AP - President Barack Obama is going after Senate Republicans who have stymied his proposal to create a $30 billion fund to help unfreeze lending for credit-starved small businesses.
AP - A second House Democrat, Rep. Maxine Waters of California, could face an ethics trial this fall, further complicating the election outlook for the party as it battles to retain its majority.
AP - The House has approved a bill to boost safety standards for offshore drilling and remove a liability cap for oil spills, but a partisan fight in the Senate will likely delay action on a response to the Gulf oil spill until Congress returns from its summer recess.
AP - The Obama administration on Friday implored the website WikiLeaks to stop posting secret Afghanistan war documents, as the Pentagon pressed its investigation of the massive security breach by bringing a soldier under scrutiny back to the U.S. for trial.
AP - A year after the government's big auto-industry bailouts, President Barack Obama on Friday trumpeted increased car sales and progress on battery-powered vehicles as a beacon of success in his administration's battle to revive a hurting U.S. economy. But his upbeat assessment can't mask daunting challenges for U.S. automakers and painfully high unemployment.
AP - The Obama administration, unable to push an immigration overhaul through Congress, is considering ways it could go around lawmakers to let undocumented immigrants stay in the United States, according to an agency memo.
Obama: Republicans holding small businesses "hostage" (Reuters)
Reuters - President Barack Obama on Saturday accused Republicans of holding American small businesses "hostage to politics" after Republican senators refused to back a $30 billion small-business lending package.
AP - The big issue in Kansas' U.S. Senate race is which of two veteran Republican congressmen will fight hardest — and loudest — against President Barack Obama's agenda.
Key Florida campaign-finance provision blocked by federal court (The Christian Science Monitor)
The Christian Science Monitor - A federal appeals court in Atlanta has blocked Florida election officials from providing potentially millions of dollars from the state’s campaign finance system to Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill McCollum in his race against multimillionaire challenger Rick Scott.
House approves oil spill reform bill (Reuters)
Reuters - The House of Representatives on Friday approved the toughest reforms ever to offshore energy drilling practices, as Democrats narrowly pushed through an election-year response to BP's massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Obama calls Rangel charges `very troubling' (AP)
AP - President Barack Obama calls the ethics charges against longtime Rep. Charlie Rangel "very troubling" and says he hopes Rangel can end his career with dignity.
FAA downgrades Mexico's air safety rating (AP)
AP - Mexico's aviation safety rating was downgraded Friday due to concerns about the country's safety oversight, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
Reuters - President Barack Obama on Friday called on Iran to immediately release three Americans who were detained a year ago after straying across the border while hiking in the mountains of northern Iraq.
Judge lets paper publish info on juicemaker probe (AP)
AP - A judge has lifted an order that prevented a legal newspaper from publishing information found in court records that were supposed to have been shielded from public view.
Obama slips behind wheel of a Volt in Motor City (McClatchy Newspapers)
McClatchy Newspapers - DETROIT — Out to convince voters that the bailout of the U.S. auto industry has been a success — and to build buzz for its controversial poster child, Chevy's Volt electric car — President Barack Obama on Friday drove a car publicly for the first time in more than three years and implored consumers, "Don't bet against the American people."
AFP - President Barack Obama took to the wheel of a new electric car Friday on a Detroit-area tour of the revitalized auto industry, touting his economic policies but urging the need to do more.
