Political Scene

IMMIGRATION

President to meet key senators on issue

President Obama plans to focus attention on immigration this week by meeting at the White House with two senators crafting a bill on the issue.

White House spokesman Nicholas Shapiro said Mr. Obama will meet with Sens. Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, and Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, on Monday.

The president is “looking forward to hearing more about their efforts toward producing a bipartisan bill,” Mr. Shapiro said Friday.

The meeting will be the first Mr. Obama has had with Mr. Schumer and Mr. Graham on the proposal they are developing since they began focusing on it last year.

Immigration has taken a back seat to the economy and health care on Mr. Obama’s agenda since he took office more than 13 months ago. Immigrants and their advocates promised by then-candidate Obama that he would tackle the issue in his first year as president have been growing frustrated by the inaction.

Several community groups planned to vent some of that frustration in a news conference Monday in Washington. The groups also are trying to organize tens of thousands of people from around the country for a March 21 demonstration in Washington.

“The president’s commitment to fixing our broken immigration system remains unwavering,” Mr. Shapiro said.

DEFICIT

Estimates show grim deficit picture

A new congressional report says the United States’ long-term fiscal woes are even worse than predicted by President Obama’s grim budget submission last month.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office predicts that Mr. Obama’s budget plans would generate deficits over the upcoming decade that would total $9.8 trillion. That’s $1.2 trillion more than predicted by the administration.

The agency said its future-year predictions of tax revenues are more pessimistic than that of the administration.

For the ongoing budget year, CBO predicts a record $1.5 trillion deficit. That’s actually a little better than predicted by the White House.

The deficit picture has turned alarmingly worse since the recession that started at the end of 2007.

CAMPAIGNS

McConnell criticizes RNC funding pitch

The Senate’s top Republican did not like a recent appeal to party donors that was based on stoking fear and negative feelings toward President Obama and other Democrats.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said Sunday he doesn’t understand why anyone thought such an appeal would help the GOP. “I don’t like it, and I don’t know anybody who does,” he told ABC’s “This Week” program on Sunday.

The pitch last month to Republican fundraisers included a direct call to exploit “extreme negative feelings” toward Democrats. In the presentation, Mr. Obama was depicted as Batman villain the Joker and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as Cruella De Vil.

However, Mr. McConnell said it’s up to the Republican National Committee to hold someone responsible.

CURRENCY

$100 bill to get face-lift

Aiming to stay a step ahead of counterfeiters, the government is planning a new design for the $100 bill that will be unveiled next month, the Treasury Department said Friday.

Wraps will come off the face-lift for Ben Franklin at an April 21 ceremony in the ornate Cash Room at the department, the site of Ulysses S. Grant’s first inaugural ball in 1869. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke will do the honors.

The government said its decisions on redesigning currency are guided by assessments of counterfeiting threats, from digital technology or old-fashioned printing presses.

the highest value of all U.S. bills circulates widely around the globe.The unveiling of the new design is the first step in a global campaign by the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve Board and the Secret Service to inform users of the bill of the changes before it starts circulating, Treasury said.

Training materials on the new $100 bill for those who handle cash and educational information will be available in 25 languages beginning on April 21 at www.newmoney .gov.

WHITE HOUSE

Obama to meet with Haitian leader

President Obama plans to meet this week with Haitian President Rene Preval in their first face-to-face talks since an earthquake devastated Haiti in January.

The White House talks are scheduled for Wednesday, a statement said.

The Haiti earthquake killed an estimated 300,000 people and left a million homeless.

Mr. Obama designated former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush to lead efforts to raise money from Americans for quake relief.

SECURITY

Airports to add more body scanners

BOSTON | The Transportation Security Administration on Friday announced nine more U.S. airports that will receive body-scanning technology, as the U.S. heightens its effort to detect hidden explosives and contraband amid a threat highlighted by an attempted bombing on Christmas Day.

TSA security director Lee Kair said units will be fielded in the coming months at Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; San Jose, Calif.; Columbus, Ohio; San Diego; Charlotte, N.C.; Cincinnati; Los Angeles; Oakland, Calif.; and Kansas City.

They will join three machines going online Monday at Boston’s Logan International Airport, and one being deployed this week at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago.

All are among 150 machines bought with money from the federal economic stimulus package signed by President Obama last year. They join 40 machines already in use at 19 airports nationwide.

• From wire dispatches and staff reports