A majority of Republicans who agree with the tea party movement give House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) positive reviews for his role in debt negotiations

Obama signs debt bill into law, averting default

Aug. 2 (last day of deadline)

“Seen in isolation . . . this is not a good bill,” said Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.). Yet, he added, “despite its many flaws, this legislation must pass.” He complained that by failing to increase revenue by ending tax cuts and loopholes for the wealthy while slashing domestic spending, “this legislation incorporates some policies that are profoundly unfair to middle-income Americans.”

Boehner Plan (House)

As passed, the legislation authorizes $900 billion in additional borrowing while reducing the deficit by $917 billion over 10 years. The president could request a second increase in the debt ceiling of up to $1.6 trillion upon passage of the balanced-budget amendment and a separate $1.8 trillion deficit reduction package, to be written by a new “joint committee of Congress.” The initial version of Boehner’s bill required only a vote on a balanced-budget amendment in the House and Senate, not actual passage.

President Obama named former Ohio attorney general Richard Cordray on Monday afternoon as his pick to lead the nation’s powerful new consumer watchdog agency and pledged to fight efforts to undermine financial reform.-- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
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But confirming Cordray is an uphill battle for the administration. Forty-four Republican senators have pledged to block any candidate for the job unless Obama agrees to structural changes to the agency.
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Obama’s move has also disappointed many liberals, who had backed controversial Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren for the post.

Gabrielle Giffords makes public apperance -6/27/2011

Obama, Biden To Meet With Reid, McConnell On Debt Talks -6/27/2011

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will demand a seat in the table for the final talks on the national debt limit, putting a strong liberal voice in the room.

NY becomes largest state to approve gay marriage -6/24/2011

New York, the nation's third most populous state, will join Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Washington, D.C., in allowing same-sex couples to wed.

Gore takes aim at the press, noting it is failing to properly “referee” a dispute between “science and reason” on one side and “poisonous polluters and right-wing ideologues” on the other.

Indiana Law Forces Planned Parenthood Clinics To Close And Stop Treating Thousands Of Medicaid Patients

Kaya Henderson confirmed as D.C. schools chancellor

Polls show the public is broadly supportive of equal rights for gay people — with the exception of the right to marry. Nearly 90 percent of Americans favor equality of opportunity in the workplace, and more than 60 percent favored overturning “don’t ask, don’t tell.” But the public remains evenly divided on same-sex marriage.

And, in light of the Supreme Court’s bizarre conclusion that corporations count as "persons," it would be quite a stretch to claim that actual human beings who happen to have entered the United States illegally are somehow not persons.

Federal Emergency Management Agency

(FEMA)

On Tuesday, the GOP majority on theHouse Appropriations Committee approved a 2012 spending plan that directs the Agriculture Department to ditch the first new nutritional standards in 15 years proposed for school breakfasts and lunches. The lawmakers say meals containing more fruits and vegetables, whole grains and low-fat dairy will cost an additional $7 billion over five years — money they say the country can ill afford in difficult economic times.

The committee also directed the USDA to scale back participation in an effort to develop voluntary guidelines for companies that market food to children. And it directed the FDA to exempt grocery and convenience stores and other businesses from regulations set to take effect next year requiring that calorie information be displayed. -The Washington Post