Fed chairman, unemployment on tap as Congress returns

January 6, 2014 at 11:01 a.m.

by The Associated Press

In this Thursday, Nov. 14, 2013, file photo, Janet Yellen of California, President Barack Obama's nominee to become Federal Reserve Board chairman, is sworn in on Capitol Hill in Washington prior to testifying before the Senate Committee hearing on her nomination to succeed Ben Bernanke.
In this Thursday, Nov. 14, 2013, file photo, Janet Yellen of California, President Barack Obama's nominee to become Federal Reserve Board chairman, is sworn in on Capitol Hill in Washington prior to testifying before the Senate Committee hearing on her nomination to succeed Ben Bernanke.

WASHINGTON — Congress faces a hefty list of unfinished business and a politically driven agenda in an election year that will determine control of the House and Senate.

President Barack Obama’s nomination of Janet Yellen to head the Federal Reserve and a three-month extension of benefits for the long-term unemployed are first up in Senate, with votes scheduled Monday night. The rare burst of bipartisanship last month produced a budget agreement, but lawmakers were unable to agree on extending federal benefits for an estimated 1.3 million Americans.

The payments stopped on Dec. 28 and Democrats, led by Obama, are pushing hard to revive them.

Read tomorrow's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

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