The Obama administration has announced it will not submit three pending trade agreements that are strongly supported by Republicans and the Chamber of Commerce without a "robust" extension of a program that provides assistance to workers who lose their jobs because of outsourcing.

The Trade Adjustment Assistance program was beefed up in the stimulus bill in 2009 and will cost about $2.4 billion this year. Iowa Republican Sen. Charles Grassley has reportedly suggested it's no longer affordable. But Gene Sperling, head of the National Economic Council, told reporters "we will not submit the Free Trade Agreements without an agreement on an enhanced" TAA program.

Congress declined to extend the TAA program in December and again in February. Officials declined to suggest how much an "enhanced" program might cost. Sperling only says it would depend on the performance of the economy. But Trade Ambassador Ron Kirk said the president will insist on a "holistic approach" to trade that "keeps faith" with America's workers.

The TAA was passed in 2002, but prior to 2009 Kirk says, it was "poorly administered and underfunded." As part of the Recovery Act, service workers were added to those eligible for job retraining and other benefits and 430,000 have been certified as eligible since then. (read more)

In a move aimed at undercutting critics of his energy policy, President Obama will announce measures intended to spark a substantial increase in domestic production of oil and natural gas, and to put pressure on oil and gas companies to exploit their federal leases more quickly.

In his Saturday internet address, Mr. Obama offers a blanket extension of all the oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico that were affected by the moratorium imposed after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the worst in the nation's history. The move is part of legislation passed by the Republican controlled House, earlier this month, in a vote that drew substantial Democratic support.

Mr. Obama wants to fold the increased domestic production into an energy policy that already includes developing alternative energy sources and increasing vehicle and building energy efficiency, with the goal of reducing the country's dependence on foreign oil by a third in the next 10 years.

In his internet address, the President will also note Attorney General Eric Holder's investigation into possible fraud in oil markets; an effort to address concerns about gasoline prices though officials say there's little likelihood of lowering them in the short term. (read more)

With signs of cracks in the coalition enforcing the no-fly zone over Libya, President Obama phoned two Arab leaders during his travels in South and Central America, to shore up their support. And it may have paid off.

Aides traveling with Mr. Obama on a flight from Santiago, Chile, to San Salvador, said Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan reaffirmed his support for U.N. Security Council resolution 1973, after a call from Mr. Obama.

Over the weekend, Erdogan had seemed surprised at the scale of the attack by the U.S., Britain and France, to knock out Libya's air defenses and push Muammar al-Qaddafi's tanks back from the outskirts of Benghazi. The Turkish leader threatened to withdraw his support for the operation, which would effectively prevent the U.S. from turning over command to NATO. Turkey is a member of the 28 nation alliance and every member's support is required for NATO to act. (read more)

The White House is arranging talks with key lawmakers aimed at reaching a budget agreement for the rest of the fiscal year, but officials are privately resigned to accepting more short term deals, though spokesman Jay Carney says that's "no way to run a business or a government."

The big fight will be over spending cuts that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says will likely cost jobs in the short run. But Bernanke also says Congress and the White House need to agree on a plan "that will persuade markets that there's going to be real progress made against the deficit over the next five and 10 years."

The White House announced the budget talks, which will be led by Vice President Biden, in a statement after the Senate passed a two week continuing resolution to keep the government's spending authority from expiring at the end of the week. In the statement, President Obama said "Living with the threat of a shutdown every few weeks is not responsible, and it puts our economic progress in jeopardy."

House Speaker John Boehner says if the White House had gotten involved in the budget debate earlier "...we might have had something to talk about, but the fact is that we were forced to move on our own." (read more)

Aides say the President received updates on races from his staff, but didn't sit in front of the television watching the election returns himself. A spokesman said he planned to voice his thoughts on the results in a news conference Wednesday afternoon. Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton said "today we get a message from the American people, tomorrow the President will respond to that." That's when he'll address his next two years, dealing with a Republican controlled House and an increase in the number of Republican Governors, though probably still a Democrat controlled Senate.

Even tomorrow aides make clear we shouldn't expect the President to say where he's willing to compromise with Republicans, though reporters will surely ask. Instead he has signaled his message to the newly empowered Republicans will be that they are now compelled to offer ideas for creating jobs and cutting the deficit, among other things. And that Republicans must now live with America's verdict on their ideas.

White House officials concede voter concerns about the economy and the budget deficit, but polls don't suggest a particular way to deal with them. The public is evenly split over extending all the Bush administration's tax cuts or just those for families making less than 250 thousand dollars a year. There is a similar divide over whether the next Congress should focus on cutting the budget deficit or spending government money to create jobs. (read more)

President Obama says community colleges are the "unsung heroes of the American education system," and he's counting on them to produce an additional five million graduates over the next 10 years, as part of his goal of regaining America's leadership in global college graduation rates. But critics say his $2 billion down payment on achieving that goal would be better spent on career colleges, which have almost three times the graduation rate as two-year institutions.

Mr. Obama spoke at the start of a White House gathering of educators, business leaders, philanthropists and federal and state officials, hosted by Vice President Biden's wife, who is a community college professor. Dr. Jill Biden calls community colleges "one of America's best kept secrets" and says she's working hard to make sure that's no longer the case, visiting community colleges across the country to spotlight their achievements.  (read more)

Even though the president's aides believe Democrats will retain control of the House and Senate, they're prepared for a scaled down legislative agenda after next month's elections. But officials say it's not because Republicans will be calling more of the shots.

Part of the reason is that the largest items on Mr. Obama's agenda, including the Recovery Act, health care reform and financial regulatory reform, have already been passed by Congress. Another part of the reason is that few here expect Republicans to follow their likely gains in the House and Senate, with a change in their strategy of opposing the Democrats' initiatives.

Asked at a briefing about unfinished legislative business, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs ticked off a number of items for a potential lame duck session: extending the Bush administration tax cuts, ratifying the START treaty with Russia, reauthorizing the Children's Nutrition program and confirming Austan Goolsbee as the president's new budget director as well as confirming a number of federal judicial nominees. (read more)

The House passed a border security bill, today, that could be seen as a rare moment of bipartisan compromise in a highly charged election season, but few lawmakers seemed to look at it that way. The measure passed on a voice vote with no debate, but Republicans didn't like being called back from their summer break, mainly for a vote on a different bill to avoid teacher layoffs. Kentucky Congressman Harold Rogers(R) said, "this bill won't take effect until next year. Why are we here?" Some Republican lawmakers felt the border security bill was added to give Democrats political cover. California Congressman Jerry Lewis (R) said "this bill is only on the floor to allow Democrats to claim they care about border security."

Democrats disagreed. Texas Congressman Henry Cuellar (D) said "the threat is real and we need to take action today." Fellow Texan Sheila Jackson Lee (D) said, "It is relevant to do this today. But I wish my friends as well would stop blocking us from looking holistically at real comprehensive immigration reform." (read more)

After a day of talks at the G-8 summit outside Toronto, the question being asked of President Obama is the same as he gets from some Republicans; “when is enough stimulus spending enough,” especially when the leaders of Britain, Germany and Japan plan to roll back spending programs, even though they haven't produced as many jobs as people had hoped, to slow the rise in the national debt. In an evening news conference, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said there was still no consensus on the issue, and the leaders would return to the question on Saturday. It was unlikely there would be consensus, especially with a dozen other leaders joining the talks, when they shift from a lakeside resort to the city of Toronto, later in the afternoon. Mr. Obama favors continued spending to try and get more people working, under the belief that a rapidly growing economy's the fastest deficit cutter of all. The Canadian economy largely escaped the financial crisis, and Prime Minister Harper has indicated he’s not be very sympathetic with the U.S. position, by cheering a British austerity plan that calls for spending cuts and tax hikes. German chancellor Angela Merkel's planning the biggest budget cuts since World War II, in an effort to save more than $100 billion over the next four years. (read more)

President Obama is celebrating Father's Day a day late this year, after giving a nod to nontraditional fathers in his official proclamation.

Mr. Obama is joining leaders of fatherhood groups, women's organizations, the NFL Players Association and the National PTA, at an inner city arts and recreation campus, to launch a drive to promote responsible fatherhood and to re-engage absent fathers with their families.

His Father's Day proclamation said nurturing families come in many forms and children may be raised, "by a father and mother, a single father, two fathers, a step father, a grandfather or caring guardian." It's the first time "two fathers" has made that list. CBN writer David Brody says Mr. Obama is "running the risk of alienating networks of pastors and church goers."

His proclamation also offers praise for "those parents serving in the United States Armed Forces" whose responsibilities separate them from their families. The President would add non-traditional families to the military community, by doing away with the "don't ask - don't tell" rule.

In today's speech, President Obama will stress the importance of being there. His prepared remarks include the observation "we can't legislate fatherhood...but what we can do is send a clear message to our fathers that there is no excuse for failing to meet their obligations." (read more)