The Senate is expected to pass a small-business bill that would provide $12 billion in tax breaks.

The Defense Department's acquisition chief is expected to announce several measures to make military contracts more cost-effective.

House Ways and Means Committee ranking member Dave Camp (R-Mich.) on Monday called for Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to allow a vote on Republicans' tax plan that would extend all of the Bush-era tax cuts for two years. 

Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) has joined a growing chorus of Democratic senators who question allowing Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy to expire at the end of the year.

The comment by House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Sunday that he is open to only extending the Bush-era tax cuts for the middle-class has prompted other House Republican leaders to come out opposing the idea. 

Verbal sparring over extending the Bush-era tax cuts continued Monday as the House Republican leader again voiced support for keeping all the tax breaks in place. 

This morning, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) tweeted, "we should stop all the tax hikes because that is what's best for the economy and small business job creation."

As debate over the tax cuts heats up, Boehner has become a target for the Obama administration. 

On Sunday, Boehner surprised many by saying he could agree to extend the tax cuts for the middle class, which are set to expire at the end of the year, while allowing those for the rich to expire, if that were his only choice.

"If the only option I have is to vote for those at [$250,000] or below, of course I'm going to do that," Boehner said.

President Obama's proposed tax increases on oil and gas companies would cause over 154,000 workers to lose their jobs, according to a new report by Louisiana State University economist Dr. Joseph Mason.

The report also finds that Obama's proposal would reduce economic output by $341 billion and create over $68 billion in lost wages nationwide.

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner on Monday called on Congress to pass the small-business bill pending in the Senate, saying it would help create jobs, especially for Hispanics.

"The fact is two out of every three new jobs are created by small-business owners," he said in prepared remarks. "Hispanic workers are much more likely to be employed by small businesses than non-Hispanics are."

The Treasury secretary's remarks were prepared for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Conference and come as the Senate returns from its August recess.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Monday seized on House Minority Leader John Boehner's (R-Ohio) suggestion that he would support an extension of middle-class tax cuts if there were no way to extend cuts for the wealthy as well.

In a speech before the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, Geithner echoed Democratic efforts to portray Republicans as holding "hostage" middle-class tax cuts.

"We welcome recent indications that Republicans won’t hold middle-class tax cuts hostage to their desire to have us go out and borrow $700 billion from our children just to make permanent tax cuts for the top 2 percent earners in the country," Geithner said in prepared remarks. "If they mean what they say, there’s no reason to delay moving ahead with tax relief for the middle class."

After he made the comment on Sunday, Boehner said in a statement that raising taxes on anyone at the moment is "the exact wrong thing to do."

Centrist Democrats in the House and Senate are pushing for an extension of all of the tax cuts, including for the middle class and those making more than $200,000. If Congress does not act this year, the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts will expire and reset to higher rates.