Latest United States Senate Committee on Finance Stories

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate overwhelmingly rejected an amendment on Thursday that the Bush administration warned would have weakened its ability to negotiate a comprehensive world trade deal. The Senate voted 60-39 against the measure offered by Sen. Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat who is a longtime foe of trade agreements, which he blames for the skyrocketing U.S. trade deficit and many job losses. Dorgan's original measure, which was modified during floor debate,...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Charles Grassley said on Wednesday that lawmakers will need to examine whether U.S. jobless benefits, normally a 26-week program, should be extended after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. "We've got to make sure the unemployment program has enough flexibility in it to make sure the people that apply for it are going to get the benefits, and I suppose at some point look and see if there needs to be any extension,"...

By Mark Felsenthal WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department and a key senator remained deadlocked on Wednesday over a Cuba trade dispute that is holding up Senate approval of officials to fill vacant senior jobs at the Treasury. Montana Democratic Sen. Max Baucus, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, told four Treasury nominees at a hearing that he continues to be upset at an export rule change that makes it harder for agricultural producers to ship goods to Cuba....

By Donna Smith WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congressional action on one of President Bush's top priorities, restructuring Social Security, will likely be delayed until later this year, Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives said on Wednesday. Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri, the third ranking House Republican, told reporters that other pressing matters including trade, highway and energy legislation will push back until at least September consideration of plans to establish private...

WASHINGTON -- Key Senate Republicans privately reviewed suggestions Thursday for raising the Social Security retirement age while limiting future benefits for upper-wage earners, officials said, as they sought momentum for legislation atop President Bush's second-term domestic agenda. At the same time, the prospects for swift Senate action on the controversial measure appeared to dim during the day, the result of internal GOP disagreement as well as implacable Democratic opposition to Bush's...