The economy’s sudden downshift in growth and employment in recent weeks has increased the urgency for President Obama and Congress to reach a debt-reduction deal at the same time it has made their task more difficult.

A steep drop in job growth in May and June to less than a tenth of the monthly rates of more than 200,000 jobs earlier this year, as seen in Friday’s report, means that the 2-year-old economic recovery, rather than gathering steam as economists widely expected this year, suddenly has become halfhearted and vulnerable to shock from a sharp pullback in federal spending.

Adding to the dilemma, analysts say, is that the harsh political fight over how to tame the debt may have helped fuel the hiring freeze by causing a loss of confidence. Businesses and consumers fear spending cuts and tax increases are on the way and worry that the budget fight will roil financial markets as the government hurtles toward the brink of default on its massive debts...

(CNSNews.com) - President Barack Obama and congressional leaders seeking to negotiate a deal to increase the legal limit on the federal government’s debt, would need to agree to increase that debt by $615.865 billion between now and Sept. 30, just to keep the government going at current spending levels, according to the CBO’s latest estimate of the fiscal 2011 deficit and the Treasury Department’s latest accounting of the federal debt.

Given that the Census Bureau estimates there are now 117,538,000 households in the United States that means the federal government must borrow an additional $5,239.71 per American household just to maintain the current federal spending level through Sept. 30.

The $615.865 billion in new debt needed between now and Sept. 30 (the last day of fiscal 2011) will decrease only to the degree that Obama and Boehner and the other congressional leaders agree to cut near-term federal spending that is scheduled to take place between now and Sept. 30...

President Obama is meeting with congressional lawmakers at the White House again on Monday after negotiations the day before deadlocked over a plan to cut $4 trillion from a 10-year budget blueprint that Democrats insist include $1 trillion in tax hikes.

Obama suggested lawmakers come back to the table every day until a deal is done. But the "grand bargain" is unlikely to pick up any Republican support as long as the administration seeks tax increases to pay for the gap between spending and revenues in Washington.

The president will hold a news conference Monday at 11 a.m. ET to discuss the status of the debt talks, as the Aug. 2 deadline looms. Obama has indicated that any deal must extend the debt limit until at least Jan. 1, 2013...

Jody Duffy, a former U.S. Army officer, is responding to a new bill Democrats in Congress have filed that would re-institute a Clinton-era policy that allowed abortions at taxpayer-funded U.S. military base hospitals.

Current law in effect since 1996 prohibits the performance of abortion by Department of Defense medical personnel or at DOD medical facilities. A separate provision prohibits the use of DOD funds for abortion except to save the life of the mother. But the MARCH for Military Women Act would lift the current bans and abortion advocates have tried for years to force military base hospitals to do abortions on female service members.

Duffy, a retreat leader for Rachel’s Vineyard, a post-abortion healing program that is part of Priests for Life, writes in a new opinion column in the Los Angeles Times that lawmakers should oppose the legislation...

A national pro-life group has issued a new report featuring a groundbreaking analysis of the nation’s largest abortion business Planned Parenthood.

President Obama on Tuesday called on Congress to “do something big” to reduce the federal budget deficit, spurned talk of a short-term deal with Republicans to raise the debt limit and invited leaders to come Thursday to the White House to revive negotiations.

Mr. Obama said he wants to have a deal done within two weeks in order to leave some breathing room ahead of the looming Aug. 2 deadline, when the Treasury Department says the government will run up against the $14.29 trillion debt ceiling and would be forced to suspend some payments.

Some in Congress have proposed a short-term increase to give all sides more time to work out a solution, while others have said tax increases or cuts to entitlements can’t be options. Mr. Obama, though, rejected both stances...

WASHINGTON -- President Obama scheduled a news conference for late Wednesday morning, his first formal question-and-answer session since high-stakes debt and budget negotiations began.

Obama was expected to open with comments about spurring the economy and job growth, and touch on the deficit talks that have occupied Vice President Joe Biden and congressional leaders over the past several weeks.

Obama's last full-blown news conference was in March, when turmoil in Libya and the threatened shutdown of the government were making headlines. He has since answered questions in brief sessions with reporters during a European trip and during a joint White House appearance with German Chancellor Angela Merkel...

(CNSNews.com) – In a March 21 letter to Congress explaining why he ordered military strikes against Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, President Barack Obama noted that he was writing the letter so as to be compliant with the War Powers Act.

Now, Obama claims that the Act does not apply to U.S. military action in Libya.

According to press reports Wednesday, the White House is set to inform Congress that it no longer considers itself bound by the War Powers Act despite the continued participation of American armed forces in the now NATO-led strikes against Gadhafi...

(CNSNews.com) - Twenty-eight months ago—on Feb. 13, 2009--Congress passed a $787-billion economic stimulus law and sent it to President Barack Obama who signed it while declaring it would create or save 3.5 million jobs.

This Saturday, in his weekly address, President Obama pointed to his predecessors for causing problems in the economy and indicated a full recovery would not come soon.

“I wish I could tell you there was a quick fix to our economic problems,” Obama said. “But the truth is, we didn’t get into this mess overnight, and we won’t get out of it overnight. It’s going to take time”...

With members of Congress returning to Washington and the Anthony Weiner sexting scandal poised to stretch into its third week, pressure is building on the embattled congressman to promptly resign.

The scandal has dominated coverage and conversation in Washington, as more lurid pictures and chats emerge by the day. After a new pictorial of a nearly nude Weiner in the gym emerged over the weekend, reports surfaced claiming the New York Democrat is finally considering stepping down.

But a source told Fox News that Weiner is waiting until his wife -- Huma Abedin, an aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton -- returns from her trip to Africa with Clinton before making a decision...