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WASHINGTON (CNNMoney.com) — Senate Democrats on banking panel plan to release and start working on a financial overhaul bill next week, without Republican support.

Senate Banking Chairman Chris Dodd, D-Conn., said Thursday he planned to release a draft bill on Monday, even though a “few outstanding issues remain,” including consumer protection.

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WASHINGTON – An overwhelming majority of Americans wants Wall Street subjected to tougher regulation in the aftermath of the bank bailout and the bonus scandals that have rocked the U.S. financial sector, according to a Harris poll released on Thursday.

The findings suggest that 82 percent of Americans want the government to clamp down more strongly on Wall Street excesses, with a particular emphasis on bonus schemes that have rewarded employees at loss-making companies such as American International Group.

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NEW YORK – In an effort to end the foreclosure crisis, the Obama administration has been trying to keep defaulting owners in their homes. Now it will take a new approach: paying some of them to leave.

This latest program, which will allow owners to sell for less than they owe and will give them a little cash to speed them on their way, is one of the administration’s most aggressive attempts to grapple with a problem that has defied solutions.

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WASHINGTON – The post office is renewing its drive to drop Saturday delivery — and plans a rate increase — in an effort to fend off a projected $7 billion loss this year.

Without drastic action the agency could face a cumulative loss of $238 billion over 10 years, Postmaster General John Potter said in releasing a series of consultant reports on agency operations and its outlook.

“The projections going forward are not bright,” Potter told reporters in a briefing. But, he added, “all is not lost … we can right this ship.”

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Tax season is upon us. And while nobody likes shelling out their hard-earned dollars to the IRS, this year the government is offering up some new opportunities that could save you big money.

As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or stimulus bill, Congress introduced several new tax goodies that could help millions of Americans save — as long as they know to claim them.

“The purpose of these credits is to give back the maximum amount of money to taxpayers so that Americans spend a little more and help the economy,” said Jerry Morphis, CPA and owner of Accutax & Accounting, “but the new credits are not common knowledge.”

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Starting Monday, the jobless will no longer be able to apply for federal unemployment benefits or the COBRA health insurance subsidy.

Federal unemployment benefits kick in after the basic state-funded 26 weeks of coverage expire. During the downturn, Congress has approved up to an additional 73 weeks, which it funds.

These federal benefit weeks are divided into tiers, and the jobless must apply each time they move into a new tier.

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — More than 1 million people could lose their jobless benefits and health insurance subsidy in March if Congress doesn’t act fast.

When it returns from the President’s Day recess on Monday, the Senate will have one week to extend the deadlines to apply for federal unemployment benefits and the COBRA health insurance subsidy. Currently, the jobless have until Feb. 28 to sign up.

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WASHINGTON – Toyota officials claimed they saved the company $100 million by successfully negotiating with the government on a limited recall of floor mats in some Toyota and Lexus vehicles, according to new documents shared with congressional investigators.

Toyota, in an internal presentation in July 2009 at its Washington office, said it saved $100 million or more by negotiating an “equipment recall” of floor mats involving 55,000 Toyota Camry and Lexus ES350 vehicles in September 2007.

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Just as they are contending with massive gaps in their operating budgets, states and localities must also deal with a $1 trillion deficit in public employees’ retirement benefits’ funds, a new report found.

The shortfall amounts to more than $8,800 for every household in the nation, according to the Pew Center on the States, which published its findings Thursday.

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Worried about a tax audit? Maybe you should be. More Americans than ever may be subject to unwanted attention from the Internal Revenue Service this season as the government pumps billions of dollars into tax collection.

More than 1.4 million Americans were audited last year, the most in a decade. Even more audits are expected as the Obama administration plans to spend $8.2 billion in tax enforcement initiatives in 2011, a nearly 10% increase over last year.

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Sick of sending big checks to the IRS? For some business owners, this tax season will bring a rare reversal: A stimulus-fueled tax change is putting cash back into the pockets of qualifying entrepreneurs.

Bill Hewitt, who owns several real estate ventures in Denver, recently collected a $150,000 refund check from the IRS thanks to the new tax rules. “Without that money, I probably would have gone under,” he says. “When you can’t get any loans from anybody, it kept me alive.”

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The government’s plan to tax Wall Street’s bonus bounty is shaping up to be nothing more than a pipe dream.

Hoping to ride the wave of populist outrage against financial firms like Goldman Sachs, lawmakers have been hard at work hatching legislative schemes aimed at reining in bonuses at firms that received billions of dollars in taxpayer aid.