Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said final passage of the so-called tax extenders bill would likely come next week.

To help reign in the deficit, Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag on Tuesday said federal agencies will examine under-performing aspects of their departments that no longer help the agency meet its overall goals. 

"We are asking each agency to develop a list of their bottom 5 percent performing discretionary programs, as measured by their impact in furthering the agency's mission," he said, adding, "[As] stewards of the American people's tax dollars, we cannot afford to waste money on programs that do not work, that are out-dated, or that are duplicative of one another." 

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has asked the Department of Labor to account for how stimulus dollars have been spent on clean-energy jobs when it appears there is no clear definition for this type of work.

"[It] has come to my attention that the DOL is just now attempting to define what a 'green job' is," Grassley wrote in June 2 letter to Labor Secretary Hilda Solis. "Interestingly, this comes more than a year after the [stimulus bill] was signed into law and after millions of dollars in funding have already been distributed for green jobs."

Grassley opposed the legislation because he thought it was too expensive. The 2009 bill provided $80 billion for such work, but the senator contends the money might have been spent in other areas.

Financial firms that act as wholesale brokers in the multitrillion-dollar derivatives market may benefit from Washington’s effort to overhaul Wall Street.

Congress is in the final stages of approving legislation that aims in part to boost oversight of the largely opaque derivatives market, which has a face value in excess of $600 trillion.

The market operates now largely “over-the-counter” (OTC), meaning between buyers and sellers in private deals that many blame for exacerbating the 2008 financial crisis. As part of the regulatory overhaul, President Barack Obama and Congress want to make the derivatives market more transparent by boosting the role of middlemen in the form of central clearinghouses, electronic exchanges and swap execution facilities.

Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) on Monday said Democratic leaders in his chamber were close to a deal on the so-called tax extenders bill. 

The bill resuscitates several tax breaks that expired last year. It also extends unemployment benefits, which expired last month. 

Finance staffers said the bill would be likely ready by 7:30 this evening, but its introduction could be delayed until tomorrow to give senators time to digest its contents, as it is expected to have changed since it came over from the House right before the Memorial Day recess. 

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is slated to appear before the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday to testify on U.S.-China relations. 

The hearing will examine how the Asian country is handling its international obligations as well as currency practices and policies that favor local innovation over foreign competitors. 

Stacey Rolland is the new policy advisor for tax issues for Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). She replaces Arshi Siddiqui, effective Monday. 

Rolland has served in the Treasury Department's Office of Legislative Affairs and as Tax Counsel for Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.). 

Rolland holds a juris doctorate from the University of California at Los Angeles and a bachelor's degree in Sociology and Women's Studies from Smith College.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) could introduce a substitute amendment to the House-passed tax extender bill as early as this evening, a Reid spokesman told The Hill. 

House Republican Conference vice chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.) on Monday said she was extremely troubled by American taxpayers paying as much as $100 billion to help end a financial crisis in Europe.

Her concern stems from a June 4 statement by International Monetary Fund official Youssef Boutros-Ghali, who said IMF reserves would have to rise "very significantly" in the wake of the group committing $335 billion to bail out Greece as well as other European Union countries. 

"This should give pause to Treasury Secretary Geithner and others who boasted that the IMF's bailout bonanza wouldn't cost U.S. taxpayers a dime," the congresswoman said in prepared remarks. "In truth, the cost to U.S. taxpayers goes up every few weeks. After the Greek bailout, it stood at about $7 billion; after the EU bailout, it stood at about $60 billion. Now, based on Mr. Boustros-Ghali's comments, we're talking at possibly $100 billion or more. This has got to stop."