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mcclatchydc.com — The House of Representatives plans Tuesday to approve funding that would save an estimated 161,000 teachers' jobs nationwide and pump billions of dollars into depleted state treasuries to help pay health benefits for the poor. The Senate approved the measure last week, so House approval would clear the measure for President Barack Obama to sign into law.

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washingtonpost.com — In one of the most striking fallouts from the bad economy, Social Security is facing a rare shortfall this year as more people opt to collect payments before their full retirement age. Adding to the strain on the trust are reduced tax collections due to unemployment levels hovering at 9.5 percent.

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mcclatchydc.com — Evelyn Sekula's widowed grandmother struggled to survive during the Depression. Like millions of other elderly people, she had no pension and no savings.

"She had no income at all except for what my father gave her," said Sekula, 90, who lives at the Atria El Camino Gardens senior residence in Carmichael. "She was always looking for a way to make money. My father probably gave her $10 a month."

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bloomberg.com — American International Group Inc. said controls on Wall Street signed into law by President Barack Obama may force the insurer to raise capital, undergo stress tests and limit bets on private equity and hedge funds.

The Dodd-Frank Act could “materially and adversely affect AIG’s businesses” and hurt cash flows and credit ratings, the New York-based firm said Aug. 6 in a filing. The Federal Reserve may be the bailed-out insurer’s regulator if a new risk watchdog determines that an AIG failure could threaten U.S. economic stability, the firm said.

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bloomberg.com — The financial system experiences a crisis “every five to seven years,” JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon told the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission in January. By that measure, the next crash could come by 2015 -- years before new banking reforms are in place.

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thehill.com — The House will vote next week on a Republican measure that would prevent Democratic leaders from passing controversial policy initiatives during a lame-duck session of Congress this year.

Republican Study Committee (RSC) Chairman Rep. Tom Price (Ga.) introduced the privileged resolution last Thursday in response to reports that Democratic leaders told their base that they could move big-ticket legislation after the November elections and before the new Congress convenes in January.

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thehill.com — Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) responded quickly Sunday to White House Energy Advisor Carol Browner's claim that the administration is still holding out hope a climate bill can pass during a lame duck session of Congress.

Browner made the comments during an appearance on "Meet the Press." Shortly after the interview with Browner, Pence called her statement "outrageous" on the show's roundtable segment.

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thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com — Midterm election campaigns, by their nature, knit together a diffuse patchwork of story lines. But the Nevada Senate race distills the patterns of 2010 as well as any.

The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, is facing mocking attacks from Republicans for asserting that his work with President Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is “paying off.”

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latimes.com — In an effort coordinated with the White House, congressional leaders are urging Democrats to focus less on bragging about what they have done — a landmark healthcare law, a sweeping overhaul of Wall Street regulation and other far-reaching policy changes — and more on efforts to fix the economy and on the perils of Republican control of Congress.

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mcclatchydc.com — In February 2009, the United States had fallen into what many economists called the deepest economic slowdown since the Great Depression. The housing bubble had burst, unemployment was nearing its highest level in almost three decades and the once-freewheeling banking sector had turned tightfisted.

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