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Struggling to deliver the big jobs package proposed by President Barack Obama, Senate Democrats are using the issue to force Republican senators to vote on tax increases for millionaires, picking up on a White House theme that the nation's wealthiest Americans aren't paying their fair share.

Two days before the government's much-anticipated jobs report, a snapshot of employment trends in the service sector flashed an ominous sign.

The Supreme Court will decide whether the government can get involved in a workplace dispute between a church and one of its employees.

Service firms that employ 90 percent of the U.S. work force expanded at a slightly slower pace in September than the previous month.

Stocks edged higher Wednesday after a trade group reported that the U.S. service sector continued to grow in September. Private company hiring also increased.

Ford Motor Co. will pay its U.S. factory workers a $6,000 signing bonus and add thousands of U.S. factory jobs as part of a four-year contract deal reached Tuesday with the United Auto Workers union.