As Congress begins an intense three-week session, economic issues will be among the key items on lawmakers' agendas this week.
The House Banking Committee is scheduled to vote Wednesday on legislation that would devise a system to rescue large companies that are deemed "too big to fail." Credit unions dodged a bullet two weeks ago when, despite the opposition of Chairman Barney Frank, the panel approved an amendment exempting financial institutions with assets of $50 billion or less from having to contribute to a fund that would finance such rescue efforts. Frank had postponed the vote on Nov. 19 because of concerns by the 10 committee members who are members of the Congressional Black Caucus about the impact of the Obama administration's economic policies on minority and middle class communities.
The legislation is part of a package of bills aimed at restructuring the regulation of financial services -including the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency-that Frank said he hoped the full House will begin considering next week.
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The Senate Banking Committee is expected to begin the mark up of similar legislation this week. On Thursday, that panel is scheduled to hold a confirmation hearing for Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, whom President Obama nominated for a second term in that position.
Also on Thursday, the White House is slated to hold a jobs summit, featuring business and labor leaders and academics to discuss ideas for getting businesses to hire more people. Despite the improvement in many economic data, in October, the unemployment rate was 10.2%.
On Friday, the Labor Department is scheduled to release unemployment data for November.
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