House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (D-Calif.) on Wednesday will deliver 23 pies to Senate Finance Committee members in hopes that they will add his 401(k) disclosure fee to the tax extender bill.

The fee was included in the bill that passed the House, but Senate leaders jettisoned the proposal from their legislation. The pies being delivered to Finance members will have a slice missing to represent the fees Wall Street takes from 401(k) account holders that are not disclosed.

The two companies would need to take steps to shore up their share prices to meet stock exchange rules.

Senate Majority Harry Reid (D-Nev.) withdrew his cloture motion Tuesday night, setting up several votes during the next couple of days, including one on an expected trimmed down Democratic substitute on a $140 billion tax extenders bill. 

Senate Democrats didn't appear to have enough support through Tuesday to end debate on the bill. 

At 10:45 a.m. on Wednesday the Senate will vote to waive a budget point of order on a substitute amendment offered by Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.). If the motion doesn't get 60 votes, the amendment will be withdrawn. 

Next, the Senate will take up a Republican alternative offered by Sen. John Thune (S.D.), and will hold a vote Thursday on the motion to waive the budget act. If the motion doesn't get 60 votes, the amendment will be withdrawn. 

If either the Baucus or Thune amendments receive 60 votes they will remain pending. 

Meanwhile, Baucus is expected to piece together a trimmed down substitute that will probably cut the Medicare "doc fix" from 19 months to one year and possibly cut the extra $25 a week that has been included in unemployment benefits checks for past 18 months. The amendment is expected to include $24 billion in federal medical assistance percentages (FMAP) funding provided to states for Medicaid. 

The Federal Reserve Board approved on Tuesday a final rule to protect credit card users from several types of unreasonable late fees and penalties. 

The changes, which go into effect Aug. 22, prohibit credit card issuers from charging a fee of more than $25 for paying late or for violating an account's terms unless there have been repeated violations or the issuer can show that a higher fee is needed to pay for the costs of those violations. 

"The new rules require that late payment and other penalty fees be assessed in a way that is fairer and generally less costly for consumers," Federal Reserve Governor Elizabeth Duke said in a statement Tuesday.

The White House is expected to work with BP during Wednesday's meetings to determine who will oversee a proposed escrow fund to pay for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. 

President Barack Obama, BP CEO Tony Hayward and Carl-Henric Svanberg, BP's chairman of the board, could choose a third party administrator during the discussions to oversee the proposed $20 billion escrow account, White House officials said Tuesday night. 

Senate Democrats are pressing BP to set up a $20 billion escrow account to ensure that money is set aside to pay for environmental and economic costs. 

The House on Tuesday voted 247-170 to advance legislation providing tax breaks to small businesses to the Senate. At least 5 Republicans supported the bill's passage. 

The tax portion of the bill is expected to be combined with loan incentives for small businesses before it travels to the Senate. The upper chamber is expected to take up the legislation after it passes the so-called tax extenders bill. 

The small business bill is expected to attract several amendments in the Senate, including a fix for the estate tax.

Three Gulf region research institutions will receive $25 million in grants from BP to study the environmental and public health effects of the oil spill. 

BP announced the first round of funding Tuesday after pledging $500 million three weeks ago to the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative.

The institutions will begin work on three initial studies to "help establish critical baseline data" for subsequent research on the April 20 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. 

Of the first $25 million, $5 million goes to Louisiana State University, half of the total $10 million they will receive during the next 10 years for the project.

The remaining $20 million will be divided up between two other institutions, with $10 million headed to the Florida Institute of Oceanography, hosted by the University of South Florida, and the final $10 million going to the Northern Gulf Institute, a consortium led by Mississippi State University. 

In a sternly worded letter, Democratic Sens. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), Ron Wyden (Ore.) and Mark Begich (Alaska) on Tuesday sharply criticized BP CEO Tony Hayward for possibly depositing the estimated $2.6 billion dividend payment to shareholders in an escrow account to ensure it would eventually be received by investors.

"We find this option as unacceptable as the company's original plan to go ahead with its dividend payment as scheduled," the senators wrote. "A backdoor payment to shareholders would still drain BP of billions of dollars that may be needed to pay for spill-related damages. This proposal seems like little more than a thinly veiled attempt to spare BP a public backlash while proceeding with business as usual." 

The $140 billion tax extenders bill will probably be trimmed back in an effort to garner enough support to pass the measure, according to Democratic aides. 

To appease concerns about $84 billion in deficit spending, Senate Democrats could trim the so-called Medicare "doc fix" back to a year, according to a Democratic aide. The House passed a 19-month fix after trimming it back from three years before passing the bill before the Memorial Day recess.

Senate Democrats were coming up short on votes to end debate on the bill Tuesday afternoon with a Wednesday vote looming. Democrats will likely hold a cloture vote to end debate, and then suggest changes if it fails, an aide said. Cloture could be filed again on the measure if the vote fails. 

The Senate also could eliminate the additional $25 each week included in unemployment benefits checks that was passed as part of the economic stimulus in February 2009. That cut alone could reportedly save billions. Extended benefits for the long-term jobless expired earlier this month, and the Senate has been unable to reach an agreement on how to move forward on the legislation.

Meanwhile, the Senate is likely to retain $24 billion in unpaid-for spending for federal medical assistance percentages (FMAP) that determine how much states receive in federal matching Medicaid funds.