Shutdown

• More than half of the Internal Revenue Service’s employees will work during tax season, mostly unpaid, the Treasury Department said. The IRS had planned on a significant headcount surge to prepare for the first filing season since the 2017 GOP-led tax overhaul took effect.

• A group of House Democrats has proposed a bill that would require the Treasury Department to provide interest-free loans of up to $6,000 to federal employees hurt by a government shutdown if they request them. Rep. TJ Cox (D-Calif.) called the bill the “logical next step” to a bill President Donald Trump signed on Wednesday that provides back pay to federal workers once the government reopens.

House Financial Services Committee

• House Democrats are working out which panels will lead investigations into Trump’s ties to Deutsche Bank AG between the Intelligence Committee and House Financial Services Committee, aides familiar with the matter said. House Financial Services Committee Chair Maxine Waters tried in 2017 to request documents from Deutsche Bank regarding its dealings with Trump, his businesses and potential Russian money laundering through the German bank, although Republicans still controlled the House at the time and declined to issue subpoenas to the bank.

• Waters said in her first major policy speech as head of the House Financial Services Committee that she plans to scrutinize Trump officials, including former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau acting Director Mick Mulvaney, now serving as the White House chief of staff. Waters also emphasized a focus on housing policy.

• Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), along with other progressive freshmen lawmakers including Reps. Katie Porter (D-Calif.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), have been recommended by a party steering committee to join the House Financial Services Committee. The new potential members could clash with more moderate, business-friendly Democrats on the committee.

Bank earnings

• Wells Fargo & Co. reported a profit of $6.1 billion in the fourth quarter, down from $6.2 billion a year earlier, while revenue fell 5 percent to $20.98 billion. Chief Executive Tim Sloan said Wells Fargo will remain under the Federal Reserve’s imposed cap on asset growth through the end of 2019, longer than he said in December.

• Citigroup Inc. reported net income of $4.3 billion in its fiscal fourth quarter, swinging back from a loss of $18.9 billion a year earlier when the bank took a one-time charge due to the 2017 corporate tax cut. Overall revenue at the bank, however, fell 2 percent from a year ago to $17.1 billion, led by a 14 percent drop in its trading revenue to $2.6 billion.

• JPMorgan Chase & Co. posted a net income jump of 67 percent to $7.1 billion in the fourth quarter from the same time last year when the bank took a one-time charge related to the U.S. tax overhaul. Revenue from fixed-income trading, however, dropped 18 percent, marking the worst results in that division since the financial crisis.

• Morgan Stanley posted falling year-over-year revenue in the fourth quarter of $8.5 billion, compared to $9.5 billion in the year-ago period. The bank reported a $1.5 billion profit.

• Bank of America Corp. reported fourth-quarter profit that more than tripled to $7.3 billion from a year ago when the bank took a one-time charge related to the 2017 tax overhaul. Revenue hit $22.7 billion, helped by a 52 percent year-over-year jump in Bank of America’s consumer banking business profit to $3.3 billion.

• Goldman Sachs Group Inc. reported net income of $2.5 billion for its fourth quarter, compared to a $1.9 billion loss in the year-ago period when the company took a one-time charge related to the GOP-led tax overhaul. Revenue dropped 1 percent to $8.1 billion from the same quarter last year.

• The House and Senate are both in session this week.

• The World Economic Forum in Davos will begin Tuesday, although the United States will no longer send a delegation.

• The Federal Reserve will be in a quiet period heading into the Jan. 29 meeting of the Federal Open Markets Committee.

• Chinese trade representatives, including top trade aide Vice Premier Liu He, plans to travel to Washington to continue trade talks on Jan. 30 and 31.

1) Waters’ big test: Keeping peace with Ocasio-Cortez and moderates
Zachary Warmbrodt and Heather Caygle, Politico

2) CFPB to scrap key underwriting portion of payday rule
Kate Berry, American Banker

3) Senate Fails to Block Administration From Easing Russia Sanctions
Ian Talley and Joshua Jamerson, The Wall Street Journal

4) Tax Cut Is Better (for Companies) and Worse (for Everyone Else)
Stephen Gandel, Bloomberg

5) Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Wants To Raise Taxes On The Rich — And Americans Agree
FiveThirtyEight

6) Waters targets Carson, Mulvaney in fighting Trump rollbacks
Zachary Warmbrodt, Politico

7) IRS Won’t Penalize Confused Taxpayers Following Changes to Code
Allyson Verprille and Laura Davidson, Bloomberg

8) Can Student Loan Debt Explain Homeownership Rates for Young Adults?
The Federal Reserve

9) ‘Could you make these guys essential?’: Mortgage industry gets shutdown relief after appeal to senior Treasury officials
Lisa Rein and Jeff Stein, The Washington Post

10) How Wealthy Americans Like Jack Benny Avoided Paying a 70% Tax Rate
Laura Saunders, The Wall Street Journal