AP – The Senate’s top Republican on Thursday urged the GOP-led House to pass a short-term renewal of payroll tax cuts and break an impasse that threatens all workers with a Jan. 1 tax increase. Within hours, a House Republican freshman broke ranks and agreed, signaling that fierce pressure from almost every corner of the Republican Party had begun to crack conservative opposition to a short-term fix.
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McConnell: Extend tax cut short-term and long-term
(AP)
Reuters – Republican and Democratic lawmakers were locked in an end-of-year fight on Tuesday that threatens a government shutdown, an effective tax hike for 160 million Americans and the loss of benefits for millions of unemployed.
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Lawmakers in showdown over payroll tax cuts
(Reuters)
AP – President Barack Obama and his allies in the Senate promise to press ahead with separate votes on pieces of his failed $447 billion jobs measure despite unanimous opposition from Republicans. But there also are signs of slippage among Democrats and evidence the strategy isn’t working with voters.
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Senate rejects big piece of Obama jobs bill
(AP)
AP – With tens of thousands of jobs, more than $1 billion and their reputations on the line, Senate Democrats gave way Friday to a power play by House Republicans in order to end a partial two-week shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration.
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Senate Dems give way to GOP to end FAA shutdown (AP)
AP – House Speaker John Boehner hastily rewrote his stalled emergency debt-limit bill again Friday, and former conservative foes began climbing aboard. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid signaled he’s ready to push ahead with his own version, and President Barack Obama declared “we’re almost out of time” in a wrenching political standoff that has heightened fears of a market-rattling government default.
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Boehner rewrites his bill, conservatives climb on (AP)
AP – President Barack Obama declared Friday Congress has a “unique opportunity to do something big” and stabilize the U.S. economy for decades by cutting deficits even as it raises the national debt limit ahead of a critical Aug. 2 deadline. He said was willing to make tough decisions himself, including trimming Medicare benefits for wealthy beneficiaries, but said, “We’re running out of time.”
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Obama: Chance for ‘something big’ to calm economy (AP)
Reuters – Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke goes to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to testify about the sputtering recovery, but may have to spend much of his time convincing a stubborn Congress to raise the debt ceiling.
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Bernanke to face grilling on jobs, debt, Europe (Reuters)
AP – House Majority Leader Eric Cantor pulled out of talks with Vice President Joe Biden on a deficit reduction-debt ceiling deal, saying they had reached an impasse over Democratic demands for tax increases to be paired with spending cuts wanted by the GOP.
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Top Republican Cantor exits budget talks (AP)
Reuters – Representative Anthony Weiner, ensnared in a humiliating flap for sending lewd photos of himself to women online, resigned on Thursday, ending a weeks-long scandal that made his fellow Democrats cringe.
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Congressman Weiner quits in lewd photo scandal (Reuters)
Reuters – Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke offered a fairly upbeat assessment of the economy on Tuesday, saying the recent surge in oil prices is unlikely to have a major effect on growth or inflation as long as higher prices do not become sustained.
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Bernanke says costly oil no threat to U.S. economy (Reuters)