House Republicans are trying to ratchet up the pressure on President Obama to decide the new strategy -- including the number of troops -- for Afghanistan.

The commander he sent to turn around the eight-year war is asking for as many as 40,000 more US troops. Obama has held eight war councils -- at the most recent, he rejected all the plans on the table -- but is not expected to announce his decision until after Thanksgiving.

In a letter dated Thursday and released this afternoon, the Republicans back General Stanley McChrystal's counterinsurgency strategy that requires the additional forces.

They don't use the word "dithering" -- as did former Vice President Dick Cheney -- but they come awfully close, while at the same time tacitly acknowledging the criticism of Obama and Democrats that the Bush administration neglected Afghanistan.

"For over two months you have been engaged in a strategy review that has left the country, our military, and allies uncertain about your commitment to the war in Afghanistan and unsure about your will to do what it is necessary to win this conflict. Worse, we fear this process has emboldened our enemies," they write.

"We believe that it is long overdue for our military to be in the execution stage of the strategy instead of the evaluation phase. While no one disputes that a Commander-in-Chief should deliberate before making decisions, particularly in matters involving life and death, we believe this review is having a detrimental impact on our efforts in Afghanistan. While 68,000 U.S. forces are fighting on the battlefield, your strategy review in Washington has returned the country to the policy drift that undermined our efforts in Afghanistan for much of the war."

The full letter is below:

A new poll out this morning suggests that Americans are starting to shift blame on the jobless economic recovery to Democrats from Republicans.

The CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey found that 27 percent of respondents say Democrats are mostly responsible for the economic woes, while 38 percent say Republicans are mostly to blame. In May, by contrast, the same survey found only 21 percent blaming Democrats and 53 percent faulting Republicans.

The poll also found that the gap between those who believe that President Obama's policies have improved economic conditions and those who think his policies have worsened the economy has shrunk -- from 14 percentage points in May to only 8 percentage points this month.

Despite the rebounding stock market and other positive signs, the survey found unrelenting pessimism about the economy: 82 percent rated conditions as somewhat or very poor, while only 18 percent said they were somewhat or very good.

The new survey was conducted Nov. 13-15 and has an overall margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Some of the president's own Democratic allies have begun to turn against him on the economy, saying that the administration hasn't done enough, despite the $787 billion stimulus, to reverse rising unemployment.

UPDATE: Republicans are pouncing on the dissension in Democrats' ranks, the unemployment numbers, and growing doubts about the jobs supposedly saved or created by the stimulus spending.

“Continued double-digit unemployment is not what Ohioans were promised. The White House, with the support of Governor Strickland, pledged that the ‘stimulus’ would create jobs immediately and keep the national unemployment rate from going above 8 percent. Not only has the 'stimulus' not produced jobs the Administration promised, but now we continue to discover numerous cases of waste, fraud, and incompetence in Ohio and across the country,” the House GOP leader, Representative John Boehner of Ohio, said in a statement today after word that Ohio's unemployment rate had risen to 10.5 percent last month.

“Struggling families and small businesses in our great state deserve better. In all, over the past nine months since the ‘stimulus’ was enacted, nearly 150,000 Ohioans have lost their jobs­. Immediate action is needed to create jobs and provide relief. House Republicans will continue to offer fiscally responsible solutions to create jobs by putting money back in the hands of the true drivers of economic growth: American families, small businesses and entrepreneurs.”

President Obama's grassroots organization is targeting Sarah Palin by name, showing how large a public figure she has become and hinting perhaps that it sees her as a potential rival in 2012.

Organizing for America sent an email to supporters this morning seeking to raise $500,000 to counter Palin's criticisms of Obama's health care plan. The former Alaska governor and 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee has drawn huge audiences for her TV appearances on her media blitz accompanying the nationwide tour for her best-selling memoir.

Earlier this fall, she was the one who popularized the contention -- later debunked -- that the Democratic health care bills would create panels of bureaucrats who would decide end-of-life care.

"Right now, Sarah Palin is on a highly publicized, nationwide book tour, attacking President Obama and his plan for health reform at every turn," national director Mitch Stewart wrote.

"It's dangerous. Remember, this is the person who coined the term "Death Panels" -- and opened the flood gates for months of false attacks by special interests and partisan extremists. Whatever lie comes next will be widely covered by the media, then constantly echoed by right-wing attack groups and others who are trying to defeat reform."

By Farah Stockman
Globe Staff

Shaun Woodward, Britain's Northern Ireland Secretary, met today with Congressman Richard E. Neal to thank him for helping to nudge the peace process in Northern Ireland along into its final stages.

"He has been absolutely crucial to helping build the process but also in bringing investments, which show the public that the process is working," Woodward said of Neal, who is chairman of the Friends of Ireland in Congress. "American investment has created 1,000 new, high-paying jobs in Northern Ireland since September."

But Woodward said there is still work to do to implement the final pieces of the Good Friday Agreement: the devolution of police powers and the justice system to Northern Ireland's power-sharing government.

Delays implementing the final stage of the peace agreement run the risk of bolstering the few radical groups that remain opposed to the peace treaty. Since March, two British soldiers and a policeman have been shot, and a number of attempted bombings have been perpetrated by a fringe splinter group of former members of the Irish Republican Army.

Today, Woodward noted a rise in the number of people joining these fringe militant groups.

"In the last couple of years, you have seen the number of individuals growing," he said. "Good community policing, coupled with good intelligence, has meant that we are able to keep on top of these criminals. . . That isn't to say that if the politics were seen to stall, that you wouldn't see an increase of people wanting to join these organizations, however deluded that they may be."

But he said that militants are no longer getting any support from Americans who once supported the IRA.

"For the tiny number of people who kept up a romantic association, it all ended with 9-11," he said. "I don't think the dissidents will get much traction here."

President Obama, far from changing the ways of Washington, is perpetuating one of its most established -- rewarding big fund-raisers with plum ambassador posts around the world.

The nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics said today that fully one-fourth of his envoy picks so far --24 of 99 -- were bundlers who raised at least $10.9 million for his presidential campaign or his inauguration committee.

"Since the Obama campaign only released information about its bundlers in broad ranges, this figure could be thousands, even millions, of dollars higher," the center said.

On Monday, Obama nominated civic leader Beatrice Wilkinson Welters, who raised between $200,000 and $500,000 for his presidential bid, to serve as the US ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago. The list also includes Alan Solomont, a longtime Democratic money man in Massachusetts who raised at least $500,000 for Obama and was nominated to be the US ambassador to Spain.

UPDATE: This evening, Obama announced two more nominees for ambassador -- career Foreign Service member Harry K. Thomas for the Philippines, and David Adelman, a Georgia state senator who raised between $100,000 and $200,000 for Obama, for Singapore.

The late Senator Edward M. Kennedy's legacy goes on and on in the health care debate.

The legislation that top Senate Democrat Harry Reid unveiled Wednesday night includes a bill that Kennedy had championed for years. Known as the CLASS (Community Living Assistance Services and Supports) Act, it would give the elderly at least $50 a day for long term care and allow them to stay at home if they want.

"The CLASS Act was immensely important to Senator Kennedy because, as he said, ‘It makes a simple pact with all Americans - if you work hard and contribute, society will take care of you when you fall on hard times.’ The Act gives the elderly and people with disabilities opportunities to continue living at home, function in their communities, and obtain the long-term care and support they need," Senator Paul G. Kirk Jr., who is carrying the health care baton for Kennedy as his temporary replacement, said in a statement today.

He and other supporters say it would save money in the long run by keeping people off Medicaid, but critics have questioned the cost.

A summary of the proposal, provided by Kirk's office, is below:

A leading abortion rights group said today that the Senate health care bill, while less objectionable than the House version, would still unfairly burden women.

The House bill bans a proposed public insurance option from covering abortion, and also prevents private insurers that accept federal subsidies from offering plans that cover abortion.

The bill unveiled by Senate majority leader Harry Reid is less restrictive, allowing insurers to use money from employers or consumers -- but not federal subsidies -- to cover abortions.

But NARAL Pro-Choice America said the legislation "includes a compromise that continues existing laws that unfairly single out abortion care, including a ban on federal funding."

“America’s pro-choice majority is speaking up loudly and clearly,” the group's president, Nancy Keenan, said in a statement. “Our goal is to ensure that women do not lose ground in the new health-care system and that attempts to expand existing restrictions on abortion are defeated.

"Some anti-choice politicians, such as Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), will follow Rep. Bart Stupak’s example and inject anti-abortion politics into health reform. However, we believe that senators understand that the Stupak amendment in the House bill goes far beyond the status quo and prohibits women from using their own money to buy the insurance coverage they want in the new system. Our activists will continue to remind senators that we’re expecting cooler heads to prevail at this stage of the process and that means the Stupak language is not an option.”

The health care debate is complicated enough to confuse even policy wonks.

So the House health committee has built a web application to help Americans figure out how the bill approved by the House earlier this month would affect them. The Senate is working on its own version, and if it passes legislation, a conference committee would try to reach a compromise that can pass both chambers and win President Obama's signature.

It's designed to answer questions including how someone would get coverage, who would be eligible for the new insurance "exchange," what would happen to a worker who gets coverage through their employer, and what would happen to Medicare.

The interactive graphic can be accessed here.

One of the most important interest groups in the health care debate -- Big Labor -- gave a qualified endorsement today to the bill finally unveiled by top Senate Democrat Harry Reid.

Union support is crucial to Democrats and President Obama to push through the bill, but AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said the nation's largest labor federation is still not happy with a tax on the most generous insurance plans, though it would hit fewer workers than the Senate Finance version. Labor argues that many employees bargained for such benefits to make up for lower or nonexistent pay increases.

Trumka did praise another financing method -- raising payroll taxes on the upper income to help pay for Medicare.

"We commend Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for bringing forward a health care bill that moves us closer to the historic goal of health care for America – high quality, affordable health care for all in our rich nation. The Senate leadership bill takes the strongest steps yet to bring down costs. But the bill is not perfect. It retains a version of the excise tax from the Senate Finance Committee bill. We continue to believe that a tax on working families’ benefits is the wrong way to finance health care and we will work hard to eliminate this provision as the bill heads to the floor," Trumka said in a statement.

"The bill’s inclusion of a public insurance plan option to hold private insurance companies accountable is a tremendous step. And the legislation should be praised for its other fair financing plans, including an increase in the Medicare tax on the wealthiest and an employer responsibility requirement, which we believe should be expanded to include more employers. The bill would expand access by covering 94 percent of Americans and reduce the deficit by $130 billion over 10 years. Today another hurdle is cleared and we are optimistic that good, affordable care for working families will soon be law."

By Lisa Wangsness, Globe Staff

WASHINGTON -- The health care overhaul bill that top Senate Democrat Harry Reid hopes to bring to the floor as soon as Saturday would cost $849 billion over 10 years and would reduce the ranks of the uninsured by 31 million Americans.

A senior leadership aide provided those figures as Reid unveiled his bill, which he has spent weeks working on, melding major elements of the versions passed by the Senate finance and health committees.

The preliminary price tag from the Congressional Budget Office would bring the bill in under the $900 billion that President Obama has set as a ceiling. According to the preliminary CBO analysis, the legislation would reduce the federal deficit by $127 billion over the first decade and by $650 billion over the second decade.

The bill would cover an estimated 94 percent of Americans. Reid bragged that the bill would save lives and protect Medicare, the government program for the elderly.

The bill would set up new insurance exchanges, where consumers could choose plans. It would include a public option that includes a provision for states to opt out of the system -- an exemption that is upsetting liberals who say that a strong government plan is needed to compete with private insurers to ensure affordable coverage.

Like the other bills, Reid's measure would require most Americans to buy insurance coverage with subsidies for those who can't afford it, and would require larger companies to provide coverage to their workers or face fees. It would ban insurance company practices such as denying coverage on the basis of pre-existing medical conditions.

The bill would be financed by cuts in projected Medicare payments and by higher payroll taxes on upper income taxpayers. Under current law, the Medicare payroll tax is 1.45 percent of income. Under Reid's legislation, it would rise by half a percentage point on individuals' income above $200,000 a year and couples' income above $250,000.

The bill also includes a version of the tax on the most generous "Cadillac" insurance plans. The Senate Finance Committee bill proposed to tax health insurance plans costing more than $8,000 annually for individuals and $21,000 for families. Unions and others had strongly opposed that idea.

The bill the House passed earlier this month would be financed in large measure by a 5.4 percent income tax surcharge on individuals making more than $500,000 a year and households making more than $1 million.

The bill also includes a far less restrictive provision on abortion coverage than the House bill, which would ban the public plan from covering abortion and also ban private plans that accept federal subsidies from doing so. Republicans say the provision is needed to ensure that tax money does not fund abortions, but liberals and abortion rights say it would treat women unfairly and have threatened to vote against the final legislation if it includes it.

Reid's bill calls for the exchange to cover plans with and without abortion coverage, giving consumers a choice.

Reid had been waiting for the CBO numbers before unveiling his bill, for which he is still seeking to round up 60 votes to start floor debate. This afternoon, he met privately with three wavering moderate Democrats, Senators Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, and Ben Nelson of Nebraska.

UPDATE: President Obama this evening issued a statement praising Reid's bill, calling it "another critical milestone in the health reform effort."

"I was particularly pleased to see that the Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the bill will reduce the deficit by $127 billion over the next ten years and as much as $650 billion in the decade following, saving hundreds of billions while extending coverage to 31 million more Americans," Obama said in a statement.

"From day one, our goal has been to enact legislation that offers stability and security to those who have insurance and affordable coverage to those who don’t, and that lowers costs for families, businesses and governments across the country. Majority Leader Reid, Chairmen Baucus and Dodd, and countless Senators have worked tirelessly to craft legislation that meets those principles," the president added.

"Just yesterday, a bipartisan group of more than 20 leading health economists released a letter urging passage of meaningful reform and praising four key provisions that are in the Senate legislation: a fee on insurance companies offering high-premium plans, the establishment of an independent Medicare commission, reforms to the health care delivery system, and overall deficit neutrality. The economists said that these provisions ‘will reduce long-term deficits, improve the quality of care, and put the nation on a firm fiscal footing.’ Those are precisely the goals we should be seeking to attain.

"The challenges facing our health care system aren’t new – but if we fail to act they’ll surely get even worse, meaning higher premiums, skyrocketing costs, and deeper instability for those with coverage. Today, thanks to the Senate’s hard work, we’re closer than ever to enacting solutions to these problems. I look forward to working with the Senate and House to get a finished bill to my desk as soon as possible.”

Senator Paul G. Kirk Jr. of Massachusetts, who replaced the late Edward M. Kennedy who had made universal health care his final cause, also praised Reid's bill.

“This is a bill that would make Ted Kennedy proud,” Kirk said in a statement. “We’re a giant step closer to his long-held dream that quality, affordable health care is available to Americans. I’m especially pleased that the bill includes Senator Kennedy’s CLASS Act, so that the elderly and people with disabilities can obtain the support and services they need to continue living at home and participate in their communities.

“I particularly commend Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senator Dodd and Senator Baucus for their extraordinary leadership on this historic legislation, and for doing so in a way that contains costs for families and reduces the deficit over the long run. I look forward to its passage by the Senate.”

It was somehow fitting that Senator Paul G. Kirk Jr. joined in the tributes today for Senator Robert Byrd, who became the longest-serving member of Congress ever.

Byrd, a West Virginia Democrat, was on Capitol Hill for all 47 years that the legend that Kirk is temporarily replacing -- Edward M. Kennedy -- was in the Senate. Byrd and Kennedy disagreed on civil rights and other issues, but later became close friends.

Byrd wept openly this year and last as he talked on the Senate floor about his friend's battle with brain cancer.

"I pay tribute to Senator Byrd on behalf of myself and the people of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, but I also pay tribute on behalf of my predecessor and a great friend of Senator Byrd’s, former Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts," Kirk said today on the Senate floor.

"It is true that Senator Kennedy and Senator Byrd didn’t always see eye to eye on every issue. Senator Kennedy used to joke that it was Senator Byrd who taught him how to count votes in their whip race in 1971. Actually, he taught us both how to count votes because I was a young aide to Senator Kennedy in his whip’s office at the time and it turned out that Senator Byrd clearly could count votes more accurately than we could.

"Over the years since, Senator Kennedy was always proud to be in this chamber when his friend Senator Byrd would speak. As Senator Kennedy once said, he knew that Senator Byrd was an expert on the Roman Senate and he was sure that Senator Byrd's wisdom and oratorical skills would make even Cicero envious," Kirk added. (His full remarks are below.)

UPDATE: When Byrd spoke, he wept and shook a little. "I've loved every precious minute of it," he said.

Afterwards, Kirk shook his hand, and several other Democrats also congratulated him.

President Obama, who served with Byrd in the Senate before running for president, added his congratulations.

"Countless colleagues, myself included, have looked to him for advice, guidance and leadership over the years," Obama said in a statement. "He is one of the most steadfast defenders of the United States Constitution, and he never lets us forget the guiding values and principles that make our nation great."

As Attorney General Eric Holder defended his decision to prosecute Sept. 11 plotters in civilian court in New York, President Obama backed him up in a series of TV interviews today.

Holder testifed this morning before the Senate Judiciary Committee about his call to put confessed mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four co-conspirators on trial in a federal courthouse in the shadow of Ground Zero. The decision has been slammed by Republicans, who have raised concerns about security and who have argued that terrorists should not be treated like criminals.

But Obama said that critics won't find the decision "offensive at all when he's convicted and when the death penalty is applied to him."

"I think this notion that we have to be fearful that these terrorists possess some special powers that prevent us from presenting evidence against them, locking them up and exacting swift justice, I think that has been a fundamental mistake," Obama said on CNN.

Asked whether he would take responsibility if the decision goes wrong, the president replied, "I always have to take responsibility. That's my job."

UPDATE: Republicans aren't giving up their fight on the issue. This afternoon, House GOP leader John Boehner announced he had signed a discharge petition filed by Pete Hoekstra, the senior Republican on the Intelligence Committee, to force a vote on a bill that would stop the transfer or release of terrorists held at the Guantanamo Bay prison into the United States.

“Despite Americans’ strong opposition to importing terrorists held at the Guantanamo Bay prison into the United States, the Obama Administration continues to move forward with their dangerous plans to do so anyway. The ‘Keep Terrorists Out of America Act’ does exactly what the American people want, and they deserve a vote on this common-sense bill," Boehner said in a statement.

“Despite repeated requests from Republicans in Congress, this Administration has refused to present the American people with its plan for what to do with the terrorists held at Guantanamo and for confronting and defeating the global terrorist threat. Right now, there is no evidence that this Administration has such a plan. The American people deserve better. I urge my colleagues, on both sides of the aisle, to listen to the American people and sign the discharge petition.”

By Farah Stockman, Globe Staff

As President Obama nears a decision on a strategy in Afghanistan, a survey released today by Oxfam America, a Boston-based aid advocacy group, sheds some light on how Afghans view the conflict.

The survey, which compiled interviews with more than 700 men and women across Afghanistan, shows that -- despite suicide attacks and unrelenting bloodshed -- most Afghans believe that previous periods of their country's history are far worse than what they are going through now. (Read the survey here.)

Thirty-eight percent of respondents said that the communist period, which lasted from 1979 to 1992, was the most harmful to the country, while 33 percent called the period under Taliban rule, from 1996 to 2001, the most harmful. Another 22 percent named the time of civil war, from 1992 to 1996, as the worst time, while just 3 percent named the current conflict as the worst time since Afghanistan descended into chaos in 1979.

The study presents a stark picture of the human tragedy that has unfolded in the country over the last 30 years, suggesting that a significant number of Afghans may have suffered from post traumatic stress at one point in time or another. One out of every five respondents reported that they had been tortured at some point by either the Taliban, the mujahadeen, or the communists, while a third said that someone in their family had been imprisoned.

But the report does offer some measure of hope, suggesting that effective aid could bring about lasting change in the country.

Seventy percent of all respondents said they believe that poverty and unemployment is a major factor in the continuing war in Afghanistan, while 48 percent saw corruption as a major factor. Also, 36 percent named the Taliban's actions as a chief cause for the continuing conflict, while only 18% listed the presence of international forces as a major reason that fighting continues.

A new poll out today is another red flag for President Obama -- it is the first national survey to put his overall approval rating below the symbolic 50 percent mark.

In the Quinnipiac University survey, 48 percent of registered voters approve of the job Obama is doing, while 42 percent disapprove. But on the economy, 52 percent disapprove of his handling of the issue and only 43 percent approve. And on the Afghanistan war, 49 percent disapprove of Obama's performance and only 38 percent approve.

As worrisome for the White House, those who support him on the economy are not the same respondents who support him on Afghanistan.

"Increasingly, the President finds himself with two different coalitions, one that backs him on domestic matters and a completely different one that backs him on Afghanistan. That could create a challenge to his considerable political skills," Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, said in a statement.

Obama also faces gender and racial gaps in support. While 52 percent of women approve his job performance, the poll found, 47 of men do. And while 89 percent of black respondents and 62 percent of Hispanics approve, only 41 percent of whites do. His support also is lower with older and richer respondents.

The survey, conducted Nov. 9-16, has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.

Obama, himself, doesn't seem to be worrying too much about his poll numbers.

In an interview with CNN today, he was asked whether he could envision a scenario where he didn't seek reelection in 2012.

"Here's how I think about it," Obama replied. "I said to myself very early on, even when I started running for office, that I don't want to be making decisions based on getting reelected, because I think the challenges that America faces right now are so significant. Obviously, if I make good decisions and I think that I'm moving the country on the right direction economically, in terms of our security interests, our foreign policy, I'd like to think that those policies are continued because they're not going to bear fruit just in four years.

"But, you know, if I feel like I've made the very best decisions for the American people and three years from now I look at it and, you know, my poll numbers are in the tank and, you know, because we've gone through these wrenching changes, you know, politically, I'm in a tough spot, I'll feel all right about myself," he added.

"I'd feel a lot worse if at a time of such urgency for the American people, I was spending a lot of time thinking how can I position myself to ensure reelection, because if I was doing that right now, I wouldn't have taken on health care. I wouldn't be taking on things that are unpopular. I wouldn't be closing Guantanamo. Tthere are a whole series of choices that I'm making that I know are going to create some political turbulence."

President Obama's grassroots group late this afternoon announced the winner of its health care video contest -- a bunch of cute kids at a playground listing medical problems and saying that they deserve health care.

Organizing for America said it received more than 1,000 entries (some of which are mashed together at the beginning of the YouTube video with the winner) before narrowing them to 20 finalists and picking one.

"The winning video shows that our supporters' creativity and passion is more than a match for the slick ads and partisan spin doctors on the other side. In the next few days, we'll be using this video as the basis for a new television ad that will air across the country -- and you can help, by ensuring we have the resources to make the biggest impact," Obama's campaign manager David Plouffe says in an email to supporters soliciting contributions.

"With Congress wrapping up its last round of negotiations and closely gauging the public's mood in these crucial final weeks, now is the exact time to get this grassroots message out far and wide."

The White House and its Democratic allies in Congress are refocusing on jobs. To which Republicans say: It's about time.

"I say you gotta be kidding me. They have for months now been about more spending, leaving a wake of deficits in their trail, and now they want to focus on what’s important," Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, the No. 2 Republican in the House, told reporters today.

"Sometimes it is difficult for us to take the other side seriously, but if they are serious we welcome this news. Republicans have been working for months now trying to forge solutions as to how to get Americans back to work. We urge Speaker Pelosi to take into consideration some of the Republican solutions for job creation and look forward to working together so that we can get this economy back on track,” he added.

UPDATE: WASHINGTON -- Continuing his focus on swine flu, Senator Paul G. Kirk Jr. today questioned why it's taking so long to get the vaccine to states.

At a hearing of the Senate homeland security committee, the Massachusetts Democrat noted that there have been about 22 million cases of H1N1 nationwide and 3,900 deaths, including more than 1,500 confirmed cases in the Bay State since April.

State officials said last month that vaccine deliveries were running three weeks behind and that shortages were being reported.

"Many of us are seriously concerned that far more individuals will come down with the virus, and far more lives will be lost, before sufficient quantities of the vaccine arrive," Kirk said in his opening remarks. (His full prepared opening statement is below.)

UPDATE: Representative John Boehner added his criticism, noting that the national debt has passed a mindboggling $12 trillion.

"A $12 trillion national debt is just the latest fallout from Washington Democrats’ unprecedented spending binge.  The American people are asking ‘where are the jobs?’ but all they are getting from out-of-touch Washington Democrats is more unsustainable spending and debt to be paid by our kids and grandkids.  Instead of taking immediate, bipartisan action to cut spending, Washington Democrats are preparing to double down on their trillion-dollar ‘stimulus’ with a $1.3 trillion government takeover of health care and a promise to address fiscal responsibility sometime next year," he said in a statement.

“The American people deserve better than a government that kicks the can down the road.  It is past time for Congress to adopt strict budget caps that limit federal spending on an annual basis, which was a critical plank in the budget alternative Republicans proposed earlier this year.”

Representative Steny Hoyer of Maryland, Cantor's Democratic counterpart, said Democrats will try to pass a job-creation plan this year that could include money for highway construction and tax credits for small businesses.

Hoyer told reporters today that it wouldn't be as sweeping as the $787 billion economic stimulus enacted in February, saying, “We need to act in a way that does get to the creation of job opportunities of people in the short term.”

Just before President Obama departed on his Asia trip, he announced a jobs forum to come up with any and all ideas to stem rising unemployment, at 10.2 percent nationally last month.

The White House announced Monday night that the forum will be Dec. 3. “During these difficult economic times, we have a responsibility to consider all good ideas to encourage and accelerate job creation in this country. At the forum next month, I am looking forward to hearing from the private sector, from CEOs and small business owners and from Americans struggling to make ends meet on how we can work together to create jobs and get this economy moving again,” Obama said in a statement.

The White House also announced that the following day, Obama will kick off a "Main Street Tour" in Allentown, Pa., "that will take him to cities and towns across the country over the course of the next few months" to "take the temperature on what Americans are experiencing during these challenging economic times."

By Stephanie Vallejo, Globe correspondent

WASHINGTON -- Continuing his focus on swine flu, Senator Paul G. Kirk Jr. today questioned why it's taking so long to get the vaccine to states.

At a hearing of the Senate homeland security committee, the Massachusetts Democrat noted that there have been about 22 million cases of H1N1 nationwide and 3,900 deaths, including more than 1,500 confirmed cases in the Bay State since April.

State officials said last month that vaccine deliveries were running three weeks behind and that shortages were being reported.

"Many of us are seriously concerned that far more individuals will come down with the virus, and far more lives will be lost, before sufficient quantities of the vaccine arrive," Kirk said in his opening remarks. (His full prepared opening statement is below.)

UPDATE: During the questioning, Kirk highlighted the need to develop an independent analysis of swine flu vaccine production because manufacturers' reports of projected availability have fallen so short of the need in Massachusetts and nationwide.

"We had the promise of 3.5 million doses in Massachusetts by this time," said Kirk. "We have about a quarter of what is needed."

The larger question facing the administration and health professionals, Kirk said, is what should be done to encourage domestic drug manufacturing. “If four out of five suppliers are offshore … or in Canada, it’s no surprise they serve Canadians first,” he said.

Nicole Lurie, assistant secretary for preparedness and response at the Department of Health and Human Services, acknowledged the issue. “We have to get domestic, robust, fast drug manufacturing in the United States,” she said.

Americans remain divided about the health care overhaul and skeptical that it will make their lives better, according to new polling.

In the Washington Post/ABC News survey published today, 49 percent oppose and 48 percent support the proposed changes overall. But tellingly, 52 percent say they expect their own care to become more expensive, and 56 percent say the overall cost of health care in the country increasing. And among the majority of Americans who have insurance, 39 percent believe their coverage will worsen while only 13 percent said they expect it to improve.

On the contentious issue of abortion, 61 percent support banning coverage using public subsidies, but 56 percent say if private money were used to pay for abortions, even insurance for those receiving government aid should be allowed to include coverage.

Meanwhile, a poll conducted for the Associated Press found that Americans prefer taxing the high earners to taxing so-called Cadillac plans to pay for the overhaul bill.

Under the bill passed by the House, there would be a 5.4 percent income tax surcharge on individuals making more than $500,000 a year and couples earning more than $1 million. The poll found 57 percent support a surtax, even it hit individuals making more than $250,000 a year.

The bill passed by the Senate Finance Committee would tax insurance plans costing more than $8,000 annually for individuals and $21,000 for families. The survey found 56 percent opposed to that approach.

UPDATE: A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll released this afternoon found 46 percent in favor and 49 percent opposed to the House-passed bill. Those opposed included 34 percent who said the bill was "too liberal" and 10 percent who said it wasn't liberal enough.

Of respondents, 30 percent said that the Senate should make relatively minor changes to the House bill before passing it, 22 percent said the Senate should make major changes, 28 percent said the Senate should start over with a new bill next year, and 18 percent said the Senate should stop working on any major changes to the health care system.

Americans are also divided on whether they believe a health care bill similar to the House version will be passed by Congress this year: 49 percent said it is very or somewhat likely, but 50 percent said it is very or somewhat unlikely.

By Eric Moskowitz, Globe Staff

WORCESTER -- Ted Kennedy Jr. said today he plans to remain neutral in the race to succeed his late father, saying he is still grieving and cannot imagine endorsing another person to take the Senate seat held by his dad for nearly a half century.

"It's a tough emotional time," Kennedy said today after a speech to the Massachusetts Senior Care Association.

In a wide-ranging 20-minute interview, Kennedy noted that he lives in Connecticut and does not "have a close personal connection with any of the candidates." Although he has met and respects the four rivals vying for the Democratic nomination, Kennedy said he has not been following the race closely because it is "hard for me to get excited" about someone taking his father's place.

Senate Edward M. Kennedy died in August from brain cancer, creating the first open Senate seat in Massachusetts in 24 years. Ted Kennedy Jr, said today he might have become involved in the race if one of his father's colleagues to whom he was particularly close were running, such as US Representatives William Delahunt or Edward J. Markey.

Ted Kennedy Jr. was selected as the keynote speaker today at Senior Care Association's annual meeting because he has been an advocate people with disabilities since losing one of his legs to bone cancer in 1973 at the age of 12. The group described him as an advocate for the disabled who "continues his father’s legacy as a champion for those in need" as a teaching fellow at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government and an attorney working in disability and health care law.

Responding to public outrage, President Obama today announced a financial fraud task force to go after Wall Street crooks and others making illegal gains.

The aim is “to prevent another meltdown from happening,” Attorney General Eric Holder said at a news conference. “We will be relentless in our investigation of corporate and financial wrongdoing.”

The task force will be led by the Justice Department and also include agencies including the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Treasury Department, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Obama's executive order can be viewed here.