Economy

Senators will get a chance next week to lob tough questions at President Obama's pick for Treasury secretary. 

The Senate Finance Committee has scheduled a Feb. 13 hearing to consider the nomination of Jack Lew, Obama's chief of staff and former head of the Office of Management and Budget. 

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) said he will question Lew about his experience, his views on fiscal policy and ideas for spurring economic growth. 

“We have a tremendous amount of work to do over the next couple months to get our fiscal house in order," Baucus said. 

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Growth in the service sector slowed slightly in January as new orders and business activity dropped off, though the overall mood seems more optimistic. 

Overall, the activity among service companies fell to 55.2 from 55.7 in December, but amid the slowdown, hiring picked up pace, reflecting six straight months of growth, the Institute for Supply Management reported on Tuesday.

Readings above 50 percent signal expansion. 

“There seems to be some stabilization in recent months. Business seems a little more confident, and consumers are participating once again," said one respondent in the retail trade industry. 

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The House and Senate will both be in for an abbreviated week, tackling a few relatively minor pieces of business.

With a debt-limit showdown averted (for now), and pending deadlines on sequestration and government funding still at least a month away, Congress will be going about its business without a looming deadline for the first time in quite a while.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) will start the week by releasing its latest update on the nation’s finances Tuesday. The latest version of its annual budget and economic outlook will take into account the policy changes brought on the “fiscal cliff” talks and will kick off the broad deficit debate that will consume much of the 113th Congress.

The House Budget Committee plans to pore over that analysis on Wednesday with a hearing. Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and other panel members will explore the new analysis with CBO Director Doug Elmendorf.

Obama said he would press for "additional revenue, coupled with smart spending reductions," to bring down the deficit.

The manufacturing sector picked up pace in January, hitting its highest level in eight months behind increases in new orders, hiring and inventories. 

Activity rose to 53.1 last month, up from 50.2 in December, the second straight month of expansion and the best reading since April after several weak months, the Institute for Supply Management reported on Friday. 

Any reading above 50 indicates expansion.

The Labor Department also revised jobs numbers in the previous two months up by 127,000.

Business leaders are backing a couple of people whose names are being floated for two Cabinet jobs in the Obama administration.

John Engler, president of the Business Roundtable, suggested that Penny Pritzker for Commerce secretary and Jeff Zients for U.S. Trade Representative would be strong choices, during a Thursday briefing with reporters. 

Pritzker, a billionaire businesswoman from Chicago, reemerged this week as a leading candidate for the top slot at Commerce. 

Amid questions about the lack of chief executives in the Cabinet, Engler said Pritzker would be "a solid business voice."

Zients — who is working at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) — and has two decades of high-level business experience is "very capable" and "I think we'd find him very good to work with," Engler said.

The House Small Business Committee is launching a new online tool to help companies play a role in the federal regulatory process.

The panel says its “Small Biz Reg Watch” would publicize proposals that could affect smaller companies, and help those companies give feedback on those possible rules to the right federal agency.

“Most small businesses don’t have lawyers or lobbyists who focus on regulatory compliance, like larger corporations may have,” Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.), the chairman of the Small Business Committee, said in a statement.