WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama, yielding to pressure from his political base, has backed off a proposal to reform Social Security retirement benefits in a high-stakes deficits deal Congress needs to reach this year.

The Democratic president upset many core supporters in July when he considered changing how the popular pension funds are linked to inflation during acrimonious negotiations with Republicans over raising the U.S. debt ceiling.

Obama saw the change as a way to ensure the federal program remains viable for future generations, but liberals felt he was giving up too much ground to Republicans.

White House spokesman Amy Brundage said Obama’s suggestions on how Congress can get to a $1.2 trillion deficit-reduction target, to be unveiled on Monday, “will not include any changes to Social Security.”

A senior administration official said his proposals to 12-member congressional panel tasked with finding the savings by November 23, were still being finalized.

But they are expected to total as much as $3 trillion over 10 years and include tweaks to Medicare and Medicaid, the government’s healthcare programs for the elderly and for the poor, and tax changes to close more loopholes for wealthy Americans and companies.

Obama’s recommendations will not be binding on the “super committee” of six Republicans and six Democrats, but may influence the tone of the negotiations and will play into the 2012 election campaign rhetoric.

COLUMBUS, Ohio/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama on Wednesday warned Republican lawmakers against delaying action on his jobs plan until the 2012 elections even as they intensified criticism of his $447 billion proposal.

“The next election is 14 months away, and we don’t have the luxury of waiting that long,” Obama told 3,000 people in Ohio, home state of U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, the top U.S. Republican.

Obama and the Republicans are now fighting their third major budget battle of the year, after a near-government shutdown in April, heart-stopping talks that produced a last-minute deal to avert a government default, and now negotiations over the president’s jobs plan.

Battle lines have been drawn around familiar turf: Obama wants to raise taxes on wealthier Americans and corporations to pay for his plans; Republicans prefer to cut spending.

But in this case, Americans are more frustrated than ever at political gridlock in Washington and that fact alone may motivate Democrats and Republicans to find a way to compromise and take some steps to show they are actually doing something to try to reduce the country’s 9.1 percent jobless rate.

New government figures underscored the challenges Obama and U.S. lawmakers face in attempting to trigger growth in a U.S. economy still recovering from the worst recession since the Great Depression.

The Census Bureau said the number of Americans living below the poverty line rose to a record 46 million last year, with the national poverty rate climbing for a third consecutive year to 15.1 percent in 2010.

WASHINGTON, Sept 13 (Reuters) – Republicans in Congress on Tuesday intensified their criticism of President Barack Obama’s jobs plan as he hit the road to sell the $447 billion proposal as the best hope to boost the struggling U.S. economy.

New government figures underscored the challenges Obama and U.S. lawmakers face in attempting to trigger growth in a U.S. economy still recovering from the worst recession since the Great Depression.

The Census Bureau said the number of Americans living below the poverty line rose to a record 46 million last year, with the national poverty rate climbing for a third consecutive year to 15.1 percent in 2010.

Obama’s plan to bring down a stubbornly high 9.1 percent jobless rate with a package of tax cuts and spending paid for entirely by tax hikes on the wealthy and corporations came under renewed fire from Republicans in Congress. [ID:nN1E7871QW]

“What the president’s proposed so far is not serious. And it’s not a jobs plan,” Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said in a speech on the Senate floor. Obama sent the job legislation to Congress on Monday. [ID:nS1E78C0VZ]

Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner, the top Republican in Congress, was equally skeptical, saying, “I just don’t think that is really going to help our economy the way it should.”

Obama hit the road to Columbus, Ohio, in Boehner’s political backyard, to sell the plan. It was an opportunity to talk up his proposal in an important battleground state as he looks ahead to what is shaping up to be a difficult battle for re-election in November 2012.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama will lay out a jobs package worth more than $300 billon on Thursday, staking his re-election hopes on a call for urgent bipartisan action to revive the faltering economy.

With his poll numbers sliding to new lows amid voter frustration with 9.1 percent unemployment, Obama will make tax cuts for middle-class households and businesses the centerpiece of the plan and will press for new spending to repair roads, bridges and other deteriorating infrastructure.

He will use his televised speech before a joint session of the U.S. Congress, at 7 p.m. EDT, to urge passage of those measures by year-end.

If congressional Republicans reject his remedies, his strategy will be to paint them as obstructionists and blame them for the stagnating economy.

Stubbornly high unemployment has heightened fears that the economy could be headed for another recession. Net employment growth registered zero in August as a budget standoff in Washington and the European debt crisis spooked businesses and consumers.

Obama is under intense pressure to change perceptions that he has shown weak leadership. His economic stewardship has been criticized by both Republicans and fellow Democrats, casting a cloud over his prospects for re-election in November 2012.

“It’s a major leadership moment for Obama,” said Terry Madonna, a political scientist at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. “He’s running out of months before voters settle in on whether his presidency has failed.”

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A year after declaring themselves “Young Guns” ready to clean up Washington, these budget-slashing Republicans are drawing more jeers than cheers — and raising Democrats’ hopes for next year’s election.

Having rejected compromise and threatened government default, they and other Republicans have upset voters, who polls show are increasingly anxious about the economy and disgruntled with both political parties. Last month, Congress’ approval rating slumped to its lowest level ever — about 12 percent.

“Right now, voters hate everyone,” said Steve Stivers, one of 62 first-term “Young Gun” Republicans in the House of Representatives. “People are frustrated. But I feel we are on the right track.”

To be sure, Stivers and his colleagues have come a long way since three Republican Party leaders recruited them to run for office and released a book last September titled “Young Guns: A New Generation of Conservative Leaders.”

Tapping into anti-Washington ire fanned by the Tea Party movement, they preached fiscal discipline and “common sense for the common good” in last year’s election to help Republicans win the House from President Barack Obama’s Democrats.

But since taking power in January, the “Young Guns” — led by House Republican Leader Eric Cantor, House Republican Whip Kevin McCarthy and House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan — have produced historic yet troubling results.

Determined to tame record U.S. debt, they kept their vow to slash government spending, reversing years of increases by both Republican and Democratic-led Congresses and presidents.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A year after declaring themselves “Young Guns” ready to clean up Washington, these budget-slashing Republicans are drawing more jeers than cheers — and raising Democrats’ hopes for next year’s election.

Having rejected compromise and threatened government default, they and other Republicans have upset voters, who polls show are increasingly anxious about the economy and disgruntled with both political parties. Last month, Congress’ approval rating slumped to its lowest level ever — about 12 percent.

“Right now, voters hate everyone,” said Steve Stivers, one of 62 first-term “Young Gun” Republicans in the House of Representatives. “People are frustrated. But I feel we are on the right track.”

To be sure, Stivers and his colleagues have come a long way since three Republican Party leaders recruited them to run for office and released a book last September titled “Young Guns: A New Generation of Conservative Leaders.”

Tapping into anti-Washington ire fanned by the Tea Party movement, they preached fiscal discipline and “common sense for the common good” in last year’s election to help Republicans win the House from President Barack Obama’s Democrats.

But since taking power in January, the “Young Guns” — led by House Republican Leader Eric Cantor, House Republican Whip Kevin McCarthy and House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan — have produced historic yet troubling results.

Determined to tame record U.S. debt, they kept their vow to slash government spending, reversing years of increases by both Republican and Democratic-led Congresses and presidents.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama on Wednesday agreed to unveil new jobs proposals in an address to Congress on September 8, bowing to pressure from Republicans, who objected to the original date set for his high-profile speech.

Obama’s long-awaited proposals could set the agenda in Washington for the coming months, but his preferred date of September 7 had an unpalatable political edge for the opposition party: Republican presidential candidates were scheduled to hold a televised debate on the same evening, at the same time.

Thus began a new round of conflict between the Democratic president and Republicans in Congress.

The White House said the timing of the Republican debate and Obama’s proposed speech — announced in a letter to congressional leaders — was a coincidence.

But Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner asked Obama to come on Thursday instead of Wednesday, and the White House agreed.

“Both houses (of Congress) will be back in session after their August recess on Wednesday, September 7th, so that was the date that was requested,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement. “We consulted with the Speaker about that date before the letter was released, but he determined Thursday would work better.

The new date could have its own complications.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republicans in the House of Representatives want to create jobs by killing regulations on companies and passing tax breaks for small business and government contractors, Majority Leader Eric Cantor said on Monday.

The initiative aims to reduce the stubbornly high 9.1 percent unemployment rate — the top concern of voters ahead of next year’s congressional and presidential elections.

Democrats have been increasingly criticizing Republicans for focusing on shrinking government spending, even at the expense of jobs, since taking control of the House eight months ago.

The House seems certain to muster the votes to strike down the 10 environmental and labor regulations targeted by Republicans, but the effort will likely be blunted in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

One of the Republican tax proposals would give small businesses a deduction equal to 20 percent of their incomes. Cantor said this would free up funds for those businesses to hire new workers and to invest in their firms.

Cantor did not provide details on lost revenues if his proposal, which was unveiled about a year ago, became law.

A “super committee”, which is due to convene by September 16, is expected to look broadly at U.S. tax policy and whether more revenues can be found to help shrink federal budget deficits.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – They bonded over golf, bickered over debt, and now President Barack Obama and House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner face even more tests of an uneasy relationship critical to a functioning government.

America’s two most powerful politicians drew fire from their backers in reaching an 11th-hour compromise on Sunday that barely averted a U.S. government debt default.

Along the way, Obama and Boehner developed a better understanding of each other, but they are no closer to seeing eye to eye on a host of issues, aides for both men say.

Obama and Boehner will find it hard to reach a future compromise because of a sharply polarized political divide in which neither side is willing to give in, especially ahead of the 2012 elections.

Round two comes this fall when Democrats and Republicans begin to negotiate what should be included in a $1.2 trillion deficit reduction package.

Obama, a Democrat under pressure from liberals to protect social programs, wants increased taxes to be part of the picture to ease the pain of spending cuts.

Boehner, the top Republican, wants only spending cuts and no new taxes, adhering to the hardline position of conservatives in his party, whose support he needs to remain as speaker.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Congressional leaders struck a deal on Thursday to resolve a partisan dispute and end a partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration that has halted airport projects and threatened thousands of jobs.

The standoff, which began on July 22, centered on partisan differences over full funding of the agency through the middle of next month.

In addition to idled construction projects, the gridlock allowed airlines to stop collecting more than $30 million per day in ticket taxes, leaving a hole in government revenue for aviation priorities but giving carriers a big windfall.

“I am pleased to announce that we have been able to broker a bipartisan compromise between the House and the Senate,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said in a statement.

Reid said the deal did not resolve underlying differences that held up the latest in a series of stop-gap FAA funding extensions and that they could re-emerge later.

This extension and others approved since 2007 authorize the FAA to tap available funds from a federal trust account that is funded by ticket taxes to help cover some of the agency’s costs. The temporary extensions aim to bridge the gap to a long-delayed bill still being negotiated on long-term FAA budgeting and aviation priorities.

The agreement announced by Reid essentially found a route around contentious issues, allowing the Senate to pass the temporary measure, which had previously been cleared by the House of Representatives.