Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, indicated Thursday that he believed Democrats and Republicans could work together on reforming the tax code.

“I do believe that the country is ripe for tax reform,” Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters in the Capitol, adding that “our tax system is broken and needs to be fixed.”

The majority leader also said that tax reform is a top priority of Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), the chairman of the Finance Committee, and that he expected that panel to hold hearings on the issue soon. 

A spokesman for the Finance panel pointed out that the committee held hearings on the issue last year and said more are expected in the weeks and months to come. 

Tax reform is shaping up to possibly be a key area of bipartisan cooperation in the current Congress. 

Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the House majority leader, reiterated on Thursday that he was looking forward to what President Obama would say about tax reform in the upcoming State of the Union address.

For his part, the president has said this year is the time to have a conversation on revamping the tax code. And Baucus said, at a hearing last year, that tax reform was “about one of the most direct relationships that citizens have with their government.”

“It’s important that we try to make that relationship as fair as possible,” he added. 

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is scheduled to meet next week with corporate chief financial officers about tax reform and investment incentives, a Treasury spokeswoman confirmed Thursday afternoon.

The spokeswoman did not say which CFOs might attend the Jan. 14 gathering, but did signal that the meeting would be one in a series of get-togethers on those topics.

She also stressed that the department would be reaching out to a wide range of stakeholders and groups when it comes to corporate tax reform.

President Obama met with corporate chief executives in December, and next week’s meeting between Treasury and CFOs can be viewed as a logical follow-up to that session.

Tax lobbyists said earlier Thursday that they had been hearing about a potential meeting between Treasury officials and corporate CFOs.

In recent weeks, the president and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have expressed an interest in at least looking at reforming the country’s tax code. 

Republican criticism of the Federal Reserve's recent decisions will continue in the new Congress, as House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) plans to reintroduce legislation changing the central bank's mandate.

Ryan, who has criticized the Fed's policies — in particular its decision to buy back $600 billion of Treasury bonds in a "quantitative easing" program — as "insidious," will push a bill in the 112th Congress that would remove the Fed's mandate that it take steps to maximize employment.

The House on Thursday easily passed, 410-13, a bill to cut about $35 million from congressional office budgets this year. 

All 13 opposed to the bill were Democrats — Gary Ackerman (N.Y.), Yvette Clarke (N.Y.), John Conyers (Mich.), Keith Ellison (Minn.), Bob Filner (Calif.), Mike Honda (Calif.), Jesse Jackson Jr. (Ill.), Jim Moran (Va.), Donald Payne (N.J.), Jan Schakowsky (Ill.), Eldolphus Towns (N.Y.) and Lynn Woolsey (Calif.).

The measure will reduce office budgets by 5 percent while implementing a 9 percent cut for the House Appropriations Committee, a panel that will play a major role in finding ways to reduce spending in the Republican-controlled House.

"This year, the Appropriations Committee will be ground zero for a wide range of reductions across the federal government, and by cutting our own budget first, we are showing we’re willing to lead by example," Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) said on the floor before the vote. 

House Republicans risk damaging the reputation of the nation's financial system on a global scale if they refuse to authorize additional funds for federal regulators, according to Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.).

Although the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) requested hundreds of millions of dollars in new budgetary authority to implement provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street overhaul, Congress was unable to approve such a budget last year. Instead, lawmakers signed off on a short-term measure funding the government through March 4, meaning House Republicans who strongly opposed the legislation will set funding levels next.

Tax lobbyists are hearing of a potential meeting Jan. 14 between Treasury Department officials and corporate chief financial officers, with tax reform expected to be part of the discussion.

The Treasury Department would not confirm that the meeting will take place, but lobbyists hear it would be sort of an extension of President Obama’s get-together with about 20 corporate chief executives last month at Blair House.

That December meeting touched on tax reform but also focused on job creation, trade and other matters.

A meeting between Treasury officials and CFOs could be expected to have a narrower focus and possibly more discussion on tax reform.  

In an interview last month, the president said he wanted to spark a “conversation” on tax reform this year. Republican leaders on Capitol Hill have also expressed an interest in revamping the tax code.

The House is expected to pass on Thursday afternoon a bill that will cut about $35 million from congressional office budgets this year. 

As part of the House rules package approved on Wednesday, the House will take up the measure to reduce office budgets by 5 percent while implementing a 9 percent cut for the House Appropriations Committee, a panel that will play a major role in finding ways to reduce spending in the Republican-controlled House.

"Leaders need to lead and this place is bloated," bill sponsor Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) said Thursday morning on C-SPAN's "Washington Journal."

The bill cuts $1 million from all House leadership offices, $8.1 million from committee budgets and a total of $26.1 million for members' offices, for a total of $35.2 million, according to the bill.

In a letter to Congress, Geithner warns failing to raise the debt ceiling would be "deeply irresponsible."

Initial jobless claims increased slightly less than expected last week after falling below 400,000 claims for the first time in more than two years. 

Claims rose by 18,000 to 409,000 in the week ended Jan. 1, and the previous week's figures were revised upward to 391,000 from 388,000. 

The four-week average of new claims, which smooth the volatility of the weekly number, dropped by 3,500, to 410,750, continuing a three-month trend that has seen claims decrease seven times, a positive signal that the economy's recovery is pushing forward at a faster pace. 

Last week, weekly claims dropped below 400,000 for the first time since July 2008, before the start of the financial crisis that would spur growing layoffs.