Political leaders on Capitol Hill continue to talk past one another about how to solve the nation’s debt problems as the issue of taxes remains a critical sticking point in negotiations.

And with only five weeks left before the nation risks defaulting on its debt, all sides retreated to familiar talking points on the issue Tuesday, suggesting a compromise is far from sight.

“We’ve had a number of useful meetings,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, told reporters at the Capitol. “But I must say, I’m perplexed as to why the administration seems now to believe that tax increases … would be a good idea in this economy?”....

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...

NEW YORK (AP) - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney accused the Obama administration on Monday of jeopardizing the very manufacturing jobs the Democratic president plans to promote when he visits an aluminum plant in Iowa.

Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, said a lawsuit filed by the National Labor Relations Board against Boeing could stifle jobs at Alcoa in Iowa, which provides materials for the airline manufacturer's 787 Dreamliner.

"This Boeing decision in South Carolina sent shockwaves across the nation and, if allowed to stand, will result in American job losses and I think you can be sure there will be some losses in Iowa as well as other states," Romney said in an Associated Press interview...

In a much-discussed live televised forum last week, Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Chase, asked Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke the 64-trillion-dollar question. While most commentators focused on the apt question, it was Mr. Bernanke’s answer that shocked me when I heard it - and ought to shock the nation much more than it has so far.

Question: “Now we’re told there are going to be even higher capital requirements, and we know there are 300 [financial regulatory] rules coming. Has anyone bothered to study the cumulative effect of these things? And do you have a fear - like I do - that when we look back and look at them all, that they will be the reason that it took so long for our banks, our credit, our businesses, and most importantly, our job creation, to start going again?

(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”...

President Barack Obama has lost 20 percent of his approval rating in the course of five weeks in a national poll conducted by the Washington Post. The survey shows that Obama’s bounce he received after Osama bin Ladin’s death has dissipated.

Five weeks after receiving a net positive 18 percent approval rating in the Washington Post poll following the killing of the terrorist mastermind, Obama’s approval rating returned to its pre-bin Ladin status. Obama’s approval rating from the last poll was 56-38 positive versus negative. Now, 47 percent of the American public approves of his job performance while 49 percent disapprove — almost identical to the 47-50 percentage point split Obama saw in mid-April.

That 20 percent decline represents a short-term memory of the bin Ladin killing and, according to the Washington Post, is an indicator that the negative economy is driving public opinion...

CHICAGO -- Republican Tim Pawlenty was set to propose an economic policy Tuesday that would simplify individual tax rates to just three options and cut taxes on business by more than half as he offered himself as a replacement to Barack Obama in the Democratic president's hometown.

The former Minnesota governor also was to propose that any services available privately, such as the postal services or mortgages, should not be something government handles. He said he would require a vote in Congress to extend any regulation or he would cancel it. And he said he would eliminate taxes on investments and inheritances.

"But our policies can't just be about simply cutting rates. They must also promote freedom and free markets," Pawlenty said in excerpts provided ahead of the morning speech at the University of Chicago...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Employers hired only 54,000 new workers in May, the fewest in eight months, and the unemployment rate rose to 9.1 percent.

The Labor Department report offered startling evidence that the U.S. economy is slowing, hampered by high gas prices and natural disasters in Japan that have hurt U.S. manufacturers.

The pace of hiring has weakened dramatically from the previous three months, when the economy added an average of 220,000 new jobs. Private companies hired only 83,000 new workers in May -- the fewest in nearly a year...

Capping off a dismal week in economic news, the Labor Department reported Friday that the pace of hiring slowed dramatically in May and the unemployment rate rose to 9.1 percent -- fueling Republican demands that the Obama administration change direction on its economic policy.

Employers hired just 54,000 new workers in May, the fewest in eight months. The numbers follow a string of other reports showing a slowdown in manufacturing and deepening slump in the housing market. The trendlines come at a bad time for President Obama, as the official field of 2012 Republican presidential candidates starts to take shape; the candidates are eager to make the economy a central plank in their campaigns.

"President Obama's policies made the recession worse and as a result more people are out of work," former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who announced his jobs-centered White House bid Thursday, said after the report was released...

House Republicans on Thursday unveiled a blueprint to create jobs that calls for easing government regulations on business that they say handcuff the economy and prevent the hiring of workers.

The package borrows heavily from prior House GOP job-growth proposals — particularly last year’s Pledge to America — and includes few specifics and target goals. Instead, the plan relies on standard Republican themes such as cutting taxes, reforming the tax code, boosting domestic oil production and accusing the past Democratic-controlled Congress for legislation they say has undermined the economy.

“It’s not just about cutting spending — you also need to grow the economy,” said House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Virginia Republican, during a news event at the Capitol to roll out the plan...