Indiana Democrat says House Minority Whip Eric Cantor is "exactly right" on need to avoid higher tax rates next year.

More than 2 million Americans have lost unemployment benefits and that number will continue to rise if the Senate can’t pass a bill.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) needs one more vote — most likely the interim replacement for Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), who died June 28 — but that vote may not arrive on Capitol Hill until late this week or early next. 

Reid will need to wait to push through the $34 billion bill until West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin (D) names that person, aides reconfirmed Monday. 

If the Senate doesn't act by week's end, more than 2.5 million will lose their benefits beyond the standard 26 weeks offered by the states. 

Manchin had said he would appoint someone by Monday but has since pulled back from that statement. He has called a special legislative session for Thursday to set up the special election process for Byrd’s seat. 

Although Manchin’s plans are unknown, he could wait until after the special election rules are settled before naming someone to Byrd’s seat. 

In light of an economic rebound that has appeared to have stalled, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Monday urged lawmakers to move legislation providing greater credit opportunities for small businesses. 

“Making credit accessible to sound small businesses is crucial to our economic recovery and so should be front and center among our current policy challenges,” he told Federal Reserve members at a forum on small businesses.

Massachusetts Republican says bill isn’t perfect, but he expects to support it when it comes to the floor.

The Treasury Department on Monday estimated that between February and May of this year businesses have hired 4.5 million workers and are eligible for about $8.5 billion in tax relief from the recently enacted HIRE Act.

As House Ways and Means Chairman Sandy Levin (D-Mich.) looks to repeal tax breaks benefitting the oil and gas industry, a new report by the left-leaning Citizens for Tax Justice shows oil and gas companies have used these tax breaks to pad payments to shareholder instead of funding exploration ventures to locate additional reserves.

The cost of the oil spill response has risen to approximately $3.5 billion, with the company in talks to sell off billions in assets. 

BP also is in talks with Apache to sell between $10 billion and $12 billion in assets, including a stake in its Alaska oil fields, first reported by the Sunday Times of London.

To pay for the growing cleanup costs and to stop oil from spewing into the Gulf of Mexico, BP had already said it would sell about $10 billion in assets and has been in discussions with several large banks to procure additional lines of credit. 

Costs include containment, relief-well drilling, grants to the Gulf states, claims paid and federal expenses.

Top Republicans called on Democrats and the White House to extend Bush-era tax cuts that are set to expire at year's end.

Half of registered voters view President Barack Obama's handling of the economy as poor, a new Rasmussen poll found.