Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) will hold a vote on an extension of unemployment benefits at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday. 

Senate Democrats put the bill on hold for another week until the Senate-designee from West Virginia, filling the seat left open after the death of Sen. Robert Byrd (D), arrives in Washington. The swearing-in of the as-yet-to-be-named replacement will be held at 2:15 p.m. Tuesday. 

The move will provide Democrats with the 60 votes needed to pass the bill. The Senate left Washington for the July 4 recess without passing a bill to extend those benefits because of a Republican filibuster. 

The Senate GOP has argued the $34 billion bill should be paid for instead of adding it to the debt. Two Republicans — Maine Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe — have signed on to pass the bill, giving Democrats 59 of the 60 votes needed.

West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin (D) is expected to announce the replacement by 5 p.m. Friday. 

Unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless expired June 2, leaving about 2.5 million people without a weekly check. The average American is out of work for more than eight months and many use up the 26 weeks of state benefits. 

House and Senate Republicans called for a repeal of sweeping financial overhaul legislation passed Thursday, two years after the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

The 2,315-page financial bill is one of President Obama’s highest priorities heading into the midterm election and represents an effort to crack down on Wall Street and risky speculative trading that enveloped the broader U.S. economy.

Congressional Republicans argue the bill goes too far and threatens to restrict credit and increase costs on consumers and does little to regulate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two government sponsored enterprises bailed out by taxpayers in 2008.

Democrats have criticized Republicans for standing up for Wall Street.

“We all know Wall Street isn’t going to reform itself,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). “Those who vote ‘no’ are standing with the same bankers who gambled with our homes and economic security in the first place.”

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) was the first on Thursday to call for a repeal.

“I think it ought to be repealed,” Boehner said at his weekly press conference. ”There are commonsense things that you should do to plug the holes in the regulatory system that were there and to bring more transparency to financial transactions, because transparency is like sunlight. Sunlight is the best disinfectant.”

Senior Senate Republicans quickly echoed Boehner’s remarks.

While going into the Senate chamber to cast their final votes on the legislation, several Republicans said they agreed.

“If we were in a position to do something, maybe [Boehner] is right," said GOP Policy Chairman Sen. John Thune (S.D.). "We'll see if we can do something about it after the next election."

Sen. Richard Shelby (Ala.), the top Republican on the Banking Committee, said he “absolutely” agreed.

"If you vote against it, you know it should be repealed. It's the wrong bill. It's not reform. It ignores Fannie and Freddie. It's not going to create any jobs. It's going to create a huge bureaucracy,” Shelby said.

Sen. George LeMieux (R-Fla.) said he would look to repeal parts of the legislation.

"Some parts of it are good, but on balance it's bad so I would try to repeal the stuff that harms the economy," LeMieux said. "Wall Street's in favor of this bill. It's Main Street that's going to get hurt."

“The ink hasn’t even dried yet on our bill that takes away big banks’ ability to gamble away our jobs, savings and houses, and Republicans already want to give it back," Jim Manley, spokesman for Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said in a statement. "This is the Republican job-killing agenda in full effect: they want to go back to the system that cost 8 million Americans their jobs because that’s what their friends on Wall Street want, and that’s who they’re looking out for.”

This story was updated at 5 p.m.

Congress finalized sweeping financial overhaul legislation Thursday, handing President Obama a major legislative victory.

Senate Finance Republicans on Wednesday sent a letter to committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) urging him to host a markup on the extension of the so-called Bush tax cuts to help spur action on the provisions and strengthen consumer confidence in the economy.

Snowe is a senior member on the Finance Committee that is charged with shepherding an extension of the Bush tax cuts through her chamber.

Providing unemployment benefits to the long-term jobless has preserved nearly 2 million jobs and injected billions to help the nation's economy expand. 

About 1.7 million jobs have been saved or created since the recession began in late 2007 that "would not have been there absent this spending," a new report released Thursday from the Economic Policy Institute found. 

"Unemployment benefits give unemployed workers needed financial support to cope after the loss of a job, and they are also one of the most effective mechanisms for injecting spending into the economy", the report said. 

The Senate is poised to pass an extension of unemployment benefits, which lapsed June 2, early next week. Since early last month, nearly 2.5 million long-term jobless Americans have lost benefits beyond the 26 weeks offered by states.

New claims for unemployment benefits dropped sharply last week, hitting their lowest level since September 2008 as factories stayed open during the summer months. 

Claims dipped 29,000 to 429,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 458,000 for the week ending July 10, according to Labor Department figures released Thursday. 

General Motors and other manufacturers haven’t temporarily laid off workers this summer. GM has decided not to take their usual two-week break during the summer to retool their factories. 

Separately, wholesale prices fell for a third straight month in June, pushed down by falling energy and food costs, the largest decline in eight years. 

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) wrote an op-ed for The Detroit News that argues Democrats are plotting to raise taxes on the middle class.

"Unfortunately, Democrats have indicated that they intend to raise taxes on middle-class families — by how much, they won't say, not until after the coming election," he wrote in the op-ed, which the paper printed Thursday.

The American Tort Reform Association reacted harshly to reports that the Treasury Department seeks to create a tax break for trial lawyers handling contingency fee lawsuits.