Washington remains quiet during the ritual August recess. Both chambers of Congress are out of session and work at the agencies has slowed down considerably.
 

On taxes, work continues to try to curb companies from moving their headquarters abroad through the use of inversion transactions. Treasury continues to explore their options to tackle corporate inversions through administrative action. In addition, six Democratic lawmakers propose federal contracts be withheld from companies that move their headquarters offshore. Democratic Senator Charles Schumer is proposing to address the issue by curbing "earnings stripping" but Senate Finance Committee chairman Ron Wyden and ranking Republican Orrin Hatch would prefer "to put a bipartisan committee lens to the issue" when Congress returns. Read more.
 

Please see below for further detail on agency events in Washington this week.