Republicans are using the new unemployment numbers out today to pummel President Obama and the Democrats on their record on the economy -- the top issue for voters in Tuesday's election that gave the GOP the governor's offices in New Jersey and Virginia.

The Labor Department reported that the national jobless rate has exceeded 10 percent for the first time since 1983. The rate rose to 10.2 percent last month from 9.8 percent in September. Nearly 16 million people can't find jobs, and counting those who have settled for part-time jobs or stopped looking for work, the rate would be 17.5 percent, the highest on records dating from 1994.

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele again attacked the $787 billion economic stimulus package, whose benefits cited in Obama administration reports have come under scrutiny.

"Since President Obama’s inauguration, the nation has watched the unemployment rate continue to climb, and unfortunately the month of October was no different," Steele said in a statement. "With so many families looking for work, it is time the Obama administration stop spreading their phony ‘saved or created’ talking points and start creating the dependable jobs America needs. President Obama promised jobs during his campaign for president, and the elections in Virginia and New Jersey on Tuesday were a clear referendum on his failure to deliver on this promise.”

And Representative Eric Cantor, the second-ranking Republican in the House, cited the new numbers to argue against the health care overhaul that House Democrats plan to push through as soon as Saturday.

"As unemployment tops 10 percent this holiday season, Republicans have put jobs and the economy first, and are focused on developing real solutions that will put Americans back to work. Increasing taxes on small business, as Democrats will do to pay for government run health care, is the wrong approach. Instead, we should work to empower small businesses to hire more workers, not penalize them further, costing even Americans their jobs," Cantor said in his statement.

“Americans, particularly those with friends, neighbors, and family out of work, are pleading with leaders in Washington to focus on jobs and the economy. From coast to coast, people are concerned with the direction that Washington is heading, and are tired of the spending, tired of the waste, and are pleading for their leaders to focus on jobs and the economy. With millions of Americans desperately seeking work, I ask the President put the economy first, and sit down with Republicans to develop bipartisan solutions that will change the direction of this economy and get people working again.”

Obama this week has touted his administration's efforts to rebuild the economy, while at the same time warning that unemployment would continue to rise until the recovery takes hold.

Today, Obama did sign an extension of jobless benefits -- 14 more weeks for those who have used up their benefits or will do so by the end of the year about 2 million nationwide, including as many as 40,000 in Massachusetts. Those in states such as Massachusetts where the jobless rate is 8.5 percent or above get an additional six weeks. It is the fourth such extension in the past 18 months. (The White House release on the bill is below.)

In a Rose Garden appearance this morning after signing the bill, Obama said the "sobering" jobless numbers underline the "economic challenges ahead."

He noted that the economy grew in the third quarter, but that "job growth always lags behind economic growth."

Obama vowed not to let up on creating jobs and said his administration is looking at additional incentives, tax cuts for businesses, and more measures to free up credit.

He said while it "will take time and patience," he's confident the economy will recover and the country is headed in the right direction. (His full remarks are below.)

Responding to the new numbers, the White House issued a statement this morning from Christina Romer, chairwoman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers, putting the best spin on them.

“Today’s employment report contained both signs of hope for recovery and painful evidence of continued labor market weakness," she said.

"Payroll employment declined 190,000 in October, continuing the steady trend of moderating job loss that began last spring. Furthermore, the employment loss in both August and September was revised down substantially. Importantly, employment in temporary help services, typically one of the first industries to see job gains, increased by 33,700. The motor vehicle industry also posted employment gains. These are hopeful signs that the unprecedented policy actions are working to stabilize the economy and put us on a path toward recovery.

"The unemployment rate, however, rose four-tenths of a percentage point, to 10.2 percent. That this occurred despite the rise in real GDP last quarter reflects both the typical lag between GDP growth and unemployment decline, and the recent exceptional increases in productivity. Having the unemployment rate reach double-digits is a stark reminder of how much work remains to be done before American families see the job gains and reduced unemployment that they need and deserve.”

By Lisa Wangsness, Globe Staff

WASHINGTON -- Governor Deval Patrick and House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo met with the state's congressional delegation at the Capitol this morning to discuss a variety of issues, including the national health care overhaul the House may begin voting on this weekend.

Patrick said the economic woes confronting Massachusetts were also a primary focus of the talks, which those who participated in them said also covered education, transportation and global warming.

"We are trying to project a reality to the public that is so in our working relationship -- we are working closely together, trying as best we can, with the tools we have, to bring some relief to people who are suffering and some hope to everybody," he said.

Patrick, who met with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius Wednesday, said he was trying to make sure that the federal health care bills taking shape would not harm the state's health care system, which depends heavily on support from the federal government and provides far more generous subsidies for low-income people than the federal proposals on the table, and would provide the state the flexibility it needs to work on cost containment.

Representative Edward Markey, a Democrat from Malden and the dean of the delegation, said he is certain the House version of the legislation, which is scheduled to be voted on Saturday evening, would benefit Massachusetts.
"Our delegation is supporting the legislation because we know it does help Massachusetts," he said.

On his whirlwind two-day visit to Washington, Patrick is also meeting with other top administration officials, top Senate Democrat Harry Reid, and Massachusetts wounded at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The governor is scheduled to have a brief audience this afternoon with his friend and ally, President Obama.

By Michael Kranish, Globe Staff

WASHINGTON -- House Financial Services Committee chairman Barney Frank, under fire from some fellow Democrats and consumer groups for carving out what they call loopholes in legislation designed to prevent another economic meltdown, said in a letter released tonight that "there may be a problem here'' and that he wants to reconsider.

The Globe reported on Saturday that an array of Democrats, consumer groups, and the chairman of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission were concerned that legislation pushed through the committee by Frank was not strict enough on the trading of derivatives.

Senator Maria Cantwell, a Washington Democrat, said in the article that loopholes played a major role in last year's meltdown and would continue under the bill backed by Frank. Gary Gensler, the CFTC chairman, called for tightening the oversight of derivatives trading would lower the risk of financial problems. A consumer group representative charged that Frank had "walked away" from concerns of unions and other organizations.

On Tuesday, Frank met with representatives of one of the consumer groups that had complained it was not allowed to present its concerns. Following the meeting, Frank sent a letter to Gensler and Mary Schapiro, the chairman of Securities and Exchange Commission, telling them he heard concerns about the bill and wanted "to further clarify the exception" allowing certain types of derivatives trading. The letter was released tonight.

Heather Booth, director of Americans for Financial Reform, said in an interview that she raised concerns about loopholes in the legislation and she said Frank responded that he would try to tighten such exemptions. Booth said she left the meeting encouraged. Booth stressed, however, that her group still has concerns about whether all of the loopholes will be closed.

"It's not over," she said.

The derivatives measure has already passed through Frank's committee. Frank said in his letter that he would try to amend the legislation when it reaches the House floor.

The trading of derivatives is one of the most controversial elements of financial reform. Derivatives are financial instruments whose value is based on underlying assets, such as real estate. They are used to bet or hedge on how those assets will change in value. The collapse of one type of derivative, an insurance product for subprime mortgages called credit-default swaps, played a major role in last year's financial crisis.

Frank has long said that he wanted to crack down on financial institutions that engage in derivatives trading, but he was concerned that he didn't want to hurt "end users" such as corporations that use the financial product to hedge against day-to-day business risks, such as currency fluctuations. As a result, certain end users were exempted from some of the oversight.

But critics of the legislation said they were concerned that the exemptions were so large that they could lead to risky trading that could put the economy at risk. Concerns were also raised that financial institutions could take advantage of the loopholes to avoid scrutiny.

Senators John F. Kerry and Paul G. Kirk Jr. praised the passage this afternoon of extended unemployment benefits expected to help as many as 40,000 Massachusetts residents.

The two Bay State senators had written top Senate Democrat last month urging him to bring the bill to the floor as quickly as possible, before the benefits ended. More information on the benefits is available here.

“Families across Massachusetts are hurting,” Kirk said in a statement. “With the unemployment rate unacceptably high and the winter months approaching, impossible decisions about whether to turn on the heat or put food on the table loom in many households in the Commonwealth. Passage of the Unemployment Insurance benefits extension will provide greater hope to those who continue to search for work during these harsh economic times.”

“This extension of a critical safety net will make it easier for families across Massachusetts to hang on in the toughest economy since the Great Depression,” Kerry added. “I am pleased that my Senate colleagues have joined Senator Kirk and I in recognizing the urgent need to protect our families.”

Speaking one year to the day he was elected, President Obama this afternoon used the anniversary to call for "a national mission" to improve public education and build it into a pillar -- along with an overhauled health care system and clean energy jobs -- of the new economy.

"One year ago, Americans all across this country went to the polls and cast ballots for the future they wanted to see. Election Day was a day of hope, it was a day of possibility, but it was also a sobering one because we knew even then that we faced an array of challenges that would test us as a country. We had a financial crisis that threatened to plunge our economy into a Great Depression, the worst we had seen in generations. We had record deficits, two wars, frayed alliances around the world," Obama said at Wright Middle School in Madison, Wisc.

He said his administration has saved the economy from "imminent collapse" and is now moving ahead on its second core obligation -- to rebuild the economy stronger than before.

"It was an obligation to tackle the festering problems that had been kicked down the road year after year, decade after decade; problems that have to be overcome America to move forward," Obama said. "....That’s why we’ve been pushing so hard on health care reform. That’s why we’re taking up the cause of a clean energy economy that will free America from the grip of foreign oil and generate millions of good-paying jobs in the process.... And that’s why we’re taking up the cause that I’m here to talk about today – that is offering the best possible education to America’s sons and daughters."

He listed some of public schools' woes: falling behind the rest of the world in math and science education, lowering standards for students, and the achievement gap continuing for African-American and Latino students.

"Of course, these problems aren’t new. We’ve heard about them for years. But instead of coming together to solve them, we’ve let partisanship and petty bickering stand in the way of progress. It’s been Democrat versus Republican, vouchers versus better public schools, more resources versus more reform. This status quo has held back our children, it has held back our economy, and it has held back our country long enough. It’s time to stop just talking about education reform and start actually doing it," Obama said.

To that end, he formally announced $4 billion in "Race to the Top" grants available to competing states that commit to real reforms that focus on teaching kids, raising standards, developing good teachers, and, when necessary, taking over or closing struggling schools.

Straying off his prepared speech, Obama said it's up to parents to instill in their children the desire to learn -- and told about his own daughters to make the point.

He said his elder daughter, 11-year-old Malia, came home recently from the swanky Sidwell Friends private school with a 73 on a science test -- far less than the 90 percent goal. She then got a 95 on the next one, but more importantly had learned a lesson, Obama said: "I just like having knowledge,' that's what she said."

Obama's full remarks are below:

As the White House declares that the economy is moving from crisis into recovery, President Obama meets this morning for the second time with his big-name advisory group "to discuss long-term, innovation based ideas to sustain growth and continue to create jobs of the future."

The Economic Recovery Advisory Board, named in November, includes CEOs of major corporations and union leaders.

UPDATE: "We have come a long way since January, when at that time we were losing 700,000 jobs per month and across the political spectrum I think there was fear of the possibility of another Great Depression," Obama said during the meeting.

"We have pulled the economy back from the brink. We got good news last week showing that for the first time in over a year the economy was actually growing once again. And we have seen some other indicators that manufacturing is beginning to pick up. That's all good news and we are pleased that the actions that we took swiftly through the Recovery Act helped to stem what could have been a disastrous situation for the economy and we are starting to see stabilization and, indeed, some improvement," he added.

"But the reason we're here today is because we just are not where we need to be yet," he said. "We've got a long way to go. We are still seeing production levels that are significantly below peak levels and most distressing is the fact that job growth continues to lag. Now, we all know that in every economic recovery there is going to be a lag between the economy growing again, businesses investing again and businesses hiring again. But given the severity of the job losses that took place at the beginning of the year and the need for us to make up a whole lot of job loss, is going to require I think some bold, innovative action on our part and on Congress's part and on the private sector's part." (His full remarks are below.)

But as the administration touts the third quarter GDP growth and the nearly 650,000 jobs it says have been saved or created by the $787 billion stimulus package, Republicans are continuing to criticize. They question the job numbers, point out that many of them are government positions rather than private-sector ones, and note that the unemployment rate continues to rise.

This morning, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, a potential Obama rival in 2012, said that "the stimulus that the president and the Congress passed is not what's helped the economy."

Instead, Romney said on "The Early Show" on CBS, the economy is rebounding because the private sector has regained its footing on its own.

President Obama wishes Americans a Happy Halloween -- and says that the latest numbers show the economy is getting far less scary.

In his weekly radio-Internet address today, Obama highlights the gross domestic product report earlier in the week that showed the economy growing at 3.5 percent.

"It is easy to forget that it was only several months ago that the economy was shrinking rapidly and many economists feared another Great Depression," the president says.

But he is quick to acknowledge "economic growth is no substitute for job growth." "And we will likely see further job losses in the coming days, a fact that is both troubling for our economy and heartbreaking for the men and women who suddenly find themselves out of work," he warns.

To stem those losses, Obama says the administration has taken steps to free up credit, prevent foreclosures, and cut taxes. He also touted the $787 billion economic stimulus package, asserting that "it is clear that the Recovery Act has now created and saved more than one million jobs. That’s more than a million people who might otherwise be out of work today – folks who can wake up each day knowing that they’ll be able to provide for themselves and their families."

Republicans would dispute that number, but Obama says it shows the country is back on the right track and building a more solid economy.

"I want to emphasize that there’s still plenty of progress to be made," he adds. "And positive news today does not mean there won’t be difficult days ahead. As I’ve said many times, it took years to dig our way into the crisis we’ve faced. It will take more than a few months to dig our way out. But make no mistake: that’s exactly what we will do."

UPDATE: House Republican leader John Boehner's response: “The ingenuity of hard-working Americans will be the engine of economic growth and a prosperous future. But the Administration’s claims about its trillion-dollar ‘stimulus’ just don’t pass the straight-face test. Americans were promised that it would keep unemployment from going above 8 percent, and would start working immediately. Neither have turned out to be true. No one is buying the latest claim that it created or saved 1 million jobs – a claim the Vice President acknowledged is not accurate. It’s time to get to work on policies that get our economy moving again and that don’t saddle our children and grandchildren with mountains of debt, taxes and unsustainable spending.”

Obama's full address is below and can be viewed here.

The Obama administration said this afternoon that more than 640,000 jobs have been saved or created under President Obama's economic stimulus plan at state and local governments, nonprofit groups, and universities.

The 640,329 are in reports covering approximately $160 billion, which represents a little less than half of the funds spent through Sept. 30. Counting jobs linked to $288 billion in tax cuts, White House officials say the $787 billion stimulus plan has already created or saved more than 1 million jobs.

“These reports are strong confirmation that the Recovery Act is responsible for over one million jobs so far and we are on-track to create and save 3.5 million jobs through the Recovery Act by the end of next year. This is another encouraging sign of progress following yesterday’s news that the economy has begun to grow again for the first time in more than a year, but the President and I will not be satisfied until monthly reports show net job growth. We are working every day to create more jobs and we will continue to report on our progress doing so with the Recovery Act in the same transparent way we did today,” Vice President Joe Biden, who is overseeing the stimulus, said in an event with Governors Arnold Schwarzenegger, the California Republican, and Martin O’Malley, the Maryland Democrat.

The official numbers were posted late this afternoon on the website of the independent board overseeing the stimulus. The state-by-state breakdown can be viewed here.

A separate report released today by Jared Bernstein, Biden's chief economist, asserted that the new data confirms the administration is on-track to meet its goal of creating and saving at least 3.5 million jobs by next year. The report also found that the states with the highest unemployment rates nationwide reported 25 percent more jobs created and saved per capita than the nation as a whole.

The government numbers include 23,533 jobs that officials say were retained as a result of spending $1.9 billion in federal stimulus money over the past eight months in Massachusetts. Governor Deval Patrick announced that estimate on Wednesday, but then on Thursday announced he would eliminate nearly 1,000 state jobs to help close a $600 million budget gap.

But the Republican National Committee is aggressively disputing the numbers, citing an Associated Press report this week that an earlier stimulus status report had overstated the jobs numbers.

"Today's release from the White House will be the fourth job report in the last two months," it said today. "With a pattern of these White House 'jobs created or saved' reports being published in close proximity to releases of real data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (showing continuing job loss and rising unemployment), it is clear the Obama administration is trying to cover up economic reality by manufacturing job numbers out of thin air."

The politics of jobs numbers will be on full display the rest of the week.

The White House is crowing about the Commerce Department report this morning that the US economy grew by 3.5 percent in the third quarter, the highest growth rate in two years and the strongest sign yet that the worst recession since the 1930s is done.

The growth was fueled by consumers spending money on cars and homes provided in large measure by Obama administration programs. But many economists believe that the growth rate will slow as the impact wanes from the $787 billion economic stimulus package.

“Data released today by the Commerce Department show that real GDP grew at an annual rate of 3.5 percent in the third quarter of the year. This is in stark contrast to the decline of 6.4 percent annual rate just two quarters ago. Indeed, the two-quarter swing in the rate of growth of 9.9 percentage points was the largest since 1980. Analysis by both the Council of Economic Advisers and a wide range of private and public-sector forecasters indicates that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 contributed between 3 and 4 percentage points to real GDP growth in the third quarter. This suggests that in the absence of the Recovery Act, real GDP would have risen little, if at all, this past quarter,” the White House said in a statement.

“After four consecutive quarters of decline, positive GDP growth is an encouraging sign that the U.S. economy is moving in the right direction. However, this welcome milestone is just another step, and we still have a long road to travel until the economy is fully recovered. The turnaround in crucial labor market indicators, such as employment and the unemployment rate, typically occurs after the turnaround in GDP. And it will take sustained, robust GDP growth to bring the unemployment rate down substantially. Such a decline in unemployment is, of course, what we are all working to achieve.”

Republicans, meanwhile, are highlighting an Associated Press report that the initial job numbers from the stimulus package have been overstated by thousands. The AP said some jobs credited to the stimulus program were counted two, three, four or even more times.

While the administration claimed that federal contracts awarded to businesses under the recovery plan already had helped pay for more than 30,000 jobs, the AP said its limited review found the number was overstated at the very least by nearly 5,000, or one in six.

The story gave more ammunition to Republicans who argue that the stimulus has been a flop.

But the White House quickly issued a lengthy response.

"“This story draws misleading conclusions from a handful of examples. It looks at only a small portion of the data – an initial upload of data representing just two percent of Recovery Act spending – that was made publicly available before a full review of its accuracy could be done. Virtually all of the errors found by the AP had already been found by our review, and were already corrected in an update to be loaded onto Recovery.gov this week," said Ed DeSeve, a senior adviser to the president in charge of the stimulus package.

"Tomorrow, more than 100,000 recipient reports will be posted on Recovery.gov. Unlike the small number of reports reviewed by AP, these reports have been reviewed for weeks, errors have been spotted and corrected, and additional layers of review by state and local governments have further improved the data quality. As a result, whatever problems the early and partial data had, the full data to be posted on Friday will provide the American people with an accurate, detailed look at the early success of the Recovery Act,” he added in a statement.

The full White House statement is below:

A populist economic message -- and perhaps a little class warfare -- is alive and well today among Democrats and their allies.

In Washington, Senators John F. Kerry of Massachusetts and Max Baucus of Montana and Representatives Richard Neal of Massachusetts and Charles Rangel of New York introduced bills today that would crack down on wealthy Americans and businesses that hide assets in offshore tax havens.

"A small number of individuals and businesses hide their assets overseas solely in order to shirk their responsibilities, even as the vast majority of hard-working Americans honor the obligations of citizenship and fulfill their responsibilities," President Obama said in a statement cheering them on.

“Shortly after taking office, I laid out a set of proposals to crack down on illegal overseas tax evasion. The legislation introduced today would fulfill that promise, putting a stop to billions of dollars worth of abuses. I look forward to working with Congress to turn these proposals into law so that honest Americans no longer shoulder the burden of the few individuals and businesses that put profit before responsibility,” the president added.

Meanwhile in Chicago, the AFL-CIO is protesting outside the convention of the American Bankers Association.

"We're gathered here today to send a message to the bankers meeting inside, and the message is this: Business as usual is over. We are shutting it down. You work for us-not the other way around," AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka said. "Your job is to be stewards of our savings-to put and keep working families in homes, to lend the money companies need to create jobs. And you have failed. You've turned the American economy into your own private casino, gambling away our financial future with our money, driving us to the brink of a second Great Depression, then sticking out your hand for taxpayers to bail you out."

His full prepared remarks are below:

A senior White House economic adviser is trying today to make the economic case for a health care overhaul.

Republicans and other critics are warning that the president's proposals to remake such a significant portion of the US economy could hurt growth, balloon the federal deficit, and pinch recession-weary families.

But Christina Romer, chairwoman of White House Council of Economic Advisers, plans to tell the liberal Center for American Progress this afternoon that the only way to get the deficit under control is to trim health care costs, particularly in the government Medicare and Medicaid programs.

"Given the central role of rising health care expenditures, any solution to our long-run budget problem will simply have to include slowing the growth rate of health care costs,” Romer will say, according to advance excerpts released by the White House.

"Some have argued that it is irresponsible to reform our health care system at a time when the budget deficit is so large and our long-run fiscal problems are so severe. I firmly believe the opposite: it is fiscally irresponsible not to do health care reform.

State and local governments and private businesses alike would benefit from the health overhaul, she asserts. "Slowing the growth rate of health care costs will enable firms to once again give raises in the form of take-home pay rather than more expensive health insurance,” Romer plans to say.

“[F]iscally prudent health care reform that expands coverage to tens of millions of Americans and transforms our health care system to one that is higher quality and lower cost is possible.”

It's not quite as powerful as he wanted, but President Obama this afternoon praised the approval of a new consumer protection agency designed to prevent abuses by banks, lenders, and others.

The House Financial Services Committee, on a 39-29 vote, endorsed the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, one of the most contentious parts of a financial regulation overhaul that lawmakers hope will avert another meltdown like last year.

Republicans and the industry opposed the new agency and won many exemptions to the agency's oversight, including retailers, auto dealers, real estate brokers, and accountants. The committee's chairman, Barney Frank of Massachusetts, said the exceptions would make clear that the agency will monitor financial products and not every financial transaction of Americans. But he drew the line at Republican proposals, including one that would have exempted student loan providers.

The agency proposal will now be part of the bill that goes to the full House.

"I congratulate the House Financial Services Committee and Chairman Barney Frank on passing a bill out of Committee to establish the Consumer Financial Protection Agency," Obama said in his statement. "The Consumer Financial Protection Agency will prevent predatory lending practices and other abuses and will ensure that consumers get clear information they can understand about financial products like credit cards and mortgages.

"This bill has now passed a major hurdle and this step sends an important signal to the American people that we will not stand by and allow big financial firms and their lobbyists to mobilize against change," the president added. "They are doing what they always do -- descending on Congress, using every bit of influence they have to maintain the status quo that has maximized their profits at the expense of American consumers, despite the fact that recently those same American consumers bailed them out as a consequence of the bad decisions that they made."

The federal government's watchdog says that most local and state governments have yet to take steps to deal with global warming and its effects.

The report released today by the Government Accountability Office, requested by Representative Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts, says that officials are facing competing priorities, don't have localized information on the impact of climate change, and unsure of local, state, and federal roles. (Click here to read the report.)

“A robust answer to the threat of climate change includes preventing the worst impacts and preparing for the reality that global warming impacts are already occurring,” Markey said in a statement. “If we are going to avoid the worst effects of global warming, we must pass comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation. However, we also must prepare for the effects of global warming that will realistically occur.”

Markey, as chairman of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, is holding a hearing on the issue today.

The sweeping climate change bill -- sponsored by Markey and Representative Henry Waxman of California and that was approved by the House in June -- would create programs and services to encourage adaptation efforts and provide nearly $25 billion.

President Obama is unveiling more help for the nation's small businesses today, hoping that they can hire more people and drive down the unemployment rate.

The package, already dismissed by Republicans as a repackaging of existing programs, is designed to make it easier for small firms to borrow money so they can expand.

"Over the past decade and a half, America’s small businesses have created 65% of all new jobs in this country. And more than half of all working Americans working in the private sector are either employed by a small business or own one – more than half. These companies are the engine of job growth in America. They fuel our prosperity. And that is why they must be at the forefront of our recovery," Obama said at Metropolitan Archives, a family-owned small business in Landover, Md., that recently expanded with an SBA loan.

"The problem is, our small businesses have been some of the hardest hit by this recession," Obama added. "From the middle of 2007 through the end of 2008, small businesses lost 2.4 million jobs. And because banks shrunk from lending in the midst of the financial crisis, it has been difficult for entrepreneurs to take out the loans they need to start a business. For those who do own a small business, it’s been difficult to finance inventories, make payrolls, or expand if things are going well."

(His full remarks are below.)

UPDATE: The No. 2 Republican in the House, Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, responded to Obama by asserting that the real help small businesses need is freedom from new taxes.

“Small business job creators must be protected. While the President’s announcement that he will repackage some of the same SBA and TARP programs for small businesses is fine, it remains clear that neither this Administration nor the Speaker of the House understand the struggles that small business job creators face," Cantor said in a statement.

“As the President spoke today, Democrats in Congress continued their push for new taxes and mandates on small businesses to pay for their government health care overhaul – policies that will force many small businesses to close and cost even more workers their jobs. Today, I call on the President to pledge to small business job creators across this nation that he will veto any legislation that will raise their taxes."

The White House summary can be viewed here, and a rundown is below:

New Senator Paul G. Kirk Jr. of Massachusetts plans to join several colleagues Tuesday in pushing for passage of a bill to extend unemployment benefits.

"Unemployment insurance benefits began exhausting for jobless workers at the end of September, and nearly 2 million Americans will lose these benefits by the end of this year. Legislation to extend unemployment insurance for these workers has been held up in the Senate for nearly 2 weeks, despite repeated attempts by the Democratic leadership to pass this critical legislation," Kirk's office said.

Last month, the Massachusetts jobless rate rose to 9.3 percent, exceeding the peak during the early 1990s recession.

"In Massachusetts alone, more than 15,000 of our constituents have exhausted their UI benefits since the end of August. Another 4,000 are expected to run out of benefits before Thanksgiving, and as many as 40,000 individuals will have exhausted their benefits by the end of the year," Kirk and Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts wrote earlier this month to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

"Americans have already suffered severe repercussions from the current deep recession, and they deserve better than to be stranded without any assistance. It is essential that an extension be passed without delay."

Kirk will be joined by Senators Jack Reed of Rhode Island and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, as well as Charles Schumer, Debbie Stabenow, Sherrod Brown, Bob Casey, Amy Klobuchar, and Al Franken.

But in this case, it's not Republican opposition that is gumming up the works. Instead, a bill that the House passed last month to give another 13 weeks of unemployment benefits to people from states where the jobless rate is at least 8.5 percent has bogged down because of resistance from lawmakers representing 23 states that have lower unemployment rates and would be left out.

Shaheen has been pushing for a bill that would extend unemployment benefits nationwide.

After a decidedly underwhelming count last week of jobs created by federal contractors hired under the $787 billion economic stimulus plan, the White House today asserted that the stimulus accounted for at least 250,000 education jobs across the country.

It said that "preliminary indications" are that state governments later this month will credit the recovery package with that total of jobs saved or created. The Domestic Policy Council, in cooperation with the US Department of Education, cited preliminary data on states using stimulus grants to restore nearly all of their projected education budget shortfalls for fiscal 2009 and 2010, thereby averting layoffs of educators in school districts and universities across the nation. Click here to see the report.

"This is one more indication of how the Recovery Act is helping soften the blow of tough times, by keeping educators on the job and teachers in the classroom," Vice President Joe Biden, who is overseeing the stimulus plan, said in a statement.

UPDATE: Par for the course, Republicans expressed deep skepticism about the administration's findings.

"From coast to coast, families and small business job creators believe that to date, the President’s policies have not created jobs, and no amount of campaign-style events or spin will change that reality unless there is significant change in the Administration’s policy," Brad Dayspring, a spokesman for No. 2 House Republican Eric Cantor, said in a statement. "Rather than even more deficit spending, Republicans continue to offer solutions that empower small business job creators to put Americans back to work and safeguard our children from the Democrats’ endless spending binge. The House Republican economic working group, led by Republican Whip Eric Cantor, continues to focus on policy solutions that get people working again and ensure that America’s economy once again provides opportunity for all. "

In its latest effort to prove that its $787 billion economic stimulus package is working, the Obama administration today released new data showing that federal contractors using stimulus cash created or saved about 30,400 jobs, including nearly 600 in Massachusetts.

The figure represents the payoff from only the first $16 billion in spending, but is the first hard data on the recovery package, which has been assailed by critics who point to rising unemployment, at 9.8 percent last month. The White House has previously relied on economic models for its estimates of success.

"It is too soon to draw any global conclusions from this partial and preliminary data, as it reports on just $16 billion of the $339 billion in Recovery Act efforts before September 30th, but the early indications are quite positive," Vice President Joe Biden's chief economist Jared Bernstein said in a statement. "The direct count by Recovery Act recipients of jobs created or saved from this small percentage of the Recovery Act exceeds our projections. All signs -- from private estimates to this fragmentary data -- point to the conclusion that the Recovery Act did indeed create or save about 1 million jobs in its first seven months, a much needed lift in a very difficult period for our economy. We look forward to the much larger, comprehensive report due on October 30th.”

Republicans, however, quickly asserted that the new figure -- which counts only those directly hired by contractors that received stimulus money -- is far smaller than the 600,000 to 1.1 million estimate of jobs saved or created that the White House Council of Economic Advisers put out last month.

Biden, put in charge of overseeing the stimulus, will be in St. Louis today to tout how the package is creating jobs and aiding law enforcement.

President Obama, who vows to support science in contrast to his predecessor, is touring one of the nation's epicenters for research today to announce that $5 billion in grants have been awarded for cutting-edge work.

Obama is at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., and is announcing that the institute has already handed out more than 12,000 grants from the $10 billion it received from the economic stimulus package he championed.

He said the grants are expected to create tens of thousands of jobs over the next two years and are part of a total of $100 billion in the stimulus package that is broadly going to science and technology.

“We know that this kind of investment will also lead to new jobs: tens of thousands of jobs conducting research, manufacturing and supplying medical equipment, and building and modernizing laboratories and research facilities,” Obama said in a statement. “I’ve long said, the goal of the Recovery Act was not to create make-work jobs, but jobs making a difference for our future. There is no better example than the jobs we will produce or preserve through the grants we are announcing this morning.”

The grants include $1 billion for research, using the technology produced by the Human Genome Project, to study genetic changes linked to cancer, heart, lung, and blood disease and autism -- in hopes of finding new treatments and cures. Of the money, $175 million will go to collect more than 20,000 tissue samples from more than 20 cancers, and determine in detail all of the genetic changes in thousands of these tumor samples.

“This historic investment demonstrates this administration’s commitment to pushing the boundaries of science and turning those discoveries into benefits for the American people. NIH researchers and grantees are already conducting some of the world’s most groundbreaking biomedical research," added Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who is accompanying Obama on the tour. “These awards will accelerate our progress towards the new medicines, treatments, and cures that will help Americans live longer, healthier lives."

UPDATE: Senators John Kerry and Paul Kirk today announced that Massachusetts will receive a total of $434,036,356 in Recovery Act funding for cutting edge medical research. The funding comes in the form of 1,148 separate grants for 84 schools and organizations across the state.

The funding will be used to support the full spectrum of medical research – from clinical studies to basic research.

“These significant investments in medical research across Massachusetts will save lives, create jobs and ensure that our state remains a world leader in medical technology,” said Senator John Kerry. “12,000 grants were awarded nationwide and more than 1,000 right here in our state. I'm grateful that President Obama has once again recognized the cutting edge work being done by our medical institutions.”

Senator Paul G. Kirk said, “These grants are well-deserved and will enable our world class universities, hospitals and research centers across the Commonwealth to continue their groundbreaking work in medical research. Massachusetts is and will continue to be a leader in this field, and I commend the Obama Administration for committing these essential funds.”

Obama's full remarks are below:

Vice President Joe Biden, overseeing the $787 billion economic stimulus plan, today announced a new series of goals -- by year's end.

Biden last set benchmarks in early June for 200 days since the bill was signed into law -- and they were all met, though Republicans and other critics questioned how ambitious they really were.

“We’ve made great progress in the first seven months of Recovery Act implementation in 2009 – now we want to finish the year even stronger,” Biden said in a statement. “We want to continue to be ahead of schedule on key metrics, doing all we can to create and save jobs, and building a lasting economic platform for our country.”

(His remarks at a recovery package meeting with Cabinet officials today are below.)

The new goals, according to Biden's office:

· Batteries for Vehicle Electrification: By the end of the year, the Department of Energy will have put in place funding for battery manufacturing plants that can power 400,000 plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, each year.
· Military Hospitals: The Department of Defense will begin 34 construction and modernization projects at hospitals and medical centers throughout the country over the next 90 days, for a total of 65 hospitals and medical centers with projects under construction since passage of the Act.
· National Parks: The Department of Interior will begin on-site construction improvement work in 105 more national parks throughout the country over the next 90 days.
· Small Business Assistance: The Small Business Administration will provide and leverage $5 billion in capital to over 12,000 small businesses through two key lending programs (7a and 504) in the next 90 days.
· Fuel Efficient Bus Purchases: By the end of the year, the Federal Transit Agency will have awarded enough grants to enable the purchase of approximately 10,000 new transit vehicles across the country.
· Housing Loans and Rehabilitation: By the end of the year, the Department of Agriculture and the Housing and Urban Development Department will have provided housing loans and capital funding to finance, build, or renovate over 100,000 households across America.
· Renewable Energy: By the end of the year, the Departments of Energy and Treasury will help fund renewable energy projects that will generate enough alternative energy to power 900,000 homes in the United States once completed.
· Road Projects: By the end of the year, the Department of Transportation will have obligated enough funds to support 10,000 highway projects.

UPDATE: Republicans quickly pointed out that the goals don't include a specific number of jobs -- the bottom-line reason for the stimulus spending.

Last month, White House economists estimated that the recovery package had saved or created 1 million jobs, toward a goal of 3.5 million by the end of 2010. But Republicans and many economists cast doubt on those figures, and point out that the Labor Department says that 2.4 million jobs have been lost during the recession since Obama signed the stimulus bill in February.

The office in charge of overseeing the $787 billion economic stimulus package opened its new and improved website for business today.

The portal (click here) features several different ways to track how the money is being spent, including by state (Massachusetts has received nearly $5.6 billion so far) and by agency.

“Today’s launch of the latest version of Recovery.gov marks a significant step forward in our efforts to provide unprecedented transparency and accountability of Recovery Act dollars at work," Vice President Joe Biden, put in charge by the president, said in a statement.

"Visitors to the site now have at their fingertips agency-level information about every area of Recovery Act spending through new interactive maps, graphs and other user-friendly features – and this is just the beginning. Starting next month, this pioneering project will go even farther with the posting of data directly from recipients showing how they have put Recovery dollars to work on projects nationwide. I applaud the work of Earl Devaney and his team at the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board leveraging the latest technology to provide the public with more information about their taxpayer dollars at work than with any previous program in the history of our government. And I look forward to watching Recovery.gov continue to grow along with the Recovery Act.”

Vice President Joe Biden jumped all over the congressional watchdog's report on the Obama administration's economic stimulus plan, saying the report shows that the stimulus is working.

“Today’s report from the Government Accountability Office confirms what I have been hearing from people across the country: the Recovery Act is working to jump-start critical infrastructure projects, cushion the impact of record state budget deficits and provide new job opportunities for hard-hit communities," Biden, who has been put in charge of making sure the stimulus money is not wasted, said in a statement.

"As the GAO notes, Recovery Act funds are being put to work ahead of schedule, and project bids are frequently coming in under-budget -- with the millions of dollars of cost-savings often redirected to communities that need the economic boost the most. The fact that a survey of nine major Recovery Act programs across sixteen states by the government’s top watchdog, showed such significant progress is a testament to the care with which we have put taxpayer dollars to work.”

“We look ahead to receiving the first reports directly from recipients of Recovery Act funds next month on what it has meant for their business or organization. We appreciate the GAO’s recommendations for carrying out that process. I am also stressing to agencies the importance of responding to the GAO’s other recommendations for improvements in execution and oversight of this highly complex effort.”

Biden didn't mention, however, that the GAO also warned that a government's plans to measure the success of a $1.2 billion jobs program for teenagers are so lax that they "may reveal little about what the program achieved.

The Associated Press reports that many teens didn't get jobs, partly because unemployed adults sought the same low-wage, entry-level positions. Youth unemployment rates hit 18.5 percent in July, the highest rate measured among 16- to 24-year-olds in that month since 1948, the AP notes.

Republicans have also kept up a barrage of criticism of the stimulus, saying it hasn't created the promised jobs.

Before taking the world stage the rest of the week, President Obama held one last economy event today, focusing on his hope that innovation will reverse painful job losses.

He toured and spoke at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy, N.Y., the beneficiary of $2 million in federal grants to retrain workers in clean energy work. He is being accompanied by Jill Biden, the wife of Vice President Joe Biden and a long-time community college instructor.

Obama declared that manufacturing cities like Troy have been hit hard during the economic downturn, but innovation jobs hold the promise of rebirth.

"There are those who suggest that nothing government can do will make a difference; that what we’ve seen in places like Troy is inevitable; that somehow, the parts of our country that helped us lead in the last century don’t have what it takes to help us lead in this one," the president said. "I am here today to tell you that this is just flat out wrong. What we have here is a community filled with talented people, entrepreneurial small businesses, and world-class learning institutions. The ingredients are right here for growth and success and a better future."

Citing local projects in nanotechnology and a semiconductor plant, he said that his innovation strategy will lead to "sustained growth and widely shared prosperity."

"Our strategy begins where innovation so often does: in the classroom and in the laboratory – and in the networks that connect them to the broader economy. These are the building blocks of innovation: education, infrastructure, and research," he said.

(His full remarks are below.)

The White House says that Obama's "innovation strategy" builds on more than $100 billion from the stimulus package. "It seeks to harness the inherent ingenuity of the American people and a dynamic private sector to ensure that the next expansion is more solid, broad-based, and beneficial than previous ones. It focuses on critical areas where sensible, balanced government policies can lay the foundation for innovation that leads to quality jobs and shared prosperity," the White House said in its release.

The full release is below:

Following up on his speech on Wall Street earlier this week warning that financial firms can't return to business as usual, President Obama uses his weekly address to put on the hard sell for his proposal to create a new agency to oversee consumer loans.

The Consumer Financial Protection Agency is a centerpiece of the financial regulation overhaul sought by Obama and his Democratic allies in Congress. But it is strongly opposed by much of the financial industry.

"Part of what led to this crisis were not just decisions made on Wall Street, but also unsustainable mortgage loans made across the country. While many folks took on more than they knew they could afford, too often folks signed contracts they didn’t fully understand offered by lenders who didn’t always tell the truth. That’s why we need clear rules, clearly enforced. And that’s what this agency will do," Obama says in his weekly radio and Internet address.

"Consumers shouldn’t have to worry about loan contracts written to confuse, hidden fees attached to their mortgages, and financial penalties – whether through a credit card or debit card -- that appear without a clear warning on their statements. And responsible lenders, including community banks, trying to do the right thing shouldn’t have to worry about ruinous competition from unregulated and unscrupulous competitors."

Obama notes the opposition, but argues, "We cannot let the narrow interests of a few come before the interests of all of us. We cannot forget how close we came to the brink, and perpetuate the broken system and breakdown of responsibility that made it possible."

In the address, the president also pledges to continue to work on the economic recovery with other world leaders, whom he will meet at the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh next week.

The full remarks are below, and can be viewed here.

President Obama is in union country today to talk up his economic agenda, and get in a plug for his health plan as well.

In a campaign-style speech this morning at the GM plant in Lordstown, Ohio, Obama vowed to stand up for working people who helped put him in office.

He acknowledged the long-running economic crisis in the industrial Midwest, but said he's not willing to accept it.

"There are some who see this pain and suggest that it's all somehow inevitable -- that the only way for America to get ahead is for communities like yours to be left behind. But I know better. We know better," Obama said. "We know that our success on a nation depends on the success of communities just like this one. We know that the battle for America's future is not just going to be won in the big cities, not just on the coasts, but in towns like Elkhart, Indiana, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Warren, Ohio, and Youngstown.

"You deserve better than the attitude that's prevailed from Washington to Wall Street to Detroit for too long; an attitude that valued wealth over work, selfishness over sacrifice, and greed over responsibility. And that's why I want you to know that every day I step into the Oval Office, I am thinking about you, I am working for you, and I am fighting on your behalf," he added.

Obama said his administration has already been doing so, with the government support for GM and other automakers, the cash-for-clunkers program, and the push for more fuel-efficient vehicles.

"There's little debate that the decisions we've made and the steps we've taken have helped stop our economic freefall. In some places, they've helped us turn the corner. Home sales are up, business investment is starting to stabilize, for the first time in 18 months, we are actually seeing growth in American manufacturing instead of decline. I know that's small consolation when so many people you know are still out of work. It's going to take some time to achieve a complete recovery. But I want you to know: I will not rest until anyone looking for a job can find one - and I'm not talking about just any job; but good jobs that give every family decent wages, decent benefits, and a fair shot at the American Dream. That's what I'm fighting for every day," Obama said.

"And yes, just in case you were wondering, we are fighting for an America where no American should have to worry about going without health insurance or fear that one illness could cost them everything. We're going to reform the system to provide more security and stability to those of you who have health insurance; we're going to offer quality, affordable choices to those who currently don't have health insurance; and bring health care costs for our families, our businesses, and our government under control."

(His full remarks are below.)

UPDATE: This afternoon, Obama was greeted with rapturous applause and cheers at the AFL-CIO national convention in Pittsburgh.

"You guys are making me blush," the president said. "The White House is pretty nice, but there's nothing like being back in the house of labor."

Obama paid tribute to outgoing AFL-CIO president John Sweeney and incoming chief Richard Trumka and said that being with union members reminds him of what's important in Washington and why he ran for president.

He wants to help working families reach the American dream, he said, telling of a union member choking up when talking about not being able to afford health coverage for his wife.

"When our middle class succeeds, that's when the United States of America succeeds," he declared.

He won some of his biggest applause when he expressed support for labor's biggest legislative priority -- a bill that would make it easier for workers to organize.

The bill is vehemently opposed by business groups and Republicans, and has languished in Congress. Labor leaders have hinted that they would accept a compromise that would force quicker elections, rather than the original bill that would remove the requirement for secret union elections.

He also gave an impassioned pitch for his health care overhaul, saying that union members know well that many families are one medical emergency away from financial ruin and need coverage that they can count on.

"How much longer do we have to wait?" Obama asked. "We can't wait."

"We can't wait!" the crowd chanted in reply.

(His full remarks to the AFL-CIO are below.)

Big labor was a big reason why Obama won the presidency, and the Republican National Committee sent out a research paper suggesting that he's still beholden to unions with policies that will damage the US economy.

Speaking one year to the day from when the collapse of Lehman Brothers threatened the entire US financial system, President Obama declared today that it's time for the federal government to extract itself from rescue efforts.

But he also asserted that to prevent a similar meltdown, the government needs to impose stricter and more sweeping regulations.

He started what the White House billed as a "major" speech by reminding Americans how close the economy came to the brink.

"This was no longer just a financial crisis; it had become a full-blown economic crisis, with home prices sinking, businesses struggling to access affordable credit, and the economy shedding an average of 700,000 jobs each month," Obama said.

Thanks to the government support to Wall Street, the loosening of credit, and the $787 billion economic stimulus package, the economy is on the road to recovery, the president said.

"Eight months later, the work of recovery continues. And though I will never be satisfied while people are out of work and our financial system is weakened, we can be confident that the storms of the past two years are beginning to break," Obama said.

"In fact, while there continues to be a need for government involvement to stabilize the financial system, that necessity is waning," he added. "After months in which public dollars were flowing into our financial system, we are finally beginning to see money flowing back to taxpayers. This doesn’t mean taxpayers will escape the worst financial crisis in decades entirely unscathed....While full recovery of the financial system will take a great deal more time and work, the growing stability resulting from these interventions means we are beginning to return to normalcy."

"But here's what I want to emphasize is this: normalcy cannot lead to complacency," Obama argued.

And that means new and improved regulation -- what he called "the most ambitious overhaul of the financial system since the Great Depression" -- that includes a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency to enforce new rules safeguarding the public and an oversight council to bring together regulators from across markets so problems don't slip through the cracks.

His audience at Federal Hall in the heart of New York's financial district included Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, the president's Economic Recovery Advisory Board, leaders of consumer advocacy groups, Wall Street CEOs, and members of Congress, including Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, who with Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut is shepherding financial regulatory reform.

"We will not go back to the days of reckless behavior and unchecked excess that was at the heart of this crisis, where too many were motivated only by the appetite for quick kills and bloated bonuses," Obama vowed. "Those on Wall Street cannot resume taking risks without regard for consequences, and expect that next time, American taxpayers will be there to break their fall."

The president said he believes in free markets and wanted to work with the financial industry to come up with the regulations. But he also said the firms receiving help owe a debt to American taxpayers and that those who oppose government intervention do so at their own peril.

"I certainly did not run for president to bail out banks or intervene in the capital markets," he said. "But it is important to note that the very absence of common-sense regulations able to keep up with a fast-paced financial sector is what created the need for that extraordinary intervention. The lack of sensible rules of the road, so often opposed by those who claim to speak for the free market, led to a rescue far more intrusive than anything any of us, Democrat or Republican, progressive or conservative, would have proposed or predicted," he said.

"What took place one year ago was not merely a failure of regulation or legislation; it wasn't just a failure of oversight or foresight. It was also a failure of responsibility -- it was fundamentally a failure of responsibility -- that allowed Washington to become a place where problems – including structural problems in our financial system – were ignored rather than solved," he chided. "It was a failure of responsibility that led homebuyers and derivative traders alike to take reckless risks they couldn’t afford. It was a collective failure of responsibility in Washington, on Wall Street, and across America that led to the near-collapse of our financial system one year ago....

"One year ago, we saw in stark relief how markets can spin out of control; how a lack of common-sense rules can lead to excess and abuse; how close we can come to the brink. One year later, it is incumbent upon us to put in place those reforms that will prevent this kind of crisis from ever happening again; reflecting the painful but important lessons that we’ve learned; and that will help us move from a period of recklessness and one of crisis to one of responsibility and prosperity. That is what we must do. And I’m confident that is what we will do."

(His full remarks are below.)

Republicans immediately warned against a bigger government role in the markets, saying that taxpayers will ultimately pay.

“For the average American, the best measure of the economy is whether or not they have a job so they can pay the mortgage, make the car payment and put food on the table. For more than 3 million Americans who have lost their jobs this year, the president’s policies have been a failure," Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele said in a statement.

"His $787 billion stimulus bill has led to wasteful spending but hasn’t created the jobs he promised. And every time he has wanted to expand the government’s influence over the economy and our daily lives, from his takeover of GM and banks to his proposed government-run takeover of our health care, it has meant spending more money we don’t have and digging America deeper into debt. Those are the real results of the president’s experiments on our economy, and no amount of speeches will convince the American people otherwise.”

The top House Republican, Representative John Boehner of Ohio, faulted Obama for not saying more clearly how taxpayers will be taken off the hook for the financial bailouts.

"Missing from the President’s remarks today was a clear exit strategy for the federal government’s involvement in the private sector. American taxpayers have had enough of open-ended bailouts that have left them stuck with an eye-popping tab in the form of trillions in new debt. This generational theft must end. If the President wants to restore consumer and investor confidence, he should work with Republicans in Congress to craft policies that help hard-working families and small businesses weather this storm and get back to creating good-paying jobs," Boehner said in a statement.

“With consumer spending just about frozen and unemployment near double-digit levels, the last thing we need are new layers of bureaucracy and burdensome regulations that restrict access to financial products and discourage economic growth. House Republicans have delivered a to reform our financial system smartly by bolstering anti-fraud protection efforts, streamlining the hodgepodge of confusing federal agencies, and strengthening transparency and accountability so that consumers can make informed choices. We hope Democrats will work with us on responsible solutions as Congress moves forward on this issue.”

Displaying once again the close coordination between policy and politics, the Democratic National Committee released a web video this morning to buttress President Obama's "major" speech marking the one-year anniversary of the Lehman Brothers collapse that precipitated the Wall Street crisis.

The web ad starts with the words "One year ago" on screen, then shows a series of news reports on the financial meltdown, with commentators talking about crisis, crash, perhaps another Great Depression. "Lest we forget," it ends.

In his speech at Federal Hall in New York, scheduled for shortly after noon EDT, Obama is expected to talk about the steps he has already taken to rescue the economy from the brink and to call for sweeping new financial regulations to avert another crisis.

But Republicans question the value of the $787 billion stimulus bill and warn about more government intervention in the markets.

And a new Associated Press-GfK poll found that the public remains deeply concerned about the economy. About 80 percent said the economy is in poor condition and about 70 percent said they are not confident that the federal government has taken safeguards to prevent another financial meltdown. Only 17 percent of those surveyed said the stimulus has improved the economy, though that's up 10 percentage points from July.

The poll, conducted Sept. 3-8, has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

President Obama's economists asserted today that the economic stimulus package he championed had created or saved "slightly more" than 1 million jobs so far.

The White House Council on Economic Advisers said that the $787 billion stimulus bill has had "particularly strong effects in manufacturing, construction, retail trade, and temporary employment services." While the benefits have been spread across the country, states most hurt by the recession have been helped most, it said.

The council also said that about $151 billion has been spent so far, and that the stimulus added 2.3 percentages to the real growth of the economy during the second quarter. (Click here to read the report.)

The council's first quarterly report to Congress on the stimulus represents the latest salvo in the war of statistics on the $787 billion stimulus bill.

Obama promised it would create or save 3.5 million jobs by the end of next year. But critics have questioned the figures as far too rosy and said that it is extremely difficult to determine whether a job has been "saved."

The administration has acknowledged that the recession was deeper than it believed when it pushed Congress to pass the plan in January. Unemployment is still hovering near 10 percent nationally, and the Labor Department reported last week that since the recession began in December 2007, the jobless rolls grew by 7.4 million Americans.

Republicans kept up their stimulus skepticism in response to the council's report.

“Today’s White House jobs report is one more example of this administration’s use of smoke and mirrors to mask the failure of the Democrats’ costly $787 billion stimulus bill," Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele said in a statement.

"The reality for countless Americans whose jobs have not been ‘saved’ is they get to join the ranks of the three million neighbors, friends and family members who have become unemployed since President Obama took office," he added. "We have watched the unemployment rate increase to 9.7 percent and seen more than 216,000 workers lose their jobs in the past 30 days. The president’s economic stimulus experiment clearly isn’t working as promised. Another report to claim phantom jobs have been ‘saved or created’ won’t convince people otherwise.”

In the game of musical chairs occasioned by the death of Edward M. Kennedy, Senator Christopher Dodd announced this afternoon that he will stay as chairman of the Banking Committee and not take over the health panel, where he had filled in for Kennedy during his illness.

Instead, Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa will move from Agriculture to the health committee. Harkin, as was Kennedy, is firmly in the liberal wing of the Democratic party.

Senator Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas will rise to the chairmanship of Agriculture.

"We all had hoped that Teddy would be able to come back to see this through," Dodd said in a statement. "Unfortunately, that wasn’t possible. But I intend to keep the promise I made. And so, I am pleased that I will able to continue the role he asked me to take on as the HELP Committee’s leader on health care reform."

"But we have important work to do on the Banking Committee, and I intend to see it through as chairman. The Banking Committee is of vital importance to Connecticut, responsible for issues central to the economic security and prosperity of the people of my state."

Dodd's perch on Banking, where he will work on financial regulation overhaul with House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank of Massachusetts, will give him continued access to campaign cash in his tough reelection fight next year.

But it also got him in political hot water when critics accused him of getting too cozy to Wall Street during the meltdown.

Meanwhile, Service Employees International Union quickly applauded Harkin's move, saying that it is counting on his help to pass a health care bill, as well as a bill to make it easier for unions to organize, and an immigration overhaul.

"America’s working families have learned to count on Senator Harkin to stand up and fight for the issues that will help to ensure the American Dream is alive and well for their children and grandchildren. As the son of a coal miner, Senator Harkin understands how Congress and organized labor can work together to pass legislation that ensures quality and affordable healthcare, a fair economy, a safe workplace and a secure retirement," SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger said in a statement.

John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO, the nation's largest labor federation, also praised the leadership changes.

"It is great news for America's workers that a longtime friend of working families is taking the helm at the Senate Labor Committee. Although no one can replace Senator Kennedy, Tom Harkin brings just the right balance of passion and skill to the job of protecting working men and women, educating our children and looking out for our health," Sweeney said in a statement.

"We are also pleased that Senator Dodd will stay on as Chair of the Banking Committee to continue the important work of cleaning up Wall Street and putting in place sensible regulations to make sure we do not have a repeat of the recent financial meltdown. Both Senators Harkin and Dodd face great challenges as they work to make meaningful progress on the issues that affect the lives of working people, and we look forward to working closely with both of them in the months and years ahead."

Republicans immediately sought today to capitalize on the new unemployment numbers to press their argument that President Obama's economic stimulus package is failing.

The Labor Department reported today that the jobless rate rose to 9.7 percent last month from 9.4 percent in July after 216,000 more Americans lost their jobs. It is the highest rate since 1983, and analysts say it shows that while the economy is improving, a sustained recovery will be difficult at best.

UPDATE: Vice President Joe Biden, who on Thursday led the cheerleading for the $787 billion stimulus package, said this afternoon that the administration will not be satisfied until "we're adding, not losing, thousands of jobs a month."

He cited an analysis that the stimulus package saved or created at least 500,000 jobs in its first 200 days, a milestone that hits Saturday -- or in other words, that another 500,000 jobs would have been lost without the recovery package.

Biden spoke as he announced a $535 million loan guarantee for a Fremont, Calif., company that makes solar panels. “This announcement today is part of the unprecedented investment this Administration is making in renewable energy and exactly what the Recovery Act is all about,” Biden said in a statement. “By investing in the infrastructure and technology of the future, we are not only creating jobs today, but laying the foundation for long-term growth in the 21stcentury economy.”

But Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele beat him to the punch.

“Yesterday, Vice President Biden gave yet another speech to try to convince the American people that President Obama’s stimulus bill is creating the jobs he promised. In fact, Vice President Biden said that he believes the Administration has ‘met or exceeded’ their goal to create or save 600,000 jobs in the past 100 days. Today’s unemployment report proves that this Administration is ignoring reality," Steele said in a statement.

"The unemployment rate jumped to 9.7 percent. More than 216,000 Americans lost their jobs in the month of August alone. That means more than 3 million Americans have lost their jobs since the president took office. The president’s economic experiment simply isn’t working, and Americans shouldn’t expect his government-run health care experiment to work, either.”

Not a single House Republican voted for the stimulus bill, and Representative John Boehner, the GOP leader in the House, chimed in with his own statement that also tried to use the jobless numbers to continue his assault on Obama's health care overhaul plans.

"Where are the jobs? Approximately 2.4 million private-sector jobs have been destroyed since February 2009. In light of these numbers, it is more clear than ever that the President and the leaders of his party in Congress need to abandon their plans for a job-killing government takeover of health care and work with Republicans for a more responsible approach to health care reform. The Democrats' bloated 'stimulus' isn't working, and we can't afford another trillion-dollar mistake on the backs of our children and small businesses," Boehner said.

"It is increasingly clear that as a consequence of this administration's misguided policies, any economic recovery that lies ahead will be a jobless one hampered by massive new debt. This is not what the American people were promised; nor is it what they deserve. Better solutions were offered in good faith by Republicans but rejected by the Administration in favor of what has proven to be a trillion-dollar mistake. The Administration said its bloated 'stimulus' would create millions of jobs and keep the unemployment rate from going above 8 percent. Instead, unemployment has now soared to nearly 10 percent, millions of jobs have disappeared, and massive new debt has been needlessly piled on future generations," Boehner continued.

"Washington Democrats must listen to the American people and abandon their plans to impose a job-killing government takeover of health care and a new job-killing national energy tax. Both will inflict further harm on small businesses and wipe out millions of additional American jobs, compounding the costly mistake of the flawed 'stimulus.’ It’s time for the President to hit the reset button and work with Republicans for better solutions, before more debt is piled on our children and more American jobs are destroyed."

President Obama, taking a quick break from week two of his vacation, jumped on the latest economic numbers to declare that his recovery program is working.

A key indicator of manufacturing activity grew last month for the for first time in 18 months.

That shows that companies are making more cars, computers, appliances, and other goods, Obama said.

"It means these companies are starting to invest more and produce more, and it is a sign that we're on the path to economic recovery," the president said, diverting from planned remarks on the H1N1 flu to brag.

But he added, as usual, that there is a "long way to go" and that he and his administration will not let up until Americans -- nearly 10 percent of whom are still unemployed -- can find jobs.

Still, Obama said, "this is another important sign that we're heading in the right direction, and that the steps we've taken to bring our economy back from the brink are working."

Taking a quick break from his Martha's Vineyard vacation, President Obama this morning announced he is nominating Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke for a second four-year term.

Bernanke, who has economics degrees from Harvard and MIT, has played a key role in dealing with the financial meltdown last year and now in lifting the nation out of recession. His current term expires Jan. 31, and Bernanke, a Republican originally picked by George W. Bush, would need reconfirmation by the Democratic Senate to keep his job.

"As an expert on the causes of the Great Depression, I’m sure Ben never imagined that he would be part of a team responsible for preventing another. But because of his background, his temperament, his courage, and his creativity, that’s exactly what he has helped to achieve," Obama said.

"Ben approached a financial system on the verge of collapse with calm and wisdom; with bold action and outside-the-box thinking that has helped put the brakes on our economic freefall."

UPDATE: Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut, chairman of the Banking Committee that will hold Bernanke's confirmation hearing, offered qualified support.

"While I have had serious differences with the Federal Reserve over the past few years, I think reappointing Chairman Bernanke is probably the right choice,"  Dodd said in a statement.  "Chairman Bernanke was too slow to act during the early stages of the foreclosure crisis, but he ultimately demonstrated effective leadership and his reappointment sends the right signal to the markets."

"There will be a thorough and comprehensive confirmation hearing.  I still have serious concerns about the Federal Reserve’s failure to protect consumers and I strongly believe these responsibilities should go to an independent consumer financial protection agency.  I expect many serious questions will be raised about the role of the Federal Reserve moving forward and what authorities it should and should not have."

While Wall Street appears to be responding well to Obama re-upping Bernanke's tenure, he is not without his critics.

Senator Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent, issued a scathing statement:

"As a result of the greed, irresponsibility and illegal behavior of Wall Street our country has experienced the worst economic decline since the Great Depression. Mr. Bernanke was head of the Fed and the nation's chief economist as this crisis, driven by reckless speculation, developed. Tragically, like the rest of the Bush administration, he was asleep at the wheel during this period and did nothing to move our financial system onto safer grounds," Sanders said.

“As the middle class of this country continues to shrink, we need a chairman of the Federal Reserve who is more concerned about expanding the productive economy – increasing decent-paying jobs for all Americans – than continuing to fan the flames of Wall Street greed and outrageous compensation packages.”

AFL-CIO president John Sweeney offered his backing for Bernanke, but said there needs to be more accountability at the Fed and more focus on jobs.

"Ben Bernanke has served ably as Chairman of the Federal Reserve at a time of great challenges. He has been forced to account for the serious failings of his predecessor," Sweeney said in a statement.

"The Federal Reserve must be made into a more publicly accountable body that makes job growth a central focus in the years ahead, particularly given signs that the economic recovery will be weak. We believe it's important that Chairman Bernanke's views on the governance and role of the Federal Reserve system also be a focus of his confirmation hearings. Finally, we must determine whether the Federal Reserve will oppose the creation of a Consumer Financial Protection Agency that will rein in Wall Street's excesses and look out for America's working families.

"We are eager to engage the Administration, Chairman Bernanke and the Congress in the weeks ahead about reform of unregulated financial markets that destroyed millions of jobs and trillions of dollars in investment capital."

The president's full remarks, and those of Bernanke, are below:

The White House, issuing its new budget deficit projection this morning, said the numbers look better in the short term but worse in the long run.

Budget Director Peter Orszag said that the deficit for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30 is now projected to be $1.58 trillion -- or 11.2 percent of gross domestic product -- down $262 billion from a previously projected $1.84 trillion or 12.9 percent of GDP. That's still an all-time record by far.

And the red ink looks worse in the next decade because of updated economic data that show that "we inherited a deeper recession than projected in February," Orszag wrote in his message. (Read it here.)  

The White House is projecting that the deficit for 2010-2019 will be $2 trillion higher than it forecast in February, now an eye-popping $9.05 trillion.

"During an economic downturn, one wants to allow the deficit to increase, so deficit reduction should be focused on the out-years -- after the economy has recovered," Orszag writes. "That said, the out-year deficits hover in the range of 4 percent of GDP, which is higher than desirable. Getting the out-year deficit under control is a top priority of the Administration."

Republicans are accusing the administration of fudging the numbers to make the deficit appear smaller for the current year, largely by changing assumptions about the costs of the financial bailout.

"Let’s be clear, this is spin and nothing more," economic adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin wrote in a memo to House GOP Leader John Boehner. "The lower estimate is strictly the result of the Administration massaging their budget assumptions, not reality. The reality is, putting these gimmicks aside, that the FY 2009 deficit is larger. And, even the Obama Administration will have to admit that the deficit for every year after 2009 is even worse than they admitted earlier this year. (Read his memo here.)

But the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office put out is own figures this morning, and they closely track the White House's in the short term and are actually lower in the long term.

The CBO estimated that the deficit will be $1.59 trillion in fiscal 2009 and $1.38 trillion in fiscal 2010 as the economy recovers. It also lowered its projection of the 10-year budget deficit to $7.14 trillion.

One reason for the CBO's lower 10-year number: It assumes that the tax cuts put into place by the Bush administration will expire as scheduled by 2011, but Obama's projection keeps the tax cuts for families earning less than $250,000 a year.

Republicans are also warning that Obama's agenda will mean even higher deficits, threatening to bankrupt the country.

"The mushrooming federal debt poses a grave danger to America’s prosperity, threatening to plunge our economy and future generations into the abyss of stagnant growth and national decline. But given the reckless way the administration is spending your money, you’d never know that the debt is a cause for concern. Staggering sums of money have been tossed around so casually that the very notion of dishing out 'trillions' of dollars is no longer a shock to many in Washington," Representative Eric Cantor, the No. 2 House Republican, writes in an op-ed for Politico.

American can't afford Obama's health care plan, estimated to cost $1 trillion over the next 10 years, Cantor argues.

"In this economy, as families review their own budgets and adjust accordingly, they expect their government to act in a manner that reflects the challenging times we are in. Much of the public frustration with Washington has been evident in town halls across the country, and many Americans believe the administration’s top priority should be cutting the federal deficit in half by the end of his first term," Cantor writes.

"Instead, the administration seeks to force a massive new government health care program that most people don’t want and certainly cannot afford. And they will do so even if it means imposing new taxes on the middle class and small business job creators. Now is not the time to double down on a deficit that is $2 trillion more than the administration projected, but instead to moderate spending, and move forward responsibly."

Boehner added his criticism in a statement:

“Today’s reports confirm what the White House has been trying to hide: the Democrats’ out-of-control spending binge is burying our children and grandchildren under a mountain of unsustainable debt. Instead of putting the brakes on Washington’s spending habits as they promised they’d do, Democrats have stepped on the accelerator and spent taxpayer dollars with reckless abandon all year, refusing to make tough choices and putting all the sacrifice on future generations. That’s not leadership; it’s negligence.

“The costly government-run health care plan put forth by President Obama and Speaker Pelosi is just the latest in a long line of expensive Democratic experiments that will add to the deficit, raise taxes on families and small businesses, and cost more American jobs. It’s time for the Administration and congressional Democrats to face the consequences of this dangerous fiscal agenda and change course."

UPDATE: Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, however, blamed the Bush administration for running up the deficits and following policies that led to the need for costly rescue measures, including the $787 billion economic stimulus package that passed without a single Republican vote in the House.

"Today's deficit projections are a legacy of Bush Administration fiscal policies that turned our surpluses into deficits and led the way toward an economic and financial crisis that has required historic short-term intervention. If pay-as-you-go principles had been in place for the last 8 years, this deficit would be $5 trillion smaller over the next decade," she said in a statement.

"We are working with President Obama to restore fiscal responsibility and to ensure that statutory pay-go, already passed by the House, is signed into law. Under President Obama's leadership, we have ended the Bush-era practice of hiding the costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan -- gimmicks and accounting tricks that have no place in our budget process. And working with the President, Congress has laid out a budget blueprint that reduces our deficit, lays a new foundation for job creation and economic growth, and invests in more broadly shared prosperity for all Americans. "But we cannot reduce the deficit in the long-term without getting health care costs under control. Nor can health care reform add to the challenge. That is why our health insurance reform is fully paid for and will not increase the deficit.

"These deficit projections send a clear message: fiscal discipline must be the order of the day as we come out of this recession. Our economic recovery efforts are starting to pay dividends for America's families. Today's announcement that consumer confidence and home prices are on the rise represent new signs that our economy is moving in the right direction. And now, we must remain on-track to tackle our fiscal challenges, advance policies to promote job growth, reinforce the foundation of our prosperity, and return the United States to the days of financial stability."

The economy appears to be finally on the road to recovery, and on the hustings President Obama has been celebrating that turnaround and crediting the $787 billion economic stimulus plan he championed.

But a new poll out today suggests that most Americans disagree.

Six months after Obama signed the package of tax cuts and spending, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll found that 57 percent of respondents say the stimulus package is having no impact on the economy or making it worse --33 percent said no effect and 24 percent worse. Just 41 percent said the stimulus is making the economy better.

Over the long term, 38 percent of respondents said the stimulus will make things better and 38 percent said it would make it worse.

For respondents personally, only 18 percent said the stimulus has improved their situation while 13 percent said worse and 68 percent said no impact. And more respondents -- 34 percent -- said they expect the stimulus will make things worse for them personally over the long term than better -- 29 percent.

House Republicans -- not a single one of whom voted for the stimulus package -- jumped on the poll results to continue their attack.

“By any objective standard, the Democrats’ trillion-dollar ‘stimulus’ isn’t working," House GOP leader John Boehner said in a statement today. "The administration promised the ‘stimulus’ would provide a ‘jolt’ to our economy and create jobs immediately, but 2.8 million more Americans have lost their jobs since the ‘stimulus’ became law.  The American people are asking, ‘where are the jobs?’ 

"The administration’s insistence on spending, taxing, and borrowing more than ever is not the answer they’re seeking.  Instead, it is burying our children and grandchildren under an unmanageable mountain of debt.  Families and small businesses expect and deserve far better.  Rather than pursuing more job-killing policies like a government takeover of health care and a national energy tax, Democrats should work with Republicans on better solutions that create jobs, curb spending, and control the debt.”

President Obama, armed with welcome -- and somewhat surprising -- evidence of an economic recovery to brandish against his critics, declared this afternoon that "the worst may be behind us."

"Today we're pointed in the right direction," he said in the White House's Rose Garden, asserting that job losses are at half the rate when he took office in the worst recession since the Great Depression.

He also noted that a week ago, the gross domestic product dropped just 1 percent in the second quarter.

The president repeated his defense/explanation of the $787 billion economic stimulus package, saying that it has helped rescue our economy from "catastrophe" and started to lay the groundwork for sustained growth.

But Obama said he won't be satisfied until many more Americans can find good jobs.

"It won't be easy," he said, since change comes with difficulty in Washington. "We have a steep mountain to climb and we started in a very deep valley," he added. (His full remarks are below.)

Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and Cabinet secretaries had been talking up the economic stimulus package this week -- in part to inoculate the White House from unemployment numbers out this morning that many economists predicted would top 10 percent nationally.

Instead, the jobless rate declined slightly to 9.4 percent in July from the 26-year high of 9.5 percent in June -- the first decrease since April 2008. The Labor Department reported that employers cut 247,000 jobs, the fewest in a year.

Still, there were 14.5 million Americans out of work in July, and if those who have given up looking for a job or who have been forced to take part-time work are counted, the rate was 16.3 percent in July.

As the unemployment rate steadily and stubbornly rose month after month, Obama's job approval ratings and Americans' confidence in his handling of the economy dropped. The opposite can be expected to happen if the jobless numbers keep dropping.

Representative George Miller of California and Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, the Democrats who lead the House and Senate Labor Committees, respectively, issued a joint statement:

“When President Obama inherited this economic crisis seven months ago, our nation was shedding 700,000 jobs a month. Today's decline in unemployment – the lowest number of jobs we’ve lost in the last year – is very good news for working families. It shows that President Obama's economic recovery program is working – saving jobs in classrooms, police stations, and firehouses and creating new jobs for Americans in construction and renewable energy fields. While our nation’s road to recovery will take time and patience, there is no doubt that we are moving in the right direction.

“Even in the midst of this promising news, it’s clear we still have a long way to go. More than 5 million Americans have been looking for work for more than six months, without success. We must do more to help these working families keep food on their tables and hope in their hearts. An extension of unemployment benefits should be at the top of Congress’s agenda when we return in the fall.”

AFL-CIO president John Sweeney also attributed some of the unemploymen turnaround to the stimulus package.

"The dip in the unemployment rate in July is a welcome sign that President Obama’s economic recovery package is starting to blunt the impact of the most severe recession in a generation. By refusing to listen to the naysayers, the President and Congress have helped to avert a total financial meltdown -- despite much continuing pain. We still have a long way to go until our economy is growing and creating good jobs at a healthy rate -- and we will need decisive and timely action from our government in the meantime," Sweeney said in a statement.

"It is not good news that we lost 247,000 jobs in July, bringing total job loss since the recession began to 6.7 million. The growth of long-term unemployment by another 584,000 is especially disturbing and cries out for immediate, additional attention. There are now more than 5.7 job seekers for every available job -- up from 1.7 at the start of the recession. The July job figures would have been much worse without the stimulus, which has helped to slow the pace of job loss to less than half of what it was just six months ago. From May to July, job losses averaged 331,000 per month, compared with losses averaging 645,000 per month from November to April."

UPDATE: But Republicans didn't see much encouragement in the jobs report, and continued their criticism of Obama and Democrats for their economic policies.

"While President Obama was taking a victory lap to celebrate the economy's performance, more Americans lost their jobs and the budget deficit soared to a record $1.3 trillion in July," Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele said in a statement. "In the month of July alone 247,000 Americans lost their jobs, which means more than 2.8 million Americans have lost their jobs since the president took office. The president said his stimulus bill would keep unemployment from rising higher than 8 percent. It hasn't. Now he expects Americans to believe his trillion-dollar health care experiment will improve their health care? It won't. America simply can't afford more of the president's costly experiments."

Representative John Boehner, the top-ranking House Republican, chimed in: "Today's unemployment report is yet another reminder that more spending, taxing, and borrowing does not mean more jobs for the American people. Instead of rewriting history on their 'stimulus' promises, Washington Democrats should abandon their job-killing agenda," said Boehner in a release. "Rather than pushing an increasingly unpopular government takeover of health care that will increase costs, drive up the deficit, raise taxes, and destroy jobs, Democratic leaders would be well-served to work with Republicans on real reforms that expand Americans' access to affordable health care and help small businesses create more jobs."

President Obama this morning signed into law a bill replenishing the "cash for clunkers" program with another $2 billion.

The Senate passed the bill Thursday night to keep the program going, after an unexpected flood of car buyers used up the first $1 billion in rebates, as much as $4,500 for trading in gas guzzlers for more fuel-efficient vehicles.

"Now, more American consumers will have the chance to purchase newer, more fuel efficient cars and the American economy will continue to get a much-needed boost," Obama said in a statement after the Senate vote. " ‘Cash for Clunkers’ has been a proven success: the initial transactions are generating a more than 50% increase in fuel economy; they are generating $700 to $1000 in annual savings for consumers in reduced gas costs alone; and they are getting the oldest, dirtiest and most air polluting trucks and SUVs off the road for good. Businesses across the country – from small auto dealerships and suppliers to large auto manufacturers – are putting people back to work as a result of this program. I want to thank Leader Reid and the members of the Senate who moved quickly to extend a program that benefits our recovery and our auto industry while reducing our economy’s dependence on oil.”

As President Obama hits the 200-day mark, new polls show a further slide in his ratings.

The CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey results released this morning gives him an overall job approval rating of 56 percent, with 40 percent disapproving. That's down from 61 percent approval in late June, and 76 percent in early February.

Still, a majority, 51 percent, said that Obama's first six months have been a success, and only 37 percent said a failure, with 11 percent saying it's too soon to tell.

But two-thirds of respondents say Obama has tried to handle too many issues, though he repeatedly says it wasn't his choice, but forced upon him by inheriting two wars and the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

On the economy, while 44 percent said they believed Obama's policies had made things better, 51 percent said they had not, and 79 percent said economic conditions were somewhat poor or very poor.

Asked how they personally felt about Obama as president, 15 percent of respondents replied "thrilled" -- down from 28 percent just before his inauguration; 41 percent said "happy," about the same.

But 31 percent said "unhappy" or "depressed" -- nearly double the 16 percent giving those descriptions before he took office.

The poll, conducted last Friday through Monday, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

A Quinnipiac University poll of registered voters released today gives Obama even lower marks.

In that survey, Obama has a 50 percent to 42 percent job approval rating from voters, down from 57 percent to 33 percent a month ago, and the lowest since Inauguration Day.

The poll also found that voters disapprove 49 percent to 45 percent of the way the president is handling the economy, and disapprove 52 percent to 39 percent of how he is handling healthcare, but approve 52 percent to 38 percent of the way he is handling foreign policy.

The Quinnipiac poll, conducted July 27-Aug. 3 among registered voters, has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.

The Obama team is fanning out across the country today with a shared message -- the economic stimulus plan is working.

Really.

President Obama returned to Elkhart County, Ind., where he spoke at a former recreational vehicle plant. The RV industry has been crushed during the recession, so Obama will be bringing some money with him.

He announced that 48 projects in 20 states for advanced battery technology for hybrid and electric-drive vehicles will receive $2.4 billion in grants from the recovery bill, creating tens of thousands of jobs. The money includes a $39 million grant for Navistar International Corp. in Elkhart to manufacture electric trucks. The White House release on the grants, which it bills as the single largest investment in advanced battery technology, is below.

Obama said the area has been hit with a "perfect storm" of economic troubles -- the decline of manufacturing, the problems of the domestic auto industry, and the recession -- that caused a 10-percentage-point increase in the unemployment rate, the second highest rise in the nation.

Such woes test a community and families -- and the future of the nation depends on reviving places such as Elkhart County, the president said.

But before rebuilding the economy and moving forward, the nation has to recover from the recession -- and the stimulus package is playing a key role in doing that, he said.

He cited specific projects in the area that have been financed by the stimulus bill, then he promoted the spending for innovations to create new jobs. Indiana will be the second-biggest recipient of the clean-energy vehicle grants, he said.

"Made in America," Obama repeated, to applause. (His full remarks are below.)

The recipients include A123Systems Inc., a Watertown-based lithium-ion battery maker getting $249 million for two plants in Michigan. Also, H&T Waterbury Inc. in Waterbury, Conn.; SBE Inc. in Barre, Vt.; and the National Fire Protection Association in Quincy, Mass. To read the full list, click here.

At the same time, Vice President Joe Biden is in Detroit, speaking at an alternative energy company. Four Cabinet secretaries are also talking up the grants coming from the $787 billion stimulus package.

Biden previewed the message after meeting with the administration's economic team Tuesday. "I can tell you today, without reservation, the Recovery Act is working," he told reporters.

He ticked off a series of statistics: the economy shrank by a smaller-than-expected 1 percent in the second quarter, spending by state and local governments increased 2.4 percent from April to June, household income grew at a annual rate of almost 5 percent in the same period, and home and car sales are up.

But the big number that the administration has to get over is the jobless rate, which typically lags a recovery.

The national unemployment rate has risen every month since Obama signed the stimulus bill in February. It hit a 26-year high of 9.5 percent in June, and the July number, which will be announced Friday, is expected to breach the 10 percent barrier.

Vice President Joe Biden, put in charge of keeping waste and fraud out of the $787 billion economic stimulus package, declared today "without reservation" that the recovery plan is working.

He said in its first six months, the controversial plan has rescued "tens of thousands of people who have fallen into a black hole" of unemployment.

Pointing to a series of better-than-expected measures, Biden told reporters, "Six months ago we gathered here in the White House, worrying about the U.S. economy and whether or not it was falling off a cliff. And today, analysts are trying to determine if -- if an official recovery is already underway."

"Now, don't get me wrong -- we still have a long way to go," Biden said after he and President Obama huddled with the economic team. " 'Less bad' is not the same as 'good.' We know that growth in GDP is necessary but not sufficient. It's not a sufficient marker of recovery. For one thing, it's not going to occur until there are jobs. My grandpop used to have the expression, he said, when the guy up the line is out of work, it's an economic slowdown; when you're brother-in-law is out of work, it's a recession; when you're out of work, it's a depression. Well, it's still a serious problem for millions of unemployed Americans. Too many people are out of work. Too many families are in pain." His full remarks are below.

UPDATE: House Republicans, who unanimously opposed the stimulus package, were not impressed by Biden's declaration.

In an email, Antonia Ferrier, a spokeswoman for House GOP leader John Boehner, pointed out that Biden admitted a month ago that the administration had "misread" the depth of the recession.

She also noted that many economists aren't as optimistic about the latest numbers and that national unemployment is expected to top 10 percent when the July figures come out later this week.

"Now, if you think this is an astonishing statement, well, so do we – after all, we have nationwide unemployment rate of 9.5 percent - and rising - with numerous states already well over 10 percent," Ferrier said.

"But the fact remains that the Administration promised the stimulus would provide IMMEDIATE relief, that it would provide the economy with a JOLT, and that unemployment would NOT climb above 8 PERCENT. None have proven to be true, prompting the Vice President to say just over a month ago that they “misread the economy,” which then morphed into the stimulus was supposed to take a while to work, and NOW it’s working. But the standard to measure its success is the initial benchmarks the Administration used to sell their plan."

With House members back in their districts, President Obama's grassroots group is airing radio ads pushing key representatives on healthcare and thanking others on the economic recovery package.

Organizing for America announced that the health ad, entitled "Standing Up," will run in 19 districts. Listen to it here.

The economic ad, entitled "To the Rescue," will run in four districts, the group said. Hear it here.

"These members have been part of one of the most ambitious, historic and successful opening months of a Congressional session in our nation's history," said OFA Director Mitch Stewart. "From expanding health insurance to millions of vulnerable children, to passing a recovery act that rescued our economy from certain disaster, to passing a budget that halves our deficit over the next decade while making critical investments in health care, energy and education, these members have all helped bring about the change President Obama promised to bring to Washington. They are now standing up to the special interests, the lobbyists and the naysayers and working for big solutions to our nation's toughest problems - including fixing a broken health insurance system that costs too much, leaves too many people lacking coverage and puts insurance industry profits ahead of patient care. Thanks to the support of these members and others like them - we will reform the health insurance system in this country and make other critical policy changes to get our economy back on track."

The group is up against conservative organizations that have been finding activists to attend town halls on healthcare that members of Congress have been having with their constituents.

Following up on a retreat with Cabinet officials and others over the weekend at the six-month mark of his new administration, President Obama plans to huddle Tuesday with all 60 Senate Democrats.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the unusual gathering is meant to take stock of where legislative priorities stand -- and two are likely to be at the forefront: healthcare overhaul, since a full Senate vote has been put off until after the August recess, and the "cash for clunkers" bill.

"I don't doubt that healthcare will be discussed," Gibbs said at his daily briefing. "I believe the economy will also be heavily discussed; the numbers that we've been talking about, numbers that we'll see throughout the week, unemployment, manufacturing reports -- just in general where the economy is. I think we'll probably -- they'll go through and discuss energy legislation.

Gibbs also said that a topic will be the House-passed bill to pump $2 billion more into the unexpectedly popular program giving car buyers stipends for trading in gas guzzlers for fuel-efficient vehicles. "Without some help from the Senate, in terms of moving the $2 billion from the Recovery and Reinvestment plan's energy efficiency programs into this account, [it] will likely mean that the program will have to be stopped by the end of the week.

Asked why Republicans weren't invited, Gibbs replied, "I would look at this as the president speaking to the Democratic caucus. They have a regularly scheduled caucus lunch that happens every Tuesday. It's just we're having that lunch here at the White House rather than up on Capitol Hill. So I think that explains talking to the -- to Senate Democrats."

If two top advisers opened the door to raising taxes on the middle class, the White House is seeking today to slam it shut again.

Pressed repeatedly on the issue, presidential spokesman Robert Gibbs said repeatedly that Obama stands behind his iron-clad campaign pledge that any tax hikes would only hit individuals making more than $200,000 a year and families earning more than $250,000.

"The president has been clear on his commitment on this," Gibbs told reporters.

"I want to just state again clearly here that the President has made a very clear commitment to not raise taxes on middle-class families, period," Gibbs tried again.

"Let me be precise: The president's clear commitment is not to raise taxes on those making less than $250,000 a year."

"The door's not open even a millimeter on raising taxes?" a reporter asked.

"I hope you'll take seriously what I said," Gibbs replied.

He also noted the economic stimulus package included tax cuts for 95 percent of earners.

The questions arose because on TV talk shows Sunday, both Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers refused to rule out possible tax increases.

Geithner said that tax hikes might be needed to reduce the record federal deficit, while Summers said there needed to be funding for healthcare overhaul.

"I don't think we're going to get the deficit under under better control until we get the economy moving again. In order to lay that new foundation, the president strongly believes that health care reform is important," Gibbs said.

"And the president was clear during the campaign about his commitment on not raising taxes on middle-class families. And I don't think any economist would believe that in the environment that we're in raising taxes on middle-class families would make any sense. And the president agrees."

Gibbs noted that the recession is driving down tax revenues, so "the most important thing we can do is get the economy growing again."

UPDATE: Before, or despite, the comments from Gibbs, Americans for Tax Reform said the appearances by Geithner and Summers are the "latest of a string of statements by Obama’s spokesmen and appointees gradually stepping back from the 'firm pledge' made during the campaign."

“Obama should fire Geithner and Summers,” Grover Norquist, the group's president, said in a statement. “Two appointees of President Obama went on national television and implied the president lied his way into office and that he is open to raising taxes.”

“To have the president’s own appointees accuse him of lying his way into office is a betrayal beyond words,” Norquist added. “If, however, Obama has been silent in reaction to these two statements, he does intend to raise taxes, and he should resign because he lied his way into office by making a promise he had no intention of keeping.”

President Obama said new, better-than-expected gross domestic product numbers show that the country is headed in the right direction, and that "the recession we faced when I took office was even deeper than anyone thought at the time."

The president also said the massive, $700 billion economic stimulus package "helped pull the nation back from the brink."

The economy "has done measurably better that we had thought -- better than expected. And as many economists will tell you, that part of the progress is directly attributable to the Recovery Act," Obama said this afternoon. "This and other difficult but important steps that we've taken over the last six months have helped us put the brakes on the recession."

But the president added that the good economic news is cold comfort for those withouth jobs and families struggling to make ends meet.

"When we receive our monthly jobs report next week, it's likely to show that we're still continuing to lose far too many jobs. As far as I'm concerned, we won't have a recovery as long as we keep losing jobs," Obama said. "And I will not rest until every American who wants a job can find one."

Nevertheless, "history does show that you need to have economic growth before you have job growth," Obama said. "And today's GDP is an important sign that the economy is headed in the right direction and that business investment, which had been plummeting in the last several months, is showing signs of stabilizing. This means that eventually, businesses will start growing and they'll start hiring again. And that's when it will truly feel like a recovery to the American people."

The Commerce Department reported that the economy shrank by 1 percent in the second quarter of the year, giving hope that the longest recession since World War II is easing.

"Obviously that's the right direction," Christina Romer, one of the president's top economic advisers, said on MSNBC. "We've got a long way to go."

The revised number in the first quarter was down 6.4 percent, the biggest decline in nearly three decades -- showing that the recession was even worse than believed at the time and proving that the $787 billion stimulus plan and other government spending was necessary, said Romer, chairwoman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers.

"We absolutely had to rescue this economy," she said.

For the economy to truly rebound, she said, there needs to be 2 percent to 3 percent real growth.

Obama and Romer also tried to reassure Americans that one initiative won't be a victim of its own success.

The "cash for clunkers" program has been so popular that consumers have already emptied the $1 billion fund.

"Not more than a few weeks ago, there were skeptics who weren't sure that this "Cash for Clunkers" program would work," Obama said. "But I'm happy to report that it has succeeded well beyond our expectations and all expectations, and we're already seeing a dramatic increase in showroom traffic at local car dealers."

"And I'm encouraged that Republicans and Democrats in the House are working to pass legislation today that would use some Recovery Act funding to keep this program going -- funding that we would work to replace down the road," the president said. "Thanks to quick bipartisan responses, we're doing everything possible to continue this program and to continue helping consumers and the auto industry contribute to our recovery."

"If you wanted to buy a car this weekend, go do it," Romer told Reuters Television. "The program is still there. It has not been suspended, and I can tell you there is a real flurry of activity working with the agencies, the Congress, to ensure we can continue this and get the funds there."

The Associated Press is reporting that Democrats in both the House and Senate are exploring votes as early as today to add $2 billion into the rebate program.

Representative Sander Levin of Michigan revealed the bill after he and other lawmakers were assured by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood that the program would continue at least through today while the Obama administration looked for more money, the AP says.

With Republicans citing the continuing economic distress to bash the economic stimulus plan pushed through by President Obama and his Democratic allies in Congress, the Democratic National Committee is hitting back with a media campaign blaming Republicans for creating the mess to begin with.

In a new TV ad announced today, the DNC goes after the top four congressional Republicans -- Senators Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Jon Kyl of Arizona, and Representatives John Boehner of Ohio and Eric Cantor of Virginia -- by saying they "supported the Bush policies that sank our economy into recession. They broke it - now they refuse to fix it."

"Tell Republicans to stop playing politics with our economy," the announcer urges viewers.

Besides the media campaign, the DNC is organizing news conferences or conference calls with reporters in their home states this week with local elected officials and others to testify to the impact of the $787 billion stimulus plan. Not a single House Republican voted for it, and only a handful of Senate Republicans did.

"Republicans supported the policies that sank our economy into the worst recession in nearly a century and have refused to work with President Obama to turn things around," DNC Communications Director Brad Woodhouse said in a statement. "They followed Rush Limbaugh and played politics with the Recovery Act - and now that it is showing signs of progress - they are distorting the truth about its success so no one will notice that they were the ones who got it wrong before and who are getting it wrong now. In each of these states there are real projects, providing and saving real jobs and laying a foundation for long-term economic growth. The Republican leadership may not want to admit the truth because it will expose their own mistakes and hypocrisy, but we're not going to hesitate setting the record straight."

UPDATE: Obama, himself, addressed what he called "a lot of misinformation out there" about the stimulus bill, which he said has helped stem job losses though "the tough times aren't over."

"Let me just lay out the facts," he said in a town hall in Raleigh, N.C., today, saying he had passed protestors on the way to the event: "Roughly a quarter of the Recovery Act’s funding has been committed, over 30,000 projects have been approved, and thousands have been posted online."

One-third of the money is going to tax cuts for families and small businesses, another third is for emergency relief including unemployment benefits, and the final third is for investments such as infrastructure projects, he said.

"Now, I know that some critics in Washington ... they are saying we’ve been slow to get these projects started. They are saying we should have broken ground on all our highway projects on the first day. That’s impossible, especially because I wanted to be sure we did our homework and invested tax dollars only in those projects that actually created jobs and jump-started our economy. We knew it would take a few months for these projects to get online," he said.

"So it will take time to achieve a complete recovery, we're not going to rest until anyone who’s looking for work can find a job. But there should be little debate that the steps we took, taken together, have helped stop our economic freefall."

Vice President Joe Biden and Attorney General Eric Holder announced today that the Justice Department will award $1 billion in grants to help local law enforcement agencies hire about 4,700 officers.

Boston is the biggest beneficiary in Massachusetts, with $11.8 million, enough for 50 officers. Other recipients include New Bedford, 13 officers; Lowell, 12; and Fall River, 10 officers.

UPDATE: Boston officials welcomed the money, which they said made the city one of only 24 in the nation to receive its full request and said would allow the police department to expand community-oriented policing.

“Today is a great day for public safety in Boston,” Mayor Thomas M. Menino said in a statement. “I am grateful for all of the work done by President Nee of the Boston Police Patrolman's Association and our partners in Washington for helping us secure this competitive grant money. This award is a terrific example of Boston's strong commitment to public safety. This funding will keep officers on the streets of our neighborhoods and continue our progress in community policing. I am proud of the work done by the Boston Police Department in reducing crime across our city, and this funding will allow us to continue these effective strategies.”

“We are thrilled to receive this important funding from the Department of Justice,” Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis added in a statement. “It is precisely what we need during this difficult fiscal time to stave off workplace reduction. This initiative will assist us in maintaining the level of public safety service that Boston residents and visitors have become accustomed to."

In all, 13 Massachusetts agencies will get $29 million for 131 officers, while 212 agencies asked for $203 million for 931 officers, according to the Justice Department. To see the Massachusetts summary, click here.

But New York, Houston, Seattle, and Pittsburgh are among those not receiving any money because the Justice Department decided other cities were more needy. To see the full list of grants by state, click here.

The Justice Department received more than 7,200 applications for more than 39,000 officer positions, representing a total of $8.3 billion in funding, the White House said.

The money will come from the $787 billion economic stimulus package and will go to 1,046 law enforcement agencies from all 50 states, providing the salaries and benefits for three years.

Agencies will be required to foot the bill for the officers for a fourth year -- a mandate that could cause problems for cash-strapped cities and towns. It was also the biggest criticism of a similar program during the 1990s under the Clinton administration.

“A big part of the Recovery Act is about building communities – making them as strong as they can be, allowing every American family to live a better life than the one they are leading now,” Biden said in Philadelphia. “And we can’t achieve the goal of stronger communities without supporting those who keep our streets safe.”

“These Recovery Act funds will pump much needed resources into communities through a program with a proven track record,” said Holder. “The tremendous demand for these grants is indicative of both the tough times our states, cities and tribes are facing, and the unyielding commitment by law enforcement to making our communities safer.”

The release from Massachusetts Senators John F. Kerry and Edward M. Kennedy is below:

President Obama's chief economic adviser, Lawrence Summers, is the latest top administration official to defend its efforts to revive the economy, even as unemployment inches toward double digits.

"Though only a half a year ago, the distance we have traveled these past six months is remarkable," Summers said at the Peterson Institute, according to advance excerpts released by the White House. "The economy was in free-fall at the start of the year with no apparent limit on how much worse things could get. Fear was widespread and confidence was scarce.

"We were at the brink of catastrophe at the beginning of the year but we have walked some substantial distance back from the abyss… Substantial progress has been made in rescuing the economy from the risk of economic collapse that looked all too real 6 months ago."

According to federal data released this morning, the jobless rate has already topped 10 percent in 15 states and the District of Columbia, and surpassed 15 percent in Michigan, the first time any state reached that mark since 1984.

Summers argued that rising unemployment does not mean that the $787 billion stimulus package championed by Obama is not working, since the jobless rate lags other indicators of recovery.

Summers, the former Harvard president and treasury secretary, also reiterated Obama's assertions that his policies are not only lifting the country out of recession, but building the foundation for long-term growth.

"To address the deep and severe crisis he inherited, President Obama started from two main premises," he plans to say. "First, the most immediate priority was to rescue the economy by restoring confidence and breaking the vicious cycle of economic contraction and financial failure. Second, the recovery from this crisis would be built not on the flimsy foundation of asset bubbles but on the firm foundation of productive investment and long-term growth.

"The President was clear from the beginning that these two tasks needed to be dovetailed—that confidence in our ability to rescue the economy depended on a sense of our commitment to reform and a vision for rebuilding."

"The rebuilt American economy must be more export-oriented and less consumption-oriented, more environmentally oriented and less fossil-energy-oriented, more bio- and software-engineering-oriented and less financial-engineering-oriented, more middle-class-oriented and less oriented to income growth that disproportionately favors a very small share of the population."

His full remarks are below:

The war of words over the economic stimulus is getting louder today in Virginia.

Vice President Joe Biden is in Richmond, the home district of Representative Eric Cantor, the No. 2 Republican in the House and one of President Obama's harshest, most persistent critics.

Biden plans to blast Cantor, according to the Washington Post. "To those who say that our economic decisions 'have not produced jobs, have not produced prosperity, and simply have not worked, I say, 'Take a look around,' " Biden will say, according to prepared remarks obtained by Post. "I ask those critics, 'Would they not help the states prevent lay off thousands of teachers, firefighters, cops? Would they not give a tax cut to 95 percent of the American people? Would they sit back and do nothing as our economy collapsed?' "

Cantor's office, for its part, is on the case of Tim Kaine, Virginia's governor and Obama's hand-picked chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

Kaine sent out a statement today saying that Obama's $787 billion stimulus package -- which not a single House Republican supported -- is sparking a recovery and creating jobs.

"For Governor Kaine's DNC to flatly state that there is an economic recovery misses the current and increasing double-digit unemployment in Richmond and the 8.1% unemployment in Central Virginia. To declare an 'economic recovery' when so many Virginian families are being negatively impacted by this Administrations economic policy is a truly shocking statement that should be retracted," Cantor spokesman Brad Dayspring said in a statement.

"A stimulus bill should have an immediate economic impact and create real, long term jobs, and this stimulus has not created jobs or fixed our economy."

President Obama landed this afternoon in Michigan -- the state with the nation's highest unemployment rate at 14 percent -- to reassure Americans that better days are ahead, and to talk about the importance of education to grow the economy.

He spoke at Macomb Community College -- a common stop for politicians ever since Ronald Reagan embraced white, blue-collar Democrats to create "Reagan Democrats" -- and declared that "the hard truth is that some of the jobs that have been lost in the auto industry and elsewhere won’t be coming back. They are casualties of a changing economy.

"And that only underscores the importance of generating new businesses and industries to replace the ones we’ve lost, and of preparing our workers to fill the jobs they create. For even before this recession hit, we were faced with an economy that was simply not creating or sustaining enough new, well-paying jobs," he said, according to prepared remarks released by the White House.

Obama announced a new initiative to strengthen community colleges in their role of training workers for new jobs.

"Time and again, when we have placed our bet for the future on education, we have prospered as a result – by tapping the incredible innovative and generative potential of a skilled American workforce.

"That is why, at the start of my administration I set a goal for America: by 2020, this nation will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world…Today, I am announcing the most significant down payment yet on reaching this goal in the next ten years. It’s called the American Graduation Initiative. It will reform and strengthen community colleges from coast to coast so that they get the resources students and schools need – and the results workers and businesses demand. Through this plan, we seek to help an additional five million Americans earn degrees and certificates in the next decade."

(The full prepared remarks and White House release are below.)

UPDATE: Senator Edward M. Kennedy, chairman of the Senate education committee, praised Obama's community college push.

“I commend President Obama for this major initiative to enable many more Americans to obtain the education and training they need to succeed in our modern economy," Kennedy said in a statement. "Community colleges in Massachusetts and across the country are putting millions of students on the path to a college degree. They are also offering millions of other Americans the opportunity to develop the skills and knowledge they need for family-sustaining jobs. Congress should include this important initiative in the higher education legislation we pass this year.”

Earlier today, Obama told reporters that he doesn't have a "crystal ball" on the jobs picture, but does expect the unemployment rate to rise before topping out. Many economists expect the national rate, now 9.5 percent, will reach double digits.

"Even after you start moving into a recovery, positive growth, hiring typically lags for some time after that. That's been the historic norm," he added. "Now, this has been a more severe recession than we've seen since the Great Depression, so how employment numbers are going to respond is not yet clear. My expectation is, is that we will probably continue to see unemployment tick up for several months. And the challenge for this administration is to make sure that even as we are stabilizing the financial system, we understand that the most important thing in the economy is, are people able to find good jobs that pay good wages."

(His full comments on the economy are below.)

President Obama, seeking to regain the upper hand on the economy, issued a new report this morning on the "jobs of tomorrow" -- even as the jobs of today keep disappearing.

His Council of Economic Advisers released the report, titled "Preparing the Workers of Today for the Jobs of Tomorrow," that is an overview of how the US labor market is expected to develop over the next few years. The report (read it here) discusses the skills and training that will likely be needed for the growing occupation categories, and the education and training system needed to prepare people for those jobs.

As the unemployment rate heads north of 10 percent nationally, Obama is defending the $787 billion economic stimulus plan he championed, asking Americans for patience. He made that case in his weekly radio and Internet address on Saturday and in an op-ed piece in the Washington Post on Sunday, and is expected to make it again during a public event in Warren, Mich., on Tuesday.

In an unusual move, the White House today sent out an official release citing news reports challenging the facts used by Republican critics of the stimulus.

Such counterattacks are typically left to Democratic Party groups or friendly advocacy organizations. (The full release is below.)

UPDATE: Obama also huddled this afternoon with labor leaders, some of his most loyal and important allies.

"Today's meeting with President Obama and leaders in the union movement was a critical opportunity to share and discuss issues impacting working people, including jobs, health care, and the Employee Free Choice Act," AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said in a statement afterwards. "President Obama has always been a friend to the union movement, and the meeting emphasized his continued support on issues important to working people. We look forward to continuing to work with the president to build an economy that works for everyone.

Facing growing public unease about his handling of the economy, President Obama takes his weekly Internet and radio address to defend the $787 billion stimulus package he championed.

It is doing exactly what it was designed to -- stop the bleeding by slowing job losses, start reviving the economy, deliver tax relief to the middle class, and lay the groundwork for badly needed reform, he asserts.

"The Recovery Act wasn’t designed to restore the economy to full health on its own, but to provide the boost necessary to stop the free fall," he says. "It was designed to spur demand and get people spending again and cushion those who had borne the brunt of the crisis. And it was designed to save jobs and create new ones."

He counsels patience, cautioning against those already calling for a second stimulus package.

"I realize that when we passed this Recovery Act, there were those who felt that doing nothing was somehow an answer," he says. "Today, some of those same critics are already judging the effort a failure although they have yet to offer a plausible alternative. Others believed that the recovery plan should have been even larger, and are already calling for a second recovery plan.

"But, as I made clear at the time it was passed, the Recovery Act was not designed to work in four months – it was designed to work over two years. We also knew that it would take some time for the money to get out the door, because we are committed to spending it in a way that is effective and transparent. Crucially, this is a plan that will also accelerate greatly throughout the summer and the fall. We must let it work the way it’s supposed to, with the understanding that in any recession, unemployment tends to recover more slowly than other measures of economic activity," he adds.

During his weeklong trip to Europe and Africa that wraps up today, attacks grew louder on the stimulus, polls showed declining confidence in his job performance on the economy, and numbers showed continuing steep job losses.

In his address, Obama claims accomplishments abroad, but seeks to reassure Americans that he's focused on the homefront, that he will get federal budget deficits under control even as he tries to pass landmark legislation on healthcare and clean energy, and to remind the public of the depth of the economic crisis he inherited in January.

"We came into office facing the most severe economic downturn since the Great Depression," he says. "At the time, we were losing, on average 700,000 jobs a month. And many feared that our financial system was on the verge of collapse. As a result of the swift and aggressive action we took in the first few months of this year, we’ve been able to pull our financial system and our economy back from the brink."

"I said when I took office that it would take many months to move our economy from recession to recovery and ultimately to prosperity," he adds. "We are not there yet, and I continue to believe that even one American out of work is one too many. But we are moving in the right direction. We are cleaning up the wreckage of this storm. And we are laying a firmer, stronger foundation so that we may better weather whatever future storms may come. This year has been and will continue to be a year of rescuing our economy from disaster."

The full text is below, and the video of the address can be viewed here.

Massachusetts Senators John F. Kerry and Edward M. Kennedy announced today that the Bay State's Department of Housing and Community Development will get nearly $51 million in stimulus cash to help revive the moribund housing market.

Nationally, housing starts have fallen almost 80 percent since the beginning of 2006, and Massachusetts is no exception. The drop in housing construction has led to severe job losses in building and related jobs, more than 1 million nationwide.

“We’ve got more than 750 Massachusetts families and 1,000 children hanging on by their fingernails living in motels at a cost to state taxpayers of nearly $2 million each month. This affordable housing investment will help these families and thousands more who are out of work or struggling with reduced incomes from fewer hours at work by creating good jobs and delivering affordable housing now. It will help keep these working families off the streets and out of shelters for good,” Kerry said in a statement.

“These funds are vital to Massachusetts families who are out of work and reeling from the soaring cost of housing,” added Kennedy. “I commend the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development for its extraordinary commitment to our citizens struggling with housing costs, and I commend President Obama for emphasizing the need to make these important investments that protect families and also create jobs in our Commonwealth.”

While President Obama discusses the global economy in Italy with other world leaders, the volume is getting dialed up on job losses at home.

The unemployment rate is at 9.5 percent -- the highest in 26 years -- and headed into double digits. Employers laid off another 467,000 workers last month, bringing to 6.5 million the net job losses since the recession began in December 2007. And criticism is growing of the $787 billion economic stimulus plan that Obama championed -- and why it isn't creating jobs quicker.

The epicenter of the debate this week is Ohio, the traditional presidential bellwether state where Obama spent quite a bit of time campaigning and where a new poll this week had worrisome numbers for Obama.

Respondents in the Quinnipiac University survey were evenly divided over Obama's handling of the economy -- 48 percent approved, 46 percent disapproved -- and his approval rating had dropped to 49 percent from 62 percent in May while his disapproval number rose to 44 percent from 31 percent.

Quinnipiac called Obama's numbers "lackluster," and said they were the lowest in any national or state poll it had conducted since his inauguration.

Representative John Boehner of Ohio, the top Republican in the House, caused a ruckus over the weekend by claiming that none of the contracts had been let for infrastructure projects funded by the stimulus.

The Democratic National Committee released a web video and is holding a news conference today in Ohio to rebut Boehner, who it says is being hypocritical since the House GOP stimulus plan had no infrastructure projects.

“Given that he championed and continues to advocate the very same economic policies that got us into this mess to begin with, perhaps John Boehner just doesn't know what creating new jobs looks like. Or perhaps he was willfully misleading the public about the effect of the President's economic recovery package to score political points,” DNC spokesman Hari Sevugan said in a statement. “Either way, considering that the Republican 'alternative' included ZERO funding for construction projects, it's the height of hypocrisy for Boehner to criticize the status of these projects at all.”

Michael Steel, a Boehner spokesman, responded: "Ohio was very nearly the last state to get the first 50 percent of its stimulus construction money obligated for construction projects, which is ridiculous. As of late May, approximately, no
contracts had been signed.

"Since that time, some contracts have been belatedly set in motion, but the entire process has been absurdly slow-moving -- just as Republicans warned it would be last winter when we called for an economic recovery bill based on fast-acting tax relief for small businesses and working families rather than spending on slow-moving government programs. It's embarrassing that the DNC can't defend its own indefensible trillion-dollar stimulus that isn't working
and resorts to desperate tactics like this."

The Obama administration concedes that the continuing job losses are unacceptable, but says that the stimulus package was always going to take some time to have measurable impact.

Vice President Joe Biden said over the weekend that the White House might have "misread" the depth of the recession; he plans to visit the state on Thursday to trumpet the stimulus.

But Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said on Fox Business Network that all the stimulus needs to be spent before serious consideration of a second stimulus package.

Solis said she can't predict when the unemployment rate will begin declining.

"We're not looking at just a quick fix here, we're looking at something that is going to take us out of this bad economy for the next decade," she said. "And we have to make these investments that were neglected in the last eight years."

President Obama plans today to highlight the importance of innovation in creating jobs, but at this rate the White House would be happy with any kind of jobs at all.

The Labor Department reported this morning that employers slashed 467,000 jobs last month, bringing the net loss since the recession began in December 2007 to about 6.5 million.

While the job cuts were less than many economists expected, the unemployment rate still rose to 9.5 percent, the highest in 26 years, and most expect the jobless rate will reach 10 percent this year. About 14.7 million people were unemployed in June.

Besides the devastating impact on families and their towns, the growing unemployment rolls are a political problem for Obama, who championed the $787 billion economic stimulus plan, but wants to be able to show more impact to reassure Americans.

In a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll released today, 40 percent of respondents said they believe the economy is still getting worse, while 48 percent said it has stabilized, and only 12 percent believe a recovery has begun.

In his last scheduled public event before decamping for Camp David for the Fourth of July holiday, the president plans to meet with the CEOs of large and small companies that are using innovation to add jobs.

His full remarks are below, followed by the White House release, including the list of attendees:

A pro-Obama, Democratic grassroots group unveiled a new TV ad today, lauding the House for passing a landmark climate change bill and urging supporters to call their senators to do the same.

The spot, from Americans United for Change, is to air in Washington this week and asserts that the legislation will create millions of clean energy jobs. "It’s a foundation for America’s long-term economic success, making us world leader in clean energy," the announcer says. "The challenge is global. And the solution uniquely American."

After lots of arm-twisting by President Obama and his aides, and quite a bit of horse-trading, the House on Friday narrowly passed the bill on a 219-212 vote. It is designed to lower how much carbon is pumped into the atmosphere through a "cap-and-trade" system in which carbon emissions are capped and permits to pollute are given away or sold by the government.

But the bill faces tough sledding in the Senate, and some observers don't believe it will pass this year, though Obama wants final passage before he attends an international global warming conference in Copenhagen.

Obama and his allies are ramping up their grassroots efforts to put pressure on senators.

“Thanks to the extraordinary leadership in Congress, America has taken a giant leap towards becoming the global standard for clean energy while creating millions of new jobs in the process," Tom McMahon, acting executive director of Americans United for Change, said in a statement. "This historic legislation will help build a solid foundation for long-term economic prosperity by meeting President Obama’s challenge to reduce our nation’s dependence on foreign oil and curbing pollution that causes global warming. This ad is designed to encourage Congress to continue standing up to the forces of ‘status quo’ and move this historic clean energy jobs bill to the President’s desk as quickly as possible.”

UPDATE: Organizing for America, the current iteration of Obama's grassroots campaign organization, is sending an email today to thousands of members in Representative Ed Markey's district, urging them to call the Massachusetts congressman with thanks for his leadership on the energy bill.

"We know that historic change is always tough, and enacting clean energy legislation is no exception," wrote Addisu Demissie, the group's political director. "But, with your help, on Friday the House passed a historic energy bill -- a critical first step toward rebuilding our economy with good green jobs, reducing harmful pollution, and breaking our dependence on foreign oil."

The White House announced late this afternoon that top officials will go on the road this summer -- not to big cities, but to often-neglected rural areas to discuss how communities, states, and the federal government can work together to strengthen rural America.

Vice President Joe Biden, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will kick off the Rural Tour on Wednesday to visit Wattsburg, Pa., to discuss the issue of rural broadband.

“A healthy American economy depends on a prosperous rural America,” President Obama said in a statement. “Rural America is vast and diverse, and different communities face different challenges and opportunities. That’s why we’re going out to hear directly from the people of rural America about their needs and concerns and what my Administration can do to support them.”

The other stops scheduled so far:

July 16, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Vilsack will travel to La Crosse, Wisc., to discuss rural economic development.

July 18, Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Vilsack will travel to Ringgold, Va., to discuss green jobs and a new energy economy, with a focus on weatherization and carbon sequestration.

July 20, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, and Vilsack will travel to St. John’s Parish, La., to discuss rural healthcare.

Aug. 12, Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan, Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Chu, and Vilsack will travel to Bethel, Alaska, to discuss rural infrastructure, green jobs and a new energy economy, as well as climate change.

Aug. 16, Salazar and Vilsack will travel to Zanesville, Ohio, to discuss green jobs and a new energy economy, with a focus on renewable energies.

Aug. 17, Duncan and Vilsack will travel to Hamlet, N.C., to discuss rural education.

Sept. 28, Salazar and Vilsack will travel to Scottsbluff, Neb., to discuss production agriculture.

Sept. 30, Donovan and Vilsack will travel to Las Cruces, N.M., to discuss rural infrastructure.

President Obama held an event this afternoon to trumpet one of his biggest legislative victories so far -- the narrow House passage late Friday of the first-ever bill to tackle global warming.

The sweeping legislation, passed on a 219-212 vote, would rewrite US environmental policy in the most significant way since the 1970s Clean Air Act and would create a controversial cap-and-trade system that would limit carbon emissions and under which the government would sell or give away permits to emit limited amounts.

Obama said it is time for bold action to build on what he called more action on clean energy in the last few months than in the past few decades, including new fuel efficiency standards for all vehicles and green jobs in the economic stimulus plan. He also announced new efficiency standards, including compact fluorescent light bulbs. (His full remarks are below, followed by the White House release.)

He called the climate change bill "extraordinary," saying it will open the door to a clean energy economy, end US dependence on foreign oil, and create thousands of jobs. but he also has quibbles with the House version.

During his campaign, Obama called for all the pollution permits to be sold to help raise money for other priorities, but went along with House Democrats' plan to give many of them away to help lower the cost to industry.

On Sunday, Obama also acknowledged reservations about a provision that would punish trading partners that don't work to curb pollution. "At a time when the economy worldwide is still deep in recession and we've seen a significant drop in global trade, I think we have to be very careful about sending any protectionist signals out there," he told reporters.

House Republicans railed against the bill, saying it amounted to an energy tax on Americans -- and Senate Republicans quickly indicated they will use the same line of attack to try to stop the bill.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said on "Fox News Sunday" that the measure would lead to "significant increases" in electricity costs across the country.

But in his weekly Internet and radio address on Saturday, Obama urged the Senate not to listen to the naysayers. "We cannot be afraid of the future," he said. "And we must not be prisoners of the past. Don’t believe the misinformation out there that suggests there is somehow a contradiction between investing in clean energy and economic growth. It’s just not true."

While Obama and supporters say the bill is a historic advance, some liberal allies say it doesn't go far enough.

MoveOn.org, the major advocacy group, sent a fund-raising missive to members today asking for a vote whether to fight the bill in the Senate.

"The US House passed a huge energy bill Friday. Lots of good people are applauding the passage of this legislation. But here's the ugly truth: Big Oil and Coal lobbyists, working in cahoots with some conservative Blue Dog Democrats, weakened the bill terribly—it now falls far short of President Obama's campaign vision to transition America's economy to clean energy and create millions of new jobs," the email said.

"In fact, the bill repeals a key part of the Clean Air Act and doesn't do nearly enough to shift America to renewable energy -- so instead of a boom in solar and wind, the bill locks us into dirty coal power for another generation.... o win in the Senate, we need to make sure everyone understands that the Clean Air Act is under attack and highlight the other big problems with the bill. If we decide to proceed with this campaign together, we'll boost progressive champions like those who fought in the House, and expose conservatives who do the bidding of the oil and coal industry."

President Obama bragged this afternoon about 10 of the nation's largest banks repaying $68 billion in government bailout money.

"Taxpayer dollars were used to stabilize the financial system at a time of extraordinary stress. And these funds were also meant to be an investment -- and they were meant to be temporary. And that's why this morning's announcement is important," the president said at the White House.

"Several financial institutions are set to pay back $68 billion to taxpayers. And while we know that we will not escape the worst financial crisis in decades without some losses to taxpayers, it's worth noting that in the first round of repayments from these companies the government has actually turned a profit," he added.

"This is not a sign that our troubles are over -- far from it. The financial crisis this administration inherited is still creating painful challenges for businesses and families alike. And I think everybody sees it in their own individual districts. But it is a positive sign. We're seeing an initial return on a few of these investments. We're restoring funds to the Treasury where they'll be available to safeguard against continuing risks to financial stability. And as this money is returned, we'll see our national debt lessened by $68 billion -- billions of dollars that this generation will not have to borrow and future generations will not have to repay.

"I've said repeatedly that I have no interest in managing the banking system -- or, for that matter, running auto companies or other private institutions. So today's announcement is welcome news to me. But I also want to say the return of these funds does not provide forgiveness for past excesses or permission for future misdeeds. It's critical that as our country emerges from this period of crisis, that we learn its lessons; that those who seek reward do not take reckless risk; that short-term gains are not pursued without regard for long-term consequences."

The Treasury Department announced today that it has approved the repayments from the banks, which withdrew cash from the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program created by Congress last October at the height of the financial crisis.

Barack Obama is president, but he's also still a politician.

So after trying to shore up his support on how he's handling the economy with a high-profile pledge on Monday to ramp up the impact of the $787 billion stimulus package, today he's focusing on his weakest area -- federal spending.

With the deficit this year headed to a record $1.8 trillion -- four times the previous high -- Obama outlined new rules that would require Congress to pay for any new tax cuts or spending, including an overhaul of the healthcare system.

He spoke at the White House on what is known as "PAYGO" -- as in pay as you go.

"The 'pay as you go' rule is very simple," he said. "Congress can only spend a dollar if it saves a dollar elsewhere. This principle guides responsible families managing a budget. And it is no coincidence that this rule was in place when we moved from record deficits to record surpluses in the 1990s -- and that when this rule was abandoned, we returned to record deficits that doubled the national debt. Entitlement increases and tax cuts need to be paid for. They are not free, and borrowing to finance them is not a sustainable long-term policy.

"Paying for what you spend is basic common sense. Perhaps that's why, here in Washington, it has been so elusive."

Obama said he is sending Congress a bill to turn the proposals into law.

(His full remarks are below, followed by a White House release on the proposals.)

Obama announced rules -- similar to those used by President Bill Clinton to produce budget surpluses -- that would ban lawmakers from expanding entitlement programs such as Medicare and Social Security, creating new entitlement programs, or cutting taxes unless they are paid for with spending cuts or tax increases. If lawmakers fail to do so, entitlement programs would be automatically cut.

Obama invited members of Congress, including fiscally conservative Democrats in the "Blue Dog Coalition," whose support he needs on healthcare and other parts of his ambitious agenda.

A new Gallup Poll reinforces that while Obama's job overall approval rating remains high at 61 percent, and he gets high marks on his handling of foreign affairs, his disapproval number is at the highest of his presidency, at 34 percent, eroded by increasing doubts on some of his policies. Disapproval of how he is handling the economy has risen from 30 percent in February to 42 percent in late May.

And more Americans now disapprove than approve how he is handling the federal budget deficit (46 percent approval, 48 percent disapproval) and how he is controlling federal spending (45 percent approval, 51 percent disapproval).

"This latest Gallup Poll shows that the US public has significantly differentiated views on various dimensions relating to Obama. Americans are most positive when asked about their basic opinions of Obama as a person. They also are positive when asked to assess his overall job performance, and on aspects of his performance relating to foreign and international issues. Americans have become increasingly less positive about Obama's handling of the economy in recent months, and are most negative when asked to say whether they approve of his handling of the federal deficit and federal spending," Gallup says.
"The good news for Obama is that the public continues to be quite positive when asked to rate him as a person and to rate his overall job performance -- both of which are presumably summaries of Americans' views of their president across all of the ways in which he could be evaluated."

The new poll, conducted May 29-31, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

By Alan Wirzbicki, Globe correspondent

WASHINGTON -- The White House pulled out all the stops today, seeking to reassure Americans that the $787 billion economic stimulus package is working and outlining plans to save or create 600,000 jobs in the next three months by speeding up the program.

It launched a new website, it offered specific figures on the projects nationwide where spending will be accelerated, and top economic adviser had a PowerPoint presentation, including maps filled with dots pinpointing the projects.

But getting an actual list of projects turned out be heavy lifting. The White House didn't provide one, but referred reporters to various departments.

Some agencies had state-by-state rundowns, but others didn't. Curiously, for instance, the White House said that work would begin or be sped up on 20 Superfund sites, but the Environmental Protection Agency could not identify them. (Three sites in Massachusetts -- New Bedford Harbor, Hatheway & Patterson in Mansfield, and Silresin Chemical in Lowell -- are eventually scheduled to receive between $45 million and $85 million in stimulus funding.)

Here's what the Globe was able to compile about Massachusetts:

Agriculture: Start 200 new rural wastewater and water systems nationwide.
Massachusetts: Manchaug water district in Sutton, $1.4 million in grants and loans.

Defense: Initiate 2,300 projects at 359 military facilities nationwide.
Massachusetts: Unavailable.

Education: Fund 135,000 jobs, including teachers, principals and support staff nationwide.
Massachusetts: Unavailable.

Environment: Begin or accelerate cleanup at 20 Superfund sites nationwide.
Massachusetts: Unavailable.

Health and Human Services: Enable 1,129 health centers to serve 300,000 patients nationwide.
Massachusetts: 36 community clinics, $9.9 million total.

Interior: Begin repairs and other work at 107 national parks and historic sites nationwide.
Massachusetts: Charlestown Navy Yard, Bunker Hill Monument, Historic Longfellow House, Lowell historic mills, Saugus Iron Works, $9.2 million total.

Justice: Speed grants to hire or keep on the job 5,000 law enforcement officers nationwide.
Massachusetts: 210 agencies have applied for money for 922 jobs so far.

Labor: Create 125,000 summer youth jobs nationwide.
Massachusetts: $25 million for slots, including about 800 in Boston.

Transportation: Begin work on projects at 98 airports and more than 1,500 highway locations nationwide.
Massachusetts: Taxiway repairs at Hanscom Field in Bedford, Beverly Municipal Airport, and Orange Municipal Airport.
Also, Interstate 95 between Lexington and Reading, Route 6 in Swansea, Routes 18 and 28 in Bridgewater and Middlesborough, Route 116 in Adams, Route 6 in Bourne, $15.3 million total.

Veterans: Begin improvements at 90 veterans medical centers in 38 states.
Massachusetts: Unavailable.

Note: Dollar figures represent total funding, not necessarily how much will be spent in next three months.

After reaching out to Muslims and reassuring allies on his second world trip, President Obama returned today to job one on the domestic front -- reviving the economy, still bleeding hundreds of thousands of jobs a month.

He and Vice President Joe Biden convened his cabinet this morning to ramp up the impact of the $787 billion stimulus package in its second 100 days, announcing 10 major new projects designed to create or save more than 600,000 jobs in the second 100 days – compared to 150,000 in the first 100 days.

UPDATE: Before the cabinet session, Obama said the slowing pace of job losses is "a sign we're moving in the right direction."

But there are still far too many people losing their jobs and in danger of losing their homes, he said. It's a reminder that the US is still in a "very deep" recession and it will take a "considerable amount of time" to pull out of the tailspin.

The Labor Department reported on Friday that employers cut 345,000 jobs in May -- the lowest monthly total since September. But 787,000 more people joined the unemployment rolls, increasing the national rate to 9.4 percent, the highest in more than a quarter century.

Obama highlighted the impact of the stimulus package, but acknowledged that continuing job losses will further the negative economic cycle by reducing spending and hurting businesses. Now, he said, the stimulus package must reverse that cycle.

"I'm not satisfied. We've got more work to do," he said. "Now we're in a position to really accelerate."

Obama pledged anew to spend the money transparently and avoiding "boondoggles." And he hit back at his critics, saying that they should talk to people who have been helped by the stimulus package.

(The full remarks of Obama and Biden are below.)

The White House statement asserted that the work during the first 100 days "focused on providing immediate relief to hard-hit families and communities, jump-starting shovel-ready projects, and laying the foundation for large-scale infrastructure improvement programs."

The White House also released a "roadmap to recovery" -- a graphic representation of where the new projects will happen. It said that Obama will urge the cabinet to meet these targets during the second 100 days:

Enable 1,129 health centers to serve 300,000 patients – Department of Health and Human Services

Begin work on 107 national parks – Department of the Interior

Begin work on projects at 98 airports and more than 1,500 highway locations – Department of Transportation

Fund 135,000 education jobs, including teachers, principals and support staff – Department of Education

Begin improvements at 90 veterans medical centers in 38 States – Department of Veterans Affairs

Hire or keep on the job 5,000 law enforcement officers – Department of Justice

Start 200 new waste and water systems in rural America – United States Department of Agriculture

Begin or accelerate cleanup work at 20 Superfund sites -- Environmental Protection Agency

Create 125,000 summer youth jobs – Department of Labor

Initiate 2,300 construction and rehabilitation projects at 359 military facilities - Department of Defense

Obama has been under fire from Republicans and others for what they call the slow pace of job creation. Not a single House Republican voted for the package before it passed in February, and its leadership sent out a list of questions this morning in advance of Obama's announcement:

Does anyone really know how many jobs the stimulus has “saved or created”?

Why is stimulus spending bypassing the states hit hardest by the recession?

Does anyone know how much stimulus money has actually been spent?

Does $59,000 equal $27 million in stimulus money spent?

Who is being scammed by the stimulus?

Republicans also immediately jumped on a remark this morning by Vice President Joe Biden's chief economist, Jared Bernstein.

"The 600,000 jobs are full-time equivalence, meaning that if there are two part-time jobs they count as one full-time job. So that's some real employment in the job market,” Bernstein said on CNBC.

"Apparently, the 600,000 jobs the stimulus will 'save or create' over the next 100 days are not long-term, full-time jobs but temporary, part-time jobs. It’s statements like these that lead to real questions about the administration’s stimulus math," said Joe Pounder, a spokesman for Representative Eric Cantor, the No. 2 Republican in the House.

One group critical of Obama, Americans for Tax Reform, put out statistics of its own today, questioning the White House jobs saved number.

Figuring in the 1.5 million jobs lost since Obama signed the stimulus bill in February, and the $47.3 billion spent as of May 29, the group said "each lost job has cost taxpayers $2,900."

But Obama's labor allies praised his push. The Laborers International Union of North America's general president Terry O’Sullivan, issued a statement: "We commend President Obama and Vice President Biden for working to accelerate the speed of jobs created from the economic recovery plan. While the pace of construction job loss was cut by half in the last month, we agree with the Obama administration that 'not as bad is not good enough.' The best thing to bring relief to struggling Americans is good jobs with good paychecks."

"The economic recovery plan has already started to put people back to work and accelerating the funding for projects to build America will create more jobs that workers desperately need," O'Sullivan continued. "But even after the recovery plan creates or support an anticipated 700,000 construction jobs, there will still be more than 1 million unemployed construction workers. To create good jobs and demonstrate a sustained commitment to fixing our economy and taking care of our country we need a much greater investment to build America starting with the upcoming surface transportation reauthorization and the water bill currently waiting for action in the Senate. We know what’s working to get people back to work – for the sake of our country and economy, we must not only do it faster, but also do more of it."

Responding to the latest unemployment numbers, Vice President Joe Biden said today that he and President Obama will announce Monday plans to "ramp up" the pace of projects from the $787 billion economic stimulus plan.

The Labor Department reported that while employers cut 345,000 jobs in May -- the lowest monthly total since September -- the national unemployment rate still rose to 9.4 percent, the highest in more than a quarter century.

Biden called the numbers "tough" but said there are also "some signs of hope today," according to the press pool report before his meeting with his chief economist, Jared Bernstein, and Christina Romer, chairwoman of the White House Council of Economic Advisors.

Still, he told reporters, "It doesn't satisfy me, it doesn't satisfy the president. Less bad is not how we're going to measure success. We will not be satisfied until we are adding jobs on a monthly basis."

He did not offer more specifics about the Monday announcement.

Biden, who was put in charge of overseeing the recovery package by Obama, said that 3,600 projects are underway from the stimulus package, and that today's jobs report shows "some signs" of this.

"We still have a very long way to go," Biden said, adding "We're working to build that foundation every day we're here." (His full remarks are below.)

Critics, however, have complained that money for roads and other infrastructure projects, and have questioned the administration's jobs figures -- more than 150,000 saved or created as of late last month, 100 days after the stimulus was passed.

But the top House Republican, John Boehner of Ohio, used the jobs report to lay into the Obama administration's policies and the effectiveness of the stimulus package, which not a single GOP representative supported.

"Today's unemployment rate is the highest in more than a quarter century, and it's another reminder of how Washington is hanging middle-class Americans out to dry. More than 2.5 million Americans have lost their jobs this year, and what have the Democrats in charge of Washington given them? A trillion-dollar 'stimulus' that isn't producing jobs immediately, as the Administration promised, and that Vice President Biden admits is ripping off the American people. Another $400 billion spending bill loaded with 9,000 unscrutinized earmarks. And bailouts that reward irresponsible behavior and bad business decisions. These policies are harming middle class families when they can least afford it and adding to the massive debt inherited by future generations," he said in a statement.

"There is a better way. Doubling down on the Democrats' plans to tax more, spend more, and borrow more from our children and grandchildren is not the right answer to this economic crisis. Republicans have offered better solutions to create more jobs, curb spending, cut taxes, rebuild savings, and control the debt, and we have reached out to our Democratic counterparts to work on these policies in a constructive way. I urge Democrats in Congress and the Administration to finally follow through on their promises of bipartisan cooperation."

Answering a challenge from President Obama, House Republicans today outlined what they called "common-sense" savings totaling $375 billion over five years.

In a letter and proposals to Obama, the Republicans listed a host proposals -- many of them familiar -- including consolidating federal arts funding, ending "ineffective" and "duplicative" education programs, and terminating other small-bore federal agencies. (Click here to read them.)

"The President challenged us to come up with budget savings, and today House Republicans encourage him to not only look over our proposed list of $375 billion common-sense taxpayer savings, but to join our effort," Representative Eric Cantor, the No. 2 Republican in the House, said in a statement. "For the sake of our young people and America’s long-term fiscal viability, Congress simply cannot keep spending money that the President himself admits we don’t have. We have an opportunity to work together to finally start to bring some accountability to the way Washington spends taxpayer dollars, and I hope it’s taken seriously by the Administration and the Democrat majorities in Congress."

That would be far more than the $100 million in budget savings that Obama outlined at his first cabinet meeting in April. The president said those trims would set a new tone, but acknowledged they amount to a "drop in the bucket" when the federal deficit is projected to reach a record $1.84 trillion this year -- four times the previous high.

Obama's $3.6 trillion budget for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1 has been criticized, by some Democrats as well as Republicans, because it would mean a projected $9.3 trillion in deficits over the next decade.

For a president who complained at first about all the hoopla over the 100-day milestone, which he termed an artifice, he seems to be embracing it now.

President Obama held a town hall and a primetime news conference to mark his first 100 days in office last month. And today, he held an event to mark the first 100 days under the $787 billion economic stimulus plan.

He toured the solar power array at Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas, then delivered a speech "highlighting the progress the country has made in the first 100 days of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the work that has been done to build a new foundation for America’s economic recovery," the White House says.

Obama also released a report from Vice President Joe Biden, whom he has put in charge of making sure the money is well spent, on stimulus projects already underway across the country.

“One hundred days ago, in the midst of the worst economic crisis in half a century, we passed the most sweeping economic recovery act in history – a plan designed to save jobs, create new ones, and put money in people’s pockets,” Obama said. “....One hundred days later, we're already seeing results.”

(His full remarks are below.)

The White House said that more than $112 billion has been spent or pledged and more than 150,000 jobs have been created or saved. The president highlighted $467 million to expand and accelerate the development and use of geothermal and solar energy throughout the country.

The White House released a "100 Days, 100 Projects" report, with highlights that are below. (Click here to read it.)

As Republican leaders gather to find the way forward, a new poll shows the tough sledding ahead.

While 63 percent of Americans say President Obama's policies would move the country in the right direction -- and 57 percent say that of Democratic leaders in Congress -- only 39 percent say so of GOP congressional leaders, according to the CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey.

The poll found that 53 percent of respondents believe the policies being proposed by Republicans would put the country on the wrong path. And 53 percent also blame Republicans and only 21 percent Democrats for the economic swoon.

Meanwhile, 37 percent say Obama's prescriptions have improved the economy, while 23 percent say his policies have made the economy worse, and 40 percent say they have had no impact.

UPDATE: This afternoon, the party leaders trashed a proposal to start calling their opponents the "Democrat Socialist" party.

The Associated Press reports that instead, they plan to vote on a resolution urging Americans to oppose the Democrats' "socialist" agenda. GOP Chairman Michael Steele and others had opposed the resolution urging the Democrats to change their name, calling it absurd.

President Obama this afternoon signed two significant bills that he hopes will help fix the struggling housing market.

“These landmark pieces of legislation will protect hardworking Americans, crack down on those who seek to take advantage of them, and ensure that the problems that led us into this crisis never happen again,” Obama said.

One is designed to clamp down on mortgage fraud and would set up a $5 million independent commission to investigate the cause of the worldwide financial meltdown.

The $265 million a year from the bill, which supporters say will pay for itself through additional fines and penalties, would go to hire about 160 more FBI agents and 200 more Justice Department prosecutors to work on mortgage fraud cases.

The other encourages banks to help homeowners avoid foreclosure by expanding a $300 billion program that pushes lenders to write down an individual's mortgage if the homeowner agrees to pay an insurance premium.

His full remarks are below, followed by a White House.

Because of the current strict eligibility requirements, only about 50 homeowners are refinancing through the program, compared to the 400,000 it was supposed to help. The bill does not include the so-called cram-down provision that would have allowed bankruptcy judges to reduce mortgage payments. Obama wanted the proposal, but banks and other lenders vehemently opposed it.

Earlier today, Obama huddled with more of his economic brain trust, attending the first quarterly meeting of the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board.

Afterwards, Obama thanked its chairman, former Federal Reserve chief Paul Volcker, for the panel's "extraordinary work."

The committee has an "impressive" though not unanimous consensus on the potential of clean energy jobs, Obama told reporters. It is also helping advise him on an overhauled financial regulation plan the administration plans to put before Congress this year, Obama said.

President Obama declares today that, yes, we can all get along.

In his weekly Internet and radio address, he says that advocates for opposing interests are coming to the table and negotiating in good faith on healthcare and energy -- to name two major issues being debated in Washington.

On climate change and clean energy legislation, "utility companies and corporate leaders are joining, not opposing, environmental advocates and labor leaders to create a new system of clean energy initiatives that will help unleash a new era of growth and prosperity."

On a healthcare overhaul, "representatives of insurance and drug companies, doctors and hospitals, and labor unions who are pledging to do their part to reduce health care costs. These are some of the groups who have been among the fiercest critics of past comprehensive health care reform plans."

"I have always believed that it is better to talk than not to talk; that it is far more productive to reach over a divide than to shake your fist across it. This has been an alien notion in Washington for far too long, but we are seeing that the ways of Washington are beginning to change," Obama added.

"This is how progress has always been made. This is how a new foundation will be built. We cannot assume that interests will always align, or that fragile partnerships will not fray. There will be setbacks. There will be difficult days. But we are off to a good start."

His full remarks are below, and the address can be viewed here:

Vice President Joe Biden, put in charge of the $787 billion economic stimulus package, submitted his first status report today.

The highlights of the first 77 days under the recovery act (through May 5), according to the White House:

· 150,000 jobs have been created or saved
· More than $88 billion has been made available for programs and projects
· More than 3,000 transportation construction projects have been funded in 52 states and territories
· Ninety-five percent of working families have begun getting tax credits in their paychecks
· COBRA health insurance premiums have been reduced by 65 percent
· Unemployment benefits have increased by $25 a week
· States have drawn down $15.7 billion in medical assistance funds, allowing them to avoid budget cuts
· Thirteen states have qualified for funds to improve education programs and save education-related jobs

"Looking ahead, an additional 600,000 jobs are expected to be created or saved under the Recovery Act in the next 100 days and billions of dollars in contracts and grants are expected to be awarded in the coming months," the White House said. "The report finds that the anticipated funds are already having an effect on economic and job growth as private sector companies staff up to meet expected demand for their products under Recovery Act programs and state and local governments adjust their spending plans ahead of receiving additional Recovery Act funds."

UPDATE: Republicans noted, however, that more independent analyses by the New York Times, the Associated Press, and others have suggested that the stimulus cash is trickling out or going to places not in as dire need as others.

Ask most Americans about former President Jimmy Carter and energy, and they'll probably recall the long gas lines during the 1970s Arab oil embargo and the 1979 "malaise" speech in which he outlined his plan for energy efficiency and reducing oil imports.

Today, he is being called upon to offer a "historical review"of US efforts to address energy security before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Carter testified that there has been "a long period of energy complacency" and that the US is now lagging behind "many other nations in the production and use of windmills, solar power, nuclear energy, and the efficiency of energy
consumption."

"Our inseparable energy and environmental decisions will determine how well we can maintain a vibrant society, protect our strategic interests, regain worldwide political and economic leadership, meet relatively new competitive challenges, and deal with less fortunate nations. Collectively, nothing could be more important," he said, according to prepared remarks.

“President Carter has an unparalleled understanding of the depth and scope of the energy security challenges facing our nation, and we are honored to welcome him to the committee,” committee Chairman John F. Kerry said in a statement announcing Carter's appearance.

“This hearing will launch a series of targeted investigations into the manifestations and implications of our dependence on foreign oil, as well as the geopolitical challenges associated with current patterns of global energy flows.”

Kerry's opening statement at the hearing is below:

Critics -- including many Republicans and some economists -- have questioned President Obama's assertion that the economic stimulus package will create or save 3.5 million jobs.

It is exceedingly difficult, they note, to prove that a job was "saved." "If we lose over a million jobs since the stimulus passed, the administration can still claim to save 150,000. 'Save' is a communications department's greatest 'saving grace," the office of House GOP whip Eric Cantor said in an email today.

The skeptics are sure to have a field day with the new report from the president's Council of Economic Advisers that revises the estimate of job creation from the $787 billion stimulus package.

Besides repeating the 3.5 million jobs figure as of the fourth quarter of 2010, the report introduces a new number -- 6.8 million "job-years" saved or created hrough the end of 2012.

"For some purposes, looking at the effects at a single point in time is not the most useful approach," the report says. "Since the economy is likely to be operating below capacity for several years, job creation at any time over the next several years is valuable.

"Thus, a second way to look at the employment effects of the program is to estimate the number of job-years the program will create over the President's first term. A job-year means simply one job for one year."

The job-years include "direct jobs" created by government-sponsored projects, "indirect jobs" created at suppliers who make materials used in projects, and "induced jobs" created elsewhere in the economy from increased spending by workers and companies.

To read the report, click here.

Americans for Tax Reform, a group critical of Obama, noted that federal statistics show 1.9 million jobs lost since Obama took office.

"Obama and his economic advisors have resorted to the invention of highly questionable new metrics such as the number of ''saved' jobs and – making its debut today -- the number of 'job-years' created," the group said today.

It cited Senator Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, responding to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner during a hearing: "You created a situation where you cannot be wrong. If the economy loses 2 million jobs over the next few years, you can say yes, but it would've lost 5.5 million jobs. If we create a million jobs, you can say, well, it would have lost 2.5 million jobs. You've given yourself complete leverage where you cannot be wrong, because you can take any scenario and make yourself look correct."

That $1.3 trillion deficit that President Obama likes to say he inherited whenever questioned on his spending?

Well, it has ballooned to a projected $1.8 trillion. And Obama has no one to blame but himself -- and the economic crisis, which has helped force the federal government to borrow about 50 cents of every $1 it forks out.

The deficit figure for the current budget -- which ends Sept. 30 -- is about quadruple last year's number. And that figure was an all-time record.

Since George W. Bush left office, the economy has gone further in the tank, and Obama and Democratic allies in Congress have pushed through a $787 billion stimulus package and a $410 billion supplemental budget bill.

The White House is now predicting the deficit will be $87 billion higher than expected for the 2010 budget year that begins Oct. 1, rising to $1.3 trillion.

President Obama uses his weekly Internet and radio address today to pressure Congress to pass a credit card reform bill by Memorial Day.

"Americans know that they have a responsibility to live within their means and pay what they owe," the president says. "But they also have a right to not get ripped off by the sudden rate hikes, unfair penalties, and hidden fees that have become all-too common in our credit card industry. You shouldn’t have to fear that any new credit card is going to come with strings attached, nor should you need a magnifying glass and a reference book to read a credit card application. And the abuses in our credit card industry have only multiplied in the midst of this recession, when Americans can least afford to bear an extra burden."

Obama called in the heads of major credit companies to the White House last month. Afterwards, industry representatives said those in the meeting discussed the need for a balance between protecting consumers and keeping credit available during the recession.

The House last week passed legislation to restrict abusive credit card practices and eliminate sudden increases in interest rates and late fees. The Senate is expected to vote next week.

"It is past time for rules that are fair and transparent," Obama says in his address. "That is why I have called for a set of new principles to reform our credit card industry. Instead of an 'anything goes' approach, we need strong and reliable protections for consumers. Instead of fine print that hides the truth, we need credit card forms and statements that have plain language in plain sight, and we need to give people the tools they need to find a credit card that meets their needs. And instead of abuse that goes unpunished, we need to strengthen monitoring, enforcement, and penalties for credit card companies that take advantage of ordinary Americans."

His full address is below. To see the web video, click here.

With the new jobless numbers offering that "glimmer of hope" he has been pitching, President Obama today to offered more help to the unemployed.

The lower figures, he said, are no "solace" to the laid-off who can't find jobs and struggle to support their families. And to emerge stronger from the recession, the nation's workforce must come out stronger out of the downturn.

So he laid out proposals to allow people without work to enroll in community college and other education and training programs without sacrificing their unemployment checks. He also wants to make it easier for the jobless to qualify for financial aid for colleges by not basing their eligibility on their prior year's income when they had a job.

The current rules are "senseless" when workers need to prepare themselves for jobs that often require more training. He cited the case of a Maine woman who did get help because the state already has such regulations.

"That's what our unemployment system should be, not just a safety net, but a stepping stone to a new future," Obama said.

Obama also announced a new website (click here) where laid-off workers can find out more about educational opportunities. He also announced that Jill Biden, the vice president's wife who has taught at community colleges, will lead an effort to raise awareness of what they offer.

Obama spoke hours after the Labor Department reported that the pace of layoffs slowed in April, when employers slashed 539,000 jobs, the fewest in six months. But after revised, higher numbers of layoffs in February and March, the unemployment rate rose to 8.9 percent, the highest in more than a quarter century. And since the recession began in December 2007, the economy has lost 5.7 million jobs

The layoffs are "still a sobering toll" and it could take years to recover from the recession, the president said. (His full remarks are below.)

The National Employment Law Project praised Obama's initiatives, saying in a report that despite federal law barring states from denying unemployment benefits to workers in “state-approved training,” many states only allow limited access to benefits.

“In a time when unemployment is at near-unprecedented levels, with long durations of joblessness and substantial job loss -- and with the federal government picking up the tab for 20 to 53 weeks of extended jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed, it is critical that states adopt this change to give workers the chance to develop skills that will help them find sustained work and stay afloat while they do so," the group's policy co-director, Maurice Emsellem, said in a statement.

Representative John Boehner, the House Republican leader, also jumped on the numbers, using them to criticize Obama's game plan. "About two and a half million jobs have been lost since the beginning of the year, yet some here in Washington continue to believe that we can borrow and spend our way back to prosperity," Boehner said in a statement. "Rather than working across the aisle on plans to create more jobs, rebuild Americans' savings, and reinvigorate the housing market, the spending, taxing, and borrowing binge that the Administration and Congress have set out on in the first four months of this year isn't helping our economy."

Predictably, Republicans bashed President Obama's budget, the details of which were submitted on Thursday.

But Democrats, too, are questioning some of the $17 billion or so in cuts. And so are Democratic-leaning advocacy groups.

Add to that list today the National Council of La Raza, the largest national civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States, which joined Republicans in noting that some of the proposed trims were unsuccessfully pushed by former President Bush, but from a different political perspective.

“What we have seen so far with the budget is discouraging and suggests that some of the key priorities of the Latino community are not those of the administration. I am very surprised that the Obama administration in its first budget would mirror similar cuts made by the Bush administration,” Janet Murguía, the council's president and CEO, said in a statement.

She cited the funding for health programs serving Latinos, and unemployment programs, even though the jobless rate among Hispanics has reached 11.4 percent. The council also expressed concern in "the lack of investment" in programs for parents, family literacy, and English learners.

“We realize this is just a proposal and Congress has the opportunity to deliver a budget that works for all Americans and we will continue to work with the Administration and Congress to achieve that,” Murguía added.

A liberal-labor coalition takes a whimsical approach in a new Mother's Day-themed web video urging Americans to support President Obama's economic agenda.

The video from Americans United for Change -- a major ally for the president in organizing grassroots support -- features old-timey organ music and a series of scenes of children offering their mothers what they really want.

"Equal pay (and flowers)," it says on screen as a young girl holds out a bouquet.

Then, "more college aid for our kids (and less laundry)" as kid throws clothes out of a basket.

And finally, "health care we can count on (and breakfast in bed)" as two kids hold out a tray.

The spot ends with a call to call Congress: "Tell them to support President Obama's agenda for families."

The relatively paltry size and breadth of his budget cuts are getting widely panned so far, but an undaunted President Obama declared this morning that he is streamlining government to get rid of wasteful or ineffective spending.

He formally unveiled a list of 121 proposed budget cuts totaling nearly $17 billion -- barely a dent in the $3.4 trillion federal spending plan that Congress has approved for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1.

Obama acknowledged some of the cuts he wants are less than $1 million. That might be considered a pittance in Washington, he said, but most Americans still see the dollar amounts as significant -- and the savings "add up."

"Even by Washington standards, that should be considered real money," he said.

"We have to admit that there is a lot of money that's being spent inefficiently, ineffectively, and, in some cases, in ways that are actually pretty stunning," he said.

"Some programs may have made sense in the past -- but are no longer needed in the present. Other programs never made any sense; the end result of a special interest's successful lobbying campaign. Still other programs perform functions that can be conducted more efficiently, or are already carried out more effectively elsewhere in the government.

As an example of obsolete programs, he cited a long-range radio navigation system that costs $35 million a year. "Now there's GPS," he said.

About half the trims would come from defense programs and the other half from domestic programs, but at the same time Obama is proposing significant increases in some domestic priorities. About 80 of the targeted programs are new to the cut list, and some of the cuts, Obama conceded, will be painful.

That list is only a start, he and his top budget aides argue, but they also acknowledge that much bigger savings are more likely through the healthcare overhaul that the president wants.

"We recognize that there remain looming challenges to our fiscal health beyond that -- challenges that will require us to make healthcare more affordable and to work on a bipartisan basis to address programs like Social Security," Obama said. "So what we're proposing today does not replace the need for large changes in non-discretionary spending."

But Republicans are deriding the cuts as insignificant.

On the Senate floor, Senator Judd Gregg said the savings would have no impact on the federal deficit, projected at $1.5 trillion this year, especially when Obama is adding back "massive spending."

He likened what Obama proposes to taking a "few pieces of sand off the desert."

Obama's full prepared remarks are below, followed by a White House fact sheet on the cuts:

President Obama plans on Thursday to unveil a list of 121 budget cuts totaling nearly $17 billion, the latest installment of his pledge to scrub the federal budget "line by line" for wasteful spending.

A senior White House official told reporters that the cuts would total nearly $17 billion in the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1 and more in subsequent years, with about half the cuts from defense programs and the other half from domestic programs.

"This is an important step in the process, but it's only a step in the process," said the senior administration official, who spoke only on condition of anonymity to discuss the proposals before they are made public. "In many cases we have multiple programs that are doing the same thing, and that drives up administrative costs unnecessarily....We are searching for things that work and trying to cut back on things that do not work."

One example the official cited is a long-range radio navigation system that costs $35 million a year but has been made obsolete by the prevalence of global positioning systems. "It's not used, it's unnecessary, it costs us $35 million a year, and we perpetuate it just through inertia," the official said.

Another is saving $142 million by no longer making payments to states to clean up abandoned mines that have already been cleaned up, and a third is to have the Department of Education use email and videoconferencing instead of stationing an attaché in Paris. That would save $632,000 a year, the official said.

The official said that about 80 of the targeted programs are new and that much bigger savings are possible through the healthcare overhaul that the president wants.

The $17 billion, however, is only a drop in the proverbial bucket when the federal deficit that's likely to exceed $1.5 trillion this year.

And Republicans quickly pooh-poohed the list, asserting that former President Bush proposed even larger cuts last year -- $1 billion and 30 cuts more, by one accounting.

Trying to shore up support for his climate change proposals, President Obama called three dozen House Democrats into the White House today.

More than a month ago, Representatives Edward Markey of Massachusetts and Henry Waxman of California introduced a sweeping bill that would set strict new limits on greenhouse gases, cutting emissions by 20 percent by 2020 and by 85 percent by 2050.

The bill -- which calls for pollution credits to be given or auctioned off to utilities and businesses -- has stalled because of industry opposition, criticism from Republicans, and concerns from some Democrats over the so-called cap-and-trade system.

While Obama's spending blueprint calls for generating $650 billion by auctioning off the credits and using most of the windfall to help with higher energy prices, some are pushing to give away many of those permits to ease the cost on business.

Republican critics, meanwhile, call cap-and-trade an energy tax that will hurt families and small businesses. House Republicans held their own session on global warming and released a list of at least 31 congressional Democrats either concerned or opposed outright to the proposal.

In all the 100-day polls that gave him generally high marks, President Obama found himself faulted in one area -- not being tough enough on Big Business and Wall Street.

So both for political and budgetary reasons, it makes sense that this morning he unveiled a crackdown on corporate tax loopholes and offshore tax havens -- plus 800 more tax agents to enforce the changes.

Introduced by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Obama said that while nobody likes paying taxes, most do their duty, but some shirk their responsibility -- "aided and abetted by a broken tax system."

The current tax system rewards US companies for moving jobs to other countries and for moving profits offshore, the president said.

(His full remarks are below.)

His proposal would eliminate some tax deductions for companies that earn profits in countries with low tax rates. It would also make it illegal for US citizens to use tax havens in the Bahamas or Cayman Islands.

The changes, which require congressional approval and would not take effect until 2011, would increase the Treasury's take by about $210 billion over the next decade. They represent only a first step toward an overhaul of international financial regulations Obama has promised.

Though Obama offers to offset the corporate tax change by making permanent a research tax credit, the proposal is likely to face stiff opposition from business groups and their allies in Congress.

Americans for Tax Reform called it a "job killing" tax increase, asserting that US corporate taxes are already the highest among industrial countries and that US companies face double taxation on their profits.

Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, citing his own legislative efforts to close offshore tax shelters, praised Obama's proposals.

“For five years we’ve been pushing to reform the tax code to end deferral and reward companies that create jobs at home not those that hide money offshore,” Kerry, a senior member of the Finance Committee, said in a statement. “I’m glad President Obama is taking action on an issue that has long needed attention and I will work closely with the administration to simplify and reform our international tax system.”

A White House summary of the proposal is below:

President Obama this afternoon praise the House's passage of a bill designed to protect consumers from sudden increases in interest rates and late fees.

The legislation, which House Financial Services Committee chairman Barney Frank of Massachusetts helped shepherd, passed by a bipartisan vote of 357-70.

"Today, under the leadership of Representatives Barney Frank, Carolyn Maloney, and Luis Gutierrez, members of both parties in the House of Representatives came together to protect American consumers, paving the way toward real, meaningful credit card reform," Obama said in a statement.

"While Americans have a responsibility to live within their means and pay what they owe, credit card companies have a responsibility to set rules that are fair and transparent. The principles I have long supported would help ensure that these responsibilities are met: strong and reliable consumer protections; credit card forms and statements that have plain language in plain sight; tools that can help people make an informed choice about what credit card to use; and beefed up monitoring, enforcement, and penalties. And building on what we have achieved today, I will work with Congress in the weeks to come so that I can sign a credit card reform bill into law that upholds these principles and upholds the interests of the American people."

Over in the Democratic-controlled Senate, however, a bill -- which Obama backed but didn't spend a ton of political capital pushing -- to spare hundreds of thousands of homeowners from foreclosure through bankruptcy was defeated.

A dozen Democrats joined Republicans in the 51-45 vote to shelve the legislation.

A Senate panel today begins the hard slog toward an overhaul of immigration policy -- the goal that Congress punted during the Bush administration and the issue that animated the rank-and-file during last year's Republican presidential primaries.

The Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship will hold a hearing titled, "Comprehensive Immigration Reform in 2009: Can We Do It and How?"

Advocates hope it is the first step to a change that includes a path to citizenship for some of those already in the country illegally.

"For far too long, our state and local governments have been plagued by an out-of-date and broken federal immigration system. Now more than ever, Congress must take the necessary steps to reform our immigration system in a way that honors our laws, rewards honesty and hard work, and fosters economic prosperity," Benjamin Johnson, executive director of the American Immigration Law Foundation, said in a statement.

"The upcoming hearing marks a new day in the conversation on immigration. Rather than dwell on the problems of our broken system, we will hear a discussion that focuses on solutions....This is a discussion that must take place throughout the country because resolution of our immigration crisis will require all sectors of American society to work together to create an immigration system that works for our nation."

The National Council of La Raza, the nation's largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization, also praised the hearing. “For far too long, we have allowed a bullying minority to block the road to solutions and seed intolerance, yet recent elections have demonstrated that Americans want leaders who will solve tough problems, including immigration,” Janet Murguía, NCLR president and CEO, said in a statement.

The group wants the overhaul to include: Getting the 12 million undocumented people in our country to come forward, obtain legal status, learn English, and assume the rights and responsibilities of citizenship; creating smart enforcement policies that uphold national security; cracking down on unscrupulous employers and take away their incentives for hiring undocumented workers; widening legal channels that reunite families and allow future needed workers to come to the U.S. with the rights and protections that safeguard our workforce and prevent the dramatic increase in deaths along the border; and enacting proactive measures to advance the successful integration of new immigrants into our communities.

Pressed on the issue during his news conference Wednesday night, President Obama confirmed his support for comprehensive reform, but said that his administration must lay the groundwork first -- most notably improving border security so Americans are confident that illegal immigrants won't flood the country.

"We can't continue with a broken immigration system. It's not good for anybody," Obama said. "It's not good for American workers. It's dangerous for Mexican would-be workers who are trying to cross a dangerous border. It is putting a strain on border communities who oftentimes have to deal with a host of undocumented workers, and it keeps those undocumented workers in the shadows, which means they can be exploited at the same time as they're depressing US wages."

He said he expects to convene a working group "to start looking at a framework of how this legislation might be shaped. In the meantime, what we're trying to do is take some core -- some key administrative steps to move the process along to lay the groundwork for legislation, because the American people need some confidence that if we actually put a package together we can execute."

"If the American people don't feel like you can secure the borders, then it's hard to strike a deal that would get people out of the shadows and on a pathway to citizenship who are already here, because the attitude of the average American is going to be, 'Well, you're just going to have hundreds of thousands of more coming in each year.' On the other hand, showing that there's a more thoughtful approach than just raids of a handful of workers -- as opposed to, for example, taking seriously the violations of companies that sometimes are actively recruiting these workers to come in -- that's again, something that we can start doing administratively," Obama continued.

"So what we want to do is to show that we are competent in getting results around immigration, even on the structures that we already have in place, the laws that we already have in place, so that we're building confidence among the American people that we can actually follow through on whatever legislative approach emerges. I see the process moving this first year, and I'm going to be moving it as quickly as I can."

UPDATE: As part of the administrative changes, the Department of Homeland Security issued policies today that put more emphasis on going after employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants, though it will still continue to arrest illegal workers.

The Bush administration was criticized by advocacy groups after a series of large raids that resulted in the arrests of about 6,000 workers last year.

"This is a good first step in realigning enforcement priorities," the Immigration Policy Center said. "However, DHS's ability to truly focus on abusive employers is limited by the fact that our current immigration system doesn't provide immigrants or legitimate employers the protections and tools they need to comply with the law. Rather than trimming around the edges, real reform must involve an overhaul of the entire system to ensure that enforcement of our immigration laws is effective, fair, and humane."

Congress this afternoon handed President Obama another big victory to mark his 100th day in office by passing a spending blueprint that incorporates many of his major policy goals ahead on healthcare, energy, and other issues.

But the votes on the budget outline belied Obama's plea for bipartisanship.

The Senate voted 53-43 for the spending plan, with no Republican support, after the House voted 233-193 earlier today, again without a single Republican vote.

In his prepared opening statement for tonight's press conference, Obama says the budget "builds on the steps we’ve taken over the last one hundred days to move this economy from recession to recovery and ultimately to prosperity."

Newly-turned Democrat Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania voted "no," as he did earlier this month when it initially passed the Senate. Three other Democrats also voted no: Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Robert Byrd of West Virginia, and Evan Bayh of Indiana.

And, still, Obama's allies declared victory.

"America’s workers applaud Congress for passing President Obama’s budget resolution that is a transformational blueprint for growing the middle class and making the economy work for everyone again," John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO, said in a statement.

"Now, more than ever, it is crucial that we build an economy that works for working Americans. President Obama’s budget includes a huge down payment on national healthcare reform, investment in growing green jobs and addressing climate change and more funding for education. The budget also moves away from the failed economic policies of the past and includes tax cuts for middle-class working families, rather than for the wealthy and Big Business. "

“Facing the worst economic crisis in decades, President Obama took the oath of office 100 days ago with a bold agenda to turn our economy around, get Americans back to work and lay a solid foundation for future economic growth and prosperity. And he has done just that. The budget passed today by Congress affirms and supports that vision and addresses the President’s fundamental priorities: halving the deficit over the next four years, providing quality, affordable health care to Americans, improving education investing in the clean energy revolution while reducing our dependence on foreign oil,” added Democratic National Committee chairman Tim Kaine.

Tom McMahon, acting executive director, of the labor-liberal coalition Americans United for Change, said in a statement: “While President Obama inherited a crushing recession and the largest deficit in history, 100 days later the nation is on a clear path to economic recovery paved through the transformational budget Congress passed today. In addition to returning fairness to our tax code and beginning to take control of the federal deficit, the President’s budget recognizes that without fixing our broken health care system, without reducing our dependence on foreign oil, and without investing in tomorrow’s educated workforce, America’s struggling middle-class families will never get ahead. The investments called for in this budget for health care reform, education, and clean energy are essential for long-term economic prosperity. It also remains disappointing that many of the same conservatives members of Congress that enabled the very failed economic policies that got us into this mess once again turned their backs on middle-class families and just said ‘no’ today.”

The bill includes a parliamentary maneuver, which if a healthcare plan isn't passed by Oct. 15, would allow Democrats to push through a plan with a simple majority in the Senate, instead of the 60 votes normally required for such major legislation.

Vice President Biden hit the road today to tout the economic stimulus package's help for weatherization and energy efficiency programs.

He toured Serious Materials Chicago, a window factory that is reopening, responding to increased demand for energy-saving building products. The factory previously housed Republic Windows and Doors, which closed in December, prompting a highly publicized protest by workers against the company and against Bank of America, which had withdrawn its financing despite receiving a taxpayer bailout.

“What I have seen here today at Serious Materials Chicago inspires me and brings to life the real impact the Recovery Act is already having, just in the short time since our work began,” Biden, who was joined by Senators Dick Durbin and Roland Burris, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, and company CEO Kevin Surace, said in a statement. “Everywhere I go, I am hearing stories just like this one – stories of hard workers filling good jobs, our $8 billion investment in weatherization and energy programs re-opening doors and our tax credits creating new demand for energy-saving materials. This is the story of our new economy - and this is the story of the Recovery Act.”

Under the $787 billion stimulus package, $8 billion is available for state and local weatherization and energy efficiency efforts through the Department of Energy -- $5 billion through the Weatherization Assistance Program and another $3 billion for the State Energy Program.

President Obama uses his weekly Internet and radio address today to try to burnish his spendthrift credentials, promising to rein in federal spending to build a firm foundation for economic recovery.

"All across America, families are tightening their belts and making hard choices," he says. "Now, Washington must show that same sense of responsibility.

Saying it's "time to fundamentally change the way that we do business in Washington," he announced that he supports "pay-as-you go" legislation that would require any new spending or tax cuts to be simultaneously paid for -- a bill that fiscal hawks have been clamoring for since Democrats took control of Congress after the 2006 election.

He also announced a new incentive for departments to cut costs: "Agencies that identify savings will get to keep a portion of those savings to invest in programs that work."

The president also said he will establish a way for every government worker to submit cost-saving ideas, and convene a forum later this year for private businesses to share their innovative reforms.

"We must also recognize that we cannot meet the challenges of today with old habits and stale thinking," he says. "So much of our government was built to deal with different challenges from a different era. Too often, the result is wasteful spending, bloated programs, and inefficient results."

His speech comes as Congress is primed to give final approval next week to a spending blueprint, largely based on Obama's, that would mean annual deficits of $500 billion or more for years to come.

Obama has been criticized for unleashing a flood of budgetary red ink with his $787 billion economic stimulus package, and a subsequent $410 billion spending plan for the rest of this fiscal year.

But he notes, again, that he inherited a record $1.3 trillion deficit this year, and that the stimulus spending was needed to lift the nation out of the worst recession in decades.

"We cannot sustain deficits that mortgage our children’s future, nor tolerate wasteful inefficiency," Obama concludes. "Government has a responsibility to spend the peoples’ money wisely, and to serve the people effectively. I will work every single day that I am President to live up to that responsibility, and to transform our government so that is held to a higher standard of performance on behalf of the American people."

Saying he feels their pain, President Obama today reached out to families struggling to pay college bills, highlighting his plan to revamp student loan programs to cut out private middlemen.

Obama wants to end the private Federal Family Education Loans program that the White House says costs taxpayers an unnecessary $5 billion a year by using private firms as brokers.

"That is a premium we can no longer afford," he said, saying the system is "rigged" to give profits to "special interests" without any risk.

He told reporters that "wasteful subsidies" are worsening the paradox facing the country: a college education is more important than ever, but the cost of attending is also higher than ever.

"The stakes could not be higher," he said.

Obama said he wants to boost the percentage of Americans attending college to the world's highest again, and a key part of that is reforming the student loan system.

He acknowledged that private loan companies vehemently oppose the change. "They are gearing up for battle," he said. "So am I."

(His full remarks are below, along with a White House summary of his proposal.)

The private student loan industry has also been beset by allegations of kickbacks to college officials to steer students to the loans. Investigations by Congress and New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo found that some lenders had secret deals to give colleges or their staffs consulting fees, company shares, and other perks.

A working federal budget deal would end President Obama's $400 middle-class tax cut after next year, but would make it easier to pass a healthcare overhaul, according to press reports.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and congressional aides are telling the Associated Press and Bloomberg News today that the tentative agreement to use a parliamentary procedure, known as reconciliation, that would allow the healthcare plan to pass with a simple majority vote, rather than the 60 votes needed to overcome a Republican filibuster.

The decision is sure to anger Republicans, who oppose many of Obama's health proposals, but it makes it much more likely that a sweeping plan will pass.

Democrats do not plan to use the tactic on another controversial proposal -- so-called cap-and-trade legislation to cut carbon emissions.

Negotiators for the House and Senate, both controlled by Democrats, are pulling together a compromise from the slightly different versions of the $3.6 trillion spending blueprint that each chamber passed and that both preserved most of Obama's agenda.

Former Vice President Al Gore, who won a Nobel prize for his crusade on climate change, gave his stamp of approval today to House Democrats' bill to tackle global warming.

He is testifying before a House committee holding hearings this week on a bill introduced by Representatives Edward Markey of Massachusetts and Henry Waxman of California.

Gore urged lawmakers to overcome partisan differences and take action to reduce greenhouse gases, calling the climate issue the most important ever before Congress.

"We are, along with the rest of humanity, facing the dire and growing threat of the climate crisis," he testified, according to the Associated Press. Gore argued that Congress must act to "restore America's leadership of the world and begin, at long last, to solve the climate crisis."

The legislation would seek to cut carbon emissions by 20 percent by 2020 and by 85 percent by 2050 and also create a renewable energy standard that requires wind, solar, and other renewable sources to meet 25 percent of US energy needs by 2025. One of its most controversial components is to establish a cap-and-trade system to push utilities and industry polluters to meet those goals.

The Obama administration supports many aspects of the bill, but told the committee this week that it wants to work with Congress to fine tune it. Republicans and some Democrats say the legislation would cause dramatically higher energy prices.

Industry leaders warned in testimony yesterday that consumers would be hit with higher prices if the measure does not give electric utilities allowances to emit greenhouse gases.

Larry Summers, President Obama's top economic adviser, is catching some flak for appearing snoozy at a White House meeting today.

As Obama spoke after a private meeting with credit card industry executives, Summers appeared to doze off, closing his eyes, supporting his face with his fist at one point, and wiping his face at another. There are items with photos here and here.

The former Harvard president has been putting in long hours, of course, trying to help Obama find ways to resuscitate the economy.

President Obama waded back in today into the issue of credit cards, which would seem to be a political winner but which the industry warns could backfire in the tattered economy.

He met privately with leaders of the credit card industry, pushing to cut costs for consumers and rein in practices that squeeze people into paying much higher fees or interest rates than anticipated.

After the private session, Obama told reporters that as the administration tries to free up credit and prevent a similar economic crisis, the credit card industry needs to become "more stable, more effective, more consumer-friendly."

"We want to preserve the credit card industry,but we also want to do away with abuses," he said, pausing, then declining to even characterize the "discussion" with the executives.

Those include interest rates being jacked up, undisclosed fees being imposed, and consumers not getting enough information, he said.

He said he delivered a message to the industry leaders: "There's going to be action in Congress. Our administration is going to be pushing for reform."

Any reform, he said, should include measures to stop the abuses and more accountability. (Read the White House rundown on the principles below.)

Both the House and Senate are considering a credit card "bill of rights" to limit the ability of credit-card companies to raise interest rates and fees and to require greater disclosure. The House Financial Services Committee, led by Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, approved its version on Wednesday.

But the banking industry is warning that the push for legislation could make even less credit available during the economic crisis.

"President Obama has been a strong proponent of cleaning up the practices of the credit card industry since he was a Senator and he called for measures to strengthen consumer protection in the credit card market during the campaign," the White House said.

It also released a list of attendees: Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, economic advisers Larry Summers and Christina Romer, policy adviser Valerie Jarrett; David Bohne, President, USAA Savings Bank, USAA; Patrick Burke, Senior Vice President and Chief Operations Officer, HSBC Card and Retail Services; Paul Galant, CEO, N.A. Cards, Citi; Pamela Joseph, Vice Chairman, Payments, US Bancorp; Christopher McWilton, President, US Markets, MasterCard Worldwide; David Nelms, CEO, Discover Financial Services; Kevin Rhein, Division President, Wells Fargo Card Services and Consumer Lending, Wells Fargo and Company; Ryan Schneider, President of Cards, Capital One Financial Corporation; Lawrence Sharnak, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Consumer Cards, American Express; William Sheedy, Global Head of Strategy, VISA U.S.A., Inc.; Gordon Smith, CEO, Chase Card Services, JPMorgan Chase & Co.; Richard Struthers, President, Global Card Services, Bank of America; Lloyd Wirshba, Chief Executive Officer, Barclaycard US; and Edward L. Yingling, American Bankers Association.

With President Obama primed to hit 100 days in office on Wednesday, Democrats and their allies are already seeking to crow about accomplishments -- and assail the Republican opposition as obstructionists.

The Democratic National Committee released a web video that says Republicans have delivered "100 days of no."

As each date appears on screen, one Republican leader after another is shown speaking against Obama and Democrats on various economic and other bills. At one point, Republican members of Congress are shown on the steps of Capitol Hill in unified opposition.

“Unfortunately, instead of joining President Obama in forging a new foundation for change, the Republicans have openly employed the same obstructionist, just-say-no approach that helped create the problems we currently face,” DNC spokesman Brad Woodhouse said in a statement. “As long as Republicans continue to rely on Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, and Rush Limbaugh for their inspiration, Americans can only expect more of the same recycled Republican talking points and baseless criticisms from the party of no new ideas and no new leadership.”

A TV ad being unveiled this afternoon by the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees and Americans United for Change takes a somewhat more positive tack.

The spot, which is to appear starting Friday on national cable outlets, lists Obama's priorities passed by Congress and signed into law -- an expansion of health insurance for children, an equal pay law for women, the $787 billion economic stimulus package -- while noting that most Republicans opposed them.

"There have always been those who said no to progress," the narrator concludes. "But in times of crisis, Americans have never taken no for an answer."

UPDATE: House GOP leaders, meanwhile, sent a letter today to Obama complaining about their Democratic counterparts. Obama and Vice President Biden are scheduled to meet this afternoon with congressional leaders of both parties.

"Democratic leaders in Congress have so far ignored your call for a new era of bipartisanship in Washington -- however, the next 100 days can be different," the Republicans wrote. "We know that by working together, we can face our challenges and renew our nation, and we respectfully request that our meeting tomorrow serve as the beginning of a meaningful bipartisan conversation about the challenges we face."

Marking Earth Day, President Obama declared today that moving toward renewable energy is essential to America's prosperity and announced that his administration will for the first time lease federal waters for projects to generate electricity from wind as well as from ocean currents and other renewable sources.

"On this Earth Day, it is time for us to lay a new foundation for economic growth by beginning a new era of energy exploration in America," he said.

"The choice we face is not between saving our environment and saving our economy -- the choice we face is between prosperity and decline," he added. "We can remain the world’s leading importer of oil, or we can become the world’s leading exporter of clean energy. We can allow climate change to wreak unnatural havoc across the landscape, or we can create jobs working to prevent its worst effects....The nation that leads the world in creating new energy sources will be the nation that leads the 21st century global economy.

"America can be that nation. America must be that nation. And while we seek new forms of fuel to power our homes and cars and businesses, we will rely on the same ingenuity -- the same American spirit -- that has always been a part of our American story," he said after touring a $21 million wind turbine tower plant in Newton, Iowa, which last year took over the site of a Maytag appliance plant closed in 2007, costing the small city hundreds of jobs.

Obama said that opening federal waters "will open the door to major investments in offshore clean energy," including projects off the coasts of New Jersey and Delaware.

He said wind energy could generate as much as 20 percent of our electricity by 2030, creating as many as 250,000 jobs. (Read Obama's full remarks below.)

Now, wind-generated power totals less than 2 percent of all electricity generated, and other renewable sources another 1 percent.

UPDATE: Later today, the Interior Department issued long-awaited regulations governing such offshore renewable energy projects and how leases will be issued. The rules put in place revenue sharing with nearby coastal states that will receive 27.5 percent of the royalties that will be generated from the electricity production, the Associated Press reports.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told the AP that applications are expected for dozens of proposed offshore wind projects, many off the north and central Atlantic in the coming months, and that he expects the first electricity production from some of the offshore projects in two or three years, probably off the Atlantic Coast.

“These rules will unleash a wave of American clean energy development,” Representative Edward Markey of Massachusetts, who is co-author of energy legislation that includes ambitious targets for renewable energy, said in a statement. “Looking beyond our shores, to the winds, tides and waves for discoveries should not be the solitary providence of explorers, but for clean energy entrepreneurs who will chart the course to America’s energy independence.”

Obama's $3.6 trillion budget for next fiscal year that Congress is hashing out calls for $15 billion each year for ten years to develop clean energy including wind power, solar power, geothermal energy, and clean coal technology.

In his official Earth Day proclamation, Obama also stressed the need for action on global warming, as well as preserving America's natural resources. (To read the proclamation, click here.)

Vice President Joe Biden, meanwhile, announced $300 million in funding today from the stimulus package for state and local governments, and transit authorities to expand their fleets of clean, sustainable vehicles.

“For city and state governments across this country, every day is Earth Day thanks to the ambitious commitments they are making to green their vehicles and transit systems. Now it’s time for Washington to help them deliver on those promises,” Biden said in a statement. “From advanced battery cars to hybrid-electric city buses, we’re going put Recovery Act dollars to work deploying cleaner, greener vehicles in cities and towns across the nation that will cut costs, reduce pollution and create the jobs that will drive our economic recovery.”

Setting the stage for Obama's trip, his Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis sought to spread the word in an op-ed piece published in a half-dozen regional newspapers.

"This focus on jump-starting the creation of an American clean energy sector will be the foundation of the president’s energy policy," they wrote. "With the depletion of the world’s oil reserves and the growing disruption of our climate, the development of clean, renewable sources of energy is the growth industry of the 21st century.

"As part of this comprehensive policy, we must crack down on the corporations that pollute the water we drink and the air we breathe," they added. "Cracking down on these polluters in a real way will mean that we can finally tackle global warming and its potentially catastrophic effects – because ultimately, our approach to energy policy and combating the effects of global warming are two sides of the same coin."

The full op-ed -- which appeared in the Austin American-Statesman, Buffalo News, Denver Post, Montgomery Advertiser, Omaha World Herald, and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette -- is below:

Senator John F. Kerry, opening a hearing on global warming on Earth Day, says this is a "make-or-break" year on the issue and calls on the United States to spearhead the effort.

Covening the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the Massachusetts Democrat notes that a key international conference on climate change is later this year in Copenhagen, Denmark.

"The clock is ticking on the best chance the countries of the world will have to marshal an effective global response," he said in his prepared opening remarks.

"All policymakers involved in this process need to realize that if we aim too low, America and the global community will fail to do what is necessary to meet this challenge. It’s that simple."

He added, "We here in Washington must realize that the world is taking its cues from us. In my meetings over the past several months with environment ministers from Germany to China to Bangladesh, I have been struck by the extent to which the eyes of the world are focused on the U.S. Congress and our domestic policy process. Without a clear signal from Congress on the scope, format and ambition of our domestic program, our negotiators will lack the leverage to secure the participation of all the major contributors to climate change. Ultimately, the strength of our domestic policy will be a critical factor in galvanizing the world to enter into a global agreement."

Kerry also asserts that the crucial debate will revolve on what steps the United States takes -- and what is required of China, which passed the US inb 2007 as the largest carbon emitter.

"While China is implementing policies to address its energy use – in some cases more ambitious than our own– their emissions trajectory continues to pose a grave risk to the global climate," he said. "We have to find a way to reconcile two imperatives: on one hand, China requires a treaty that gives it room to develop; on the other hand, unless we can convince the world’s most populous nation to pursue a sustainable, low-carbon development path, we cannot hope to solve climate change. These two constraints define the scope and structure of any viable agreement."

Kerry's full prepared statement is below:

Leading Democrats are touting an Environmental Protection Agency preliminary analysis of their sweeping climate change bill, saying that the study shows that the legislation would succeed in “moving the U.S. to a clean energy economy.”

The analysis also found that the bill's proposed cap on carbon emissions would accelerate the use of alternative energy by 150 percent over the next two decades, and that energy efficiency measures will significantly decrease energy demand. The draft bill calls for a reduction of greenhouse gases by 20 percent from 2005 levels by 2020, and 83 percent by mid-century.

The EPA analysis was requested by the bill's co-authors, Representatives Edward Markey of Massachusetts and Henry Waxman of California.

"This analysis confirms that the Waxman-Markey legislation will create a clean energy economy that will continue economic growth and cut harmful pollution," Markey said in a statement today. "When you combine this analysis with cost-saving measures from updated energy efficiency measures and weatherization, the savings will pile up for consumers."

But Republicans argue that the carbon cap would dramatically increase energy costs for consumers.

Members of the Energy and Commerce Committee said the panel's Democratic leaders are moving too quickly to try to push the legislation through and that the draft bill, which calls for broad limits on carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions, was not ready for serious discussion because it doesn't say how emission permits would be distributed, the Associated Press reports.

"The manner in which you will address this issue is the cornerstone of the legislation," the 23 GOP committee members wrote in a letter to Waxman. "Without it, the bill is simply not finished and not ripe to be marked up or accurately discussed in the context of hearings."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, however, said she's determined to pass legislation addressing climate change this year.

Noting that Wednesday is Earth Day, she told reporters taht when the next Earth Day comes around "we want to celebrate what we've done this year" to address climate change and shift the nation toward greater use of clean energy.

Rejoining the battle over President Obama's $3.6 trillion budget, Democrats are stressing another line of attack -- that Republican foes, besides not offering a real alternative, are being hypocrites.

In a new web video, the Democratic National Committee says that while the two top House Republicans -- John Boehner of Ohio and Eric Cantor of Virginia -- are accusing Obama and the Democrats of so much deficit spending that it threatens to bankrupt the country, they both voted for President Bush's budgets that vastly increased the national debt.

“Over eight years, Republicans nearly doubled the national debt,” it says on screen. “John Boehner and Eric Cantor were with Bush every step of the way. Now, Washington Republicans want you to forget what they did.”

"From the Party of No to the Party of Hypocrites?" the video ends.

Responded Antonia Ferrier, a spokesperson for Boehner: "We missed the part of the video where they defend their massive, fiscally-irresponsible budget that will double the debt in five years and triple it in 10. When the President's Budget Director concedes they are raising the deficit to unsustainable levels, I guess they have to do everything they can to blame everyone else."

"As we close in on President Obama's first 100 days, I would ask Virginia's Governor Tim Kaine if his partisan attack ads and disinformation campaigns are a calculated rejection of the President's attempts to change Washington,” added Brad Dayspring, a spokesman for Cantor.

Before leaving on their Easter recess early this month, the House and Senate each passed different versions of the spending blueprint that largely preserved Obama's priorities on healthcare, education, and energy. The leaders of the Democratic-controlled chambers are expected today to name members of a conference committee that will iron out a compromise version.

He didn't exactly come bearing gifts as he convened the first full Cabinet meeting of his administration.

Instead, President Obama told his cabinet secretaries (all but Kathleen Sebelius, not yet confirmed at health and human services) that they must join in the penny-pinching that many American families are trying to make ends meet with a goal of slicing $100 million from the federal budget in the next three months.

Obama said because of the economic crisis, his administration has had to spend gargantuan sums of money, including the $787 billion stimulus plan.

"However, moving forward we have an obligation to make sure this government is as efficient as possible" and to make sure no taxpayers money is being wasted to close any "confidence gap" the public has, he said.

He cited the sweeping cuts that Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates proposed earlier this month, along with other trims. But he said more savings are needed and pledged that 100 unnecessary programs will be ended.

Obama also told reporters after the meeting that he is "extraordinary proud of the talent, diversity, and work ethic" of his team, which he said faced historic challenges in the first three months.

But the total savings is largely symbolic and a proverbial drop in the bucket -- far less than 1 percent of the $192 billion federal deficit just for March.

Obama's $3.6 trillion budget for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1 has been savaged, by some Democrats as well as Republicans, because it would mean a projected $9.3 trillion in deficits over the next decade.

The White House released a list of cost-cutting measures that agencies have already made, but many of them would be over several years. They include eliminating the job of education policy attaché at the US mission to UNESCO in Paris and closing the office to save $713,000 a year; no longer creating new seals and logos for Homeland Security programs, for which consultants were paid $3 million since 2003; and converting publication of judicial forfeiture notices from newspapers to the Internet, a change expected to save $6.7 million over the first five years.

Obama critics are ridiculing the savings.

"First the President wanted nobody watching him spend trillions of dollars - now he wants everyone watching him cut a tiny fraction," said the conservative-leaning Americans for Tax Reform.

"The British have an old saying: Penny-Wise, Pound-Foolish. This is taking this saying to new levels - not Pound-Foolish, but trillion dollar foolish."

The Heritage Foundation put out a graphic showing the $100 million goal as a tiny dot in comparison to the stimulus package and the additional $410 billion budget approved for the remainder of this fiscal year.

Asked whether the savings were a mere "drop in the bucket," Obama replied, "It is, and that's what I just said."

"None of these things alone are going to make a difference," he said, according to the press pool report. "But cumulatively that make an extraordinary difference because they start to set a new tone. And so what we're gonna do line by line and page by page, $100 million here, $100 million there, pretty soon even in Washington, it adds up to real money."

His full remarks are below, as is the full White House list is below:

Democrats, having succeeded in pushing through President Obama's sweeping budget blueprint Thursday night, are seizing on the new job loss numbers to suggest that more needs to be done to turn the economy around.

But after setting the stage for bruising battles on healthcare and alternative energy by passing the $3.5 trillion outlines, and after already passing the $787 billion stimulus plan, there's no consensus on what to do next. And Congress is about to start a two-week recess, leaving a leadership vacuum in Washington unless the leadership calls the rank-and-file back into session.

The US economy lost another 663,000 jobs last month -- raising the total this year to 2 million -- and the unemployment rate jumped to 8.5 percent, the highest since late 1983, the Labor Department said.

“Month after month, America’s working families have been bearing a heavier and heavier brunt of this recession, and now, even more families need our help," Senator Edward M. Kennedy, chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, said in a statement. "Our first priority in Congress is to do what’s required to create jobs and lend a real helping hand to as many struggling citizens and their families as possible. We’re firm in our resolve to meet these challenges and restore prosperity for all Americans.”

UPDATE: In a joint news conference with German leader Angela Merkel, Obama noted the jobs numbers and asserted that the G-20 agreement will aid the recovery, though there is no guarantee that more steps won't be needed.

"None of us can isolate ourselves from the global market," Obama said. "If we don't have concerted action, we will have collective failure."

The budget resolutions passed on party-line votes in the Democratic-controlled chambers. When they return from recess, House and Senate negotiators will have to reconcile the different versions, which both incorporate much of Obama's agenda.

“The sobering news today that 663,000 more Americans received pink slips last month signals that the economy is in even worse shape than we thought," Tom McMahon, acting executive director of Americans United for Change, a pro-Obama liberal-labor coalition, said in a statement. "President Obama inherited the nation’s worst economic crisis in generations and the thousands of Americans continuing to lose their jobs each day underscores the urgent to need for Congress preserve his transformational budget plan - a blueprint for rebuilding and renewing America’s economy and creating jobs - as it moves toward final passage.”

“The unemployment line is grower longer and longer every day. There could not be a worse time for the same old partisan games in Washington when so many people are losing their healthcare, their livelihood and dignity. We don’t need politics as usual; we need bold solutions from our leaders.”

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney raised the possibility of a second stimulus package.

"We need to get our economy back on track, create good paying jobs, and restore balance to the fundamental building blocks of our economy," he said in a statement. "President Obama’s budget is an important first step that includes a serious down payment on national healthcare reform, investments in growing green jobs and addressing climate change, essential funding for education and other programs that are crucial for working families.

"But we also must make broad-based economic changes to have sustained economic growth and an economy that works for everyone," he added. "At the G20 meeting President Obama attempted to get world leaders to be more aggressive in addressing their economic problems to make the United States’ stimulus package more effective. It was a successful meeting in many ways but in order to counter what is a global recession world leaders will need to do more and the United States may well need to pass a second stimulus package."

This evening, the US House approved its $3.6 trillion budget outline, largely in line with President Obama's ambitious blueprint on healthcare, alternative energy, education and more -- after defeating a Republican alternative that slashed spending and taxes.

The vote in the Democratic-controlled House was 233-196, along party lines.

Obama called the passage "another step toward rebuilding our struggling economy.

"This budget resolution embraces our most fundamental priorities: an energy plan that will end our dependence on foreign oil and spur a new clean energy economy; an education system that will ensure our children will be able to compete in the economy of the 21st century; and health care reform that finally confronts the back-breaking costs plaguing families, businesses and government alike. And by making hard choices and challenging the old ways of doing business, we will cut in half the budget deficit we inherited within four years. With this vote comes an obligation to pursue our efforts to go through the budget line-by-line, searching for additional savings. Like the families we serve, we must cut the things we don't need to invest in those we do,” he said in a statement.

Democratic National Committee chairman Tim Kaine congratulated House Democrats for passing a very close cousin to the president's budget -- "a plan to help turn our economy around by slashing the deficit in half, making health care more affordable, reducing our dependence on foreign oil and investing in education. This vote today is a victory not only for this generation of Americans, but generations to come."

"Unfortunately, the unanimous vote by the House Republicans against the budget does not represent the principle of loyal opposition upon which this country was founded, but opposition purely for political gain," Kaine said in a statement. "While Republicans continue to cling to the failed policies of the past that created the current economic crisis, President Obama and Democrats have taken bold steps to restore stability and prosperity for all Americans. Today's vote affirms that the Party of No is more interested in playing politics than working with the Democrats and the President to solve our nation's problems on a bipartisan basis."

Later tonight, the Senate is expected to pass its modified version of Obama's $3.6 trillion blueprint.

The two Maine moderates, Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, provided key votes to pass Obama's stimulus package in February. And today, they reprised their role in rejecting an alternative to Obama's budget proposed by his Republican presidential rival, John McCain.

The Senate voted 60-38 to kill McCain's plan, which would have capped domestic spending and eliminated the income tax increases on people earning more than $200,000 and couples making more than $250,000 by letting Bush tax cuts expire. One other Republican and every Democrat present voted against McCain's plan.

The McCain amendment was one of the last major hurdles to passage tonight.

President Obama had reason to smile at his news conference today at the close of the G-20 economic summit.

After all the hype over dissension between Europe and America, the meeting of the world's leading economies produced a wide-ranging deal that includes some more stimulus -- though not nearly as much as the United States sought -- and more regulations wanted by Europe.

Obama said the agreement will mark a "turning point in the pursuit of global economic recovery," calling it an unprecedented package of coordinated actions and contrasting it to the delayed response to the Great Depression and the 1980s recession.

"Today, we've learned the lessons of history," the president said. "I know that in the days leading up to this summit, some confused honest and open debate with irreconcilable differences. But after weeks of preparation, and two days of careful negotiation, we have agreed upon a series of unprecedented steps to restore growth and prevent a crisis like this from happening again."

He added, "In an age when our economies are linked more closely than ever before, the whole world has been touched by this devastating downturn. And today, the world’s leaders have responded today with an unprecedented set of comprehensive and coordinated actions.".

Still, he said the crisis is causing real pain around the world for people losing homes, jobs, and the chance to go to college. He noted that new jobless numbers out today in the United States are the highest in a quarter-century.

Asked what out of the summit would directly help struggling Americans, Obama said that the US economy is inextricably linked with the rest of the world, particularly when it comes to exports. "We've got to make sure the global economy as a whole is successful," he said.

Obama said the leaders made significant progress in stimulating the world economy, reforming financial regulations, increasing transparency, and protecting the poor and voiceless He announced he would work with Congress on $448 million in aid. To see details on the aid, click here and here.

But Obama also said that the agreement is only a first step, and more steps might be needed. The G-20 will meet again in the fall and monitor progress, he said. (Read Obama's remarks and the subsequent transcript.)

The leaders pledged an additional $1 trillion to restore credit, growth, and jobs; agreed to renounce protectionism and pledged $250 billion in trade finance over the next two years; and outlined new measures, including a crackdown on tax havens and hedge funds and new rules on linking executive pay to performance.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who said he would not sign the final communique if it did not include enough progress on stricter financial regulation -- the diplomatic equivalent of walking out on the summit -- told reporters that the agreement represents "great progress."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who had expressed similar concerns that lack of regulation had led to the financial crisis, said the agreement was "a very, very good, almost historic compromise" that will create a "clearer financial market architecture."

In his press conference, the summit's host, Prime Minister Gordon Brown, bragged about unprecedented progress, according to the Associated Press.

"Today the largest countries of the world have agreed on a global plan for economic recovery and reform," Brown said. "For the first time we have a common approach to cleaning up banks around the world to restructuring of the world financial system. We have maintained our commitment to help the world's poorest. This is a collective action of people around the world working at their best."

The political war over global warming legislation is getting louder on Capitol Hill.

Just two days after leading House Democrats, including Representative Edward Markey of Massachusetts, unveiled a climate change bill that will be the starting point for debate, the staff of Markey's committee issued a response today to what it called the "inevitable attacks from entrenched special interests and obstructionist Republicans."

"And just as they did in last year’s fight over energy policy--when they made countless false statements, like no oil was spilled during Hurricane Katrina--they are now spreading misinformation about clean energy legislation," said the staff of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.

"The Republican campaign to kill clean energy legislation uses the names of respected organizations like the Congressional Budget Office and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and then distorts their trusted analyses. It takes the gloom and doom predictions from Big Oil and their hired consultants like Charles River Associates to prey on fears of hard-working Americans over the future of our economy."

(The full staff report is below.)

One particular issue is Republicans' assertion that a cap-and-trade system on greenhouse gases would mean a "light switch tax" on consumers because utilities would pass on the cost of buying emissions credits to households.

That is disputed by John Reilly, an energy, environmental and agricultural economist at MIT and one of the authors of the report cited by the House Republicans, according to Politifact, an independent fact-checking group.

"It's just wrong," Reilly said. "It's wrong in so many ways it's hard to begin."

He goes on to explain that while cap-and-trade might increase the price of carbon-based fuels, it would also lower consumer costs through increased energy conservation and more availability of alternative fuels.

With President Obama across the pond trying to unify the worldwide response to the economic crisis, his cabinet is hitting the road today to trumpet the benefits of the economic stimulus package he championed back home.

Vice President Biden and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack traveled to North Carolina to highlight the Recovery Act's help to rural America. In Faison, they visited the Goshen Medical Center, a rural health clinic.

The medical center is getting $635,876 in stimulus money, enough to add seven jobs and treat 4,800 more patients, including 1,500 with no health insurance, the White House said.

“Community health centers are at the heart of many of our rural communities,” Biden said. “Sometimes, these clinics are the only health facilities for miles and miles. The Recovery Act’s investment is crucial meeting the health and medical needs of millions of Americans.”

(Biden's full remarks are below.)

In Pikeville, Biden and Vilsack stopped by the rural fire department’s main station, which is using stimulus cash to build a new firehouse big enough for ladder trucks. They also announced that the Agriculture department has begun disbursing the first installment of $10 billion in guaranteed housing loans.

About $1.76 billion will help 15,000 rural families and create or save approximately 7,500 jobs, the White House said. Once all the Recovery Act funding for rural housing is released ($7 billion directly to states and $3 billion held in reserve for higher need areas), the White House says that 42,500 jobs will be created or saved.

Kennedy and Kerry said that $37.2 million of the housing loan money will come to Massachusetts to help low-income individuals or households build, repair, renovate, or relocate a home, or to purchase and prepare sites.

“At this time of economic crisis, these funds could not come to Massachusetts at a more critical time. These guaranteed loans will allow Massachusetts citizens in hard hit, rural areas the opportunity to get back on their feet,” Kennedy said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Education Secretary Arne Duncan visited Doswell E. Brooks Elementary School in Capitol Heights, Md., to announce the first $44 billion for schools from the $787 billion stimulus bill.

The White House says that Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley and other state and local leaders will join Duncan on a tour of the award-winning school. It is part of the Prince George's County school district, the nation's 18th largest, which plans to use stimulus funds to avoid furloughs, layoffs, increases in class sizes, and other education program cuts.

Also starting this week, most employees will see a little extra in their paychecks as the $400-per-worker, $800-per-couple tax cut kicks in.

UPDATE: Senators John F. Kerry and Edward M. Kennedy said this afternoon that the tax credit means $1.2 billion for 2.4 million working families in Massachusetts.

“Working families struggling to make ends meet will soon have more money in their pockets,” Kerry said in a statement.

“Hard-working families across our Commonwealth are struggling to make ends meet,” Kennedy added. “This tax credit will bring them some relief over the next two years. President Obama was right to make it a big part of his economic recovery plan for the nation.”

The battle over President Obama's budget is intensifying today with his grassroots army descending on Washington and congressional Republicans holding an event of their own.

In an unusual move, House and Senate Republicans joined together to unveil an alternative to Obama's $3.6 trillion blueprint, which they say will drive the economy further into the ditch and possibly bankrupt the country.

This time, Representative Paul Ryan, the top Republican on the House Budget Committee, took the wraps off an alternative that includes details and numbers. Democrats and the White House mocked the GOP when last week it produced a 19-page outline that was rather vague and had few numbers.

UPDATE: The GOP alternative calls for freezing non-defense discretionary spending for five years, for more tax cuts, and for starting to make changes to entitlement programs such as Social Security.

The plan would rescind the $787 billion stimulus plan next year, except for unemployment spending, and also rescind the additional money in the $410 billion spending plan Congress passed. It also rejects a cap-and-trade policy to cut greenhouse gases and move the country toward alternative energy, instead calling for more domestic oil and gas drilling.

With Democrats in control of both the House and Senate, the Republicans' plan will likely go nowhere. Democrats are already dismissing it. White House economic adviser Austan Goolsbee said on MSNBC that it's appropriate that the plan was unveiled on April 1 because "this is the biggest April Fool's joke in history."

Senator Judd Gregg -- the New Hampshire Republican who was once Obama's nominee for commerce secretary but is now one of his most vocal critics -- said the GOP alternative is no joke, but a serious attempt to trim back the federal deficits.

He said on MSNBC that under the deficits projected under Obama's budget, the United States would not qualify for European Union membership.

Gregg also said that Republicans are offering a series of amendments in the Senate.

But the alternative is a political document, a way for Republicans to assault the economic policies of Obama and the Democrats.

"America is in the midst of a fiscal and an economic crisis. And, yes, the president did inherit this fiscal crisis. But the question is, is he fixing it or is he making it worse?" Ryan said at a news conference this morning.

"We believe that the president's budget, which comes to the floor of the House of Representatives today, makes our fiscal crisis much, much worse," Ryan said.

"Rather than getting spending under control, it sends spending out of control. Rather than keeping taxes low to create jobs, it chases ever higher spending with ever higher taxes and results in ever higher debt; not just a modest increase in our national debt, but an unprecedented, unsustainable increase in red ink," he said. "The president's budget is little more than a thinly veiled attempt by Washington to spend its way into prosperity, tax its way into tax relief, and borrow its way into debt reduction. This simply cannot work."

Democrats held a news conference in response, telling reporters that they remain united behind their tweaked version of Obama's budget, which they say will help rebuild the economy.

They also said the Republican alternative is not realistic.

"Going down the list, it gets to the point where even the Republicans, for the most part, will find it hard to live with something like this," said Representative John Spratt, chairman of the House Budget Committee. "I find it -- I find it very improbable that this can be put together in anything that would really have enough appeal to carry ever in the House or elsewhere on the Hill in either party, but that's what they will be leading with today."

Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine added his disdain.

“The House GOP budget would be just an April Fool’s day joke if it didn’t actually reflect the true priorities of House Republicans and what they would do if they had the votes in Congress to pass their own plan. Their budget relies on the failed economic policies that drove the U.S. economy into its deepest spiral in decades," he said in a statement.

“If House Republicans had their way and the budget they outlined today were adopted, President Obama’s economic recovery program, which is already saving and creating jobs throughout the country, would be gutted, Medicare as we know it would all but be all but eliminated, Social Security checks would be slashed and a proposed spending freeze on discretionary programs would cut essential services – from health care and support for veterans to education to job training - that Americans most depend on when the economy is in crisis."

Americans United for Change, one of the major labor-liberal groups backing Obama, lambasted the GOP budget.

“The Republican ‘alternative’ to the President’s budget aims to rewind and redo the same failed economic policies from the Bush-era that got us into this economic mess to begin with," the group's acting executive director, Tom McMahon, said in a statement. "House Republicans have come forward on April Fool’s Day with a budget that in all seriousness cuts new money from programs benefiting cops, teachers, and veterans so they can pay for more tax cuts for multi-millionaires and corporations that outsource American jobs. They could not have offered a more counterproductive, unstimulative “alternative” to the investments in healthcare, education, and clean energy the President is proposing – investments that will do far more to lay a solid foundation for growing the economy and creating jobs than tax breaks for millionaires ever have.”

Meanwhile, Organizing for America, the post-election Obama grassroots group, is dispatching dozens of volunteers today to the Democratic National Committee to deliver 642,000 pledges of support for the president's budget. The group is also urging supporters to call Congress.

And a new pro-Obama advocacy group has ads today in the Politico and Hill newspapers urging support for his budget, which sets ambitious goals on alternative energy, healthcare, and education.

"For the first time in years, we have an honest, fair and transparent blueprint to extend opportunity and security for families in all walks of life by expanding healthcare coverage, making college more affordable, developing clean sources of energy that reduce global warming and create good paying jobs to rebuild our middle class," says the ad placed by the Rebuild and Renew America Now coalition. "We believe these steps will set our nation on a responsible path -- making long-term investments in our nation's future while gradually reducing the deficit."

Some TV occupants of the White House are getting in the middle of the high-stakes fight over a bill that would make it easier for unions to organize.

Today, actors from "The West Wing" will join workers and members of Congress to unveil a new ad and grassroots campaign called “Faces of the Employee Free Choice Act."

Then, the actors -- Martin Sheen, Bradley Whitford, and Richard Schiff -- will join in lobbying on Capitol Hill for the legislation, according to the labor coalitions pushing it.

UPDATE: "It's a human rights issue," Sheen, who played president Josiah Bartlet, said, according to the Associated Press. "It's just bottom line fair that workers should be paid for their labor fairly."

Whitford, a union member and board member of the pro-labor group American Rights at Work, said he was behind the event. "I call this process celebrity lubrication," Whitford joked to reporters.

The pro-business Workforce Fairness Institute responded with this missive: “Today’s event on Capitol Hill with actors who played fictional political powerbrokers addressing a fictional problem is like a work of fiction that would be better suited for a comedy if their proposed ‘solution’ wasn’t so devastating to our nation’s economy,” said Katie Packer, executive director of the Workforce Fairness Institute. “Job creators don’t need policy prescriptions from out-of-touch, Hollywood elite who want to drive up costs and encourage a hostile takeover of American small businesses.”

By Lisa Wangsness, Globe Staff

WASHINGTON -- House Democrats today are unveiling their climate change legislation, a bill that would seek to cut carbon emissions by 20 percent by 2020 and by 85 percent by 2050.

The bill would also establish a cap-and-trade system to push utilities and industry polluters to meet those goals, according to a document obtained by the Globe.

The bill, which is being introduced by Representatives Henry Waxman of California, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Ed Markey of Massachusetts, chairman of the Energy and Environment subcommittee, would also create a renewable energy standard that requires wind, solar, and other renewable sources to meet 25 percent of US energy needs by 2025. And it would create an energy efficiency resource standard that requires utilities to achieve a savings of 15 percent of electricity and 10 percent of natural gas by 2020.

The legislation, which is on track for a committee vote in May, leaves open one of the most controversial aspects of the cap-and-trade system, which is how many pollution credits will be auctioned off and how many will be doled out for free. That would be settled in the coming weeks, as lawmakers weigh in on what they would be willing to accept.

Environmentalists are urging Congress to adopt a global warming policy in advance of international climate talks in Copenhagen scheduled for December, where leaders have agreed to update the Kyoto Protocol, which the Bush administration refused to sign.

In his first week in office, President Obama overturned Bush policy on climate change, ordering environmental regulators to reconsider allowing California, Massachusetts, and other states to set stricter auto emissions standards.

“This legislation will create millions of clean energy jobs, put America on the path to energy independence, and cut global warming pollution.” Waxman said in a statement. “Our goal is to strengthen our economy by making America the world leader in new clean energy and energy efficiency technologies.”

Markey added in a statement, “This legislation will create clean energy jobs that can’t be shipped overseas, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and make America the global leader in energy technology. We will create jobs by the millions, save money by the billions, and unleash energy investment by the trillions. Chairman Waxman and I will work with our colleagues to ensure that we are protecting American consumers and that our clean energy future helps all parts of the country.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi offered measured support, calling the Waxman-Markey bill "a strong starting point."

"The President has called for landmark legislation to launch a clean energy economy that will build prosperity and balance the needs of the American people and industry," she said in a statement. "As was the case with the Energy Independence and Security Act in 2007, House leaders will work closely with the committees of jurisdiction to advance this critical legislation.

"The final legislation will: create millions of new, green jobs; increase our national security by reducing our dependence on foreign oil; increase American competitiveness by making us a technology leader; meet the climate crisis with sound science; and reduce overall energy costs for consumers and businesses. We will continue to hear the best ideas about how to tackle the challenge from a broad range of stakeholders, with the intention of having legislation on the House floor this year. The scope of this effort is historic and overdue."

The US Climate Action Partnership -- a coalition of businesses and environmental groups -- also called the bill a good starting point.

"The discussion draft provides a solid foundation to create a climate strategy that both protects our economy and achieves the nation's environmental goals. It recognizes that many of these issues are tightly linked and must be dealt with simultaneously. We appreciate the thoughtful approach reflected in the draft and the priority the Chairmen are placing on this important issue," the partnership said in a statement.

"The draft addresses most of the core issues identified by USCAP in our Blueprint for Legislative Action and reflects many of our policy recommendations. Any climate program must promote private sector investment in vital low-carbon technologies that will create new jobs and provide a foundation for economic recovery. Legislation must also protect consumers, vulnerable communities and businesses while ensuring economic sustainability and environmental effectiveness."

The partnership includes some big corporate names, including Boston Scientific, that favor action on global warming.

Scott Paul, executive director of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, had some praise for the bill.

"We are pleased that the Waxman-Markey draft bill recognizes the need to stop carbon leakage and ensure the competitiveness of our domestic industries," he said in a statement. "The right combination of rebates and border adjustments can help fulfill the mission of the bill: lowering carbon output while strengthening the domestic economy. As the legislative process moves forward, we are eager to work with Congress to make sure the rebate and border adjustment features are strong enough to hold other countries accountable for their contributions to greenhouse gas emissions. Greenhouse gases are a global problem and a global solution is an imperative. The last thing Congress should want to do is offshore jobs and production to foreign manufacturers that have significantly larger carbon footprints, undermining the aim of climate change policy."

The summary of the bill and schdule is below. For more detail, click here.

The last time Barack Obama traipsed off to Europe, he was greeted by adoring throngs, excited beyond measure by the idea that he might be the next American president.

More than 200,000 came to see him speak last July in Berlin. The worship was such that Republican rival John McCain tried to boomerang it on Obama, comparing him in an Internet ad to bubble-headed celebrities like Britney Spears.

Now, Obama is the president, facing the reality of an economic crisis, and likely to hear some tough talk as he arrives at the G-20 economic summit in London.

This week, the crowds greeting Obama won't be as large. And some of them won't be cheering, but rather jeering him and other world leaders because of the global recession. An estimated 35,000 union members, environmentalists, and others marched in the first major protest over the weekend, and more are planned.

Before he leaves for Europe, President Obama urged congressional Democrats late today to have his back on his ambitious budget.

According to the White House account, he praised Democrats for passing the $787 billion stimulus package, then reinforced the high stakes of the votes this week on his $3.6 trillion budget.

"Calling his budget 'a distillation of core Democratic values,' he urged members of Congress to pass his blueprint for sustained economic growth," the White House said. After answering questions for about 30 minutes about his budget priorities, Obama again asked for support on his budget.

While Republicans have railed against Obama's plan, saying it risks bankrupting the country, some Democrats have also raised doubts about some of the spending and the deficits.

President Obama this morning outlined his latest version of tough love for Detroit automakers, extending a federal lifeline, but giving the companies a deadline to put up or risk bankruptcy.

"We cannot and must not, and will not let our auto industry simply vanish," he declared at the White House. "This industry is like no other. It's an emblem of the American spirit; a once and future symbol of America’s success. It is what helped build the middle class and sustained it throughout the 20th century. It is a source of deep pride for the generations of American workers whose hard work and imagination led to some of the finest cars the world has ever known. It is a pillar of our economy that has held up the dreams of millions of our people.

"But we cannot continue to excuse poor decisions," Obama added. "We cannot make the survival of our auto industry dependent on an unending flow of taxpayer dollars. These companies – and this industry – must ultimately stand on their own, not as wards of the state. "

After rejecting restructuring plans the carmakers submitted, the president announced that the federal government is giving Chrysler 30 days to complete a proposed partnership with Italian automaker Fiat, with the promise of up to $6 billion in aid if they can make a deal. Chrysler has received $4 billion in federal help so far and had asked for $5 billion more.

Obama gave General Motors 60 additional days of operating money to restructure, but with a price -- GM chairman Rick Wagoner was forced out. Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, who has been advising the White House on the auto rescue, said on NBC's "Today" show that Wagoner "clearly is a sacrificial lamb." GM, after $13.4 billion in government loans, had sought as much as $16.6 billion more.

Obama said it is time for tough decisions, for no longer putting off facing fundamental problems.

"What we are asking for is difficult," he said. "It will require hard choices by companies. It will require unions and workers who've already made painful concessions to make even more. It will require creditors to recognize that they can't hold out for the prospect of endless government bailouts....Only then can we ask American taxpayers who have already put up so much of their hard-earned money to once more invest in a revitalized auto industry.

"But I am confident that if each are willing to do their part... then this restructuring, as painful as it will be in the short-term, will mark not an end, but a new beginning for a great American industry; an auto industry that is once more out-competing the world; a 21st century auto industry that is creating new jobs, unleashing new prosperity, and manufacturing the fuel-efficient cars and trucks that will carry us towards an energy independent future. I am absolutely committed to working with Congress and the auto companies to meet one goal: the United States of America will lead the world in building the next generation of clean cars."

He reached out to auto workers, who he said are among those suffering the most during the recession.

"The pain being felt in places that rely on our auto industry is not the fault of our workers. They labor tirelessly and desperately want to see their companies succeed. And it is not the fault of all the families and communities that supported manufacturing plants throughout the generations. Rather, it is a failure of leadership – from Washington to Detroit – that led our auto companies to this point," he said.

To reassure consumers during the uncertain period, Obama said the US government will stand behind warranties. (Click here for more detail.)

"It is my hope that the steps I am announcing today will go a long way toward answering many of the questions people may have about the future of GM and Chrysler," he said. "But just in case there are still nagging doubts, let me say it as plainly as I can – if you buy a car from Chrysler or General Motors, you will be able to get your car serviced and repaired, just like always. Your warranty will be safe. In fact, it will be safer than it’s ever been. Because starting today, the United States government will stand behind your warranty."

Obama's full remarks are below. For more detail on the plan, click here.

Fritz Henderson, GM's new CEO, issued a statement taking on Obama's challenge:

"Over the next 60 days, we will work around the clock, with all parties, to meet the aggressive requirements that have been set by the task force, and to make the fundamental and lasting changes necessary to reinvent GM for the long-term.

"We have significant challenges ahead of us, and a very tight timeline. I am confident that the GM team will succeed, and that a stronger, healthier GM will play an important role in revitalizing America's economy and re-establishing its technology leadership and energy independence."

"The administration has made it clear that it expects GM to expand and accelerate its restructuring efforts. I want the American people to know that we understand and accept this guidance. The road is tough, but the ultimate goal -- a leaner, stronger, viable GM -- is one we share."

Soon after Obama's speech, Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli said that his company and Fiat have reached a framework of a deal. "We appreciate the willingness of the task force, along with industry and financial experts, to consult closely with us in order to achieve this significant step," Nardelli said in a statement.

But so far, Obama's plan is not reassuring the markets. The bellwether Dow Jones industrial average has already plummeted more than 200 points.

The auto plan represents Obama's latest set of sweeping proposals as he juggles what he has acknowledged is a very full plate. Last week, Obama's team laid out a new bank rescue plan and a new strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan. On Tuesday, Obama heads overseas for the G-20 economic summit.

Ronald Logue, chairman and CEO of State Street Corp. in Boston, is among the banking chiefs meeting today with President Obama as he tries to build support for his administration's latest rescue plan to help banks divest "toxic assets," bad investments that are tying up capital and making it difficult for them to lend money.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who also unveiled proposals Thursday for tighter regulations of the financial sector, is also at the meeting, which comes days before Obama attends his first international summit, the G-20 Thursday in London.

According to the White House, Obama wants to "reiterate his belief that getting the economy back on track will require an understanding that each of us must look beyond our own short-term interests to the wider set of obligations we have to each other in order for America to succeed."

The others in attendance at the closed meeting, according to the White House: Jamie Dimon, JP Morgan Chase; Ken Chenault, American Express; John Koskinen, Freddie Mac; Robert Kelly, BONY-Mellon; Rick Waddell, Northern Trust; James Rohr, PNC; Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman Sachs; John Mack, Morgan Stanley; Vikram Pandit, Citi; John Stumpf, Wells Fargo; Cam Fine, Independent Community Bankers; Edward Yingling, American Bankers Association; Richard Davis, US Bank; and Ken Lewis, Bank of America.

UPDATE: Besides the toxic assets and tighter regulation, Obama and the bank executives also discussed the administration's plan to stem the rise in home foreclosures, executive pay, and the financial bailout program, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said afterwards.

"The president emphasized that Wall Street needs Main Street and Main Street needs Wall Street," and "that he had no agenda beyond working to get a solution, the right solution for our financial system and to get it stabilized and working again for the American people," Gibbs said during his daily briefing.

Senators Edward M. Kennedy and John F. Kerry todayunveiled a fuller list of 36 community health centers in Massachusetts that will receive a total of $8.6 million in economic stimulus money.
"At a time when families across the Commonwealth are losing their jobs and struggling with health care costs, this funding for our community health centers is desperately needed and will greatly benefit the vital work they do so well,” Kennedy said in a statement. “The first community health center was created here in Massachusetts, and I’ve long been an advocate for the outstanding services they provide in our neighborhoods. I commend President Obama for his commitment to ensuring health centers are a centerpiece of our nation’s health care system so they can continue to serve those who would not otherwise have access to such quality care.”

“This investment is a lifeline for people struggling to pay their bills and those desperate for a job,” added Kerry. “It will create jobs modernizing and renovating the health centers that our seniors, pregnant women and families depend on and will relieve some of the strain on an already overburdened public health system.”

James W. Hunt Jr., president of the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers, said in a statement, “This is an extraordinary step led by our Members of Congress and Senators to work with the Administration to reinforce the role community health centers play in providing access to health care and creating and maintaining jobs. A special thanks to Senator Kennedy for his consistent leadership in making health centers a key element in protecting our most vulnerable residents of the Commonwealth and nation. As the nation struggles, we’re seeing an increased demand for services, and community health centers will continue to be a key priority. We’re ready to serve.”

The list of grants is below:

Democrats have been giddily calling Republicans the "party of no," accusing the GOP of opposing President Obama's budget and economic plans without offering proposals of their own.

Now, they're chortling over the alternative budget outline that House Republicans unveiled on Thursday. The GOP is warning that Obama's $3.6 trillion plan will bankrupt the country and worsen the recession with tax hikes.

But Democrats are mocking the plan for its lack of detail.

"This DNC ad is brought to you by the number 0," a new web ad by the Democratic National Committee t says on screen.

"That’s how many numbers are in the GOP’s budget: 0," painting the number in bright red.

With whimsical music, the video then shows a series of cable talking heads remarking on the absence of detail. But Republicans will see more evidence of media bias.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs joined in the mocking on Thursday. Asked whether he had perused it, he replied, "I did. It took me several minutes to read it." The White House press corps laughed.

"I will note that ... there's one more picture of a windmill than there is of a chart of numbers. There's -- just for your knowledge, there's exactly one picture of a windmill."

The Obama administration today announced plans to invest $3.2 billion in energy efficiency and conservation projects across the country as part of the economic stimulus package.

“These investments will save taxpayer dollars and create jobs in communities around the country,” Vice President Biden, who is overseeing the spending, said in a statement. “Local leaders will have the flexibility in how they put these resources to work – but we will hold them accountable for making the investments quickly and wisely to spur the local economy and cut energy use.”

The grants -- nearly $1.9 billion for cities and counties and nearly $770 million for states and territories -- will pay for energy audits and energy efficiency retrofits in residential and commercial buildings, the development of advanced building codes and inspections, and financial incentive programs for energy efficiency improvements.

Other programs that are eligible for funding include projects to reduce and capture methane and other greenhouse gas emissions from landfills, renewable energy installations on government buildings, and energy efficient traffic signals and street lights.

UPDATE: Senators Edward M. Kennedy and John F. Kerry announced today that $42.2 million of that money will flow to Massachusetts.

“Now and in the years ahead, environmental protection and energy efficiency are more important than ever to our families, the strength of our economy, and the future of our planet,” Kennedy said in a statement. “I’m proud to work with President Obama and Senator Kerry to strengthen our economy and our national commitment to energy reform. The President is right to make it a central part of his economic stimulus plan.”

“These recovery dollars will create green jobs, reduce our energy use, and cut polluting emissions. From every angle, this means more money in the pockets of working people in Massachusetts. Anytime you can create jobs and save taxpayers money, it’s a smart investment,” Kerry added.

President Obama is hosting an online town hall meeting this morning focusing on the economy, his latest bid to make the White House more accessible.

UPDATE: "I promised to open up the White House," and the virtual town hall is a key step, Obama said in opening the event, which is being streamed live online.

The things that Washington focuses on are often different than what real Americans care about, the president said before launching into his current stump speech on economic recovery.

The first question, selected from among the most asked, was about education.

Obama said the only reason he's in the White House is because of the education he received through sacrifices by his family and scholarships from generous schools.

"Too many of our children aren't getting that kind of education," he said.

While schools need more money, it's also time to lengthen school days and school years, to improve curricula and teacher training, and to expand proven reforms, he said.

Another question, submitted by video by a Georgia woman, was whether any of the jobs that have been outsourced in recent years will come back to America and be made available to the fast-growing ranks of the unemployed.

"Not all of these jobs are going to come back," Obama replied. "It's very hard to hang on to those jobs."

The solution, he said, is to move away from low-skill work that can be sent abroad. -- and toward high-skill jobs, particularly in clean energy, that could also revive the manufacturing sector and "put our economy on a more solid footing."

Asked why American can't have a European-style universal healthcare system, Obama said he wants affordable coverage for everyone, but a single-payer plan like those in Canada isn't the only path there.

The best approach, he said, is not to entirely scrap the US system that is based on most people getting their healthcare through their employers. "It works for a lot of people," he said.

Instead, the solution is to build on the current set-up, he said, and it's up to the legislators, insurers, advocacy groups, and others who were represented at last month's White House forum to devise the specific.

He declared again that now is the time for healthcare reform, and he wants to pass a plan this year.

The rising costs of care are a drag on the economy, on individual businesses and families, and governments at all levels, he said.

Healthcare is the real budget-buster, he said, not the additional spending that critics are carping about. "Better to pay now," he said.

Obama brought up a question himself, saying a popular choice was whether he believed that legalizing marijuana would boost the economy.

"I don't know what this says about the online audience," he joked. "The answer is no, I don't think that's a good strategy for growing the economy."

(Obama's full answers are below.)

The forum was interactive: The questions were categorized and searchable, and there was a way to rate others' questions.

As of 10 a.m. EST, about 92,600 people had submitted nearly 104,000 questions and cast 3.6 million "votes" on the queries. To take part, click here. (The voting ends at 9:30 a.m. EST)

Adding more detail about the event, the White House says that Obama will answer questions online and also reply to follow-up questions submitted in person from an audience of about 100 people in the East Room, including teachers, nurses, small business owners, and community leaders. Jared Bernstein, chief economist for Vice President Biden, is the moderator, reading some of the most popular questions from the website and cueing video questions.

Obama is the most web-savvy president ever. During his campaign, Obama used the Internet to connect with voters, mobilize supporters, and raise record-shattering sums.

Organizing for America, the post-election vehicle for his grassroots army, is urging supporters to take part. "Americans deserve to know what their government is doing to get our economy back on track," the group's director, Mitch Stewart, wrote in an email. "But it's up to you to participate and make this experiment a success."

The White House announced today that Social Security recipients will get their extra $250 payments from the stimulus plan in May.

Those who receive Social Security and Supplemental Security Income benefits don't need to take any action to get the cash, which will be sent separately from the person’s regular monthly payment. In all, more than $13 billion will be going to more than 50 million Americans

"The Social Security Administration and Commissioner Astrue have been working closely with other federal agencies to get these payments out the door in record time and into the hands of folks who need it most," Vice President Biden said in a statement. "These are checks that will make a big difference in the lives of older Americans and people with disabilities - many of whom have been hit especially hard by the economic crisis that has swept across the country."

The middle-class tax cut of $400 for most workers and $800 for couples is to appear in paychecks starting next week.

In preaching patience to American worried sick about the economic swoon, President Obama is trying to create his own scorecard for success in the economic recovery.

It's not the stock market's daily gyrations, or what the cable talking heads are saying, he told two sold-out Democratic Party fund-raisers Wednesday night.

"There will be days where we may be declared winners, and there will be days where the umpires say, oh, they lost that one. There will be days when the markets go up; there will be days when the markets go down," he said at the National Women in Arts Museum.

"But you and I, we measure our economic recovery in a different way. We're already starting to see signs of progress that we're making a difference in the lives of the American people."

In remarks he echoed at the second event at the Warner Theater, Obama declared that success should be measured by what happens in the lives of real Americans.

"We measure our recovery by how many Americans can bring home a paycheck that lets them make ends meet," he said. "That’s why the first part of our strategy was to pass a recovery plan to jumpstart job creation and put money in people’s pockets. And because we did, all across the country there are teachers that are still in the classroom, and police officers that are still on the beat, and construction crews that are breaking ground rebuilding America’s infrastructure for the future. Because of this plan, as early as next week, 95 percent of all Americans are going to receive a tax cut -- a tax cut that we promised during the campaign -- it's going to be in their paychecks.

"That's how we measure success," Obama added. "We measure our recovery by how many families own their own piece of the American Dream. That’s why the second step of our strategy was to launch a plan to stabilizing the housing market and help responsible homeowners stay in their homes. That's why the recovery plan included an $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers. Already, mortgage rates have fallen to near-historic lows, encouraging Americans to re-finance their mortgages, and we've begun to see signs of increased sales and stabilizing home prices for the very first time in a long time.

"We measure our recovery by how many small businesses can keep their doors open, and how many families can afford the promise of a college education. And that’s why the third step that we took was to restart the flow of credit to families and businesses by generating car loans and student loans and small business loans. It's a program that Secretary Geithner worked with the Federal Reserve to design and it has already generated more lending in the last week than we saw in the previous four months combined.

"And ultimately, we're going to measure our success based on whether we can create an economy that builds a lasting foundation for our shared economic growth so that we don't face another crisis like this 10 years from now, or 20 years from now."

President Obama's grassroots group announced today it is launching its first TV ad, a call to backers to contact Congress in support of his budget.

"America is facing tough times," the announcer says. "Fortunately, President Obama has a plan to get our economy moving again, to cut the deficit in half, and create jobs by investing in healthcare, energy independence, and schools."
"Thousands are going door to door as part of Organizing for America -- gathering support for President Obama’s plan to invest in America’s future," the announcer continues, referring to last weekend's nationwide canvassing. "You can help too. Call Congress and tell them to support President Obama’s budget plan to get our economy moving again."

The ad by Organizing for America, now housed within the Democratic National Committee, is to air on national cable and local cable in Washington, D.C.

How do you separate policies from the person?

It's more than an academic riddle these days, as President Obama's Republican critics gingerly walk the tightrope of opposing his economic and other plans without being accused of being unpatriotic.

Conservative radio personality Rush Limbaugh started it even before Obama's inauguration in January by saying that he hoped Obama failed because he objected to many of his policies.

At a GOP fund-raiser Tuesday night while Obama was defending his proposals in a prime-time news conference, Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, poured some fuel on the rhetorical fire.

He described the premise of the question -- "Do you want the president to fail?" -- as the "latest gotcha game" that Democrats were using to bludgeon Republicans.

"Make no mistake: Anything other than an immediate and compliant, 'Why no sir, I don't want the president to fail,' is treated as some sort of act of treason, civil disobedience, or political obstructionism," said Jindal, a potential Republican presidential candidate in 2012. "This is political correctness run amok."

This morning on CNN, former Senator Fred Thompson, who ran for the GOP nomination last year, said that he agreed with Republicans hoping for an Obama flame-out.

"I want his policies that I believe take us in the wrong direction to fail," Thompson said. "If he takes us down the road of tripling our national debt in ten years and making us vulnerable to higher interest rates and higher inflation, and things of that nature, I want all those policies not to succeed."

UPDATE: Asked on MSNBC today whether he wants Obama to fail on his budget, Republican Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire replied, "Clearly, this budget needs to be rewritten and it needs to be redone, and we're willing to do it in a bipartisan way. We're willing to sit down on issues like entitlement reform and get something done that's going to be constructive."

But Gregg, once Obama's choice for commerce secretary, added, "I really don't want the president to fail. If the president fails, the country fails."

Senator John F. Kerry is weighing in today on the global economic crisis, with a focus on the security threats that it could pose.

Opening a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, Kerry quoted national Intelligence Director Dennis Blair's recent warning to Congress that the financial crisis and its geopolitical implications present the “primary near-term security concern of the United States" and that the longer the crisis lasts, the greater the likelihood for damage to US security interests.

"That is an amazing statement given the ongoing risks we face from terrorism, two wars, and rogue nuclear programs in Iran and elsewhere," Kerry said, according to prepared remarks.

"We will have to confront the potential for increased political instability; large-scale failures of other countries’ financial systems; escalating financial protection or trade wars that could help to deepen the crisis; increased poverty and hunger in the developing world; and competitors exploiting financial instability in ways that diminish our influence," Kerry added. "And these problems are not confined to traditionally unstable corners of the globe: Europe too is in deep financial trouble, and Turkey, Indonesia, and Pakistan, three of our most important partners in the Muslim world, today face acute balance of payments crises.

"We must also confront the fact that there is a great deal of anger out there among people who blame the model we exported. Even as we restore confidence in our markets, we will also need to find a strategy to project leadership, share burdens, and spread stability as this crisis continues to reverberate worldwide."

Kerry's full opening statement is below:

President Obama's grassroots army that he built during his historic campaign continues to pay dividends.

Now in the form of Organizing for America and housed within the Democratic National Committee, it announced today that Saturday's door-to-door effort trying to build support for Obama's budget collected more than 100,000 pledges.

More than 10,000 volunteers participated in about 1,200 events in all 50 states, said the group, which is based on 14 million e-mail addresses compiled during the campaign.

"We're very encouraged by the strong showing we saw from canvassers and volunteers in neighborhoods across the country on Saturday," Mitch Stewart, the group's director, said in a statement. "The message they delivered came through loud and clear - Americans are just as committed to helping enact the change President Obama campaigned for as they were to sending him to the White House. They understand that to get our economy moving again, make healthcare more affordable, reduce our dependence on foreign oil and improve education, the President needs our help - and with 100,000 pledges and counting, Americans are doing just that."

UPDATE: Today, Organizing for America sent supporters an email with phone numbers of their members of Congress, urging them to call with their backing for the budget. It also asks supporters to log online what kind of response they received -- another way for the White House to count potential votes.

"Last week, thousands canvassed their communities to talk with neighbors about the need for a new direction. Now, it's time to take that message to Washington," Stewart wrote in the email. "We can't afford to ignore the long-term threats to our prosperity. Now is the time to build the foundation for a recovery that lasts."

A major liberal-labor advocacy group announced today it is launching its biggest TV ad blitz yet, trying to shore up support for President Obama's budget as it comes under assault from members of both parties.

While Obama gave a steadfast defense last night in his press conference, arguing his $3.6 trillion plan is the best prescription to real prosperity, congressional budget writers are busily paring it back, largely to cut projected deficits.

Obama, himself, is going to meet this afternoon with Senate Democrats on Capitol Hill to build support for the budget. In advance, the president also is having his budget director, Peter Orszag, to hold a conference call with reporters to talk about the congressional proposals.

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, a fellow Democrat, wants to let Obama's core tax credit of $400 for most workers and $800 for couples expire at the end of next year. Those tax breaks, part of the $787 billion stimulus package, are to show up in paychecks the week of April 1.

UPDATE: Despite the changes, Orszag told reporters that the working versions of the budgets mirror the president's priorities.

"We are very pleased that the House and Senate budget committees are taking up resolutions that are fully in line with the president's key priorities for the budget,'' he said.

"They are 98 percent the same as the budget proposal the president sent up in February. The resolutions may not be identical twins to what the president submitted, but they are certainly brothers that look alike."

(Orszag's full remarks are below.)

The ad by Americans United for Change puts the blame on former President Bush, and promotes Obama's blueprint to fix the economy.

"For eight years, the Bush Administration turned our economy into a house of cards," the announcer says. "Last fall that house came tumbling down.

"Now President Obama has drawn up a budget blue print that will rebuild our economy on a solid foundation. Jobs, health care, education, clean energy – reform. On this foundation we can build real, long term economic prosperity – for all Americans," the announcer continues. "Call Congress. Tell them you support President Obama’s budget. Let’s all get to work rebuilding America."

The group says it will spend more than $700,000 starting today to air the spot on national cable, in Washington, and in markets home to key members of Congress, including Maine and Manchester, N.H.

“The work that begins this week on President Obama’s budget is by far the most significant in shaping the President’s transformational commitments to healthcare reform, education and clean energy – investments that will rebuild and renew America’s economy and lay a solid foundation for long-term prosperity," Tom McMahon, the group's acting executive director, said in a statement. "This ad is designed to engage the American people in the process of bringing about the transformational change they voted for in November by contacting their elected representatives and asking for their help in putting our country on the road to prosperity. It is our hope that Congress gets the boost it needs to stand up to the special interests that will do anything to maintain the failed policies of the last eight years that were entirely stacked in their favor and that turned our economy into a house of cards.”

In his opening statement before his second prime-time news conference, President Obama sought tonight to reassure Americans that he's taking aggressive action on the recession, while still asking for patience.

"There are no quick fixes," Obama said. "We’ve put in place a comprehensive strategy designed to attack this crisis on all fronts. It’s a strategy to create jobs, to help responsible homeowners, to re-start lending, and to grow our economy over the long-term. And we are beginning to see signs of progress."

He highlighted the $787 billion economic stimulus plan he championed, steps to shore up housing, and moves to unfreeze the credit markets.

The president added, "We will recover from this recession. But it will take time, it will take patience, and it will take an understanding that when we all work together; when each of us looks beyond our own short-term interests to the wider set of obligations we have towards each other – that’s when we succeed. That’s when we prosper. And that’s what is needed right now. So let us look toward the future with a renewed sense of common purpose, a renewed determination, and most importantly, a renewed confidence that a better day will come."

Obama also pitched his ambitious $3.6 trillion budget, which is facing skepticism from both Democrats and Republicans who say it means too much red ink and tries to do too much.

But Obama said it's the best approach to avoid another recession.

"The budget I submitted to Congress will build our economic recovery on a stronger foundation, so that we do not face another crisis like this ten or twenty years from now," he said. "We invest in the renewable sources of energy that will lead to new jobs, new businesses, and less dependence on foreign oil. We invest in our schools and our teachers so that our children have the skills they need to compete with any workers in the world. We invest in reform that will bring down the cost of healthcare for families, businesses, and our government. And in this budget, we have to make the tough choices necessary to cut our deficit in half by the end of my first term – even under the most pessimistic estimates.

"At the end of the day, the best way to bring our deficit down in the long run is not with a budget that continues the very same policies that have led us to a narrow prosperity and massive debt. It’s with a budget that leads to broad economic growth by moving from an era of borrow and spend to one where we save and invest."

That includes clean energy jobs, an efficient healthcare system, and controlling entitlements like Medicare and Medicaid.

"That’s why this budget is inseparable from this recovery – because it is what lays the foundation for a secure and lasting prosperity."

Obama's full opening statement is below:

The third time was the charm for President Obama and his choice for commerce secretary.

The Senate today confirmed former Washington state Governor Gary Locke for the post after Obama's first two selections withdrew before they even came up for a vote -- Democratic New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson because of a state investigation and Republican New Hampshire Senator Judd Gregg because of policy differences.

Locke, who was approved by voice vote, "will ensure American workers can prosper, our businesses can thrive and the economy can grow," said Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, the Associated Press reports.

Public housing programs across Massachusetts will get nearly $82 million from the federal economic stimulus package, Senators John F. Kerry and Edward Kennedy announced this afternoon.

Local housing agencies can use the money improve public housing units, create jobs, and increase energy efficiency by replacing plumbing and electrical systems.

"The housing crisis has walloped Massachusetts, and mayors everywhere are looking for relief," Kerry said in a statement. "This investment will create jobs today, build affordable housing so struggling families can get back on their feet, and put plumbers and electricians to work improving energy efficiency and updating plumbing and electrical systems."

“Countless families across our Commonwealth have been devastated by the housing crisis and have no place to turn,” added Kennedy. “It’s essential to provide this necessary assistance so that housing authorities across Massachusetts can keep up with the increased need, and reduce costs for families who would otherwise have no place to call home.”

Big business won a key ally today in its high-stakes fight against the "check-card" bill that would make it easier for unions to organize workplaces.

Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, who was the only Republican to support the bill two years ago, told business groups that he will oppose the measure.

Unions were counting on him as the 60th vote to overcome an expected GOP filibuster. Democrats and two independents who usually vote with them control 58 seats.

“We applaud the Senator for taking a principled stand to support Main Street employers and workers in Pennsylvania," Thomas J. Donohue, president and CEO of the US Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement.

“There will likely be many attempts to push other forms of labor law reform with similar goals, and we urge the senator to continue to oppose these misguided efforts. We also urge all senators to oppose any efforts that would take away the protection of the private ballot, impose binding interest arbitration on America’s small businesses and other employers, or create one-sided remedies."

The bill would allow workplace organizers to form a union by signing up a majority of employees -- without allowing companies to demand a secret ballot.

Earlier today, the AFL-CIO released a poll it commissioned that showed 72 percent of Americans favoring the bill, including majorities of both Democrats and Republicans.

UPDATE: AFL-CIO president John Sweeney called Specter's decision "frankly a disappointment and a rebuke to working people, to his own constituents in Pennsylvania and working families around the country."

"We do not plan to let a hardball campaign from Big Business derail the Employee Free Choice Act or the dreams of workers," Sweeney added in a statement.

"There are deep flaws in our labor laws, as Sen. Specter acknowledged today. The freedom to join together and bargain with employers for fair wages and better benefits is critical to rebuilding our middle class – and now is exactly the time to do it, as we begin to revive our economy in a way that works for everyone. In the coming weeks, we will be escalating our campaign and finding the best ways forward to a balanced, strong economy."

Anna Burger, chairwoman of the Change to Win labor coalition, said in a statement, “The Employee Free Choice Act is a vital component to restoring our economy, rebuilding the middle class and renewing the American Dream for America’s workers. Allowing workers the choice to join together, free from intimidation and harassment, to bargain for job security, better wages and health care will stimulate our economy and put working families back on the path of prosperity. We will continue to work with Democrats and Republicans, including Sen. Specter, to pass this critical legislation and make our economy work for everyone.”

In a speech on the Senate floor, Specter called it a "very emotional issue with labor looking to this legislation to reverse the steep decline in union membership and business expressing great concern about added costs, which would drive many companies out of business or overseas," according to the Associated Press

Specter called the secret ballot "the cornerstone of how contests are decided in a Democratic society."

President Obama will address an international audience today just after 8 p.m. EDT in his second prime-time press conference of his young administration.

In advance of that, and of the G-20 economic summit next month in London, he called for global cooperation to stem the recession in an op-ed piece that ran today in 31 newspapers around the world, including the Baltimore Sun, Chicago Tribune, and Los Angeles Times.

"We are living through a time of global economic challenges that cannot be met by half measures or the isolated efforts of any nation. Now, the leaders of the Group of 20 have a responsibility to take bold, comprehensive and coordinated action that not only jump-starts recovery, but also launches a new era of economic engagement to prevent a crisis like this from ever happening again," Obama wrote.

"My message is clear: The United States is ready to lead, and we call upon our partners to join us with a sense of urgency and common purpose. Much good work has been done, but much more remains," he added. "Our leadership is grounded in a simple premise: We will act boldly to lift the American economy out of crisis and reform our regulatory structure, and these actions will be strengthened by complementary action abroad."

Obama also acknowledges the central role of the financial crisis in the United States in causing the cascading economic crisis around the world.

"I know that America bears our share of responsibility for the mess that we all face. But I also know that we need not choose between a chaotic and unforgiving capitalism and an oppressive government-run economy. That is a false choice that will not serve our people or any people," he wrote. "This G-20 meeting provides a forum for a new kind of global economic cooperation. Now is the time to work together to restore the sustained growth that can only come from open and stable markets that harness innovation, support entrepreneurship and advance opportunity."

The full list of newspapers and the full op-ed, both provided by the White House, are below.

UPDATE: The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, meanwhile, announced this afternoon that it will hold a hearing Wednesday afternoon to focus on the economic impact of the financial crisis and its political and national security implications, also leading up to the G-20 meeting in London on April 2.

The scheduled witnesses are Lawrence Lindsey, president and CEO of the Lindsey Group; George Soros, chairman of Soros Fund Management and Open Society; and Martin Wolf, associate editor and chief economics commentator at Financial Times.

“The economic crisis we’re experiencing in the United States is being felt around the world,” Senator John F. Kerry, the panel's chairman, said in a statement. “The national security and geopolitical issues emanating from a crisis of this magnitude are of concern to this committee. We look forward to exploring not only the problems but perhaps some of the solutions on the table to prevent bigger security threats from emerging out of this crisis down the road.”

Senators Edward M. Kennedy and John F. Kerry announced this afternoon that federal economic stimulus money will provide nearly $25 million for veterans facilities in Massachusetts, along with a $250 one-time payment to qualifying vets.

The tax-free grant will go to residents of the United States and its territories who received veterans payments at any time between November and January. The money is part of $1.4 billion that the Veterans Administration is receiving from the stimulus package to assist veterans, hospitals, and care centers nationwide.

"We owe an enormous debt to the courageous men and women who have sacrificed so much to keep our nation free and strong, and we must care for their needs when they come home from war. Now more than ever, veterans and the facilities that serve them, urgently need this support, and I commend President Obama for making it a priority to help those who have served America so well,” Kennedy said in a statement.

“This investment creates jobs and helps keep faith with our veterans at the same time,” added Kerry. “The renovation and remodeling of these veterans centers and medical facilities will help thousands of veterans, including many just returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Honoring our veterans and putting people back is a win-win proposition every American should celebrate.”

Timothy Geithner might finally get some help.

Political pundits have been joking that the embattled treasury secretary has been "home alone" while dealing with the financial crisis because several people in the mix for key posts in the department dropped out during the vetting process.

This evening, President Obama announced his picks for three of the four most senior jobs: Neal S. Wolin, nominated to be deputy secretary, Lael Brainard, nominated to be undersecretary for international affairs, and Stuart A. Levey, the current Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, tapped to stay in that position.

"I am grateful for the service of these dedicated and talented individuals and have the highest confidence that, under the leadership of Secretary Geithner, they will serve the American people well as we tackle the challenges ahead of us,” Obama said in a statement.

Their mini-biographies, provided by the White House, are below:

New England members of Congress are banding together to protect a new Navy destroyer program that promises jobs in the region, but could be on the chopping block.

Senators Edward M. Kennedy and John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, and Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, and Congresswoman Niki Tsongas of Massachusetts, along with some House colleagues, sent a letter to Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates urging him to support the DDG-1000 destroyer in the president’s budget.

Gates is expected to soon propose a series of major cuts so the money can be spent instead to fight terrorists and insurgents. The new destroyer would be built at the Bath Iron Works in Maine and a second shipyard in Mississippi, while contractors in Rhode Island and elsewhere would supply components.

“I urge President Obama to include full funding for DDG-1000 destroyers in his budget in the coming fiscal year. Over the past years, $11 billion has already been invested in the program," Kennedy said in a statement today. "If the Navy wants to start building a different type of destroyer, it needs to make a persuasive case to Congress that such a major shift makes sense. The Navy, so far, has failed to provide that information.”

“Support for this request is critical to the timely delivery of needed capabilities to our Navy through the DDG-1000 and future generation surface combatants. This plan leverages the technologies developed on DDG-1000 to efficiently and effectively provide technologies to the next generation of ships,” Reed added.

Their letter is below:

When Senator Judd Gregg stunningly withdrew as President Obama's choice for commerce secretary, the New Hampshire Republican blamed "irresolvable conflicts" on policy.

He wasn't kidding.

Since giving Obama the heave-ho last month, Gregg has been one of the Democratic president's harshest critics. In recent days, he has been blasting Obama's proposed $3.6 trillion budget, saying it would bankrupt the country. Gregg, the ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, got some more ammunition on Friday, when the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected that Obama's game plan would generate unsustainable deficits averaging almost $1 trillion a year for the next decade.

In an interview on MSNBC this afternoon, Gregg said if he were in charge, he would excise from Obama's budget the healthcare expansion ($634 billion over 10 years) and the government takeover of student loans, would freeze discretionary domestic spending, and would tackle entitlement programs such as Medicare and Social Security.

He also stood by his eye-opening remarks about the moves by some Democrats to limit debate -- and require only a bare majority for passage -- on major tax proposals in Obama's budget plan, including carbon and healthcare taxes.

While Democrats say that Republicans did the same when they were in control, Gregg and other Republicans say that puts a lie to Obama's pledge of bipartisanship and changing how Washington does business.

"That would be the Chicago approach to governing: Strong-arm it through," Gregg said last week. "You're talking about the exact opposite of bipartisan. You're talking about running over the minority, putting them in cement, and throwing them in the Chicago River."

In a weeklong blitz for his ambitious, but somewhat beleaguered budget, President Obama today is highlighting "clean energy" proposals.

In an economic crisis that has cost 4.4 million jobs already, "green" energy holds great promise for boosting the recovery, Obama told entrepreneurs and research leaders in Washington this afternoon.

"It's said that necessity is the mother of invention," he said. "At this moment of necessity, we need you."

The president pointed out specific businesses that are creating energy jobs, and praised his new science adviser, John Holdren, who came from Harvard, and MIT's president, Susan Hockfield, for work being done there.

It's a choice, he said, between remaining the world's largest importer of foreign oil -- and becoming the world's biggest exporter of alternative energy technology.

"We know the right choice," he said. "We have known the right choice for a generation. It is time to make that choice."

In advance of the meeting, the White House released a "fact sheet" saying that the $787 billion stimulus bill includes $39 billion in energy investments at the Department of Energy and $20 billion in tax incentives for clean energy.

Obama's $3.6 trillion spending blueprint, which is under criticism from both Republicans and some Democrats because of new, higher deficit projections, includes almost $75 billion over 10 years to make the research and experimentation tax credit permanent.

The president argues that alternative energy will create jobs, wean the country from foreign oil, and help make progress on global warming.

Obama also promoted his budget in his weekly Internet and radio address on Saturday and in an interview on "60 Minutes" on Sunday, and plans to do so again in a primetime news conference on Tuesday.

He also had his grassroots army knock on doors over the weekend to build support for his budget.

"It’s an economic blueprint for our future – a vision of America where growth is not based on real estate bubbles or overleveraged banks, but on a firm foundation of investments in energy, education, and healthcare that will lead to a real and lasting prosperity," he said in his weekly address. "These investments are not a wish list of priorities that I picked out of thin air – they are a central part of a comprehensive strategy to grow this economy by attacking the very problems that have dragged it down for too long: the high cost of health care and our dependence on foreign oil; our education deficit and our fiscal deficit."

He said renewable energy is one of four core principles he will insist on as Congress debates and rewrites his proposal.

"First, it must reduce our dependence on dangerous foreign oil and finally put this nation on a path to a clean, renewable energy future. There is no longer a doubt that the jobs and industries of tomorrow will involve harnessing renewable sources of energy. The only question is whether America will lead that future."

The fact sheet is below:

President Obama said today that he is "very confident" that the latest plan to take toxic assets off the backs of banks and other financial institutions will work and ease the credit crunch.

He told reporters that the plan detailed this morning by his embattled treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner, will build on the progress already made with the $787 billion economic stimulus package and with his proposals to stem home foreclosures.

The plan Geithner outlined relies on public-private partnerships -- with the private firms lured by federal largess -- to buy up the bad assets.

"We believe that this is one more element that is going to be absolutely critical in getting credit flowing again. It's not going to happen overnight. There's still great fragility in the financial systems, but we think that we are moving in the right direction," Obama said after his daily economic briefing.

"And we are very confident that, in coordination with the Federal Reserve and the FDIC, other relevant institutions, that we are going to be able to not only start unlocking these credit markets, but we're also going to be in position to design the regulatory authorities that are necessary to prevent this kind of systemic crisis from happening again."

His full remarks are below, as is the transcript of Geithner's press briefing on the plan:

Republicans and some Democrats are saying that scary new deficit figures today argue for dialing back President Obama's ambitious budget plans for healthcare, alternative energy, and education and more.

But his most liberal allies are asserting the opposite, saying they show the need for the sweeping change that Obama's $3.6 trillion blueprint represents.

"The best way to reduce the deficit is to grow our economy; the best way to grow our economy is to act on the priorities in the president's budget," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement. "President Obama's budget will transform our economy and create jobs by cutting taxes for 95 percent of Americans, making healthcare more affordable and accessible, creating a new, clean energy economy, and modernizing our schools to prepare our workforce for global competition.

"Over the next two weeks, I expect the House Budget Committee to produce, and the entire House will approve, a budget resolution that reflects the President's priorities and will help usher in a new era of job creation and lasting prosperity for the American people."

The Congressional Budget Office projected today that Obama's budget would produce federal deficits totaling $9.3 trillion between 2010 and 2019, $2.3 trillion more than the administration predicted last month. The CBO says the deficit under Obama's policies would never go below 4 percent of the size of the economy, a level that most economists say is dangerously high.

But USAAction, an advocacy group pushing Obama's budget, said the way to dig out from all the red ink is to make the costly investments.

“This revised report delivers a stark message that the economy is in even worse shape than previously thought," Program Director Alan Charney said in a statement. "It reinforces why it's even more critical to pass the initiatives on healthcare, education and the economy laid out the President's budget. The solutions must be adequate to match the depth of the problems. If we don't deal with the major underlying problems with the economy and make it possible for job creation, our deficits will continue to skyrocket."

"We cannot achieve sustainable economic growth without fixing our broken healthcare system, reducing our dependence on foreign oil, and investing in an educated workforce for tomorrow," he added. "The President's budget accomplishes these objectives and we cannot let the naysayers keep sending this country down the wrong direction.”

Tom McMahon, acting executive director of Americans United for Change, which is advocating Obama's budget with nearly 100 labor, environmental, and progressive organizations, agreed:

“The sobering new deficit projections deliver a stark message that the economy is in even worse shape than was previously thought,. It also underscores the urgent need to pass the bold initiatives on healthcare, education, energy and the economy laid out the President’s budget. If we don’t deal with the major underlying problems with the economy and make it possible for business to create jobs, our deficits will only continue to explode. We simply cannot achieve sustainable economic growth without fixing our broken health care system, reducing our dependence on foreign oil, and investing in tomorrow’s educated workforce. Bottom line: the most effective way for Congress to begin to regain control of the federal deficit is to support the President's budget plan that is blueprint for rebuilding and renewing America.”

Democrats are blasting Alaska Governor Sarah Palin for announcing that she will reject nearly half of the economic stimulus money coming to her state from Washington, accusing her of putting national political ambitions ahead of her constituents.

Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee last year, announced Thursday that she will accept 55 percent of the estimated $930 million in stimulus cash, leaving it up to legislators to decide if they will request any of the rest.

Palin said she would accept money that is "timely, targeted and temporary" and does not create strings that will bind the state in the future, she said, according to the Associated Press. "I can't attest to every fund that's being offered the state in the stimulus package will be used to create jobs and stimulate the economy, so I'm requesting only those things that I know will."

Democratic National Committee spokesman Brad Woodhouse called Palin's decision "appears to be nothing more than political posturing."

"At a time when her state is suffering, Alaska's working families cannot afford a governor that puts her political future ahead of the needs of the state and its families," he added.
Alaska Democratic Party head Patti Higgins and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bob Poe plan a conference call this afternoon to pile on.

Some Republican state legislators have also questioned Palin's choice. A Democratic state representative, Les Gara of Anchorage, said he was shocked the governor would consider turning away money, especially for schools and new teachers when the state has a 40 percent high school dropout rate, according to the AP. He accused the governor of thinking only of her own national political prospects.

Palin, who joins a few other GOP governors in rejecting some stimulus money, said she was acting in the best interests of Alaskans.

Seeking to build support for his economic plans, President Obama this afternoon also accented the need to spend recovery money wisely.

He announced he is issuing a directive on using the $787 billion stimulus package to "provide guidelines to federal agencies for what does and what does not constitute an acceptable use of taxpayer money, guidelines that will help ensure that we are proving ourselves worthy of the great trust the American people have placed in us."

(Read the directive here.)

To set an example, Obama announced that under the guidelines, he has already nixed a project close to home -- modernizing the electrical and heating systems in the White House's East Wing, where the first family lives.

"This is a much-needed project, it's long overdue, and I hope Congress funds it in the future. But because this request does not meet the high standards I have set -- because it will not create many jobs or advance our recovery -- it will not be funded under the Recovery Act," he told leaders and members of the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Another highlight of the new rules is far more transparency on the activities of lobbyists and a presidential pledge that projects will not be funded "as a way of doing favors for lobbyists."

"Any lobbyist who wants to talk with a member of my administration about a particular Recovery Act project will have to submit their thoughts in writing, and we will post it on the Internet for all to see," Obama said to applause. "If any member of my administration does meet with a lobbyist about a Recovery Act project, every American will be able to go online and see what the meeting was about. These are unprecedented restrictions that will help ensure that lobbyists don't stand in the way of our recovery."

Obama's full remarks, along with those of Vice President Biden, are below:

The drumbeat for Timothy Geithner's head -- or maybe it's more like a drip-drip -- is slowly building.

Representative Connie Mack, a Florida Republican, yesterday became the first to publicly call for the treasury secretary to resign in the wake of the AIG bonus fiasco.

Today, Senator Jim Bunning, a Kentucky Republican, said Geithner should resign or be dismissed, saying the former New York Fed chief has "an incestuous relationship with Wall Street.”

“Either one – either way," Bunning said on Fox Business Network. "First of all, I didn’t think he was qualified for the job because of his involvement in TARP and a seat at the table. And then of course, he hasn’t done anything to ease the burden. Where’s the plan? You know, he was going to bring the plan to the banking committee. We still haven’t seen the plan and he’s been in office for six to eight weeks.”

Geithner's boss, President Obama, has stood steadfastly behind him so far, saying Wednesday that he has "complete confidence" in Geithner, who the president said is the hardest working man in Washington.

"I know Washington is all in a tizzy and everybody is pointing fingers at each other and saying it's their fault, the Democrats' fault, the Republicans' fault," Obama said at a town hall meeting in southern California on Wednesday night. "Listen, I'll take responsibility; I'm the president. We didn't grant these contracts, and we've got a lot on our plate, but it is appropriate, when you're in charge, to make sure that stuff doesn't happen like this....So for everybody in Washington who's busy scrambling, trying to figure out how to blame somebody else, just go ahead and talk to me, because it's my job to make sure that we fix these messes, even if I don't make them."

UPDATE: In an interview airing today on CNN, Geithner defended himself, even as he accepted responsibility.

He said that he did not know about the "full scale" of the bonuses until March 10, two days before he informed the White House, "but, you know, it's my responsibility, I was in a position where I didn't know about those sooner, I take full responsibility for that."

"We moved very actively to explore every possible avenue -- legal avenue to address this problem, to make sure that, again, the assistance we were providing was not going to unduly benefit these people," he said.

"And, you know, we moved very quickly. We've made it clear that the payments going forward had to be renegotiated and we're going to make sure that the taxpayer is compensated for any payments we can't recoup. And we're exploring all legal means to recoup those payments."

Geithner also acknowledged that his staff had talked to Senator Chris Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, about an executive pay provision in the economic stimulus bill that was changed so that it ended up not blocking the AIG bonuses.

"We expressed concern about this specific version," he told CNN. "We wanted to make sure it was strong enough to survive legal challenge. But we also worked with him to strengthen the overall framework and his bill has this very important provision we’re relying on now to go back and see if we can recoup payments that were made that
there was no legal ability to block."

Geithner said that he, himself, did not speak to Dodd directly about the provision, "but I’m not sure that’s relevant because Treasury staff did express concern about whether this provision was vulnerable to legal challenge."

Geithner brushed off the calls to resign, saying, "I think this just comes with the job.

"If this was not challenging, it wouldn't be consequential. And I feel this deep sense of personal responsibility and obligation and really opportunity to work with this president, this Congress, to try to make this economy stronger, to make sure our financial system never goes through this again," he said.

"People are going to disagree with some of the choices we make, but we have to act. We have no choice but to move."

On day two of his California trip, President Obama highlighted alternative energy this afternoon as one of the most promising avenues to economic recovery.

"The nation that leads on energy will lead the world in the 21st century," he said after touring Southern California Edison's electric vehicle technical center in Pomona, which bills itself as unique for an utility and says it is one of only two facilities approved by the US Energy Department to test electric vehicles.

Obama announced that $2.4 billion will be available to produce next generation plug-in hybrid vehicles and the advanced battery components they need. Consumers who buy plug-in hybrids can claim a tax credit of up to $7,500.

The funding includes, according to the White House:

-- Up to $1.5 billion in grants to US-based manufacturers to produce these highly efficient batteries and their components.

-- Up to $500 million in grants to US-based manufacturers to produce other components needed for electric vehicles, such as electric motors and other components.

-- Up to $400 million to demonstrate and evaluate plug-in hybrids and other electric infrastructure concepts -- like truck stop charging station, electric rail, and training for technicians to build and repair electric vehicles.

"It's always nice to get out of Washington a little bit -- recharge your batteries," Obama joked.

Obama said that California, while bearing the brunt of the recession, is also pointing the way forward with ingenuity and technology. But the United States is in danger of falling behind other countries on solar power, wind energy, and other renewable energy.

Investments in alternative energy will create jobs, wean the country off foreign oil, and help on global warming, the president said.

(His full remarks are below.)

As part of selling the stimulus package, the White House released a list of the money that California has received. It is also below:

Vice President Biden's middle class task force is holding a forum in the Midwest today, and like the first one in Philadelphia, the focus is on green energy as an engine of the economic recovery.

The town hall event is being held at the New Flyer of America Bus Company plant in St. Cloud, Minn., which makes low-emission, alternative-fuel buses. The White House says the plant added more than 90 employees last year, bringing its unionized workforce to 650, who are working around the clock to fulfill a two-year backlog of orders.

“Our task today is to hear directly from middle class folks and answer the questions they have about what the Recovery Act means for them,” Biden said in a statement. “We heard from the experts last time – and now its time to hear directly from those hit hardest by our economic crisis. My hope today is that we answer questions, but also get some ideas for what the federal government can do better.”

Biden is being accompanied by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan, Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, and Minnesota Se