Economy -- Jobless Reports Boost Odds for Stimulus 2.0: Following last week's report that payrolls declined by 80,000 in March, bringing the cumulative three-month loss to 232,000, and the unemployment rate surged upward, to 5.1 percent from 4.8 percent, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on April 4: "Today's disturbing unemployment numbers, combined with [Federal Reserve] Chairman [Ben] Bernanke's recession warning... compels the President to work with Congress on a second stimulus package... When congressional leaders meet with the President next week, I will urge him to refocus his attention on America's economy and to again work in a bipartisan manner on a new stimulus package." Housing Crisis -- Legislative Action This Week: Tomorrow, a final vote is scheduled on the Senate's housing sector rescue bill. Three hearings are scheduled this week, one in the Senate on Thursday on its bill and two in the House -- one on Wednesday, one on Thursday -- on a bill offered by House Financial Services Committee Chair Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA). Sunday NYT front-page story. Earmarks -- Soft and Hard: "[L]awmakers can still secretly direct billions of dollars to favored organizations by making vague requests rather than issuing explicit instructions to government agencies in committee reports and spending bills. That seeming courtesy is the difference between 'soft earmarks' and the more insistent 'hard earmarks.'" Story.