Senate Leaders Appear Open to Small Business Aid in Minimum Wage Bill
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said that the Senate would "likely consider giving small businesses some tax relief" as part of legislation to raise the federal minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $7.25 over two years. The wage hike was contained in the second bill (S-2) introduced in the Senate yesterday. The House is set to act January 10 on its wage hike bill that may not have any small business relief. The Chamber opposes a minimum wage increase but strongly supports small business relief if a wage hike is inevitable.

Democrats Take Control of New 110th Congress
Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California was elected the first woman House Speaker. The House also adopted tough new Democratic ethics rules and killed the old GOP rule requiring a "super majority" 60% vote to raise taxes. The House is set to adopt Democratic pay-as-you-go budget rules requiring tax increases and/or budget cuts as offsets for all new proposed tax cuts and expenditures including entitlements. Also set to be adopted are Democratic earmark disclosure rules. They would require the disclosure of all earmarks (special projects or provisions) in bills (including tax benefits for individuals and small groups) along with the names of their sponsors. Both houses also agreed on 12 parallel appropriations subcommittees and their leaders. House Republican and Senate Democratic leaders outlined their legislative priorities on Capitol Hill.

President Bush Urges Congressional Leaders to Work with Him
In a guest column in the Wall Street Journal, the President urges the leaders of the new 110th Congress to work with him to "solve complex problems" and avoid political posturing. He said he will send Congress a FY-2008 budget in early February that will "balance the budget by 2012 while funding our priorities and making the tax cuts permanent."

Democrats Pledge Spending Restraint
The incoming Democratic Chairmen of the House and Senate Budget Committees said they want to continue reducing the federal deficit while maintaining middle class tax cuts, freezing the impact of the alternative minimum tax, and honoring campaign pledges to devote more money to education and homeland security. This strategy will leave no major funds left for other domestic initiatives. Senator Kent Conrad and Rep. John Spratt also said they will ask President Bush to come up with better ways to finance the Iraq war that is now costing about $8 billion a month.

OPEC's Expansion Increases U.S. Dependency on Oil Imports
On Jan. 1, Angola joined the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries as its 12th member, the first new member since 1975. OPEC is now supplying 54% of the oil imports of developed nations including 52% of U.S. imports, the highest levels in history. Crude oil prices ended 2006 just over $61 a barrel with a further decline this week so far. Analysts are predicting higher prices later this year.

The Labor Department reported the unemployment rate in December remained at 4.5%
167,000 jobs created during the month of December. The unemployment rate for 2006 was 4.6%, a six-year low.