Democratic leaders returning to Washington next week will confront the daunting task of extending Bush-era tax cuts, which could haunt them.

The new head of the White House Council of Economic Advisers replaces Christina Romer, a leading liberal voice on Obama's team.

The anti-tax Tea Party is gaining traction as 41 percent of likely voters support the movement publicly, up from 34 percent in August. 

The uptick comes as lawmakers prepare to debate the fate of Bush-era tax cuts. 

Friday's poll results could potentially make it more difficult for Republicans to support President Obama's plan to continue the tax breaks benefiting the middle-class while allowing the ones for the wealthy to expire on schedule at the end of the year. 

The Securities and Exchange Commission approved new rules Friday to expand the circuit-breaker program implemented after the May 6 market crash along with rules that clarify the process for breaking erroneous trades.

A pilot program was approved in June that applied to all stocks in the S&P 500 Index under which a five-minute pause in trading is triggered whenever a stock makes at least a 10 percent change in price within five minutes.

Today's change expands the program to all stocks in the Russell 1000 index and to certain exchange-traded funds, which is expected to start early next week. The pilot program ends Dec. 10. 

The Tax Policy Center on Friday questioned the effectiveness of the proposal President Obama recently put forward allowing businesses to write off the cost of certain investments. 

The measure gives businesses permission to fully deduct the purchase of things like equipment and software.

Congress has supported very similar measures in the past, often calling it "bonus depreciation." 

The Obama administration has named Patricia Geoghegan as the acting pay czar as Ken Feinberg leaves the post.

The post was created early in 2009 amid public outcry over large bonuses paid at firms that received taxpayer bailouts. Feinberg was tapped this year by President Obama to oversee claims stemming from the BP oil spill.

Geoghegan has been named the acting special paymaster, said Steven Adamske, Treasury Department spokesman.

Consumer spending was down about $5 in August as credit card debt continued to decrease and savings levels remained high through the summer. 

Self-reported spending in stores, restaurants, gas stations and online averaged $63 per day in August — down from $68 from July, and $2 less than August 2009, a Gallup poll showed. 

Those in the upper income brackets, making $90,000 or more a year, also decreased their spending last month, cutting back to $109 a day, down $10 from July and June and $36 from May. 

Consumers of all incomes had begun to pick up their spending, hitting a peak in May as the economic recovery appeared to acquire a head of steam. Since then, economic news has been mixed, making consumers more cautious about their spending as they opted to pay off debt and save more. 

The SBE is asking members to contact their senators and urge them to support an amendment by Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.).

Geithner will appear Thursday before the panel to discuss the Treasury Department’s "International Economic and Exchange Rate Policies" report.

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