Several lawmakers renewed their calls to let tax cuts for those in the highest tax brackets expire after new data showed the poverty rate climbed 14.3 percent last year, the highest since 1994 but still lower than some analysts had predicted.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who opposes the extension of tax cuts for those making more than $250,000 a year, said Thursday's dismal news is another reason to let the tax breaks expire.

"While poverty is increasing and the middle class is declining, it is incomprehensible to me that Senate Republicans are pushing for more tax breaks for the rich," Sanders said Thursday. "Senate Republicans should not be allowed to hold middle-class tax cuts hostage in order to give more tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires – especially when the gap between the very rich and everyone else is growing wider."

The poverty rate climbed 14.3 percent last year as the number of working-age poor grew to 43.6 million, the most in 51 years, the Census Bureau said Thursday in its annual report on the economic well-being of U.S. households.

Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) on Thursday suggested that if Congress fails to extend the Bush-era tax cuts for the middle class before November, the issue should be put on hold until after the election so voters can weigh in on the matter. 

The Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, which would be a legislative victory for Democrats heading into crucial midterm elections where the economy tops voters’ concerns, has its critics and champions.

Proponents of the bill argue that it will provide needed credit to businesses and encourage them to invest in the U.S. economy at a time when unemployment remains stubbornly high.

Opponents say the bill is a backdoor bailout for community banks, resembling the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) that stoked so much grassroots discontent.

In short, the bill provides $30 billion in investments in community banks for small-business lending and $12 billion in small-business tax breaks. However, questions remain: Will the bill significantly increase bank lending to small businesses? Will the tax cuts for small businesses actually make business owners invest and hire?

New claims for unemployment benefits dropped unexpectedly last week, falling to their lowest level in two months, as the economy showed slightly better improvement.

Claims dropped 3,000, down to 450,000, from last week's revised 453,000 for the week ended Sept. 11, the Labor Department reported Thursday. 

The four-week moving average, which smoothes out the volatility of the weekly number and provides a better gauge of the employment situation, took a steep drop, falling by 13,500 to 464,750, down from last week's revised level of 487,250.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) pledged on Thursday that Congress would extend tax cuts for the middle class, but she refused to definitively rule out a temporary extension of tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.

The Speaker also would not say whether the House would vote before the November elections on an extension of the Bush tax rates that are set to expire at the end of the year. Asked directly if voters deserved a vote on the issue before they headed to the polls, Pelosi replied:

“What I believe the American people deserve is a tax cut for the middle class, and without getting into procedure and timing and process, what we’re going to do is to say, at the end of the day, the extension of the Obama middle-income tax cuts will take place.”

Thirty-one House Democrats have signed a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) urging them to renew all Bush-era tax cuts. 

After months of delays, the Senate passed small-business legislation on Thursday that provides $12 billion in tax incentives and creates a $30 billion lending fund. 

Two Republicans — Sens. George LeMieux (Fla.) and George Voinovich (Ohio) — joined Democrats in passing the measure by a vote of 61-38. 

The House is expected to take up the bill as early as next week and send it along to President Obama for his signature. 

Senate Small Business Committee Chairwoman Mary Landrieu (D-La.) said the bill should "put this recession in the rearview mirror."

Lawmakers on Thursday said China's undervalued currency is hampering the U.S. economic recovery and said a more aggressive strategy is needed to level the playing field.

They expressed frustration over how Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and the Obama administration have handled a slew of economic policy issues in China, including currency, an "indigenous innovation" policy that favors Chinese business and hurts importers, and intellectual property violations. 

"We need some new policies here, it gets worse by the hour," Senate Banking Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) told Geithner during a hearing Thursday morning. "If we continue down this path it poses huge issues for us to have any meaningful recovery."

Geithner said he shares lawmakers' concerns and pledged that the White House would work with the committee to address the policy issues. 

“We are very concerned about the negative impact of these policies on our economic interests and are pursuing a carefully designed, targeted approach to address these problems,” he said. 

A Chinese exchange rate adjustment "is critical to removing a major distortion in the global economy, to rebalancing China's economy, and to ensuring strong, sustainable and balanced global growth," Geithner said. 

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Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) on Thursday objected to a unanimous consent request by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) to pass a tax extenders bill from the chamber. 

Hatch objected because he wanted the bill to be open to amendment.