NPR People: Scott Horsley

Republicans have threatened to make the controversial health care overhaul a central issue in every congressional race next fall. So from President Obama on down, Democrats have begun telling voters not just what the overhaul will do for them but what it will do for them right away.

President Obama met Thursday with senators who are trying to craft a bipartisan immigration bill. The meeting comes less than two weeks before immigrant rights activists are planning a march on Washington to draw attention to their cause, but so far the White House has been reluctant to put the issue on the front burner.

In the next few weeks, lawmakers will be under intense pressure from both sides in the health care debate — and voters will be witness to the crossfire. The president is hitting the road to reassure nervous House members and shore up support for his plan. Republicans are taking their opposition to the bill directly to the voters, too.

President Barack Obama on Wednesday laid out a final road map for Congress to pass an overhaul of the nation's health care system. He offered to include a few more Republican ideas into the plan, but the GOP said the new items were just tokens that didn't change the bill. Democrats say the Obama plan is centrist, but still partisan.

President Obama called on Congress to pass rebates for people who make their homes energy efficient. Addressing an audience in Savannah, Ga., Obama said the program would save Americans money, create jobs and reduce dependence on foreign oil.

The White House says President Obama will make an announcement next week about how he wants to proceed with health care legislation. The move comes after a day-long meeting on Thursday with both Republican and Democratic Congressional leaders where Obama raised the profile and raised the stakes on the gap between Democrats and Republicans over health care. That doesn't get the bill done, but it may move the debate a decisive step closer to endgame.

Presidential confidante Desiree Rogers said Friday she would step down as White House social secretary. The Chicago native is a friend of the first family and came to town with unusual style for a social secretary. She came under criticism early this year when an uninvited couple gained entry to the Obamas' first state dinner.

As President Obama sits down with Congressional leaders to talk about health care, one big dividing line between Democrats and Republicans is how ambitious they are about changing the existing system. The GOP mantra has been that the U.S. should proceed "step by step." The Obama administration argues that the most important steps only work in combination.

For the first time, President Obama has issued his own version of a comprehensive health care bill. Most of its provisions are drawn from the Senate's health care bill. There is, however, a new wrinkle: a federal panel to regulate insurance premiums. The panel could reject any premiums it sees as unreasonable.

Health care concerns were front and center when President Obama joined Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for a campaign-style event Friday outside Las Vegas. Obama confessed he was warned early on that health care was too tough to tackle.

President Obama is out west, as part of two-day campaign swing through the region aimed at helping Democratic Senate candidates in tough races. He spoke at a fundraiser for Sen. Michael Bennet in Denver Thursday. He holds a town hall meeting Friday in Nevada, where Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is in a re-election fight.

President Obama will sign an executive order Thursday establishing a commission to help the government find ways to gain control of the federal deficit. But like everything else in Washington, even this idea is enmeshed in partisan politics. At the same time, worry about the deficit is no longer confined to those who generally prefer smaller government.

On the anniversary of President Obama's $787 billion stimulus, an examination of its impact and public opinion reveals mixed results on both fronts. And three stories show how stimulus funds affected a physician assistant, a youth outreach program and a wind turbine plant.

President Obama sent his official economic report to Congress on Thursday, buoyed slightly by a more favorable trend in the weekly jobless claims report. That number went down again this week after rising last week. The report itself details actions taken so far to deal with fallout from the financial crisis of 2008 and restart the economy on a more sustainable basis.

New numbers out Tuesday show the monthly trade deficit jumped to $40 billion in December. A big jump in imports outstripped a robust expansion in exports. Both the rising demand for foreign goods and the greater sales overseas were considered signs of a return to health in the economy.