WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Francine Wheeler blinked past her tears, looked straight into the camera and asked Americans to push for tougher gun laws, drawing on courage she said comes from the memory of her 6-year-old son, Ben, murdered in his first-grade classroom in Newtown, Connecticut.

“His boundless energy kept him running across the soccer field long after the game was over,” said Wheeler, describing her son during what is usually President Barack Obama’s weekly Saturday address to the nation.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama is set to make a fresh plea on Monday for a reluctant Congress to pass new gun control legislation – one of his top domestic policy priorities – as he travels to Connecticut, where December’s school massacre took place.

Initial momentum for tougher gun control laws sought by Obama after the December 14 shootings in Newtown, Connecticut, has stalled in Congress in the face of fierce lobbying by gun rights groups like the National Rifle Association.

WASHINGTON, April 4 (Reuters) – First Lady Michelle Obama
shared what has become a rite of spring in Washington with a
small group of fifth-grade students on Thursday, planting
vegetables in the White House garden.

On a day that began with record-cold temperatures that have
pushed back the blooming season for the city’s famous cherry
trees, Obama welcomed about 30 students to help her plant the
garden, a project she has championed as a model for children and
their parents to emulate as a way to reduce childhood obesity.

WASHINGTON, March 18 (Reuters) – President Barack Obama on
Monday nominated Tom Perez, head of the Justice Department’s
Civil Rights Division, as labor secretary, a Cabinet member who
will play a key role in the administration’s efforts to raise
the minimum wage and reform immigration laws.

Perez is the only Latino nominated to Obama’s second-term
Cabinet so far. The Harvard-educated civil rights attorney is
expected to face opposition from some Republican senators who
say he has been too aggressive on certain immigration issues,
and too political.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama on Monday will nominate Tom Perez, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, as his next labor secretary, a White House official said.

Perez, a Harvard-educated civil rights attorney whose nomination was championed by Hispanic groups, would replace Hilda Solis, who resigned in January.

WASHINGTON/LEMONT, Illinois (Reuters) – U.S. lawmakers in both chambers of Congress said Friday they are moving forward with bills introduced this week to pluck the power of approving the Keystone XL pipeline, which would run from Canada’s oil sands to Texas, from the hands of the Obama administration.

Republican Representative Lee Terry from Nebraska introduced a bipartisan bill on Friday to approve TransCanada Corp’s 800,000 barrels per day pipeline, which has been held up in the review process for more than four years.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama will try to turn the page on bitterly partisan fights over energy policy on Friday, focusing his first energy speech of his second term on proposing a modest new fund to support research.

Obama will tour the Argonne National Laboratory outside of Chicago known for its groundbreaking research into advanced batteries used in electric cars, and will talk about the need to find more ways to wean cars and trucks off oil, White House officials said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama warned it may be impossible to reach a deal with congressional Republicans on trimming the budget deficit even as he headed back to Capitol Hill to try to thrash out the issue with his political opponents.

“Ultimately, it may be that the differences are just too wide,” Obama said in an interview with ABC, which aired on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama said he is looking for compromise in the coming months to end a two-year fight with Congress over how to reduce the deficit, promising Americans in his weekly radio address that he will try to find common ground with lawmakers.

Turning away from the sharp rhetoric he has used in recent weeks to blame Republicans for $85 billion in government spending cuts that took effect March 1, Obama this week highlighted how he is working with lawmakers in Congress.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama rarely makes the short trip to Capitol Hill from the White House, but next week his motorcade will be tying up traffic on Pennsylvania Avenue as he tries to convince Congress to come to a deficit deal.

Obama will visit Senate Democrats on Tuesday, and meet Republicans in the House of Representatives on Wednesday. On Thursday, he will make two separate trips to the Hill: first to meet Senate Republicans, then later to meet House Democrats.