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Washington (CNN) — The Obama administration will push for letting tax cuts for wealthy Americans expire while extending them for the rest of the nation, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said.

In interviews broadcast Sunday on ABC and NBC, Geithner called for a balanced approach as the economy recovers from the recession that started in 2008 while facing mounting federal debt.

That means pushing for measures designed to raise revenue, such as letting tax breaks from the Bush administration expire for families earning more than $250,000 a year while holding down spending and taking steps to encourage private sector job creation, Geithner said.

“We’re in a transition … from the extraordinary actions the government had to take to break the back of this financial crisis to a recovery led by private demand,” Geithner told the NBC program “Meet the Press”. “That transition is well under way. It’s going to continue and it’s going to strengthen.”

Along with letting the tax cuts for the wealthy expire, the administration also wants to “leave in place tax cuts that are very important to incent businesses to hire new employees and to invest and expand in output,” Geithner said on the ABC program “This Week.”

Republicans say letting tax cuts expire for wealther Americans will hurt economic growth as the nation recovers from the recession. In particular, GOP critics say the $250,000-a-year threshold means many small business owners would be included in the group seeing their tax burdens increase when the cuts expire at the end of 2010.

“The safest thing for America would be to have a provision passed this fall that said no tax increase of any kind in 2011,” former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a possible Republican presidential candidate in 2012, said on the “FOX News Sunday” program. “Everywhere I go — and I’ve been in 10 states in the last 14 days — business people say to me over and over again, ‘I will create no new jobs in this environment because the uncertainty is too frightening.’ “

Geithner said the plan is to extend the tax cuts for more than 95 percent of country while letting them expire for about 3 percent, which he called the “highest-earning Americans.”

Asked on the ABC show if letting any tax cuts expire would harm the recovery, Geithner said: “I do not believe it will have a negative effect on growth.”

“We think that’s the responsible thing to do,” Geithner said. “We need to make sure we can show the world that we’re willing as a country now to start to make some progress bringing down our long-term deficits.”

Video: Bush tax cuts: Time to expire?

Video: Have Dems’ econ policies failed?

Video: Obama’s economic plan

Overall, he said, the government was “making progress” in restoring private sector job growth.

“I think the most likely thing is you see an economy that gradually strengthens over the next year or two,” Geithner said on NBC. “You see job growth start to come back again; and again, investment expanding, manufacturing is getting a little stronger, exports better. Those are very encouraging signs. But we’ve got a long way to go still.”

President Barack Obama’s poll numbers for his handling of the economy have dropped into unfavorable territory, and Republicans have hammered the administration over continuing high unemployment despite last year’s $787 billion economic stimulus bill. Last week, the administration said it expects unemployment to remain above 9 percent through 2011.

Geithner said the government is moving from the emergency steps enacted to deal with the recession — such as bailing out big banks and automakers — to more long-term approaches for helping the private sector create jobs.

On NBC, he called completing projects under the stimulus bill and enacting proposals to help small businesses and teachers “sensible, good steps,” adding that the main goal is to “make this transition to a recovery led by private companies.”

“We have to make some choices, too, and we have to make sure we can continue to earn confidence around the world that we’re going to have the will as a country to bring these large inherited deficits down over time to a much more manageable level,” Geithner said.

Geithner: Let tax cuts for rich expire

Washington (CNN) — A legislative win is a win — but not necessarily when it comes to swaying voters facing the worst economic conditions since the Great Depression.

High unemployment and fears over an ever-increasing federal debt are weighing heavily on Americans. That could drown out President Obama’s message as he heads out on the campaign trail to tout Democrats’ legislative wins: health care reform, financial regulatory reform and economic stimulus projects, among others.

“Right now he is facing an uphill battle,” said Vanderbilt University political scientist John Geer. “I don’t think there’s much that can be done about that. He’ll sharpen the message. But when economies are soft, incumbents have a tough time.”

And members of Congress, bracing for a tough election, got a frank assessment Wednesday of where the economy is headed.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned that the economic outlook remains “unusually uncertain.” But he said that while there are growing signs of weakness in the nation’s economic recovery, Bernanke and other top Federal Reserve officials still expect “continued moderate growth, a gradual decline in the unemployment rate, and subdued inflation over the next several years.”

Read more on Bernanke’s assessment

In addition to championing Democrats’ legislative wins, Obama is being urged to continue to go after Republicans — and lay out an argument that conditions in the country won’t improve if the opposition takes control of Congress after the midterm election.

So far, that strategy is being employed.

Video: Financial reform signed into law

Video: Obama urges Senate to act on jobs

Obama recently traveled to Missouri to help fellow Democrat Sen. Robin Carnahan in her crucial Senate race.

“The last thing we should do is go back to the very ideas that got us into this mess,” Obama said at the campaign event. “That’s the choice you are going to face in November. … a choice between falling backward or moving forward.”

A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll would seem to support that strategy, according to CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.

The poll, released in late June, found that Americans are angry at both the Republican and Democratic parties for the economy, but they continue to blame the GOP slightly more than the Democrats for the country’s current economic woes.

Fifty-three percent said they are angry at both parties; only 7 percent are angry only at the Democrats and 9 percent are angry only at Republicans.

But that’s not necessarily good news for the Democrats, since an anti-incumbent mood tends to hurt the party with more incumbents. Some argue, however, that it suggests 2010 may not be a precise replay of 1994 when Republicans grabbed control of both legislative chambers from Democrats.

“Democrats are saying ‘Look, let’s make this a referendum on Barack Obama as the future and the Republicans wanting to go back to the past — and Republicans wanting more of the same policies that got us into the economic mess in the first place,’ ” CNN Senior Political Analyst Gloria Borger said.

That strategy worked for Democrats in 2006 and 2008, she said, when they told voters change was needed.

“It’s a very good decision on [Democrats'] part obviously, because that’s the way they get some of those voters back — particularly, independent white men who are deserting them,” Borger added.

Another problem for Obama’s legislative campaign tour? That those policies will be portrayed as big-government.

“It’s difficult in the economic environment because people are nervous,” she said. “Polls show that people are more worried about the deficit than getting tax cuts. They’re worried about government spending and worried about too much government. … So he wins Wall Street reform but doesn’t get credit for it because we’re in a different political environment.”

But that is the environment right now. What if the economy were to improve?

“If the economy right now was showing tremendous growth and jobs were being created, he’d have no problem making the argument [for Democrats to be re-elected]. But we’re not there right now,” Geer said.

Economic conditions are not just a product of policy — but also the natural economic cycle, he added.

“Ronald Reagan’s economy took off in part due to some policies he pursued but also because of natural business cycles just like for Clinton. So there’s a lot of it outside the control. Right now, I suspect Obama’s getting a little too much of the blame … we’ll see if he is successful.”

CNN Polling Director Keating Holland, along with CNNMoney.com’s Scott Spoerry and Chris Isidore, contributed to this report.

Can Obama sell Democrats’ legislative victories?

Washington (CNN) — If anyone doubted whether campaigning had started for the mid-term congressional elections in November, the answer became clear on Sunday.

Democratic and Republican politicians rolled out their main campaign themes on morning talk shows less than four months before voters will decide races for all 435 House seats and at least 36 of the 100 Senate posts.

West Virginia could decide to hold a special election in November to fill the seat of the late Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd, which would put 37 Senate seats in play.

To Republicans, the election is about halting the free-spending policies of a Democratic-controlled White House and Congress. For Democrats, the choice for voters is between moving forward to tackle tough issues or going back to failed GOP policies of the past.

While Democrats repeatedly invoke the crippling recession and increased deficits of the Bush administration, Republicans say the problem now is how the majority party forces through unpopular and irresponsibly expensive legislation.

“How long can the other side run against the previous administration?” asked Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, on the CNN program “State of the Union.” “They’ve been in charge now for a year and a half. They’ve been on a gargantuan spending spree.”

On the same show, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Maryland, shot back that the nation needs to progress rather than boomerang.

“What we’re going to focus on is not returning to the failed Bush policies that brought us to this point, but focus on the efforts that we have made which are making progress,” Hoyer said. “We haven’t succeeded yet, but we are making substantial progress. The economy is growing. We are creating jobs.”

Video: Hoyer talks about high anxiety of U.S.

Video: McConnell explains his ‘groove’ comment

Democrats conceded that the slow economic recovery, with unemployment still above 9 percent, continues to rankle voters upset with the entire Washington establishment. However, both Hoyer and Vice President Joe Biden took aim at GOP calls to repeal major reform bills of the past year — the health insurance overhaul and increased Wall Street regulations — and replace them with less comprehensive proposals.

“Very frankly, we think that when Americans assess, ‘Do we want to go back; do we want to, in fact, repeal the successes we’ve had and repeat the mistakes that we’ve made that got us to this point,’ I think they’re going to say, no, they don’t want to go back to the Bush policies,” Hoyer said.

Appearing on the ABC program “This Week,” Biden complained of Republican efforts to obstruct any progress under President Barack Obama.

“There is the reality of whether or not the Republicans are willing to play, whether or not the Republicans are just about repeal and repeat the old policies or they’re really wanting to do something,” Biden said.

McConnell and other Republicans made no apologies.

“What we are proud to say ‘no’ to, and I think what the public wants us to say ‘no’ to, are things like the government running banks, insurance companies, car companies, nationalizing the student loan business, taking over our health care,” he said.

His GOP ally in the House, Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana, told “Fox News Sunday” that people don’t want all the costly reform legislation pushed by Democrats.

“All we’re getting from the Democratic majority in Congress and from this White House is more bailouts, more spending, more planned stimulus, more deficits and debt, and the American people have had it,” Pence said.

On the NBC program “Meet the Press,” Republican Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas blamed the nation’s economic woes dating to the previous administration on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, who became the nation’s first woman House Speaker in 2006.

“It is because Speaker Pelosi has been in charge for four years and denied (former President George W. Bush) the ability to continue doing what was successful in this country, and that is making the free enterprise system not only more powerful but competitive with the world,” Sessions said, later adding: “Today it’s about empowering government, and that is a mistake.”

Democrats, however, said Republicans are simply opposing whatever Obama and their party’s congressional leaders propose without offering any substantive alternatives. With primaries for November determining specific candidates, they say, the stark differences offered voters will become more apparent.

“The most vulnerable time any public official finds himself is in when they have no opponent,” Biden said, noting how Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, was thought to be in trouble until the Republican primary chose extreme conservative Sharron Angle to face him. Reid now holds a lead in the latest polling.

“I know my Republican colleagues would like to have everybody forget that their candidates are on the ballot, but their candidates will be on the ballot,” Sen. Robert Menendez, D-New Jersey, said on the NBC program. “And it’s not just talking about President Bush; it’s the policies that they espouse that are in essence Bush’s policies.

On the same show, Democratic Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland said Republicans “want to get away, essentially, with carping and whining about everything here without telling the American people what they will do.”

He singled out the House Republican leader, Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, as an example of what the opposition seeks to do.

Boehner “just this week said that he’s going to move to repeal the Wall Street reform bill,” Van Hollen said. “Now, Wall Street lobbyists have been working very hard to try and defeat that Wall Street reform bill. “And what he is saying is, ‘Just wait. If I have the opportunity, I’m going to take care of it for you.’ So it’s that kind of thing that’s going to make it clear to the American people what kind of choice they have.”

However, GOP Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, also on the NBC program, said the public wants “checks and balances” in Washington.

“They’ve had single-party government, and it’s scaring the living daylights out of them,” Cornyn said, citing the health care reform bill as example. Asked what would happen with Republicans back in power, Cornyn said: “I think repeal and replace it with a common-sense solution.”

November election campaign in full swing

Washington (CNN) — Republicans wasted no time Thursday in calling out President Obama and Democrats for their handling of the economy, warning the country should not follow the Democratic Party down the road to ruin.

“It is time this administration and its Capitol Hill ally stop this job-killing agenda,” Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said at a press conference with other Republican senators.

Obama is simply “out of touch with the American people and out of touch with the economic realities of our country in the summer of 2010,” said Sen. John Barasso, R-Wyoming.

The Obama administration is fighting back, touting Wednesday’s economic stimulus report, which says the government paid out the largest chunk of stimulus funds so far in the second quarter of 2010 — $116.3 billion — which includes both spending on projects and tax cuts to businesses.

The administration said the the $787 billion stimulus is working and has already saved or created about 3 million jobs. Obama is now calling this the “Summer of Recovery.”

Republicans, meanwhile, argue that the 9.5 percent unemployment rate is evidence that the country is not seeing a “Summer of Recovery.”

The top GOP leader in the House is also targeting the Wall Street Reform Bill, which is expected to be passed by the Senate Thursday.

Video: ‘I think we’ll retain House,’ Gibbs says

Video: Battle for the house

House Minority Leader John Boehner said he liked some things about the bill.

“There are common sense things that you should do to plug the holes in the regulatory system that were there, and to bring more transparency to financial transactions, because transparency is like sunlight. Sunlight is the best disinfectant.”

But Boehner still thinks the bill should be repealed because it is “ill-conceived” and will “make credit harder for the American people to get, clearly harder for businesses to get and … punish every banker in America for the sins of the few on Wall Street.”

Pelosi’s spokesman Nadeam Elshami immediately slammed Boehner’s comments in a statement, saying “This comes as no surprise coming from the Republican House leader who called the financial crisis that caused 8 million Americans to lose their jobs an ‘ant.’ “

In addition to the economy, Republicans are smelling blood in the wake of recent comments made by White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on the midterm election.

Gibbs said on Sunday that he thinks there is “no doubt there are enough seats in play — that could cause Republicans to gain control.”

The comments were blasted by top Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer — and seized on by Boehner.

“The panic that’s building amongst Democrats erupted into a full scale civil war this week when the president’s spokesman suggested that his party could lose the House this fall,” Boehner said Thursday. “I understand that the House Democrats are angry because they see the White House throwing them under the bus.”

“With all the trouble the House Democrats are in right now, [it] was really only a matter of time before the gloves came off. I just didn’t know that the targets would be each other,” he said.

Pelosi and others expressed frustration over Gibbs’ comments which were seen by some as helpful to Republicans, according to senior Democratic officials.

It’s one thing for a pundit to state the obvious about the state of play in the election and quite another for a top White House official to offer an assessment that may depress the party’s base just as officials hope to start revving liberals up, the officials said.

Many lawmakers also said that after expressing their frustration, they now want to turn the page and did not plan to rail against the president himself, a senior administration official told CNN.

The White House is also feeling the heat from liberal Democrats who say Obama has not been aggressive enough in pursuing their agenda.

Obama senior adviser David Axelrod responded to those critics Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union. “My admonition would be: Don’t make the perfect the enemy of the good,” he said.

“We’ve achieved more in these two years — in terms of advancing a solid progressive agenda for this country that will help working families and make this a better, more balanced economy — than anyone has done … in our generation.”

He pointed to comprehensive health care reform, the administration’s move to boost fuel efficiency standards and the president’s desire to repeal the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gays and lesbians serving in the U.S. military, as part of that agenda.

But those legislative items are also providing fodder for Republicans.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, speaking on Thursday to a group of young Republicans, said the midterm election will be a referendum on those policies.

“You’re here at a time of the explosion of government,” McConnell said. “The people who think what’s wrong with America is that we just haven’t gotten a big enough government … we’re going to have an opportunity to see how the American people feel about that in a few months, because they’ll get their report card.”

CNN’s Martina Stewart and Deirdre Walsh, along with CNNMoney.com’s Annalyn Censky, contributed to this report.

Republicans blast Obama amid Democratic Party tension

Washington (CNN) — House Democratic leaders met with President Barack Obama on Wednesday night to discuss legislative priorities in the run-up to the November mid-term election, but one topic was bypassed — the weekend assessment by White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs that Republicans could win back the chamber.

Aides to the House Democratic leaders told CNN that the meeting with Obama was productive and focused mostly on economic issues and policy. One leadership aide said Obama declared the Democrats would retain control of the House in November, but there was no mention in the meeting of the remark by Gibbs.

Earlier, senior Democratic officials said that at a private Capitol Hill meeting on Tuesday night, a string of House Democrats — including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — expressed deep frustration that Gibbs had played into Republicans’ hands by answering a hypothetical question on NBC’s “Meet the Press” about whether Democrats may lose their grip on power.

In a statement that senior White House officials maintain was blindingly obvious and really not newsworthy, Gibbs said on Sunday, “I think there is no doubt there are enough seats in play — that could cause Republicans to gain control.”

The senior Democratic officials said it’s one thing for a pundit to state the obvious about the state of play in the election and quite another for a top White House official to offer an assessment that may depress the party’s base just as officials hope to start revving liberals up.

“Members were hot — hot, hot, hot,” one senior Democratic official told CNN about the private meeting Tuesday where House Democrats directed their anger at Dan Turton, a White House aide who attended the session.

A senior administration official acknowledged to CNN there was heavy tension at Tuesday’s congressional meeting, but stressed that many lawmakers also said that after expressing their frustration they now want to turn the page and did not plan to rail against the president himself at Wednesday night’s meeting at the White House with Pelosi and other leaders including Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland and Majority Whip Jim Clyburn of South Carolina.

Several House Democrats offered a similar message.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman, took a jab at Gibbs on Wednesday when he told reporters that “people need to be aware of how their comments will be interpreted in a political environment.”

Later, in an interview with CNN, Van Hollen stressed the need to move past the comments by Gibbs.

“There is no upside to this and we need to get beyond this and focus less on what the president’s spokesman said on a news show and focus on what the Republicans say they will do if they get control of the House,” said Van Hollen, of Maryland. Republicans are asking voters “to send back the same guys who got the economy in the ditch to begin with,” he said.

Hoyer said Democrats need to get on the same page when they meet with Obama.

“I think our message to the president is we need to be speaking obviously on message from the White House, and from the House, and I think we need to be focused on what we’ve done to create jobs and move the country forward,” Hoyer said, repeating his comment Tuesday that “we’re going to maintain control of the House so I think any conclusion other than that is incorrect.”

Meanwhile, House Republican Leader John Boehner described the chamber’s Democratic caucus as “in chaos,” but acknowledged Republicans have “a steep hill to climb to get to the majority.”

“We’ve got a lot of work to do, but it is possible,” said Boehner, of Ohio.

Dina Titus, a first term Democrat from Nevada and a top target of Republicans, told CNN she hoped the party spat would “get Democrats all enthused and they turn out even more because these are tough races.”

But she also sought to distance herself from the White House and top Democrats, saying: “We’re just running our own race. I’m not Obama. I’m not Reid. I’m Dina Titus and that’s what we’re focusing on.”

Gibbs, on Wednesday at his White House briefing, sought to ease some of the tension by saying Pelosi’s efforts have been “monumental” on behalf of the president’s agenda. He also reiterated that his original comments on Sunday were meant to rally the party into coming together on showing voters there will be a sharp contrast between the Republican and Democratic agendas in November.

“On that choice we will do very well,” said Gibbs, adding that he believes Democrats will keep control of both the House and Senate.

Nevertheless, Gibbs’ comments sent alarm bells through the upper echelons of the Democratic party, especially because Van Hollen’s Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has a long-planned breakfast meeting Thursday with lobbyists who are key party fundraisers.

The committee, which is in charge of helping to elect House Democrats, had been hoping to project momentum in advance of Friday’s deadline to publicly reveal fundraising numbers for the first six months of this year.

The fear now among some top Democrats, in the words of one top party official, is that the Gibbs comments will “give the Republicans a big fundraising boost” as perception builds that Democrats are in even deeper trouble than already expected.

Gibbs himself has insisted all week that he was really just stating the obvious about the challenge Democrats are facing.

“I think I did what is maybe uncommon in this town and yesterday I opened my mouth and stated the obvious,” Gibbs said at Monday’s daily press briefing with reporters. “I do not believe that you all are now scurrying around to cover this election markedly different based on my having said that there are a number of seats that are in play.”

Gibbs has also stressed all week that he’s merely trying to focus everyone on the fact that both parties will be offering sharply different visions of how to deal with key issues like the economy.

“You’re going to have a choice between the leadership that we have now and the leadership that believes that BP should be apologized to first and foremost, and that the type of calamity wrought by the financial meltdown in the end of 2008 is analogous to the size of an ant,” Gibbs said Monday. “Those are choices that the American people are going to get a chance to hear and make in November.”

CNN’s Deirdre Walsh and Brianna Keilar contributed to this report.

Some Dems still fuming over Gibbs’ comments

By

Mark Trumbull,

(CNN) — Lawmakers return from a weeklong break on Monday with a full plate of unfinished business awaiting them.

There’s a lot to tackle, but not a lot of time to do it. Congress is in session for four weeks before a monthlong recess. After that, members of Congress will turn their attention toward campaigning for the November midterm elections.

Here’s a look at some of the items on Congress’ to-do list:

Financial reform

President Obama wanted lawmakers to wrap up financial reform before they hit the road for the Fourth of July break, but the bill failed to make it out of the Senate.

The bill, which comes after more than 18 months of negotiation and debate, aims to strengthen consumer protection, shine a light on complex financial products and establish a new process for shutting down giant financial firms in trouble.

Senate Democrats need the support of some moderate Republicans to get the 60 votes needed to end any filibuster against the measure. The death of Sen. Robert Byrd, D-West Virginia, and opposition by Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wisconsin, leaves the Democrats with a maximum of 57 votes toward passage.

CNNMoney: Congress fixes Wall Street — and orders up 68 studies

Unemployment benefits

By the time Congress returns to work, 2.1 million unemployed Americans will have lost their jobless benefits. That’s because lawmakers failed to pass an extension before leaving town.

Lawmakers have been trying to pass a bill that would push the deadline until the end of November. But Senate Republicans have blocked the measure, saying they would support it only if it is paid for.

White House senior adviser David Axelrod said Sunday that Congress has a responsibility to extend the benefits.

“The Republicans met that responsibility each time under President Bush, when he asked for extended unemployment insurance. They ought to do it now. Let’s not play politics with this issue,” Axelrod said on ABC’s “This Week.”

The House of Representatives approved a bill to extend the benefits just before lawmakers went home for the recess. Senate Democrats plan to take up the measure again after Byrd’s replacement is named, which might happen as soon as this week.

CNNMoney: Congress is back; so is the spending debate

Bush tax cuts

The tax cuts enacted during the Bush administration are set to expire at the end of the year unless Congress extends them. Obama had promised to make them permanent for the majority of Americans. But the reality of the federal budget’s impending shortfalls is making that a hard promise to keep.

The jury is out on when Congress will take up formal legislation on the issue. Since the legislative agenda is so backlogged, especially in the Senate, a tax-cut extension bill might not come up for a vote until after the midterm elections.

Asked whether Congress should take the issue up before the November contests, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said, “Look, I don’t know what Congress’ schedule is.

“I know what the president has in mind. And that is — for middle-class Americans who have borne the brunt of this economic calamity, we’re certainly not going to raise taxes on them,” he said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

CNNMoney: Bush tax cuts up in the air

Energy legislation

Comprehensive energy and climate change legislation is another item on Obama’s wish list, but it faces an uphill battle in Congress. Obama met with a bipartisan group of senators to discuss the issue last month.

“There was agreement on the sense of urgency required to move forward with legislation, and the president is confident that we will be able to get something done this year,” the White House said in a statement after the meeting.

The House has passed its own sweeping energy bill that includes a cap-and-trade system in which a price is set for greenhouse gas emissions such as carbon dioxide and polluters can obtain and trade credits for emissions over a set threshold.

The three leading Senate proposals include:

• The aggressive measure by Sens. John Kerry, D-Massachusetts, and Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut independent, that would cap carbon emissions and create a system for trading carbon credits.

• A scaled-down version of cap-and-trade that would directly refund revenues raised under the program back to consumers, being offered by Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Maria Cantwell, D-Washington.

• And a measure already approved by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that would mandate increases in alternative energy sources and open new areas of the Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas drilling.

War funding legislation

The House narrowly passed a spending bill before recess that includes $37 billion to fund the war in Afghanistan. The Senate approved a version of the Pentagon spending bill, but it does not include the nonwar funding that’s in the House bill, including $10 billion to help states avoid teacher layoffs and $1 billion for summer jobs.

Senate Republicans and some fiscally conservative Democrats oppose the nonwar spending, and it’s unclear how the issue will be resolved.

Small-business jobs bill

The House passed a version of the small-business jobs bill, which includes tax breaks and loans for small businesses. The Senate is expected to move ahead with its version this week. This is one piece of legislation that could have strong bipartisan support.

Food safety bill

The House passed a bill that would give the Food and Drug Administration more authority over the country’s food supply, including more frequent inspections of processing plants and more resources and authority to trace outbreaks of E. coli and other illnesses.

The Senate could vote on its version of the bill before the August recess.

Campaign spending limits

The House passed the Disclose Act, a bill that would require most independent groups that pay for campaign ads to disclose their donors.

House narrowly passes campaign spending disclosure bill

The bill was pushed by House Democrats to respond to a Supreme Court ruling in January that struck down key provisions of campaign finance laws restricting spending by corporations, unions and independent groups.

Some Republicans complained the bill touted by Democrats as promoting transparency was written behind closed doors and would violate the right to free speech.

Senate action is unclear.

Oil disaster response

As House and Senate committees investigate the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster, a number of bills could come up for final congressional votes. One would remove the $75 million cap on an oil company’s liability for spill damages. Another bill that has passed in the House would allow family members of workers killed on the BP rig to pursue noneconomic damages.

Immigration reform

Despite Obama’s renewed push, Congress hasn’t done much to indicate immigration reform is a top priority. The president met with members of Congress before and after his speech on immigration at the beginning of July, and his position is that the bill can only pass with Republican help.

Adviser: Obama wants GOP votes on immigration

Supreme Court confirmation

The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to meet Tuesday to consider the nomination of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court, though Republicans could invoke their right to delay the vote for a week.

Committee Democrats outnumber Republicans, so the panel is expected to send her nomination to the full Senate, and Kagan is expected to be confirmed before the August recess.

CNN’s Lisa Desjardins and Kristi Keck and CNNMoney’s Jennifer Liberto, Tami Luhby and Jeanne Sahadi contributed to this report.

Congress returns, but where to begin?

Washington (CNN) — President Barack Obama wrapped up a two-state campaign swing Friday, stumping for embattled Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid while talking up the economy in a speech at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas.

Reid’s “a fighter, and you should never bet against him,” Obama said in his prepared remarks. “And that’s just what we need right now. We need someone who’s going to fight for the people of Nevada and for the American people.”

“Harry and I are going to keep on fighting,” Obama said. “Until wages and incomes are rising again, businesses are hiring again, and Americans are headed back to work again. Until we not only recover from this recession, but rebuild our economy stronger than before.”

Reid slammed Senate Republicans for being “the party of no,” claiming he’s only been able to work with a dwindling handful of GOP moderates. “They’re betting on failure,” he said.

Nevada currently has the highest state unemployment rate in the nation at 14 percent, adding to Reid’s tough reelection fight this year against GOP nominee Sharron Angle. At a rally on Thursday. Obama ripped into Angle, alleging among other things that she wants to phase out Medicare and Social Security along with federal education funding.

Obama also attacked Angle for recently calling BP’s Gulf compensation fund a “slush fund” during a radio interview on Wednesday. Angle retreated from her comments on Thursday, saying she shouldn’t have used the term “slush fund” and asserting that she supported the fund.

Nevada is the second stop on a campaign tour also brought the “campaigner-in-chief” to the Midwest this week to help out another Democratic Senate candidate — Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan.

Carnahan will most likely face off in November against seven-term Republican Rep. Roy Blunt, in a battle between two of the most famous political families in Missouri. Both candidates are fighting to succeed Republican Sen. Kit Bond, who is not running for re-election this year. The race is one of the few where the Democrats have a chance to pick up a GOP held seat.

Obama’s visit was his fourth to Missouri since losing the state in the 2008 presidential election to Sen. John McCain by less than 4,000 votes.

In March, Republicans pounced on Carnahan when she didn’t attend an Obama health care reform event in her state, saying she was trying to keep her distance from the president. Carnahan’s campaign said she was in the Washington, D.C. for a conference as part of her duties as secretary of state. Carnahan did team up with Obama when he came back to Missouri a month later to hold an event on the economy.

“Presidential visits are a double-edged sword. They raise money for Democratic candidates and energize Democratic voters, but they give Republicans plenty of ammo and interject Obama into every contest,” says Stuart Rothenberg, publisher and editor of the nonpartisan Rothenberg Political Report.

Following his stop over in Missouri, the president headed west to Las Vegas.

CNN’s Alan Silverleib and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

Obama talks economy in Las Vegas

Des Moines, Iowa (CNN) — When Rep. Ron Paul walked into Hy-Vee Hall last month, a single blue sign with a simple message was placed near the escalator that took him upstairs to a fundraiser attended by 300 Republican activists.

It read: “President Ron Paul 2012.”

The sign was symbolic in many ways: Even as Iowa Republicans are focused on midterm elections, the 2012 presidential contest is not far from their minds. And it was just three years ago that Paul did not receive an invitation to participate in a presidential candidate forum held in this very building.

The sight of the Texas congressman riding the escalator up to address this group of influential Republicans was illustrative of how he has risen from a little-known congressman and afterthought presidential candidate to the national spokesman on libertarian philosophy.

All of this comes from a man who has no illusions that he can win his party’s presidential nomination, but that won’t stop him from running again in 2012 if he decides to do so.

“It is probably hard to believe, but I look at it a little bit differently than others,” Paul said in an interview during his recent visit to Iowa. “I don’t expect to be president. I don’t expect to be. That doesn’t mean I won’t run for president, but I am really energized when I think we make inroads … to broaden the outreach on the philosophy I have been talking about for 40 years.”

Video: Rep. Paul talks about GOP rifts

His advocacy of limited government, disdain for the Federal Reserve and belief that the U.S. should withdraw its troops from Afghanistan has attracted an eclectic following of young people, anti-war activists and those wary of government intrusion.

Paul began his 2008 White House run as a third-tier candidate, a gadfly with little support and even less money. Paul was never considered a serious frontrunner for the GOP nomination, but an explosion of support in the fall of 2007, fueled by online contributions, carried him into Iowa. There, he received 10 percent of the vote in the caucuses. He officially ended his presidential campaign in June 2008, well after Sen. John McCain had received enough support to win the Republican nomination.

“I don’t ever take personal credit as much as being in the right place at the right time and maybe saying the right things,” Paul said. “I have said the same things for 30 years when it came to financial bubbles. See, the business cycle theory is what motivated me to get into politics.”

On this night in Des Moines, Paul stuck to his talking points. He never mentioned a possible presidential run in 2012. Instead, Paul spoke of limited government and the need for government officials to follow the Constitution, which just so happened to be the theme of the Iowa GOP’s fundraiser. Paul’s address was bookended by standing ovations.

“I have been excited about and what he is talking about,” John Bowery, a Republican from Shenandoah, Iowa, said after Paul’s speech. “I am sorry he didn’t get more attention in 2008. I don’t know if he is going to run in 2012. If someone like him does, I will be all for it.”

Paul is an enigma in the Republican Party. He champions less government and a socially conservative philosophy, which would seem to play well with GOP base voters such as Bowery.

Yet Paul, who was the Libertarian Party’s presidential nominee in 1988, doesn’t embrace the Republican brand. Party leaders and the GOP establishment types are not so smitten with him either. This is problematic in a presidential run, where well-oiled political machines are needed in key states to help build support and get-out-the-vote efforts in primaries and caucuses.

He does credit the Republican Party for sharpening its focus on the economy, but he doesn’t speak in terms of “we” but rather “they.”

“I think that the Republicans have, whether it is out of merit or accidental, they are in a good position right now mainly because they have talked about economics,” Paul said. “And their talk is good about watching the spending and watching the deficits and people are concerned about runaway government.”

But Paul does express some skepticism that GOP promises of reforming Washington and cutting government might just be talk.

“I think they have the subject right, and they talk about it,” he said. “I think where they are going to come up short maybe not before the election, but afterwards.

“Where are they going to cut? Do they have a plan to cut? It is easy to vote against the spending when you are in opposition. But where are they going to cut? And I think that is what I have talked about … especially these past four years. And that is where we challenged the Republicans.”

Last month’s trip to Iowa was his third to the state since November 2009, so it begs the question: Is Paul trying to lay the groundwork for a 2012 White House run?

“I am very serious about thinking about it all the time,” Paul said about his possible presidential aspirations. “My answer is always the same thing: You know I haven’t ruled it out, but I have no plans to do it.”

For now, Paul will continue to travel the country to promote his philosophy, while his 2008 presidential campaign operation has morphed into the Campaign for Liberty, a 500,000-member organization that promotes libertarian views.

Paul also has a small political action committee that doles out contributions to “liberty-based candidates,” a spokesman said.

Ron Paul ponders politics, 2012 run

Washington (CNN) — Republicans lined up on opposite sides Sunday over comments by the chairman of the Republican National Committee that the Afghanistan war launched by former President George W. Bush was “of (President Barack) Obama’s choosing” and may be unwinnable.

Speaking from Afghanistan, GOP Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina lambasted Michael Steele for the comments, which McCain called “wildly inaccurate” and Graham characterized as “uninformed, unnecessary, unwise, untimely,” while follow Republican Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina said Steele should apologize to the military.

However, conservative GOP Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, in a statement to CNN, supported Steele and said the RNC chairman’s characterization of the war was correct.

“He is guiding the party in the right direction and we (the GOP) are on the verge of victory this fall,” said Paul, who mounted an unsuccessful bid for the GOP presidential nomination in 2008. “Chairman Steele should not back off. He is giving the country, especially young people, hope as he speaks truth about this war.”

Video: Paul praises Steele’s comments

In comments at a Republican fundraiser in Connecticut Thursday, a YouTube video shows the RNC chairman declaring of the war in Afghanistan, “This was a war of Obama’s choosing.”

“This is not something the United States actively prosecuted or wanted to engage in,” he added.

Steele has stepped back from his original comments by emphasizing his support for the war.

“The stakes are too high for us to accept anything but success in Afghanistan,” Steele said in a statement intended to clarify his controversial comments.

It may be too late for him. Prominent Republican voices are calling for Steele’s resignation, including Liz Cheney, a former State Department official and the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney; Weekly Standard editor William Kristol and former South Carolina GOP chairman Katon Dawson, who finished second to Steele in the RNC chairman’s race last year.

Both McCain and Graham questioned Steele’s ability to keep his job, but said it was up to Steele and the RNC to make that decision.

“I think that Mr. Steele is going to have to assess whether he can still lead the Republican Party as chairman of the Republican National Committee,” McCain said on the ABC program “This Week.” Graham said in a separate interview on the CBS program “Face the Nation” that Steele’s comments did not represent mainstream GOP thinking.

“It’s not the Republican Party’s position, my Republican Party’s position,” Graham said.

At the same time, Graham joked that “the good news is Michael Steele is backtracking so fast he’s going to be in Kabul fighting here pretty soon.”

DeMint, in an interview on “FOX News Sunday,” called Steele’s comments unacceptable.

Steele “needs to apologize to our military, all the men and women who’ve been fighting in Afghanistan,” DeMint said, adding: “This is a war we can win and we must win.”

Paul, meanwhile, wants the United States to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan.

“I would like to congratulate Michael Steele for his leadership on one of the most important issues of today,” Paul said. “He is absolutely right: Afghanistan is now Obama’s war. During the 2008 campaign, Obama was out in front in insisting that more troops be sent to Afghanistan. Obama called for expanding the war even as he pretended to be a peace candidate.”

Steele’s critics are supporting “Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama’s war,” Paul said of the Democratic House speaker and president.

“The American people are sick and tired spending hundreds of billions of dollars a year, draining our economy and straining our military,” Paul said. “Michael Steele has it right and Republicans should stick by him.”

However, Pelosi last week voted for an amendment to a Pentagon spending bill that would have placed tough restrictions on funding for the war in Afghanistan — including a demand for a detailed troop withdrawal plan and a threat to pull money for the war if the military stays beyond next summer.

The amendment failed, but more than half the House Democratic caucus and nine Republicans voted for it, despite a White House veto threat if the final bill included the provision.

Both Graham and McCain said the United States must remain in Afghanistan as long as it takes to achieve the goal of preventing the country from again falling under Taliban control and becoming a safe haven for al Qaeda.

“The reason we came here is to secure America,” Graham said, adding it was “imperative we say to our friends and enemies alike we’re not leaving here until we’ve succeeded.”

CNN’s Mark Preston and Tom Cohen contributed to this report

Republicans take sides over latest Steele controversy