WASHINGTON (Reuters) – In a bid to end a worsening standoff over extending a tax break for Americans, President Barack Obama urged Republican House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner on Wednesday to pass a short-term extension and return to talks on a year-long deal in the New Year.

Obama telephoned Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, to stress his willingness to work with Congress to get an agreement on the expiring payroll tax cut for 160 million Americans, White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

FORT BRAGG, North Carolina (Reuters) – President Barack Obama welcomed home some of the last U.S. troops from Iraq on Wednesday, marking a symbolic end to the nearly nine-year war that strained America’s armed forces and damaged its standing worldwide.

Addressing soldiers at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, home of the 82nd Airborne Division, Obama stopped short of declaring victory in Iraq but called the winding down of the conflict “an extraordinary achievement.”

FORT BRAGG, North Carolina (Reuters) – President Barack Obama welcomed home some of the last U.S. troops from Iraq on Wednesday, marking a symbolic end to the nearly nine-year war that strained America’s armed forces and inflicted lasting damage to its standing worldwide.

Addressing soldiers at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, home of the 82nd Airborne Division, Obama said he wanted to mark “a historic moment in the life of our country and our military.”

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican and Democratic lawmakers are locked in an end-of-year fight that threatens a government shutdown, an effective tax hike for 160 million Americans and the loss of benefits for millions of unemployed.

With just days left to resolve the crisis, both parties traded recriminations on Tuesday even as they tried to out-maneuver each other for political advantage in a high-stakes battle that will likely carry over into the 2012 elections.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Obama’s aides have persistently tried to paint Republicans as the party of the rich, with mixed results.

Now, the White House sees signs the message is resonating and Obama will try this week to seize on the momentum to gain victories on two priorities: renewing a popular tax cut and getting Senate approval for a new Wall Street regulator.

WASHINGTON, Dec 4 (Reuters) – President Barack Obama will
begin a media campaign this week to seek support for his
nomination of banking industry critic Richard Cordray to head a
new U.S. financial watchdog agency.

The White House strategy will be to try to pressure Senate
Republicans to confirm Cordray by making an appeal directly to
voters in the home states of those politicians.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama on Sunday called Pakistan’s president to offer condolences over a NATO air strike that killed 24 Pakistani troops and provoked a crisis in relations between the two countries.

Obama told President Asif Ali Zardari that the soldiers’ deaths were “regrettable” and accidental, according to a White House statement.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama sought on Saturday to boost pressure on Republican lawmakers to back an extension of a tax cut for U.S. workers that he views as vital to help the fragile economy.

Obama’s proposal to renew a temporary payroll tax holiday has received a lukewarm reception from Republicans who say it would not do much to spur economic growth and would weaken the Social Security retirement program.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House on Friday urged Cuba to immediately release jailed U.S. contractor Alan Gross and accused Havana of trying to use him as a “pawn.”

“It is past time for Mr. Gross to return home to his family where he belongs,” White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters in response to a question. Carney said Gross’s detention was “unjustified.”

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The top Republican in Congress said on Thursday that extending a payroll tax cut for workers would boost the U.S. economy, putting himself at odds with members of his party who are skeptical of its benefits.

Minutes after declaring “I’m not an economist. I don’t know what kind of impact it’s going to have,” Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner said renewal of the tax cut would be economically beneficial.