Jobs data released this morning show that the economy continued to a seven-month trend of shedding jobs. July's bottom-line job-loss number was mitigated by an increase of 25,000 government jobs; private sector employment dropped by 76,000. Since January, the economy has lost 463,000 jobs. The unemployment rate also moved upward from 5.5 percent to 5.7 percent. In the past year, the unemployment rate has rise 1.0 percent as 1.6 million workers have become unemployed. (click to enlarge)

Last night, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) filed a motion to proceed to a package of tax cuts commonly called the "extenders" for the third time this year. Senate Republicans have blocked consideration of the proposal twice before, insisting that the Senate continue to debate an energy market speculation bill until lawmakers add something dealing with gas prices. While it isn't clear if the Senate will reach the 60 votes necessary to begin debating the bill (the vote is this afternoon), it is certain that time is running out.

The Senate missed an opportunity this week to beat back a Bush administration policy that will keep low-income kids from receiving government insurance.

The federal minimum wage will increase to $6.55 per hour today, the second bump that is part of a law passed last year to increase the wage to $7.25 by next summer (see this story in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution). As the AJC correctly points out, the increase will have a significant impact in Georgia, but for more than half the states, it won't do much because the federal government is woefully behind the curve: