Tax hikes would fund Obama job bill

In a sharp challenge to the GOP, President Obama proposed paying for his new jobs plan Monday with tax increases that Republicans have already emphatically rejected. The reception to his new proposal was no more welcoming, setting the stage for a likely new fight with Congress.

Flanked at the White House by workers whom he said the legislation would help, Obama declared: "This is the bill that Congress needs to pass. No games. No politics. No delays." He sent it to Capitol Hill on Monday afternoon saying, "The only thing that's stopping it is politics."

The proposal drew criticism from House Speaker John A. Boehner (R., Ohio), who had previously responded in cautious but somewhat receptive tones to the $447 billion jobs plan made up of tax cuts and new spending that Obama first proposed in an address to Congress on Thursday.

Boehner spokesman Brendan Buck said: "It would be fair to say this tax increase on job creators is the kind of proposal both parties have opposed in the past. We remain eager to work together on ways to support job growth, but this proposal doesn't appear to have been offered in that bipartisan spirit."

The biggest piece of the payment plan would raise about $400 billion by eliminating certain deductions, including on charitable contributions, that wealthy taxpayers can claim. Obama has proposed that in the past - to help pay for his health-care overhaul, for example - and it has been shot down by Republican lawmakers, along with some Democrats.

Yet by daring Republicans anew to reject tax increases on the rich, Obama could gain a talking point, if not a legislative victory, as the 2012 presidential campaign moves forward.

At a Rose Garden event, Obama surrounded himself with police officers, firefighters, teachers, construction workers, and others whom he said the bill would help. Adopting a newly combative tone, Obama demanded immediate action on the legislation. "Instead of just talking about America's job creators, let's actually do something for America's job creators," he said.

Even as Obama was accusing Republicans of playing politics, he and his Democratic allies were marshaling an aggressive political response of their own.

Obama was traveling to Boehner's home state of Ohio on Tuesday to promote his jobs plan, following that Wednesday with a trip to North Carolina, a traditionally Republican state he won in 2008.

The Democratic National Committee announced a television ad campaign starting Monday to promote Obama's jobs plans in key swing and early-voting states.

In an appearance later Monday for a group of African American news Web sites, Obama suggested that even a legislative loss for his plan could be political win for him.

"I need people to be out there promoting this and pushing this and making sure that everybody understands the details of what this would mean, so that one of two things happen: Either Congress gets it done, or if Congress doesn't get it done, people know exactly what's holding it up," the president said.

His package would combine tax cuts for workers and employers by reducing the Social Security payroll tax, with spending elements including more money to hire teachers, rebuild schools, and pay unemployment benefits. It also includes tax credits to encourage businesses to hire veterans and the long-term unemployed.

The payment method the White House announced Monday would consist of:

$405 billion from limiting itemized deductions for charitable contributions and other deductions that can be taken by individuals making more than $200,000 a year and families making more than $250,000.

$41 billion from closing loopholes for oil and gas companies.

$18 billion from requiring fund managers to pay higher taxes on certain income.

$3 billion from changing tax treatment of corporate jets.

Republicans have indicated they are receptive to supporting Obama's proposed payroll-tax cut and finding a way to extend jobless benefits, though many have rejected Obama's planned new spending.

Republican rebels force new delay in debt crisis

Urgent efforts to avoid an unprecedented U.S. debt default suffered a new blow on Thursday when some fiscally hardline Republicans blocked a budget deficit plan proposed by their own congressional leaders.

After hours of trying to get enough votes, the Republicans who control the House of Representatives put off

action for the night and scheduled an emergency meeting for Friday morning.

The Republican infighting further delays any compromise with Democrats to stop the countdown toward Tuesday when the government says it will run out of money to pay all its bills.

Lawmakers must lift the government's $14.3 trillion borrowing limit by August 2 or risk a devastating default and downgrade of the top-notch credit rating that helps make U.S. debt a pillar of the global financial system.

There was speculation House Speaker John Boehner, the top Republican in Congress, may revise his plan to attract more votes from rebels who want bigger cuts in spending than the roughly $900 billion over 10 years he has proposed.

"Republicans have taken us to the brink of economic chaos," House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said. "The delay must end now so we can focus on the American people's top priority: creating jobs and growing the economy."

Even if it passes, the Boehner bill is certain to be killed in the Democratic-controlled Senate but could still feature in any possible compromise. Boehner's difficulties in securing votes weakens his bargaining position, Democrats said.

Investors, unnerved by the risk of a U.S. default or downgrade, are watching anxiously.

The dollar sank to a fresh four-month low against the yen and Asian stocks struggled after the announcement that the House would not vote on Thursday evening.

In U.S. trading earlier on Thursday, the stock market's broad S&P 500 index fell for a fourth day and interest rates soared on some Treasury bills that mature in August.

In a strongly worded commentary, China's state-run news agency Xinhua criticized U.S. lawmakers for flirting with a disastrous default, saying the world's largest economy has been "kidnapped" by "dangerously irresponsible" politics.

No policymakers in China, the largest foreign creditor to the United States, have commented on the crisis but Xinhua said "the ugliest part of the saga is that the well-being of many other countries is also in the impact zone.

International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde warned of the risks if Congress fails to act.

"One of the consequences could be a decline of the dollar as a reserve currency and a dent in people's confidence in the dollar," Lagarde told PBS NewsHour in an interview.

U.S. financial executives added their voices to calls from the business community for Congress to strike a deal.

ARM-TWISTING

Boehner has been grappling with lawmakers such as Mick Mulvaney, a supporter of the Tea Party movement that represents a new force on the Republican right flank.

"I'm still a no," Mulvaney said as he left Boehner's office to pray at the congressional chapel before the vote was canceled for the night.

Republicans changed procedural rules to allow them to bring up the bill for a vote quickly on Friday.

Many Americans are outraged that Washington cannot reach a deal after many weeks of polarized and acrimonious debate.

There were increasing calls by some Democrats for President Barack Obama to raise the debt ceiling on his own by invoking the 14th Amendment of the Constitution -- a clause dating from the Civil War era of the 1860s that the U.S. public debt "shall not be questioned."

The White House has resisted taking such a step.

Some wavering Republican House members were insisting on tying a debt limit increase to passage of a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, according to a Republican aide.

The Senate rejected such an approach last week.

Even if a deal is reached to lift the debt ceiling, a downgrade of the U.S. credit rating is likely unless a big dent is made in the deficit. A downgrade would raise borrowing costs, hurt an already weak economy and rattle global markets.

Once the House acts one way or the other, action will move to the Democratic-controlled Senate. Boehner's plan is doomed in the Senate, where Democratic Leader Harry Reid is pushing his own deficit reduction plan.

But after both chambers have their say, frantic talks are expected this weekend to seek a compromise to permit a vote on raising the debt ceiling and staving off a default on Tuesday.

"I think there will be a whole new stage of the Senate and House having to come together to avoid August 2nd as being a day that has never happened in the U.S.," White House chief of staff William Daley told CNN.

Republican leaders were engaged in arm-twisting as they tried to secure the 217 votes needed to pass the Boehner bill in the House and avoid a humiliating defeat.

A stream of lawmakers who had decided to vote against the plan came and went from Boehner's office. Whatever was said did not seem to be changing many minds.

Republican Representatives Louie Gohmert and Joe Walsh said they would still vote against the bill. Trent Franks and Jeff Flake would not say where they stood.

ON TENTERHOOKS

Boehner's plan for about $900 billion in cuts is twinned with a short-term debt ceiling increase. Lawmakers would have to come up with further spending cuts to raise the debt ceiling again in several months -- just as the campaign heats up for congressional and presidential elections in November 2012.

Reid's plan, backed by Obama, would cut $2.2 trillion from the deficit over 10 years without raising taxes and extend the debt ceiling through next year.

At the White House, Obama and his team also worked late into the evening to avert a default that would scar his presidency, no matter who was at fault, as he prepares to ask Americans for a new four-year term in 2012.

Despite the gridlock, Congress could kick into higher gear as pressure to reach a deal mounts before Tuesday.

"The markets are going to be on tenterhooks until we get an understanding of what the quality of the package is," said Kevin Caron, market strategist at Stifel, Nicolaus & Co.

White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett told Reuters Insider the Treasury secretary would face very difficult decisions if the deadline is not met.

"Do we say to our servicemen and women serving abroad that we're not going to pay them and support their families? Do we say to the 70 million, 80 million people who receive Social Security that we're not going to pay them?" she said. "Or small businesses who are vendors of the United States government?"

Bachmann Says She Is Not A 'Flake'

Chris Wallace pushes Michele Bachmann on how she'll make the transition from cable news flamethrower to presidential candidate:
Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann says a new poll showing her near the top of the GOP presidential pack in Iowa is proof that voters see her as a serious candidate.
“I am very serious about what I want to do,” Bachmann said on “Fox News Sunday,” saying that voters were

impressed with her recent New Hampshire debate appearance. “People recognize that I’m serious.”
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But host Chris Wallace pushed Bachmann on her history of making controversial statements and asked whether she was ready to be a national candidate.
“Are you a flake?” Wallace asked
“That would be insulting to say something like that,” responded Bachmann, pointing to her legislative and professional record. “Of course a person has to be careful with what their words are. And now I will have an opportunity to speak fully.”
This doesn't really get at the issue of Bachmann's zero major legislative accomplishments, but it does offer at least a hint of how she'll parry some of the more obviously skeptical, process-oriented questions about her preparedness for the campaign.
And if you close your eyes and imagine Chris Wallace is Charlie Gibson, and Michele Bachmann sounds a little less Minnesotan and a little more interested in the Trans-Alaska Pipeline ...
UPDATE: Shots have been fired, via Alex Isenstadt:
Bachmann said she was “disappointed” that Romney had yet to sign a pro-life pledge that the conservative group Susan B. Anthony List had asked 2012 contenders to sign.
“Gov. Romney has a history of changing his position” on abortion, she said.
Asked what Romney’s position on abortion was, Bachmann responded: “It’s up to Mitt Romney to say what he is.”

NY legalizes gay marriage 42 years after Stonewall(Photo-Video)

Champagne corks popped, rainbow flags flapped and crowds embraced and danced in the streets of Manhattan's Greenwich Village as New York became the sixth and largest state in the U.S. to legalize same-sex marriage.
Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the bill shortly before midnight Friday, almost 42 years to the day that the modern-day gay rights movement was born amid violent encounters between police and gay activists

at the Stonewall Inn.
Hundreds who gathered inside and outside the landmark bar erupted in celebration after the Republican-led state Senate cast the decisive vote.
Scott Redstone and his partner of 29 years, Steven Knittweis, hugged. And Redstone popped the question. "I said, 'Will you marry me?' And he said, 'Of course!'"
Queens teacher Eugene Lovendusky, 26, who is gay, said he hopes to marry someday.
"I am spellbound. I'm so exhausted and so proud that the New York state Senate finally stood on the right side of history," he said.
He then repeated a chant he had screamed during a protest at a fundraiser for President Barack Obama the previous night: "I am somebody. I deserve full equality."
Alex Kelston, 26, who works in finance in Manhattan, said he hopped in a cab and rushed to the bar when he heard the news.
"This is the place where the movement started, and it's a way to close the loop and celebrate the full equality of gay people in New York," he said.
The so-called Stonewall riots of June 28, 1969, helped spark the equal rights movement for homosexuals. Gay activists had pinned their hopes on a positive vote this week in New York to help regain momentum in other states in light of recent failed attempts.
Amid Friday's celebration, New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan and bishops around the state released a statement condemning the passage of the law by the Legislature, saying they were "deeply disappointed and troubled."
"Our society must regain what it appears to have lost — a true understanding of the meaning and the place of marriage, as revealed by God, grounded in nature, and respected by America's foundational principles," the statement from the Roman Catholic leader read.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who lobbied for the bill, was mid-sentence at a press conference on the city budget when City Council Speaker Christine Quinn interrupted him to announce it had passed.
The room exploded in cheers from other lawmakers and staff, as Quinn — the first gay person to hold the job — embraced her colleagues and smiled, tears welling in her eyes.
"It's hard to describe the feeling of having the law of your state changed to say that you ... are a full member of the state and that your family is as good as any other family," she said.
In a way, the decision will change everything for her and her partner, Quinn said.
"Tomorrow, my family will gather for my niece's college graduation party, and that'll be a totally different day because we'll get to talk about when our wedding will be and what it'll look like, and what dress Jordan, our grand-niece, will wear as the flower girl. And that's a moment I really thought would never come," she said.
"I really can't really describe what this feels like, but it is one of the best feelings I have ever had in my life," she said.
Bloomberg called the vote "a historic triumph for equality and freedom."
He said he would support the Republicans who voted for the measure Friday, and that he believed their actions were consistent with GOP ideals of liberty and freedom.
"The Republicans who stood up today for those principles I think will long be remembered for their courage, foresight and wisdom," said the mayor, a Democrat-turned-Republican-turned-independent. "Ten, 20, 30 years from now, I believe they will look back on this vote as one of the finest and most proud moments in their life."
Bloomberg, a billionaire who had lobbied in Albany for the measure along with Quinn, has the personal resources to help the Republicans withstand any backlash from their own party.
Celebrities also responded, with Lady Gaga posting on Twitter that she "can't stop crying." The pop star has been urging her 11 million followers to call New York senators in support of the bill.
"The revolution is ours to fight for love, justice+equality. Rejoice NY, and propose. We did it!!!" she also posted.
Talk show host Wendy Williams posted to her Twitter followers as well, saying: "Yay for Gay Marriage! NY, it's about time... jersey we're next! How you doin?"
Meanwhile, the city's official tourism marking agency said the bill was "good news" for the $31 billion industry that it represents.
"Now, more gay couples — and their families and friends — will have an opportunity to celebrate their special day here," said George Fertitta, the CEO of NYC & Co.
In San Francisco, where a march kicked off the city's pride weekend, participants said they were just hearing about what had happened across the country.
"What happened tonight in New York is great, is wonderful, so long as we pick up and keep moving beyond this because a lot more needs to get done," said 26-year-old Kate Lubeck of San Jose.
Pete Weiss of Oakland said he has a lot of good friends in New York who he thinks will take advantage of the new law.
"You'd think California would have been first, but maybe this will spread and we'll be next," the 42-year-old said.
Legalization of gay marriage comes as New York City celebrates gay pride, culminating in a parade on Sunday.
Michael Musto, a columnist for the Village Voice, an alternative weekly, said the timing of the vote "could not be more fortuitous. "
"It's definitely going to be the most exuberant gay pride parade in history," he said.

Analysis: Mitt Romney leaves GOP debate unscathed

If Tim Pawlenty, Newt Gingrich and other Republican presidential hopefuls feel they need to close the gap on front-runner Mitt Romney, they didn't show it at the New Hampshire debate. Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who leads in the early polls and fundraising efforts, had a surprisingly easy two hours Monday night. He looked calm and steady, criticizing President Barack Obama on the economy and health care while rarely being forced on the defensive despite some well-known vulnerabilities of his own.

With New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary half a year away, the seven GOP candidates seemed more eager to introduce themselves to voters in the televised event than to start ripping each other. They rarely differed on major policies. All agreed that Obama has botched the economy and doesn't deserve a second term. Near the end of the debate, Romney said anyone on the stage would be a better president than Obama. That was high praise for little-known candidate Herman Cain, libertarian hero Ron Paul and former Sen. Rick Santorum, who badly lost his last re-election bid in Pennsylvania. It also reflected how friendly everyone had been to Romney. If any candidate had nearly as pleasant an evening as Romney, it was Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota. She made maximum use of CNN's live telecast to announce she was formally entering the race. And she showed a feisty but folksy style, perhaps grabbing an audience that many once thought would go to Sarah Palin, who was not present. Before the debate, there were signs that Romney might be pressed harder on his record, especially the Massachusetts health care law that requires people to obtain health insurance. On Sunday, Pawlenty had derided the state law as "Obamneycare," because it served as a model for Obama's 2010 health care overhaul, which many conservatives detest. Pawlenty, the former Minnesota governor, seemed loath to revisit the issue Monday. CNN moderator John King pressed him three times to explain why he had used the term "Obamneycare." Finally, Pawlenty replied somewhat weakly that it was "a reflection of the president's comments that he designed Obamacare on the Massachusetts health care plan." King had no more luck enticing the other six contenders to comment on Romney's former support for legalized abortion, gay rights and gun control. He has switched his position on all those issues since his days as a Senate candidate and one-term governor in liberal-leaning Massachusetts. King asked whether anyone on the stage felt Romney's authenticity was "an issue in the campaign." After a pause, Cain said, "Case closed," and the discussion turned to other topics. The crowded stage and tight time constraints made it difficult to tease out meaningful differences between the candidates. Bachmann said that as president, she would not interfere with states that recognize same-sex marriages. Santorum and Romney said they support a constitutional amendment limiting marriage in all the states to one man and one woman. Bachmann jumped back in, saying she supported that too. But she had been asked earlier whether she would try to challenge state laws on a one-by-one basis, a different question. Gingrich, the former House speaker who suffered a wholesale campaign staff defection last week, appeared rather grim and determined to show his toughness. In the opening greetings, when most candidates said little more than hello, Gingrich vowed "to end the Obama depression." That set the tone for an evening focused on the president, leaving Romney and his fellow Republicans unbruised. "It was a very friendly debate to say the least, which helps Romney," Republican adviser Greg Mueller said. "No one took center stage and emerged as the main challenger to Romney." A stiff challenge to Romney from the right "is there for the taking," Mueller said, "but did not happen tonight." Summer, fall and Christmas will pass before the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary take place. Romney's rivals have plenty of time to mount their attacks. But on Monday in Manchester, they showed they are not ready yet.

House deals symbolic blow to raising debt ceiling

The House overwhelmingly refused to raise the nation's borrowing ability Tuesday — a largely symbolic vote designed to bolster Republican arguments that a successful measure must include deep spending cuts and sweeping policy revisions. The vote was never intended as a final decision on raising the government's debt ceiling, but as a step in the political process leading to Aug. 2. That's when budget officials project they will need to borrow more than the current ceiling of nearly $14.3 trillion.

Failure to increase the borrowing capacity would result in a first-ever federal default, which experts predict would lead to turmoil in financial markets and severe economic consequences. House leaders took steps to assure Wall Street that Congress does not intend to risk default, reaching out to market leaders before Tuesday's vote — which was scheduled in the evening, after U.S. financial markets had closed. "Today, we are making clear that Republicans will not accept an increase in our nation's debt limit without substantial spending cuts and real budgetary reforms," said Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. Democrats charged that Republicans were playing with fire as they tried to force GOP priorities, including the Republican proposal to revamp Medicare, into the budget talks. "This is a political stunt," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.). "This is about threatening to default on the full faith and credit of the United States unless we put in place a Republican budget." Congressional leaders and the White House are negotiating behind closed doors, seeking a package of spending cuts and budget policies that would entice Republicans to support a higher debt limit. GOP leaders have said they would not agree without trillions in cuts, and they want changes in programs such as Medicare. President Obama has invited House Republicans to the White House on Wednesday and Democrats later in the week. The nation reached its debt limit last month, but the Treasury Department has said it can take extraordinary measures to continue paying obligations through Aug. 2. After that, it risks default. Tuesday's proposal would have increased the nation's borrowing capacity by an additional $2.4 trillion, to $16.7 trillion, to cover the government's obligations through the 2012 calendar year. It failed on a vote of 318 to 97, with all Republicans voting against it. Democrats split on the question, with 97 in favor and 82 opposed. The vote provided political cover to Republicans who had campaigned against raising the debt limit. It also was designed to force onto the record those Democrats who had sought a "clean" debt vote, free from demands for budget cuts and policy changes. Democratic leaders, imagining the television ads that would target lawmakers who voted to increase the debt limit under such circumstances, suggested their members vote with that in mind. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has been working with freshmen lawmakers, many backed by the conservative "tea party" movement, to ensure the debt limit is eventually raised. The debt ceiling has been lifted frequently in recent decades, including under former President George W. Bush, when the borrowing limit nearly doubled, going from $5.9 trillion in 2001 to $11.3 trillion at the end of 2008.

Mitt Romney finally shows up in Iowa

Mitt Romney made a belated 2012 campaign debut in Iowa on Friday, dipping a brown-loafered toe into the state that casts the first votes in the presidential contest. Romney, who will formally enter the Republican race next week, has largely shunned Iowa since falling short here in the 2008 caucuses. He spent much of the day bobbing and weaving around questions about his commitment to Iowa. "My guess is you'll have plenty of opportunity to see me. I care about Iowa," he told a midday audience in Des Moines,

after refusing to say whether he'd compete in a nonbinding straw vote this summer or go all-out in the caucuses next winter. But if there was any doubt about whether he'd abandon Iowa altogether, as some have speculated, Romney may have put it to rest when he answered affirmatively a quintessential Iowa caucus question: about government subsidies for ethanol, the fuel produced from corn and other farm products. "I support the subsidy of ethanol. I believe ethanol's an important part of our energy solution in this country," he told a supporter from West Des Moines. The former Massachusetts governor has been described as unusually weak for a candidate many see as the Republican front-runner. And his somewhat diffident approach to Iowa — and to campaigning in general — is part of an attempt to lower expectations in his second White House try. Romney told Iowans that his candidacy was tailored to these tough times. "I'm not going to be flying all over the country and making a big folderol," Romney said. "I know that keeping a lean campaign is part of winning in the final analysis." Four years ago, he invested heavily in Iowa organization and advertising, and his distant second-place finish was regarded as a setback. Though he is being cagier this time, his reluctance to compete fully is seen by Iowans as a potential threat to their state's status in the nomination process, a matter of considerable civic pride and local economic influence. Romney did predict he'd win the state, without specifying whether he meant the caucuses or the general election. "What you can know is, I'll be here debating, I'll be here being interviewed, and I'll be here speaking, and you'll get to know me even better than you did last time," he said to tepid applause from an audience that included some 2008 supporters. His remarks, at a presidential candidate series forum sponsored by the Greater Des Moines Partnership, were sharply critical of President Obama's economic leadership. Romney described Obama's election as a failed experiment in choosing a president without experience in private business. "They say that officially the recession is over, but the jobs haven't come back and the foreclosures are continuing," Romney said. "His agenda failed." Romney says he's positioned to do better in 2012 because voter concerns about jobs and economic growth are "right in my wheelhouse." He is selling his background as a businessman and venture capitalist, contending that creating jobs and making America more competitive in the world is "the sort of stuff I do and I know." GOP veterans say the contest is as wide-open in Iowa as elsewhere. "Any one of the top five or six candidates, with the right kind of organization, could surface and surprise everyone," said Marlys Popma, former executive director of the Iowa Republican Party and a leading evangelical Christian activist. She is neutral this year. There may be good reasons for Romney to give Iowa short shrift. The religious and social conservatives who dominate the state's Republican caucuses are considered less friendly to his establishment brand. And his early-state strategy centers on the leadoff primary in New Hampshire, where he has a vacation home and will declare himself a candidate on Thursday. But a decision to essentially skip Iowa would run the risk of reinforcing perceptions that he is less than a dominant contender for the nomination. And with his fundraising advantage — and the absence of 2008 caucus winner Mike Huckabee — Romney may be tempted. For the Republican candidates, the first test of Iowa strength will be the nonbinding straw vote in August. Romney spent lavishly on the event last time — winning it can cost in excess of $1 million — and managed to win. Though he dodged the issue Friday, he is not expected to compete. Some of his supporters from last time worry that a decision to bypass Iowa would hurt him down the road. "A fifth- or sixth-place finish in Iowa would be devastating," said Kim Schmett, 58, an attorney from Clive who said he might not back Romney again if he didn't compete here. "That's my concern with Romney. There are a lot of people who like him. But if they don't see him, it's hard to keep the support."

Congress Reaches Historic Deal, But Fiscal Battles Loom on the Horizon

A series of spending battles await Congress following the expected passage of the 2011 budget bill next week, as Democrats and Republicans will continue clashing over the nation's fiscal responsibilities moving forward.

With a last-minute budget deal, Congress averted a federal government shutdown Friday night.

On Saturday, President Obama signed a short term spending deal that will allow the government to pay for federal operations through Friday.

The measure was needed to keep the government open long enough for Congress to sign off on the budget deal reached just before the midnight deadline Friday by Obama, Republican House Speaker John Boehner and Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Obama made an unannounced trip from the White House to the Lincoln Memorial on Saturday to make clear that the country's national parks and monuments are open for business. The sites would have been closed in a government shutdown.

"Because Congress was able to settle its differences, that's why this place is open today and everybody's able to enjoy their visit," Obama told tourists on the steps of the memorial.

The Friday deal included $38.5 billion in spending cuts while leaving the more contentious policy matters, such as blocking funding for Planned Parenthood, for a later debate.

But the epic clash between Democrats and Republicans was just the first of a series of fiscal fights as two more battles loom on the horizon -- the national debt ceiling and then the 2012 budget.

"We're gonna have a fight in a couple of months over the debt ceiling. We're gonna have a fight over the 2012 budget," Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill, told Fox News Saturday. "This is not basically the last fight here. This is the first opening salvo in a real attempt to bring back the size of government and start living within our means."

The Treasury Department has told Congress it will hit its $14.3 trillion borrowing limit no later than mid-May and Republicans hope to use the issue to force President Obama to accept long-term deficit-reduction measures.

"The president's asked us to raise the debt ceiling and Senate Republicans and House Republicans, and I hope many Democrats as well, are going to say, Mr. President, in order to raise the debt ceiling, we need to do something significant about the debt," Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said on the Senate floor Friday night.

The White House has warned that not lifting the debt ceiling could lead to a default on the national debt and harm the economy, which appears to be picking up steam. If there is a stalemate, the Treasury could avoid defaulting for several weeks by using a number of tricks but it would eventually run out of options.

Lifting the debt ceiling is never easy and in this political environment, where Tea Party activists are pressuring Republican leaders to slash federal spending, a rough fight is all but guaranteed.

The fight over the 2012 budget won't be a picnic either. The budget deal that Republicans and Democrats negotiated Friday night is for 2011 and funds the government through the end of September with $38.5 billion in spending cuts.

But House Republicans intend to pass a 2012 budget next week that would cut $6.2 trillion in spending over the next decade calls for sweeping changes in the Medicare and Medicaid health programs.

Democrats have already called House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan's plan an attack on the elderly and the poor.

But in the Republican radio address, Ryan warned of a coming crisis.

"Unless we act soon, government spending on health and retirement programs will crowd out spending on everything else, including national security. It will literally take every cent of every federal tax dollar just to pay for these programs," Ryan said Saturday.

House Speaker John Boehner has said that the fight over the 2011 budget is likely to repeat itself in the next coming months.

"It's taken us some time to get acquainted with each other and to work our way through this, because understand that this process that we're in is likely to be repeated a number of times this year," Boehner said.

House to vote on bill that would stop NPR funding

The House of Representatives has scheduled a vote Thursday on a bill that would bar federal funding for National Public Radio.

The move to pull funds from the public broadcasting outlet comes after a conservative activist secretly taped an NPR executive criticizing Tea Party supporters and saying NPR would be better off without federal money.

On Tuesday, the House voted to cut $50 million from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which helps support NPR. It's part of a larger bill to keep the government running for the next three weeks.

Separately, the House voted last month to zero out all federal funding for the CPB as part of its bill to fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year. But that bill failed to pass the Senate and Senate Democrats are unlikely to include the NPR provision in any compromise measure they are negotiating with House Republicans.

The embarrassing video has re-energized GOP efforts to cut off funding for NPR.

Colorado Republican Rep. Doug Lamborn, who unsuccessfully tried to strip federal funding for NPR last year, introduced the new standalone bill Tuesday. It would bar any of NPR's affiliate radio stations across the country from using any federal funds to purchase any programming from NPR.

According to NPR's website, it provides content to 900 independent stations, reaching 27.2 million listeners every week.

Oregon Democratic Rep Earl Blumenauer circulated a letter to House members Tuesday citing press reports that he said demonstrated the conservative activist who set up the taping, James O'Keefe, "deceptively edited" the video to target NPR.

Blumenauer urged House members to oppose any cuts to NPR funding.

"Every month, more than 170 million Americans tune in to public broadcasting for information about their communities, and recent polling shows that Americans consider federal investment in public broadcasting to be second only to money for our troops as the best use of taxpayer dollars."

President Obama trades friendly barbs at Gridiron Club dinner

It took three attempts, but the Gridiron Club - a hokey, hallowed vestige of swampland-era Washington - finally got President Obama to show up for its annual dinner Saturday night. And yet, what did the members get? No respect, we tell you - no respect!
The president told the 650 guests at the downtown Renaissance Hotel that they were meeting at a time when "a powerful spirit of change is tearing down old regimes, decaying institutions, remnants of the past."
Pause. "So, look out, Gridiron Club. . . . I mean, look at this get-up. Forget about winning the future. How about entering the present?"
By that point, though, Obama had already been serenaded by a gang of Gridiron members, impersonating the GOP House leadership while dressed as Hells Angels, about how they're "gonna block Barack around the clock," to the tune of the old Bill Haley song.
We're gonna move Obama to the right
We're gonna mock mock mock his election fight
We're gonna talk, gonna talk, and then we might indict!
Yes, America, it's one of those Washington dinners: where leading politicians and media elite dress up in their finest - white tie, in this case - to eat, drink and lob passive-aggressive jokes at one another, in a way that seems pointed and mean but only serves to feed the beyond-the-Beltway suspicion that They Are All in Bed Together.
Such as: Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels joking that he got his duds from "the bearded guy at Men's Wearhouse. Anyone else notice, you never see him and Wolf Blitzer in the same place at the same time?" Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Mitt Romney: "We have more in common than our hairstyles; we both used to think health-care reform would advance our careers." Al Hunt of Bloomberg feigning surprise that the absent Sen. Chuck Schumer would miss a chance to schmooze reporters: "It's like Charlie Sheen missing a hookers' convention."
Only among friends, right? They kid because they love. Right?
In the D.C.-as-high-school metaphor, where the 3,000-person White House Correspondents' Association spring dinner is fondly known as "prom," Gridiron is something like the Student Council Follies. The 126-year-old group is a relatively exclusive cadre of the Washington press corps - limited to 65 active members, most of them well over age 50 - whose preferred method of entertainment in 2011 remains Broadway-style current-events song parodies.
But we confess: Some of it is kinda funny. Worthy of a 12:52 a.m. slot on "Saturday Night Live," even. In the Act 2 finale, "Karl Rove," dressed as a mad scientist, sang to the Johnny Cash tune "I've Been Everywhere": "I've seen every one, man . . ./They all wanna run, man/Egos by the ton, man . . ." (Rove was played by the Marine Band's Kevin Bennear - like many of Gridiron's best voices, not a full member but a ringer enlisted for the occasion.)
And with that, a parade of 20 Gridiron members traipsed across the stage, goofily costumed as the 2012 GOP hopefuls: Romney in a hospital gown, Rick Santorum as an altar boy, Haley Barbour as a Confederate soldier, Michele Bachmann in thigh-high red boots, Rudy Giuliani in a pink ball gown and so on. (Don't get the jokes? Then you're not as politics-consumed as this audience.)
I've seen Huckabee at his weekly weigh-in
Sarah Palin out surveyin'
Eye of Newt and chin of Romney
Guy in drag, that's Giuliani
Mitt, he's drivin' fast and far
With man's best friend strapped to his car
Maybe you had to be there - not that we were. The oddity of this journalist-hosted dinner is that it's on the record yet off-limits to any non-member journalists writing about it - forcing us to beg for details from wine-bleary colleagues inside the room. (We gleaned much of the musical entertainment from a Friday afternoon dress rehearsal.) Once again this year, C-SPAN begged the Gridiron, in the name of "openness and transparency," to admit its cameras into the dinner, and once again it was rebuffed. We get it, though: Would the president have brought the same edge to his routine with cameras there?
Like the one about how before Rahm Emanuel joined him as chief of staff, his approval ratings were above 60 percent and unemployment was below 8 percent - so "Good luck, Chicago!" And how he's grateful for Barbour's support of the first lady's anti-obesity campaign, but "Haley, when Michelle said you need to run, she didn't mean for president!" (Because he's fat - get it?) As for Jon Huntsman, his former ambassador to China who's now pondering his own 2012 Republican bid: "The next GOP nominee for president. Love that guy!" If Huntsman runs, Obama said he'd be the guy in New Hampshire holding the "Honk for Huntsman" signs on the side of the road; if he has an Iowa fish fry, Obama said he'd be there to cook. "He is truly the yin to my yang, and I'm going to make sure every primary voter knows it."
John Boehner jokes were big, of course. The president said he used to think the House speaker was tan, but after seeing him tear up so much, he realized: "That's not a tan - that's rust!" A Gridiron skit had Fake Boehner singing "It's my party, and I'll cry if I want to," Lesley Gore-style. ("I'm try'n to show them some leadership here/Some gravitas and some guts/How did I end up in bed/With all these tea party nuts?")
By all accounts, Daniels, the official Republican speaker of the night, slayed the room with a routine that was both self-deprecatory and snarky. On his own presidential prospects, "all this favorable press I've been getting . . . it's hard not to let it go to your head: 'small,' 'stiff,' 'short,' 'pale,' 'unimposing,' 'unassuming,' 'uninspiring.' . . . It's destiny!" About that sling on his right arm: "Rotator cuff surgery was really a cover story. The truth is I broke a rib traveling to last month's governors' conference. I drew a middle seat between Haley Barbour and Chris Christie. . . . I couldn't get up to go to the bathroom. Their tummies were stuck in the full upright and locked position."
Sebelius, the night's Democratic speaker, recommended the president "consider folding the TSA into our department. We could make life a lot easier for the businessman on the go - by allowing him to get a boarding pass and a colonoscopy at the same time."
Ah, good times. Sorry none of us was there for Gridiron's age-old closing ritual, in which all guests linked arms to sing "Auld Lang Syne." A more memorable musical moment may have come when the Marine Band struck up "Hail to the Chief" to welcome the president.
Obama waved them off: "Play that song we talked about," he ordered.
And they did: "Born in the U.S.A."
"Some things just bear repeating," he said.

Trump puts out feelers in Iowa

A top associate to billionaire real estate developer Donald Trump is heading to Iowa this week to promote a potential presidential bid by Trump, who has said he would campaign in the state if he decided to seek the Republican nomination.

Michael Cohen, a vice president of and counsel to the Trump Organization, said that he planned to fly to Des Moines on Monday to meet with top GOP lawmakers, operatives, and volunteers. Iowa is to host the first presidential caucus, scheduled for Feb. 6. "I'll be gauging the reception I feel he would have when he comes to Iowa," Cohen said.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich launched a campaign website last week and signaled he was likely to run for the GOP nomination in 2012, becoming the first major candidate to formally do so.

Romney seeks to address health care woes

Call it an attempt to address an obvious political vulnerability.

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney on Saturday derided President Barack Obama's health care law — modeled in some ways after one the ex-governor signed in Massachusetts — as a misguided and egregious effort to seize more power for Washington.

"Obamacare is bad law, bad policy, and it is bad for America's families," Romney declared. "And that's the reason why President Obama will be a one-term president." He vowed to repeal it if he were ever in a position to do so, and drew hearty cheers from his Republican Party audience.

Then, raising the Massachusetts law, Romney argued that the solution for the unique problems of one state isn't the right prescription for the nation as a whole, and he acknowledged: "Our experiment wasn't perfect — some things worked, some didn't, and some things I'd change."

"One thing I would never do is to usurp the constitutional power of states with a one-size-fits-all federal takeover," Romney said, again earning applause. "The federal government isn't the answer for running health care any more than it's the answer for running Amtrak or the post office."

With that, he used his first appearance before New Hampshire Republicans since the midterm elections to start addressing head-on the issue that's certain to be a hurdle in his all-but-certain presidential campaign.

Romney's states-rights pitch is one that GOP primary voters are likely to hear over the next year as he tries to persuade them to overlook his flaws because he alone is the strongest Republican to challenge Obama on the country's top issue — the economy.

The failed candidate of 2008 is expected to formally announce a second candidacy later this spring. Campaign signs posted along the road leading to the hotel where he was speaking may have gotten a bit ahead of him. They said "Mitt Romney for President" and suggested that the theme would be "True Strength for America's Future."

Romney and his aides insisted they were old signs.

Among Romney's biggest challenges: explaining to GOP primary voters why he signed a law that became the foundation for Obama's national overhaul. Passed by Congress last year, Obama's health care law has enraged conservatives who view it as a costly government expansion and intrusion into their lives because it mandates insurance for most Americans.

Romney all but ignored the topic in his last major public appearance last month at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.

But, since then, the similarities with Romney's 2006 law in Massachusetts have increasingly been dogging him.

Obama praised the efforts in Massachusetts during a meeting with governors at the White House, saying: "I agree with Mitt Romney, who recently said he's proud of what he accomplished on health care by giving states the power to determine their own health care solutions. He's right."

Also, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, an Obama friend, said Romney deserves a lot of credit on health care. "One of the best things he did was to be the co-author of our health care reform, which has been a model for national health care reform," he said.

The praise from Democrats provides fodder for Romney's Republican primary opponents; some are already heaping on the criticism.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee says in his new book: "If our goal in health care reform is better care at lower cost, then we should take a lesson from RomneyCare, which shows that socialized medicine does not work." It was a play on the word that conservative critics use to describe the national law: Obamacare.

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, who is likely to run for president against Romney, took a shot at Romney when he testified before a House committee reviewing Obama's health care overhaul. He lumped Romney in with a late liberal icon and an Obama friend in saying: "Senator (Edward M.) Kennedy and Governor Romney and then Governor Patrick, if that's what Massachusetts wants, we're happy for them. We don't want that. That's not good for us."

A GOP rising star, House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., also weighed in, saying of Romney's law: "It's not that dissimilar to Obamacare. And you probably know I'm not a big fan of Obamacare."

All that was the backdrop as Romney took the stage at the Carroll County Lincoln Day Dinner at the Attitash Grand Summit Hotel in northern New Hampshire.

First, he poked fun at the criticism that seems to be coming from all sides, saying "you may have noticed that the president and his people spend more time talking about me and Massachusetts health care than Entertainment Tonight spends talking about Charlie Sheen."

Then he turned serious and provided an explanation, emphasizing states' rights to a crowd from the "Live Free Or Die" state.

His coming candidacy may hinge on whether they buy it.