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thehill.com — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) shrugged off repeated failures and filed a procedural move late Thursday night to return to a small business lending bill in September.

Just before adjourning at 10:02 p.m., Reid filed a series of cloture motions to set up votes on the small business bill on Tuesday, Sept. 14. Reid withdrew all pending amendments, reoffered a substitute and moved to block any further amendments.

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articles.latimes.com — The Senate on Thursday approved a $26.1-billion state aid bill to save teachers' jobs and extend healthcare for low-income people, but liberal House Democrats may have to swallow hard before accepting some of the offsetting cuts in social programs dear to their hearts.

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nytimes.com — The Senate on Thursday approved $26 billion in aid to states and school districts to prevent the layoffs of tens of thousands of teachers and government workers while allocating $600 million to strengthen border security as senators headed toward an August recess.

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bloomberg.com — Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz said the U.S. economy faces an “anemic recovery” and the government will need to enact another round of “better designed” stimulus measures.

The Obama administration took “a big gamble and it doesn’t look like it’s paying off,” Stiglitz told Bloomberg TV in an interview in Sydney yesterday. “The recovery is so weak that it is not strong enough to generate new jobs for the new entrants in the labor force, let alone to find jobs for the 15 million Americans who would like a job and can’t get one.”

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bls.gov — "Total nonfarm payroll employment declined by 131,000 in July, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 9.5 percent ... Federal government employment fell, as 143,000 temporary workers hired for the decennial census completed their work. Private-sector payroll employment edged up by 71,000."

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thehill.com — President Obama on Wednesday asked labor leaders to set aside their disappointments with his administration’s progress so far and rally around Democratic Party candidates ahead of the midterm elections.

Speaking before the AFL-CIO’s executive council in Washington, Obama said he understands union members’ frustration over their priorities being stalled in Congress despite Democratic control.

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time.com — There is no such thing as gay marriage, a federal judge ruled Wednesday in a remarkable and unprecedented opinion that immediately reshaped the debate over homosexuality in America. The decision also all but guaranteed a showdown over the rights of gays to marry before the U.S. Supreme Court.

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denverpost.com — Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes is warning voters that Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper's policies, particularly his efforts to boost bike riding, are "converting Denver into a United Nations community."

"This is all very well-disguised, but it will be exposed," Maes told about 50 supporters who showed up at a campaign rally last week in Centennial.

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huffingtonpost.com — "I made a case last night to about ten freshman senators, you know, you want to turn this into a unicameral body? What's the point of having a Senate? If the vote margins are the same as in the House, you might as well close the doors," Dodd told reporters in the Capitol.

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bloomberg.com — More companies are linking future stock and cash bonuses to specific targets, according to a study of 157 companies in the Fortune 250 released today by Hewitt Associates Inc., a Lincolnshire, Illinois-based human resources consultant. Thirty- five percent of companies in the Fortune 250 had performance plans in place in 2009 compared with 18 percent in 2003.

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