HEADLINES

1. How not to take America "hostage"

   Professional negotiators weigh in on lawmakers' inept attempts to negotiate the national debt ceiling.
   » Read full article

2. Newt Gingrich's uphill battle

   Former House speaker Newt Gingrich has been the Republican Party's ideas generator for decades. Will that overcome his liabilities as he seeks the White House in 2012?
   » Read full article

3. Campaign 2012: The bin Laden factor

   President Obama added a new item to a long list of what he views as major accomplishments.
   » Read full article

4. The Fix: 5 Democratic senators to watch

   Here are five Democrats to keep an eye on in the debt meeting with president Obama.
   » Read full article

5. Fact Checker: Obama's border boast

   The president, and especially his spokesman, bragged about something that was mostly President Bush's doing.
   » Read full article

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BEHIND THE GOVERNMENT SHOWDOWN

Sign up for daily e-mail updates on the federal budget showdown

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QUOTE OF THE DAY

Divorce mediator Donna Duquette weighs in on the rhetoric both parties are using in the debt ceiling debate:

"We want to make sure that you're heard, and so the way you're expressing it is going to help you. If you're name-calling, if you're questioning the other person's motive, they're not going to hear your good ideas."

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COMMENT OF THE DAY

jayramage, on Dan Eggen and T.W. Farnam's "Romney focused on outraising GOP competitors" story:

Remember when elections used to be about who had the best ideas for leading the country and not just who could raise the most money for the campaign? No, neither do I.

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Q&A DISCUSSIONS

Brian Johnson of the American Petroleum Institute and Ryan Alexander of Taxpayers for Common Sense was online at 2 p.m. ET to discuss the Democrats' plan to increase revenue and decrease the deficit by ending tax breaks for oil companies:

Q: Ethanol gets a bad rap for food vs. fuel [...] and for the subsidy which equals about six days of imported oil costs. It takes time for replacement sources of energy to become competitive in the marketplace. Surely the tax breaks for oil companies far exceed tax credit costs for biofuels.

Ryan Alexander:

A bad subsidy is a bad subsidy. We are opposed to the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit, which costs taxpayers $6 billion per year. Oil companies like Shell benefit from this tax credit as blenders of ethanol.

» View full Q&A session

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MULTIMEDIA

Video: Obama calls for immigration reform

President Obama is calling for immigration reform, but Republicans in Congress feel strengthening border security is a higher priority than anything that could be seen as amnesty.