Over the last few weeks, Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has argued that President Obama's policies have made the economy worse.

Here was Romney in New Hampshire on Monday:

The people of New Hampshire have waited long enough. They want to see good jobs. They want to see rising incomes. They want to see an economy that's growing again, and the president's failed. He did not cause this recession, but he made it worse. 

And he said something similar at the New Hampshire debate earlier this month:

He didn't create the recession, but he made it worse and longer.

But at his press conference today in Allentown, PA -- where he was highlighting a company that had closed, after President Obama touted it benefitting from the stimulus -- Romney backtracked on the he-made-it-worse line.

When NBC producer Sue Kroll asked the former Massachusetts governor why he believes that Obama's policies have made the economy worse -- when the economy is now growing (and not shrinking like it was in 2009), when the Dow is climbing (and no longer in a free-fall like it was in '09), and when the unemployment rate is down a full percentage point from where it was in Oct. '09 -- Romney gave this answer:

I didn't say that things are worse.

Romney went on to say:

What I said was that economy hasn't turned around, that you've got 20 million Americans out of work, or seriously unemployed; housing values still going down. You have a crisis of foreclosures in this country. The economy, by the way, if you think the economy is great and going well, be my guest. But the president of the United States, when he put in place his stimulus plan and borrowed $787 billion, said he would hold unemployment below 8% -- and 8% seemed like an awfully high number. It hasn't been below 8% since.  That's failure. We're over 9% unemployment. That's failure. He set the bogie himself at 8% ,which strikes me as a very high number and we're still above that three years later.

*** UPDATE *** About 24 hours after this story was published, the Romney campaign sent First Read this response: “Mitt Romney was responding to the reporter’s comment about the stock market," said spokeswoman Andrea Saul. "If the Democrats are waiting for Mitt Romney to ease up on his criticism of President Obama’s economic record, it’s simply not going to happen. It is an undeniable fact that Barack Obama has failed to create jobs and fix the economy. He is on track to be the only president to leave office with a net job loss. President Obama and the Democrats will spend the next 17 months trying to distract voters from their horrible record on the economy – and it’s not going to work.”

However NBC producer Sue Kroll asked Romney MORE than just about the stock market. Here's what Kroll asked the presidential candidate: "Gov. Romney, you continue to say that the economy is worse. But unemployment is lower than it was in 2009; the stock market was tumbling and is now above 12,000; and it is growing slowly -- we just had 12%, excuse me, 2% gain this quarter. So how do you continue to say that things are worse if they really aren't worse?"

As the deadline to raise the U.S. debt limit creeps nearer, Bloomberg is reporting that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is mulling a departure from the administration after a deficit deal between Congress and the White House is forged.

From Bloomberg:

[Geithner] signaled to White House officials that he’s considering leaving the administration after President Barack Obama reaches an agreement with Congress to raise the national debt limit, according to three people familiar with the matter.

Geithner hasn’t made a final decision and won’t do so until the debt ceiling issue has been resolved, according to one of the people. All spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private discussions.

Update:  In an appearance with former President Bill Clinton at a Clinton Global Initiative event Thursday evening, Geithner said for the "foreseeable future," he will continue in his position.  "I live for this work. It's the only thing I've ever done. I believe in it," he said, according to the AP.  Geithner added:  "We have a lot of challenges in the country and I'm going to be doing it for the foreseeable future." 

The Senate has unanimously confirmed Gen. David Petraeus to be the new director of the CIA.

The vote was 94-0.

Petraeus, a 37-year Army veteran who has served as the top commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan and previously as the head of U.S. Central Command, is expected to start the new job in September.

He will replace Leon Panetta, who is leaving the CIA job to become the new Defense Secretary.

Senate GOP leader Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) tore into President Obama for more than 15 minutes on the Senate floor today.

Reacting to the president's criticism of Congress yesterday, he said Obama had the "gall" to call for congressional leadership "after he has displayed an astounding lack of leadership."

And then said: "I think the president has diminished that office and himself by giving the kind of campaign speeches that he gave yesterday."

He added that the president shouldn't be going to two fundraisers tonight -- he should be calling congressional leadership for meetings.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) says he has invited President Obama and Vice President Biden to Capitol Hill Wednesday for deficit talks. Reid says the White House is on board, and the White House economic team is expected to attend as well.

The meeting may take place at White House if Capitol Hill doesn't work, Reid said.

Earlier today, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said he invited the president to come to the Capitol today to meet with Senate Republicans to talk about "what's actually possible" in the deficit talks.

"The President does not seem to get it," McConnell said.

McConnell's spokesman tells NBC, "I hope he accepts."

His office also struck a partisan tone, saying the Kentucky senator would "invite President Obama to the Capitol today to speak with Senate Republicans and explain his plans to hike taxes by hundreds of billions."

The story about Democratic Congressman Dennis Kucinich unauthorized diplomacy in Syria continues.

With the House not in session, Kucinich has been in Syria, where he was quoted by the state news agency saying kind words about President Bashar al-Assad, whose government has killed its own people. "President al-Assad is highly loved and appreciated by the Syrians," Kucinich said, per the news outlet.

Later, Kucinich said he was misquoted. But he received this blistering criticism from the Washington Post's editorial page:

Mr. Kucinich, who has fiercely opposed the U.S. intervention against Libyan strongman Moammar Gaddafi, traveled to Damascus over the weekend to huddle with Syria’s dictator, who is desperately seeking to avoid being isolated and labeled illegitimate by the outside world. Thanks to the slaughter by his security forces of at least 1,400 people — the vast majority of them unarmed civilians — Mr. Assad has few friends these days: The European Union and United States have sanctioned him personally, and even his regime’s most faithful allies are close to abandoning him... But Mr. Assad still has a friend: Mr. Kucinich. 

Kucinich today issued a press release, stating: "I don’t support the violence, I don’t condone the violence and by direct appeal to President Assad and in supporting those who are seeking freedom and serious reforms, I am working to end the violence. I appealed to President Assad to remove his forces from the cities. He told me he would, and today we learned that he has begun to do just that."

The White House tells NBC News that Kucinich's trip wasn't authorized by the administration.

"The Congressman is there of his own accord and not representing the administration in Syria," a White House spokesman says. "We do hope, however, that he made clear to President Assad the need to immediately cease the violence and intimidation of the Syrian people and to begin a meaningful political dialogue."

Back in a May interview with the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Kucinich refused to blame Assad for the violence in Syria. "We also understand that there's very serious questions raised about the conduct of the Syrian police, but we also know the Syrian police were fired upon and that many police were murdered," Kucinich told the paper.

Also from that interview: "I've read where President Assad has made certain commitments, and I would imagine that when things finally settle down, that President Assad will move in a direction of democratic reforms," Kucinich said. "He has already made that commitment from what I can see."

We're gearing up to shoot another edition of Inside the Boiler Room. Got a question? Post it below!

Hailing Robert Gates for his "profound sense of duty" and integrity and his four decades of public service, President Obama used a farewell tribute at the Pentagon to surprise the outgoing defense secretary with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

The medal is the highest honor a president can bestow on a civilian and is presented to people "who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors," according to information provided by the White House.

The citation accompanying the medal called Gates a champion of servicemembers and their families and noted what it called his "unwavering patriotism." He retires after having served eight presidents.

"Bob, today you're not only one of the longest-serving secretaries of defense in American history, but it is also clear that you've been one of the best," Obama said.

Gates is the only defense secretary to have served both a Republican Commander-in-Chief, President George W. Bush, and a Democrat -- something the president made a point of highlighting.

"In his willingness to become the first secretary of defense to serve under presidents of both parties, the integrity of Bob Gates is also a reminder -- especially to folks here in Washington -- that civility and respectful discourse and citizenship over partisanship are not quaint relics of a bygone era," he said.

Gates' departure comes as the U.S. is engaged in conflicts in Afghanistan, Libya and Iraq -- even though the Obama administration has removed 100,000 combat troops from Iraq. June has been the deadliest month for American troops in the country in two years.

In remarks before introducing the president, Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen praised Gates for his honesty, pragmatism and grit, for his "staunch commitment to truth telling" no matter how uncomfortable that truth might be or how high or low on the chain of command it needed to travel and for his leadership during the transition to a new mission in Iraq, the transition "we now strive for in Afghanistan" and his efforts to save taxpayer dollars by tackling inefficiencies in the Pentagon budget.

Obama echoed many of those sentiments and spoke of Gates having made it his mission to make sure his department was doing all it could to protect U.S. troops, including providing mine-resistant vehicles and reducing the time it takes to evacuate injured troops from the battlefields of Afghanistan.

Upon receiving the Medal of Freedom, Gates thanked Obama for his confidence in taking "the historic step" of asking him -- "someone he did not know at all" -- to serve as his defense secretary. He also sparked laughs by making a joke that referenced the May raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

"I'm deeply honored and moved by your presentation of this award," Gates told the president. "It is a big surprise, but we should have known a couple of months ago you're getting pretty good at this covert-ops stuff."

Outgoing CIA Director Leon Panetta was confirmed unanimously by the Senate earlier this month to take over as Pentagon chief.

A day after the President chided Congress for not stepping up its working pace to hammer out a deficit deal, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced on the Senate floor that the Fourth of July recess would be cancelled.

The Senate will come into session the afternoon of July 5 and all day Wednesday July 6.

The rest of the week is still to be determined, Democratic aides said.

Items that could be on the agenda starting Tuesday: the McCain-Kerry Libya resolution authorizing a limited one-year mission for U.S. forces, plus some jobs packages.  Senate Budget Chairman Kent Conrad is also ready to unveil a long-awaited Democratic budget plan.

At a caucus meeting Wednesday night, Democrats discussed the possibility of cancelling recess. Several senators left the meeting visibly grumbling at the prospect of coming back to work to make what is largely a political statement. A group of mostly freshman Republican senators also held a press conference Wednesday to make clear they are jumping at the chance to cancel recess to get to work.

"It is really important that we do this," Reid said on the floor Thursday morning. "That moment is too important, the obstacle is too steep and the time too short to waste even a moment. I hope my Republican colleagues will put politics aside and help Democrats fulfill Congress's responsibility to the American people."

The battle over the deficit has now spilled out in a big way on Capitol Hill after several weeks of relatively quiet bipartisan negotiations led by Vice President Joe Biden. Now both sides are digging in on their respective positions. Democrats are hammering the message that Republicans would rather protect the wealthy from more taxes while Republicans say Democrats are trying to hike takes and spend more.

In the latest round of maneuvering, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell took to the Senate floor to invite President Obama to Capitol Hill today to meet with Senate Republicans.

"That way he can hear directly from Republicans why what he's proposing won't pass," McConnell said. "And we can start talking about what's actually possible. The President says he wants us to get working. I can't think of a better way than to have him come over and hear directly from our conference about the legislative realities in the Congress right now."

The President is expected to leave for Philadelphia later this afternoon.

A senior Democratic aide tells NBC, "At 9:30 Senator Reid will go to the floor to announce that the Senate will forego its scheduled recess for the week of July 4th and stay in session to continue forging a deal to cut the deficit and create jobs."

UPDATE: Reid announced on the floor that the Senate will return for votes on the evening of July 5 and remain in session for the rest of the week. Negotiators will spend the week continuing work on a deficit reduction deal with the House and the Obama administration in advance of an August 2 debt ceiling deadline.

UPDATE II: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell challenged the president Thursday to outline his debt plans, inviting Obama to speak to Senate Republicans on Capitol Hill and "explain his plans to hike taxes by hundreds of billions," per McConnell's office.

Obama picks a fight with Congress… But will it accomplish anything?... Romney’s bracketing of Obama continues, with the president raising money in Philadelphia and Romney in Allentown, PA (though Romney’s also raising money in Philly)… Bachmann talks about a personal tragedy… Our expectations for the 2^nd quarter money chase, which ends today: For Obama, a good quarter would be $60 million+; a great quarter would be $80 million+… For Romney, a good quarter would be $30-$40 million… And for Pawlenty, will he raise more than the $6 million-plus Bill Richardson pulled in the 1^st quarter of ’07?... Keep an eye on Bob McDonnell… White House gets a court victory on health care… And why is Dennis Kucinich in Syria?

*** Obama vs. Congress: There was an obvious reason why President Obama picked a fight with Congress yesterday: As Truman, Clinton, and practically every other modern president has shown, it’s always easy to beat up on it. After all, just 18% approved of Congress’ job in our latest NBC/WSJ poll, and only 10% said they had a high level of confidence in the legislative branch. And per Politico, just 18 bills “have become law through the first half of 2011, and 15 of those named a building after someone, temporarily extended expiring laws or appointed an official to the board of the Smithsonian Institution.” Obama’s tough talk also fired up his base, with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi issuing this statement: “Bravo! This is the fight House Democrats have been making for the last six months under the Republican Majority as they move to end Medicare and continue tax breaks for Big Oil.” It was praise covering up a subtle dig: House Democrats have been venting privately for months on the president's lack of a public fight.

*** But will it accomplish anything? But the question is whether it actually accomplished anything in the resolving the debt-ceiling debate. The issue is not with Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. The framework for a deal is there. Instead, the issue is with Boehner and McConnell selling the deal to their rank-and-file members, who are opposed to eliminating ANY tax loophole. Check out this statement from GOP Sen. Jim DeMint: “Increasing the rates on the top earners in our economy will hurt investment, job creation and economic growth. Higher marginal rates reduce incentives to work and expand businesses.” And does the president's tough talk at Congress only stiffen the opposition? Then again, the president was trying to reframe a debate that many folks privately believe he was losing since the conversation was about "how much will get cut" not "what will get cut.” So the president tried to get the conversation toward "what will get cut."

*** Romney’s bracketing of Obama continues: President Obama today hits two fundraisers in Philadelphia -- one at 5:35 pm ET and the other at 8:30 pm. And once again, Mitt Romney (rather than stumping in Iowa, New Hampshire, or South Carolina) is bracketing the president in the state. At 4:10 pm in Allentown, PA, the former Massachusetts governor holds a press conference at Allentown Metal Works, which Obama once highlighted from benefitting from the stimulus but which has since closed its doors. So why is Romney in a state whose primary doesn’t take place until late April 2012? Part of it is focusing on Obama. But part of it is that Romney himself is raising money in the Keystone State before the end of the 2^nd fundraising quarter. By the way, check out the Web ad Romney has up: reminder of how focused Team Romney is on message. This is targeted toward Allentown.

*** Bachmann talks about personal tragedy: In South Carolina yesterday, Michele Bachmann said something that you usually don’t hear on the campaign. She talked about a miscarriage she had. “After our second child was born, we became pregnant with a third baby,” Bachmann said last night. “And it was an unexpected baby, but of course we were delighted to have this child. And the child was coming along, and we ended up losing that child. And it was devastating for both of us, as you can imagine if any of you have lost a child.” More from Politico: “Bachmann said the miscarriage led to her and her husband’s decision to take in 23 foster children on top of a family that grew to include five biological children. But, she said, it also prompted them to reconsider their professional lives and goals. ‘At that moment we didn’t think of ourselves as overly career minded or overly materialistic,’ she said, also speaking for her husband. ‘When we lost that child, it changed us. And it changed us forever.’”

*** The “Stop Bachmann” movement begins? Speaking of Bachmann, though, is this the first sign of a “Stop Bachmann” movement from GOP elites? Here’s what Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad told Politico’s Martin: “She’s an exciting candidate, she brings a lot of enthusiasm and I think she helps to rally the Republican base and I certainly have a lot of respect for her,” said Branstad. “But she doesn’t have the executive experience that governors have.”

*** The 2^nd quarter money chase: Given that today is the end of the 2^nd fundraising quarter in the presidential election (with official filings not due to the Federal Election Commission until July 15), we’re re-running our expectations from earlier this week:

-- A good quarter for Obama would be in excess of $60 million -- which is almost twice the amount (about $35 million) that both George W. Bush raised in the 2^nd quarter of 2003 and Obama himself raised in the 2^nd quarter of 2007. A great quarter would $80 million or more. Team Obama vigorously pushes back against these numbers, arguing that they’re unrealistic. The campaign says it’s shooting for a combined $60 million with the DNC’s cash. But if it matches its goal of having 450,000 donors for the quarter, an average donation of $200 gets you $90 million. And an average donation of $150 gets you $67.5 million.

-- As everyone expects, Romney will lap the GOP field in fundraising. His campaign is floating a haul of about $20 million for the quarter, but remember he raised MORE than $20 million in the first quarter of 2007. Given his $10 million-plus single fundraising day -- in addition to all of his other fundraisers over the past couple of months -- a very good quarter would be in excess of $30-$40 million. Note: Romney is raising only primary money (maximum contribution $2,500), and he isn’t putting any of his personal money into the pot.

--- For Pawlenty, we’ve heard and read that he’s expected to raise more than $2 to $4 million, which would be less than $6 million-plus that Bill Richardson pulled in during the 1^st quarter of 2007. Anything substantially less than that -- not to mention the $10 million-plus Romney raised in a single day -- would be yet another blow for his campaign. Reminder: Pawlenty is from a bigger state than Richardson, and while Richardson had been at the DNC, Pawlenty had been No.2 at the RGA.

-- And how close do Bachmann and Huntsman – who’ve been in the race for two or three weeks now -- get to Pawlenty? Bachmann has proved she’s a formidable fundraiser, having raked in more than $13.5 million for her House race last year, and she has nearly $2 million left over from that campaign she can roll over to her presidential account. And Huntsman pulled in $1.2 million in a single fundraiser, and has said he’s loaning the campaign a certain amount to “prime the pump.”

*** Keep an eye on Bob McDonnell: Chris Christie might get all the national attention, but keep an eye on Virginia GOP Gov. Bob McDonnell, who won election the same year. A new Quinnipiac poll shows McDonnell with a 55%-26% job-approval rating in his state. (That’s compared with Christie’s 44%-47% approval rating in New Jersey, per the same polling firm.) Is there a Republican governor in the country from a swing state with better job ratings? Can you say Veepstakes? By the way, Quinnipiac has Tim Kaine and George Allen in a virtual dead heat in Virginia’s Senate race, with Kaine at 43% and Allen at 42%. Obama’s approval rating in the state is 48%-48%.Yes, Virginia, You are a Swing State.

*** White House gets court victory on health care: The Obama White House got a significant victory on its health-care law, although the Supreme Court will have the final say (probably next year). As NBC’s Pete Williams notes, a federal appeals court in Ohio yesterday upheld the Obama health-care law, marking the first time a Republican-appointed judge has found the most controversial part of the law constitutional. Yesterday’s ruling by a three-judge panel of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals was 2-1 on the "individual mandate" -- the requirement that all Americans get health insurance. One of the judges voting to uphold it was Jeffrey Sutton, an appointee of George W. Bush and a former law clerk for Justice Antonin Scalia, Williams adds. This brings to four the number of court decisions upholding the law. Two other courts have declared it unconstitutional, on its long march to the Supreme Court.

*** Why is Dennis Kucinich in Syria? While the House is on recess, Dennis Kucinich has been in … Syria. And he was quoted by the state news agency saying kind words about President Bashar al-Assad, whose government has been killing its own people. Kucinich late said he was misquoted, but why is he even there? He released this statement earlier this week: “Congressman Kucinich, who represents a district that includes many Arab-Americans, was asked by his constituents to investigate conditions on the ground in Syria and to see if resolution of a situation where violence has been spiraling and events are spinning out of control is possible.”

*** On the 2012 trail: Elsewhere today, Huntsman raises money in Boston and New York, while Paul is in New Hampshire.

Countdown to Iowa GOP straw poll: 44 days
Countdown to NV-2 special election: 75 days
Countdown to Election Day 2011: 131 days
Countdown to the Iowa caucuses: 221 days
* Note: When the IA caucuses take place depends on whether other states move up

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“President Obama pressured Republicans on Wednesday to accept higher taxes as part of any plan to pare down the federal deficit, bluntly telling lawmakers that they “need to do their job” and strike a deal before the United States risks defaulting on its debt,” the New York Times says.

The Atlantic's Josh Green writes in the Boston Globe: “One reason why the debt showdown isn’t causing more alarm is that interest rates have been falling. But that’s due mostly to declining economic forecasts in the United States and fear of a Greek default — currently more powerful influences, but also ones that would mask worries about a US default.”

“At some point, perhaps as soon as in a few weeks, the fight in Congress could eclipse those factors and drive interest rates higher. That’s been the historical pattern, and it is already causing worry about what might trigger such a rise. ‘The nervousness on our end is that the markets will misperceive what’s going on,’ an aide to a conservative House Republican told me. ‘If something fails on the House floor, people might react as if all life is about to end — just like they did when the TARP vote failed.’”

The Boston Globe’s Johnson says that Michelle Obama is raising money from people who were big Clinton supporters.

A Fox News poll released Wednesday showed Mitt Romney with 18 percent of GOP primary voters, followed by Rick Perry at 13 percent and Michele Bachmann at 11 percent. Rudy Giuliani also clocked in double digits with 10 percent.

CAIN: In South Carolina yesterday, Herman Cain announced an economic plan “firmly believing it would drop unemployment to no more than 5 percent, but he acknowledged he was still crunching the numbers,” AP writes. Part of his plan would be a maximum 25% corporate and personal income tax. When asked, Cain couldn’t tell the AP how many jobs he thinks his plan might create, but he said “if we do these things, I am convinced the unemployment rate would be 5 percent or less.”

HUNTSMAN: His campaign hired Adam Piper, who worked for Mike Huckabee’s presidential campaign and the successful campaigns of several statewide officials, to serve as his political director for the Carolinas, Greenville Online writes.

MCCOTTER: Michigan Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R) wrapped up a four-day tour of Iowa, concluding to the Des Moines Register that the GOP is still interested in meeting new candidates. “Republicans may be prepared at some point to settle, if that’s how they view it, but they’re still viewing it as, ‘Why should we have to? What else is out there?’ It doesn’t mean it’s me,” he said. “The reason I was here was to find out are they even asking that question, ‘What else is out there?’ And they clearly are.”

ROMNEY: As the fundraising quarter comes to a close today, Mitt Romney is the candidate to beat, the AP writes, as he’s expected to report raising between $16 million and $20 million.

Romney will be in Philadelphia today, as President Obama also travels to the city for fundraising events, the Philadelphia Inquirer notes. “Romney planned to drive home his contention that Obama's policies have worsened the recession by also visiting a shuttered Allentown factory the president used in 2009 to tout his $787 billion stimulus legislation.”

“Both President Obama and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) are set to do battle Thursday when both visit the southeast Pennsylvania area,” The Hill writes. Except, when’s the Pennsylvania primary again? Just sayin’…

Romney will sign Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC)’s “Cut, Cap and Balance” pledge, The Hill reports, meaning Rep. Michele Bachmann is the only candidate not to have said she’ll sign it, besides Jon Huntsman who has sworn off all pledges.

PERRY: “Texas Gov. Rick Perry told a Boy Scouts ceremony on Wednesday that the federal government is rudderless, kicking off a trip to California that has stoked speculation that he will enter the Republican contest for president,” the Sacramento Bee writes. “Just because the federal government happens to be rudderless at the moment, it doesn't mean the American people have lost their way," he said, drawing applause from the audience.

Wading into foreign policy issues, Rick Perry sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder this week “calling plans by pro-Palestinian activists to protest and potentially disrupt Israel's naval blockade of Gaza an ‘unacceptable provocation,’” the Texas Tribune writes.

And a fundraising letter sent by Perry’s state campaign to supporters sent mixed messages, the Austin-American Statesman writes. It asked for donations to Perry’s state committee, which he could not use in a presidential bid, but the letter also set up a blatant contrast between the Texas governor and President Obama.

NBC’s Libby Leist reports that there was no decision as of last night from leadership on the Senate recess next week. President Obama chided Congress for taking too much time off -- while at the same time saying he isn’t engaged.

Roll Call takes a look today at the “Republican rookies:” “The conservative freshman Senators who rode into Washington as rock stars of the 2010 elections are beginning to find their comfort zone, sounding off this week after long silences on the budget, the president and even foreign policy.

Several of them held a press conference yesterday to complain that being a senator for six months just isn’t what they thought it would be. They want more debates solely about spending. They objected to the idea of a July 4^th recess and wanted debates on spending. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said he was "shocked" at the "lack of urgency around here.” Mike Lee (R-UT) said there was a “lack of leadership” that bled from the White House to Congress and went hyper partisan, saying, “President Obama has succeeded in playing 76 rounds of golf,” but not in getting any votes to reduce the debt.

The news conference followed Sen. Ron Johnson’s (R-WI) parliamentary maneuver, holding up business on the floor Tuesday. It was something Majority Leader Harry Reid squashed soon after using his own trick. He needed 51 votes to overcome it and even had the having the Sergeant-at-Arms summon senators to the floor. Highlighting just how far apart the Tea Party freshmen are from Democrats, Johnson said he agreed that "revenue has to be part of the solution.” But how: "By growing the economy."

You’ve heard of the “Louisiana Purchase” and the “Cornhusker Kickback” – both coined by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell during the health-care debate. Well, in the heat of the debt-ceiling fight, here’s Democrats’ attempt to hit McConnell, the “Bluegrass Boondoggle.” “Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) plans to go to the Senate floor Thursday and call for eliminating the $126 million in tax breaks for the horse-racing industry that McConnell secured in the 2008 farm bill. Democrats are dubbing it the ‘Bluegrass Boondoggle’ and are spotlighting it as part of their broader offensive to pressure Republicans to agree to eliminate corporate tax breaks in any bipartisan debt deal,” Roll Call reports.

He’s not playing… “House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) sent a letter to supporters Wednesday fundraising off the president’s news conference earlier in the day,” The Hill writes. “With the subject line ‘I’m not playing,’ the letter includes a sharp retort to the president’s accusations that legislators holding up the deficit process are playing ‘politics.’”

“The Senate on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed a bill to simplify a nominations process often exploited for political maneuvering,” Roll Call writes.

Good grief: Stephen Colbert “is scheduled to appear at an open meeting of the FEC to answer questions about his super PAC, a tongue-in-cheek political action committee dedicated to himself,” Roll Call writes.

“Anthony Weiner's wife is taking time off from her senior job with the State Department -- as well as time off from the randy former representative, The [New York] Post has learned.”

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, considered a possible vice-presidential pick, is enjoying a 55%-26% approval rating, according to the latest Quinnipiac poll. That differs from, say, Chris Christie, who’s numbers are trending in the opposite direction.

McDonnell is also vice-chairman of the Republican Governors Association. Rick Perry is chairman. Republican governors “the vast majority of whom have yet to endorse a presidential candidate for 2012, have begun informal discussions about which campaign, if any, to get behind,” Politico writes. “These conversations, taking place mostly by phone, are a precursor to expected talks about the 2012 field at the National Governors Association (NGA) summer meeting in Salt Lake City, where the influential GOP constituency will gather in two weeks for the bipartisan organization’s annual gathering.”

IOWA: Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman will likely be on the ballot for the Ames Straw Poll, even though they’ve both said they wouldn’t participate in it, the Daily Beast notes. “State party officials put John McCain, Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson on the straw poll ballot in 2007 even though they hadn’t officially entered it. Casey Mills, a spokesman for the Iowa GOP, says he expects the party ‘will lean toward inclusion’ of everyone again this year. A decision is due July 23.”

NEW HAMPSHIRE: Michele Bachmann and Perry are the “hot” candidates in the Granite State right now, the New Hampshire Union-Leader’s DiStaso says.

According to Foster’s Daily Democrat, there is speculation that New Hampshire GOP chair Jack Kimball may be facing a possible ouster due to the party’s financial troubles, but individual members say the financial issues are not due to Kimball’s leadership but rather political parties’ difficulty in general with raising money.

Sen. Kent Conrad, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said he will unveil next week a "bold" budget plan that will have greater debt and deficit reduction than the Bowles-Simpson commission's plan.

"It will be even larger in terms of debt reduction than the fiscal commission," the North Dakota senator said immediately following Democrats' caucus meeting. Senators were mum on whether the Senate would be in session, though when asked if they would be in next week, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) said, "Maybe some of the week. We'll see."

Conrad's plan, which he said was finally agreed upon by Democrats, will incorporate "some elements" of the president's fiscal commission's recommendations.

Asked if that will include cuts to Medicare, he demurred and said it will be a "comprehensive package."

He said he hopes unveiling the plan "will help stimulate this discussion" on getting a deal done on the debt ceiling.

*** UPDATE *** Conrad's office says he will unveil the plan next week if the Senate is in session.

It's possible the Senate may come into session next week, a week they are scheduled to be on recess for Fourth of July. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will meet with the Democratic caucus this afternoon at 4:30 pm ET to take the temperature of members.

The caucus meeting was previously scheduled by Democratic leadership to readout their meeting with the president this afternoon and bring the members up to speed on the deficit negotiations.

The aide said the sentiment by some senators to stay in Washington during recess was a direct result of President Obama's criticism at the press conference today.

And in a few minutes, several conservative Republicans senators, including Jim DeMint, Kelly Ayotte, Tom Coburn, Ron Johnson, Rand Paul, Jeff Sessions, and Mike Lee, are about to hold a news conference, objecting to recess next week.

All this comes on the heels of President Obama’s news conference today, where he said this: "If by the end of this week, we have not seen substantial progress, then I think members of Congress need to understand we are going to start having to cancel things and stay here until we get it done. You know? They're in one week; they're out one week. And then, they're saying, Obama's got to step in it. You need to be here. I've been here."

So as the Aug. 2^nd deadline approaches, where does everything stand?

No one sees any progress or movement. Because of that, Senate leadership aides -- Republican and Democratic – said one way forward could be a short-term deal, maybe something like seven months because of the amount they think they can agree on -- about $1 trillion. 

But that appears to be a non-starter on the House side with Boehner-Cantor. Cantor does not want two votes. Boehner sees this as the time to act.

"This is the moment," Boehner aide Michael Steel said, "no reason to kick the can down the road again."

So that leaves both sides deadlocked -- with neither side seeing a path forward, except one that maybe leads to a shortened holiday.

As President Barack Obama issued a withering rebuke to Congressional leaders for failing to hammer out a deal on the debt ceiling, Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill both contended Wednesday that compromise legislation cannot get to the president’s desk without substantial concessions from the other side.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), said that House Speaker John Boehner “needs Democrats” to pass a budget deal through the Senate, noting that there are a number of conservative Republicans who will not vote for increasing the debt ceiling no matter how much is cut.

And Republican leaders reiterated that a deal that includes tax increases won't pass muster with the GOP.

“Their answer is to increase taxes for everything,” Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) said of his Democratic colleagues.

“We think it’s pretty clear,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said, “regardless of what we’re able to negotiate here in the short term, that we should put the federal government in this kind of fiscal straight jacket.”

Obama slammed congressional leaders during a lengthy press conference earlier Tuesday. "Call me naive, but my expectation is that leaders are going to lead," he told reporters.

The two sides have agreed to cut about $1 trillion to $1.2 trillion, but haven't made any further progress in the week since formal negotiations broke down. They need to get to $2 trillion to $2.5 trillion to get through the 2012 elections. The smaller figure would last about seven months.

Knowing that math, a Senate Democratic leadership aide said it was "probable" that something in the neighborhood of a seven-month deal is what will ultimately get voted on and agreed to before the Aug. 2 deadline. Then, the two sides could begin negotiations on reforming the tax code, in order to avoid doing this all over again in March of next year. 

CNN reports:

Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann responded Wednesday to a report by NBC that the mental health clinic run by her husband has collected annual Medicaid payments totaling over $137,000, while she has criticized the program for swelling the "welfare rolls."

"Medicaid is a valuable form of insurance for many Americans and it would be discriminatory not to accept Medicaid as a form of payment," Bachmann spokeswoman Alice Stewart told CNN. "As a state-sponsored counseling service, Bachmann and Associates has a responsibility to provide Medicaid and medical assistance, regardless of a patients financial situation."

From NBC's Pete Williams
Today's ruling by a federal appeals court in Ohio, upholding the Obama health care law, marks the first time a Republican-appointed judge has found the most controversial part of the law constitutional.

The ruling by a three-judge panel of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals was 2-1 on the "individual mandate" -- the requirement that all Americans get health insurance. One of the judges voting to uphold it was Jeffrey Sutton, an appointee of George W. Bush and a former law clerk for Justice Antonin Scalia.

This brings to four the number of court decisions upholding the law. Two other courts have declared it unconstitutional on its long march to the Supreme Court.

UPDATE: In 1942, the US Supreme Court ruled that Congress had the power to stop an Ohio farmer, Roscoe Filbert, from growing his own wheat. The court said then that his decision to grow his own, rather than buying wheat on the national market, affected interstate commerce, which Congress has the authority to regulate.

Today, the Sixth Circuit appeals court said the same logic applies to health insurance.

Opponents had argued that while Congress has broad authority to regulate economic activity, it has no authority over inactivity, such as a failure to buy insurance. But the appeals court said today that Congress is actually regulating the market of self-insurance for health care, in which people try to find some way to cover their costs other than by purchasing insurance.

But the court said self-insuring affects interstate commerce, by shifting the costs of the un-insured to people who have insurance, just as the wheat farmer affected interstate commerce by growing and consuming his own wheat instead of buying it on the national market.

Senate Republicans are touting their 11:30 am ET press conference on a Balanced-Budget Amendment as a counter to President Obama's East Room press conference today. Republicans contend they are offering responsible solutions to the deficit crisis while the President is arguing for more taxes and more spending.

"He's going to be talking about raising taxes; we're going to be talking about a balanced budget," said one GOP aide.

Another GOP aide added, "At the same time the president explains to reporters why he thinks taxpayers should take the hit, a large group of Senate Republicans will be fighting to make the government balance its budget instead."

The balanced-budget amendment faces an uphill battle, because it would need a two-thirds majority for passage, as Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) indicated on the Senate floor this morning.

Also on the floor this morning, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell showed no signs of compromise. Calling the debate on the debt ceiling "illuminating" and Democrats' position "astonishing," he slammed the president for going to a manufacturing plant in Iowa yesterday to "tout jobs" and then "looking to saddle manufacturing companies with billions of dollars in new taxes"

"This isn't a negotiation, it's a parody," he said. "He can't call for tax hikes and jobs creation; its one or the other."

McConnell said Democrats had to be "held accountable," contending they had mismanaged the "national checkbook."

"Democrats want a bailout from the taxpayers," he said. He went on: "Democrats' spending spree has brought us to the brink of economic calamity."

He said this argument is about "spending trillions more than you have and expecting someone else to pick up the tab," "not about rich versus poor."

The irony, however, is that a substantial portion of the debt and deficits are the Bush tax cuts, two unfunded wars, and Medicare Part D.

McConnell acknowledged spending has been a bipartisan affair.

"No one denies that both parties are guilty of spending beyond our means," McConnell said, before claiming, "But this White House has taken wasteful spending to new heights."

With Boehner dismissing the Aug. 2 debt-ceiling deadline as “artificial,” what happened to this GOP: The business community needs certainty?... Is the debt ceiling unconstitutional?... The debt debate, Libya, and gay marriage are expected to dominated Obama’s 11:30 am ET news conference… Priorities USA Action responds to Crossroads GPS ad buy and also goes on the attack… Isikoff: Bachmann and husband benefit from federal programs and subsidies… Palin tantalizes in Iowa, but consider that Perry and Christie are doing more right now regarding a possible presidential bid than Palin is… If Florida moves up its primary, Georgia wants to move with them… And Huntsman raises money in TX, IL, and MI, while Bachmann spends her day in SC.

*** Deadline? What deadline? Yesterday, Boehner called the Aug. 2 debt-ceiling date an “artificial” deadline. "Nobody believes the United States is going to walk away from its obligations," Boehner said in an interview taped for the "Hannity" show on Fox News Channel. "Dealing with this debt problem and this deficit problem is far more important than meeting some artificial date created by the Treasury secretary." Similarly, a GOP Hill source in the know told First Read yesterday that the Aug. 2 drop-dead debt-ceiling date is not likely as hard a date as Treasury is leading on. It could be pushed to mid-August, the source said. (But a Treasury Department official says they’re not setting the deadline. “It is purely a function of the government's cash flows,” the official tells us. “We will provide an update on the debt-ceiling outlook at the beginning of July, as we have done at the beginning of each month this year, but it is unlikely that the date will move by more than a day or two -- if at all.)

*** Remember the GOP talking points on "certainty?" However, over the past year, John Boehner and Republicans have railed against the Obama administration’s policies (on health care, on the financial industry), arguing they create uncertainty for the business community. “We're calling for an end to the threat of tax hikes -- and a fundamental reform of the tax code -- to provide certainty to those in our country who create jobs," Boehner said in May. “We need to move forward on those policies that will give our small businesses the certainty to create those jobs,” he added earlier this month. “We need to stop the regulations to provide more certainty for America's job creators,” he noted two week ago. But the issue of "certainty" is not is not being brought up now by Republicans when it comes to the debt ceiling. If anything, despite calls from the Wall Street and business communities to CREATE certainty by taking this debt ceiling issue off the table sooner rather than later, the GOP is now doubling-down on creating a LACK of certainty for now as a way to gain leverage in the talks with the White House.

*** Is the debt ceiling unconstitutional? Meanwhile, Huffington Post reported last night that some Senate Democrats believe that the debt ceiling is, in fact, unconstitutional. “‘The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law... shall not be questioned,’ reads the 14th Amendment. ‘This is an issue that's been raised in some private debate between senators as to whether in fact we can default, or whether that provision of the Constitution can be held up as preventing default,’ Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), an attorney, told The Huffington Post Tuesday. ‘I don't think, as of a couple weeks ago, when this was first raised, it was seen as a pressing option. But I'll tell you that it's going to get a pretty strong second look as a way of saying, “Is there some way to save us from ourselves?”’” More from HuffPo: “By declaring the debt ceiling unconstitutional, the White House could continue to meet its financial obligations, leaving Tea Party-backed Republicans in the difficult position of arguing against the plain wording of the Constitution.” We'll dig into this constitutional argument on "The Daily Rundown."

*** Debt debate, Libya, and gay marriage expected to dominate Obama’s 11:30 am newser: The debate over the debt ceiling, of course, will dominate President Obama’s White House news conference at 11:30 am ET. And expect the president to use it to draw a line in the sand that any deal must be balanced, with both sides putting their “sacred cows” on the table. Libya will be another likely topic. And with Obama delivering remarks at a 5:45 pm ET LGBT White House event, expect there to be a question or two on gay marriage -- and why he doesn’t support it (at least not yet). The New York Times writes, “For months, Mr. Obama, who has in the past opposed same-sex marriage, has said his views are ‘evolving.’ But last week’s vote in Albany has intensified pressure on the president to say where he stands.”

*** Priorities USA Action responds (and goes on the attack): Priorities USA Action, the Democratic Super PAC led by former Obama White House spokesman Bill Burton, has responded to the GOP Crossroads GPS TV ad buy that began airing on Monday. The Priorities USA ad -- which will run in CO, FL, IA, NC, and VA -- notes that Republicans have failed to pitch in on the economy and it hits them on Medicare. “The Republicans have opposed economic reform at every turn,” the ad goes. “And now they have a plan that would essentially end Medicare for future retirees, slash education while giving big tax breaks to Big Oil and the wealthy.” The ad ends, “We can’t rebuild American if they tear down the middle class.” So in that respect, it’s really not a response ad; it’s the Dem message against Republicans.

*** Bachmann and her husband benefit from federal programs and subsidies: As NBC’s Michael Isikoff reported yesterday, the mental health clinic run by Michele Bachmann’s husband “has been collecting annual Medicaid payments totaling over $137,000 for the treatment of patients since 2005… The previously unreported payments are on top of the $24,000 in federal and state funds that Bachmann & Associates, the clinic founded by Marcus Bachmann, a clinical therapist, received in recent years under a state grant to train its employees, state records show.” More Isikoff: “Questions about the Bachmann family's receipt of government funds arose this week after a Los Angeles Times story reported that a family farm in which Michelle Bachmann is a partner had received nearly $260,000 in federal farm subsidies.” The reason why these stories are problematic for Bachmann: How can you rail against federal money and federal program (like Medicaid) and benefit from them at the same time? Then again, Republicans might argue that Obama rails against the Bush tax cuts, but takes the benefit anyway.

*** Palin tantalizes in Iowa: As expected, Sarah Palin tantalized some folks by saying yesterday in Iowa that she’s “still thinking about” a presidential run. But while the door might be slightly ajar, there’s also a chain attached to it. Think about it: Rick Perry (whose folks are scrambling to see if they can mount a national campaign) and Chris Christie (who’s appearing before national TV audiences and is headed to Iowa later this summer) are doing more right now regarding a presidential bid than Sarah Palin is. A little guidance: Begin taking a Palin candidacy seriously if she cancels that FOX contract. Until then... And, of course, a poll showing Obama leading Palin in Alaska doesn’t exactly suggest a presidential bid, either.

*** Let the primary-calendar madness begin: Here’s some primary-calendar news the RNC was afraid of: If Florida sets its primary in early March -- right after the South Carolina contest -- then Georgia wants to move with them. “If the RNC allows Florida to move to a Thursday, Friday or Saturday vote at the front end of March without penalty, there’s no reason that Georgia shouldn’t be allowed to do the same, [Georgia’s] secretary of state said.”

*** On the 2012 trail: Bachmann makes four stops in South Carolina, campaigning in Charleston, Lexington, Greenville, and Rock Hill… And Huntsman raises money in Houston, Chicago, and Grand Rapids, MI.

Countdown to Iowa GOP straw poll: 45 days
Countdown to NV-2 special election: 76 days
Countdown to Election Day 2011: 132 days
Countdown to the Iowa caucuses: 222 days
* Note: When the IA caucuses take place depends on whether other states move up

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Bloomberg News: “President Barack Obama will hold a news conference at 11:30 a.m. Washington time today as his administration arrives at a critical juncture in negotiations over the federal deficit and an increase in the debt ceiling. Obama also likely will address his plan for withdrawing U.S. forces from Afghanistan, the attack by the Taliban on a hotel in Kabul and the mission in Libya. It will be the president’s first solo news conference since March 11.”

Politico adds, “One central question looms as Obama faces the media in the East Room on Wednesday, and one for which he isn’t likely to offer a concrete answer: Will Obama accept any debt ceiling deal with Republicans that doesn’t include some kind of tax increase on the wealthy?”

“With Republican presidential hopefuls bashing him almost daily on the campaign trail in Iowa, President Barack Obama stopped in the leadoff voting state Tuesday to make a dent in that negative narrative, to push a manufacturing initiative he kicked off last week – and to do a speedy photo op at a popular diner,” the Des Moines Register writes.

“For the first family, their Vineyard haven is taking on the flavor of a summer White House,” the Boston Globe writes. “President Obama, for the third straight year, is planning to return to Martha’s Vineyard for vacation this summer, according to a White House official. The Obamas are scheduled to spend seven to 10 days on the island in mid- to late August, according to the official.”

The latest McClatchy-Marist poll: “Only 36 percent of registered voters say they'd definitely vote for President Barack Obama next year — but he still tops all Republican challengers in one-on-one matchups.” Obama leads Romney 46%-42% and Bachmann 49%-37%.

The Boston Globe looks at the risks of interest-group pledges: “Not signing carries a risk, as Romney discovered when his refusal to sign the Susan B. Anthony List pledge revived doubts about his antiabortion commitment. At the same time, candidates from George H.W. Bush to Barack Obama have gotten into trouble by making promises they could not keep.”

BACHMANN: What about federalism/states’ rights? In New Hampshire, “Bachmann suggested yesterday that she would support imposing a moratorium on the federal income tax as a way to boost the economy,” the Boston Globe writes. A man proposed putting “a moratorium on the entire income tax for one year for every citizen in this country and watch this country take off.’’ To which Bachmann replied, “That’s awesome. You will be happy to know that a colleague of mine from Texas, [Representative] Louie Rohmer, gave that suggestion.’’

But the Globe finds, “Gohmert’s proposal was not exactly what” the man suggested. His bill would have given TARP money to workers “by putting a two-month moratorium on payroll taxes and excluding income earned during those months from the income tax.” And talk about deficit reduction, a Heritage Foundation tax policy analyst said, as paraphrased by the Globe, “without the tax, the deficit would rise from $1.7 trillion to $2.7 trillion this year.”

As reported by NBC’s Chris Donovan, Tom Petty wants Bachmann to stop using his song “American Girl.”

Ron Carey, Bachmann’s former chief of staff wrote an op-ed in the Des Moines Register blasting his former boss, saying her office was “wildly out of control” and endorsing Tim Pawlenty, whom he knew while Carey was chairman of the Minnesota Republican Party.

CAIN: He becomes the latest presidential candidate to come out with an autobiography. “Who is Herman Cain?” will be released Oct. 4, The Atlantic reports.

HUNTSMAN: Byron York asks, “Why are so many conservatives wary of Jon Huntsman? … One answer is the company he keeps. Despite his solidly conservative views on many issues, Huntsman has gathered a group of advisers and supporters from the moderate-to-liberal side of the GOP spectrum and has received largely favorable treatment in the political press. Many conservatives look at that and say: There must be something wrong.”

The Grand Rapids Press notes that Huntsman didn’t make any public appearances yesterday while raising money in Michigan.

The Salt Lake Tribune looks at Huntsman’s claim that he was a job creator in Utah: “During his tenure as governor, the state saw a dramatic boom-and-bust cycle mirroring that of the nation. Between the time Huntsman took office in January 2005 and the economic peak in January 2007, there were about 127,000 jobs created in the state and unemployment dipped as low as 2.3 percent — the lowest in state history. But as the economy collapsed, roughly half those jobs disappeared and the unemployment rate tripled by the time Huntsman left office to take the job as U.S. ambassador to China in August 2009.”

PALIN: Sarah Palin’s visit to Pella, IA to view the premiere of a movie about her is “either a timely political move to fuel speculation about a potential 2012 presidential run or simply an effort to take advantage of her star power. Or maybe it's both,” Reuters writes, noting also that Bristol Palin created some hype yesterday when she told Fox News that her mother had made up her mind about whether to run for president, although she wouldn’t say what that decision was.

PAWLENTY: “Seeking to position himself as the hawk of the 2012 presidential field, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty hammered at President Obama and Republican rivals Tuesday in his first presidential campaign speech on foreign policy,” the Minnesota Star-Tribune reports, adding, “Trailing in the single digits in polls and trying to turn the corner after a subpar debate performance in New Hampshire, Pawlenty is seeking to distance himself from front-runner Mitt Romney and rival Jon Huntsman, both of whom favor a quick drawdown of troops in Afghanistan.”

ROMNEY: He leads in New Hampshire in the latest Suffolk poll with 36%, followed by Michele Bachmann with 11%. Huntsman and Palin get 4%, Pawlenty and Gingrich 2%, Santorum 1%.

Romney and Jon Huntsman will both be in New Hampshire for July 4^th, Politico reports, the first time the two have held overlapping events in the state. They were both slated to appear in Utah last weekend but Huntsman changed his schedule citing logistical issues.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is likely to hold a news conference at 11:00 am ET to push cutting ethanol subsidies as part of the debt-ceiling talks and calling out Republican senators who had voted for that previously.

That despite Sen. Dianne Feinstein telling The Hill “that she had reached an agreement with Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and John Thune (R-S.D.)” on cutting ethanol subsidies – “although the lawmakers say there is not yet a final deal.”

A Capitol Hill source tells First Read the Aug. 2^nd drop-dead, debt-ceiling deadline date may not be as firm as Treasury has been saying -- and likely could, if necessary, move back to mid-August without catastrophic consequences.

“Senate Budget Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) said this week he believes Republicans could be enticed to vote for controversial revenue raisers if Democrats promised to provide permanent relief from the alternative minimum tax — which for years has bedeviled both parties as they’ve watched the tax intended for the wealthy threaten middle-income Americans,” Roll Call reports.

Let the sniping and griping begin… Senate Democrats are complaining that President Obama hasn’t pressed the case more strongly for why the debt-ceiling needs to be raised. “One senior Democratic senator called the White House leadership on framing the debt-ceiling debate ‘feckless’ and said he couldn’t understand why Obama hasn’t been more outspoken in calling for action,” The Hill writes. Another said it would be “disappointing” if he didn’t call out Republicans for playing “Russian Roulette.”

On the Kerry-McCain Libya resolution, aides said not to expect a full Senate vote before the July 4^th recess, but Sen. John Kerry told NBC’s Libby Leist yesterday he hopes there will be one this week.

“The White House and congressional lawmakers neared a breakthrough in the long-stalled effort to finalize coveted free trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama — pacts President Obama has hailed as a boon for the US economy,” AP writes, adding, “The White House, acknowledging concerns from labor unions, had threatened to hold up passage of the pacts unless the Trade Adjustment Assistance program, or TAA, was renewed. The Senate Finance Committee will begin considering the trade agreements and the assistance program tomorrow.” Republican don’t want TAA tacked on.

“Senate Democrats renewed an uphill push yesterday for legislation that would give young illegal immigrants a shot at legal status by arguing that the hundreds of thousands affected would improve the nation’s economy and security,” AP writes.