By Matt Pommer Social Security marks its 75th anniversary this week, but it almost didn’t happen, according to the Wisconsin citizen who played a key role in its development. Passage was doubtful in the Senate Finance Committee “in part because ...

Tagged with: house Pommer Senate Social Security University of Wisconsin Wisconsin

By Andrew Taylor AP Writer Washington — The Senate is where legislation often goes to die, and it’s looking like that’s the fate awaiting a new jobs bill wanted by President Barack Obama. The deficit-financed jobs bill limped out of ...

Tagged with: Collins Congressional Budget Office energy-efficient highway construction house jobs bill Obama Reid Senate stimulus

The U.S. House of Representatives last week voted 241-181 to pass the Tax Extenders Act of 2009 that included state and local sales tax deductions, a 15-year straight-line cost recovery for qualified leasehold and restaurant improvements, and the research and ...

Tagged with: ABC Associated Builders and Contractors contractors house

By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers want to extend $31 billion in popular tax breaks, including an income tax deduction for sales and property taxes. The problem: how to pay for it. The House planned to ...

Tagged with: house income tax Obama property tax

VIEW FROM THE JANESVILLE GAZETTE. Dear state legislators: We understand you’re about ready to take a “vacation.” A 10-week vacation that spreads across the holiday season, that is. Wow. Anyone around these parts enjoying such a “vacation” usually does so ...

Tagged with: Assembly Doyle house Legislature Senate

By JEANNINE AVERSA AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve says many banks expect to tighten terms on credit cards in response to a new law that aims to protect consumers from sudden rate hikes. A quarterly survey ...

Tagged with: Fed house rates Senate

Christopher S. Rugaber and Mike Schneider AP Writers Even as Americans suffer rising unemployment, foreclosure rates in three states hit hardest by the housing bust — California, Arizona and Florida — stabilized in June, offering some promise that the worst ...

Tagged with: economic recovery foreclosure house real estate