NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — The U.S. Postal Service renewed its pleas for congressional support Thursday as the floundering agency reported another massive quarterly loss.

The Postal Service announced that it sustained a net loss of $3.3 billion in the last three months of 2011, as declining mail volumes and mounting benefit costs continue to weigh on its business.

In the previous fiscal year, the Postal Service lost $5.1 billion and said its losses would have been roughly $10.6 billion if not for the passage of legislation postponing a $5.5 billion payment required to pre-fund retiree health benefits.

The Chevrolet Volt got a clean bill of health, last Friday, with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration closing its investigation into potential problems with the plug-in hybrid’s battery pack – but that doesn’t mean General Motors’ problems with the Volt are over, as a Congressional hearing is scheduled to begin on Wednesday.

The Volt controversy stems from a fire that occurred last spring, weeks after one of the battery cars went through a federal crash test. A second Volt battery pack caught fire after being tested in November. That triggered an investigation by the NHTSA – as well as hearings by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, California Republican and committee chairman Darryl Issa contending that the government agency initially tried to cover up the original fire.

Rep. Lee Terry got the hint. The robo-calls bill is dead.

The bill sponsored by Terry, R-Neb., (H.R. 3035) would have allowed “robo-calls” to your cell phone — even if you didn’t give a company permission to contact you at that number.

Consumer groups made a lot of noise in the hope that Congress would kill the bill. They call it a dangerous proposal that could lead to more nuisance calls.

Supporters of the “Mobile Informational Call Act of 2011” include the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Air Transport Association, as well as groups that represent bankers, mortgage lenders, college loan programs and debt collectors.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Is insider trading by members of Congress legal? How common is it? What’s being done about it?

Congress itself is tackling those questions right now following an explosive report on 60 Minutes last month.

The program accused House leaders John Boehner and Nancy Pelosi, as well Spencer Bachus, a key House lawmaker on financial issues, of making investments based on confidential knowledge gained over the course of their work.

All three have rejected the allegations, but that hasn’t stopped the issue from gaining steam over the past few weeks.

Now, both houses of Congress have taken up versions of a bill called the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act — the “STOCK Act” — that would explicitly outlaw the practice.

With unemployment stuck above 9 percent, Americans are looking to the White House, Republican presidential candidates and the Federal Reserve for credible plans to boost job growth. None of the proposals now being floated hold much promise.

Falling home prices continue to wipe out equity for millions of households. Manufacturing has slowed sharply as demand for goods has fallen. After borrowing heavily for a decade, consumers and governments are make deep cuts in spending.

In his speech to Congress Thursday night, President Barack Obama acknowledged the limited impact the federal government can have in spurring job growth in an economy that many analysts warn is reaching “stall speed.”

WASHINGTON (CNNMoney) — Should the Postal Service get its way on laying off thousands of workers, the cuts would weigh heavily on two segments of the population hard hit in recent years: minorities and veterans.

The U.S. Postal Service, teetering toward default, wants the power to cut 120,000 jobs by voiding labor protections for currently protected workers.

Layoffs can’t happen unless Congress steps in — and they could, in fact, violate the Constitution. But the timing of the layoff talk couldn’t be worse. The odds of a double-dip recession are increasing and the nation added no new jobs last month.

WASHINGTON (CNNMoney) — Some students will start owing more on their loans while they’re in school under a last-minute debt ceiling deal to keep the country out of default and reduce deficits by at least $2.1 trillion over a decade.

As part of the savings to trim the deficits, Congress would scrap a special kind of federal loan for graduate students. So-called subsidized student loans don’t charge students any interest on the principal of student loans until six months after students graduated.

Congress would also nix a special credit for all students who make 12 months of on-time loan payments.

The changes would take place July 1, 2012.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Don’t you dare withhold our Social Security payments!

That’s the message senior citizens and the disabled are sending to President Obama and Republican lawmakers. They are making it very clear that they don’t want to suffer the fallout of the debt ceiling squabbles in Washington, D.C.

Hundreds of readers wrote to CNNMoney saying how much they depend on Social Security payments to keep a roof over their heads, food on the table and medicine in their cabinet. Even a one-month delay could wreak havoc on their lives, not to mention send their stress levels soaring.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The crisis over raising the debt ceiling may have been manufactured by politicians, as many on Wall Street charge, but its effect on consumers and the broader economy is likely to prove very real.

Fear that Congress may not raise the government’s $14.3 trillion legal borrowing limit by August 2, inviting a credit rating downgrade or default, has already made it more costly for banks and companies to borrow short-term money.

If that persists, consumers and small businesses may also find it harder to access credit. Those who can get loans will likely pay more for them. Companies, meanwhile, are hardly likely to ramp up hiring if funding costs are on the rise.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Prospects for a debt-ceiling deal dimmed late Friday afternoon when talks broke down between President Obama and House speaker John Boehner.

Lawmakers will continue negotiating, and a deal is still ultimately possible, but what happens if lawmakers fail to act by the Aug. 2 deadline?

Well, it’s hard to say, because lawmakers have never before put the United States in a position where it can’t pay all its bills.

But it wouldn’t be pretty. A failure to raise the debt ceiling would likely send shockwaves through the underpinnings of the financial system — and possibly ripple out to individual investors and consumers.

WASHINGTON — The government’s labor dispute with Boeing Co. is turning into a political headache for President Barack Obama, giving his Republican rivals a fresh opening to bash the administration’s economic policies.

From congressional hearings to presidential debates, outraged Republicans are keeping up a steady drumbeat of criticism over the National Labor Relations Board’s lawsuit against the aerospace giant.

The government has maxed out its borrowing limit, and Treasury officials have warned of dire consequences if Congress and the White House can’t agree soon on a plan for raising the debt ceiling.

Failure to act on a plan could force the Treasury to make steep spending cuts to avoid defaulting on debt payments, with potentially serious damage to the current weak economic recovery.

The Senate this week shot down a proposal by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., to cut $6 trillion in federal spending over the next 10 years. That put Congress back on square one as lawmakers look for a compromise that would allow the government to continue operating without some kind of automated cuts to stay under the spending cap.