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President Obama is presented with a team jersey from the Women's Professional Soccer Champions Sky Blue FC, Thursday, July 1, 2010, in the East Room of the White House in Washington, to honor their 2009 season and for winning the inaugural Women's Professional Soccer championship. Team captain Christie Rampone is pictured seated left. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Obama alienates GOP over immigration bill

President Obama went into Thursday's major policy speech on immigration hoping to convince Republicans to join him in passing a bill, but walked out facing a bigger divide than ever - including having irked one key lawmaker who had been his major Republican ally on the issue.

July 1, 2010
President Obama gestures while speaking about immigration reform, Thursday,July 1, 2010, at American University in Washington. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Obama tries to put Republicans on immigration hot seat

Seeking to inject urgency into the push for an overhaul of the nation's immigration laws, President Obama on Thursday called on Republicans to join the effort, telling them he can't pass a bill without them.

July 1, 2010
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOGRAPHS Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan, one of 139 Republicans who voted against extending unemployment benefits, said the $33.9 billion cost was the issue, not the benefits themselves. He's seen in March.

Extension of unemployment benefits rejected

House Republicans blocked a Democratic attempt Tuesday to extend unemployment benefits for an eighth time since 2008, saying they couldn't stomach adding the $33.9 billion price tag to the deficit.

June 29, 2010
**FILE** The acting Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee Rep. Sander Levin, D-Mich., leaves the committee office on Capitol Hill on March 4, 2010. (Associated Press)

GOP blocks jobless aid extension

House Republicans blocked a Democratic attempt Tuesday to extend unemployment benefits for an eighth time since 2008, saying they couldn't stomach adding the $33.9 billion price tag to the deficit.

June 29, 2010

GOP cuts pork from spending diet plan

The first spending bill to begin moving through Congress since House Republicans pledged to forgo earmarks shows the vow is working: The bill contains nearly 50 percent less in pork-barrel spending than last year's version.

June 28, 2010
The Washington Times FAREWELL: Sen. Robert C. Byrd, who died early Monday, secured more than $3 billion in earmarked spending for West Virginia.

Byrd left legacy in Senate - and all across his home state

A master of Senate procedure and federal spending, Sen. Robert C. Byrd died Monday at 92 after the longest congressional career in American history - and it's easy to see the mark he left on his beloved home state of West Virginia.

June 28, 2010
In this April 30, 2008 file photo, Senate President Pro Tem Sen. Robert Byrd., West Virginia Democrat, bangs the gavel on Capitol Hill in Washington, prior to outgoing Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern's address to a joint meeting of Congress. Mr. Byrd a fiery orator versed in the classics and a hard-charging power broker who steered billions of federal dollars to the state of his Depression-era upbringing, died Monday, June 28, 2010 (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

Sen. Robert Byrd, longest-serving member of Congress, dies at 92

Sen. Robert C. Byrd, the longest-serving member of Congress in history, known for his rhetorical flourish, his devotion to his home state of West Virginia and his fierce defense of the legislative branch's constitutional primacy in American government, died Monday morning at the age of 92.

June 28, 2010

G-20 leaders strike delicate balance

Leaders of the world's 20 most powerful economies said this weekend that they must control deficits in the long run but not stifle a nascent economic recovery in the short term, in what President Obama described as "violent agreement" on principles.

June 27, 2010

Democrats try to dip into sacred stimulus

After repeatedly turning back the GOP's efforts to redirect stimulus money to other purposes, Senate Democrats did an about-face this week as they dipped into the Recovery Act funds to try to pay for their own tax breaks and job-spending priorities.

June 24, 2010

Napolitano highlights steps to secure border

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Wednesday the federal government will create a program to let state and local police in non-border states rotate down to the border to help local authorities go after smugglers along the U.S.-Mexico line.

June 23, 2010
**FILE** Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano

Napolitano: State and local police may deploy to border

The homeland security secretary said the federal government will move to let state and local police in non-border states rotate down to the border to help local authorities go after smugglers along the U.S.-Mexico line.

June 23, 2010
ASSOCIATED PRESS CHASTENED: The report by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on deep-water oil drilling, including his call for a six-month moratorium, was panned Tuesday by a federal judge as "misleading."

Judge lifts deep-water oil-drilling moratorium

A federal judge halted President Obama's deep-water oil drilling moratorium on Tuesday, telling the government its justification for the ban was "rather overbearing" and misled the public in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

June 22, 2010
** FILE ** Vessels operate near the Q4000 drilling rig at the site of the Deepwater Horizon well in the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday, June 13, 2010. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)

Judge halts Obama’s oil-drilling ban

A federal judge in New Orleans halted President Obama's deepwater drilling moratorium on Tuesday, saying the government never justified the ban and appeared to mislead the public in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

June 22, 2010

Top Dem says Congress shouldn’t pass budget

Congress will not produce a budget this year, House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer said Tuesday, though he said Congress should take steps to impose one-year spending limits on itself and begin to lay the groundwork for long-term restraint.

June 22, 2010
TEUTONIC TIP: German Chancellor Angela Merkel discusses global finance after a meeting with advisers at the Chancellery in Berlin on Monday ahead of the Group of 20 summit. (Associated Press)

Germany urges U.S. to focus on debt cuts

The congressional battle over adding more government stimulus spending versus deficit reduction spilled overseas Monday as the German government rebuked the Obama administration over its red ink and said countries now must focus on controlling debt.

June 21, 2010

Rich got richer, paid more taxes under Bush

The rich did indeed get richer under President George W. Bush, but they also paid an ever-larger share of the federal tax burden, according to new numbers from Congress' chief scorekeeper.

June 20, 2010
President Obama delivers remarks at the groundbreaking of a road project funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Friday, June 18, 2010, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)

White House, Congress clash over stimulus

The White House has begun a summerlong effort to rehabilitate the damaged image of the $862 billion Recovery Act, arguing that Americans are finally beginning to see the effects - even as the administration is struggling to get Congress to agree to another round of stimulus spending.

June 17, 2010

Senate rejects more stimulus funding

The Senate on Wednesday rejected a $140 billion taxes and spending package in a resounding defeat for President Obama and Democratic leaders that signaled the era of freewheeling stimulus spending is giving way to greater concern for deficits.

June 16, 2010