President Obama and Congress may have agreed to a spending plan for the rest of the year, but there are still plenty of fiscal battles ahead, including on the debt ceiling and on the 2012 budget. Mark Murray and Domenico Montanaro talk with special guest NBC Congressional correspondent Kelly O'Donnell.

Video was shot by Ali Weinberg and Jason Seher. Edited by Ali Weinberg.

From msnbc.com's Carrie Dann and NBC's Shawna Thomas
Just hours after sitting in the front row while the president verbally walloped his plan to reduce the debt, Rep. Paul Ryan called President Obama’s speech on deficit reduction “a political broadside” and accused the White House of “poisoning wells” on the budget debate.

"What we heard today was not fiscal leadership from our commander in chief,” Ryan said. “What we heard today is a political broadside from our campaigner in chief.”

Calling the president’s speech “very sad,” the House Budget Committee chief said he had previously viewed Obama’s invitation to attend his remarks at George Washington University as an “olive branch."

“Instead what we got was a speech that was excessively partisan,  dramatically inaccurate, and hopelessly inadequate to addressing our country's fiscal challenges,” he said.

Obama did not mention Ryan by name in his address, but he issued a fierce condemnation of one of his plan’s most controversial proposals: phasing out Medicare in favor of a privatized voucher system. “"Put simply," Obama said of Ryan’s plan, “it ends Medicare as we know it.”

On Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid reforms floated by House Republicans, Obama made the case that “we would not be a great country without those commitments” to those in need of safety net programs.

Ryan countered Wednesday that Obama’s remarks contained no new solutions to address the debt issue and that the president’s remarks merely exploited fear rather than proposing a serious solution.  

“We don’t need partisanship,” Ryan said. “We don’t need demagoguery.”

From NBC's Jim Miklaszewski
In what appears to be a shot across the bow, the Pentagon warned today that future cuts in defense spending could threaten national security and "should be shaped by strategy and policy, not budget math."

A statement from Pentagon spokesman Georff Morrell warned that further cuts in defense spending "can not be accomplished without reducing force structure or military capabilities."

Morrell went on to say that negotiations on future Pentagon budgets must be about "managing risks associated with future threats and national security" and consideration of what "future missions the national is willing to forego."

He said the review process for an additional $400 billion cut in defense spending could not be completed in time for the 2012 budget and suggested the additional cuts would not take effect until 2013.

From NBC's Athena Jones
President Barack Obama called on both parties Wednesday to work together "to restore the fiscal responsibility that served us so well in the 1990s," as he laid out his own vision for how to tackle the nation's long-term fiscal challenges.

During a roughly 50-minute speech at George Washington University, Obama offered what he termed a "balanced approach" to getting the deficit under control by keeping domestic spending low, cutting defense spending, reducing excess health care spending, and reforming the tax code. The president's plan would reduce the deficit by $4 trillion over "12 years or less."

"Any serious plan to tackle our deficit will require us to put everything on the table, and take on excess spending wherever it exists in the budget," Obama said. "A serious plan doesn't require us to balance our budget overnight - in fact, economists think that with the economy just starting to grow again, we need a phased-in approach - but it does require tough decisions and support from our leaders in both parties now."

Total outstanding US debt stands at about $14.2 trillion, according to the Treasury Department, while the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimates the deficit for FY2011 alone will reach some $1.5 trillion.

While the president has frequently sprinkled his speeches with references to the need to reduce America's growing deficit -- often mentioning that it's one he inherited when he took office -- he has rarely devoted this much time at one event to laying out the steps he is willing to take.

The fight over how to bring the deficit under control is likely to play out during the battles over the FY2012 budget and raising the nation's debt limit. Administration officials are hoping today's speech will help show deficit-minded voters the president is serious about putting the nation on a firmer fiscal footing, while continuing to invest in areas like education, infrastructure and research and development that will help accelerate economic growth, create jobs and help the country compete on the global stage.

"We have to live within our means, we have to reduce our deficit, and we have to get back on a path that will allow us to pay down our debt," the president said. "And we have to do it in a way that protects the recovery, and protects the investments we need to grow, create jobs, and win the future."

* Proposals and reaction
Obama's proposal builds off of the deficit reduction measures included in his 2012 budget and borrows from the recommendations of the fiscal commission he created. The plan would cut non-security discretionary spending by $770 billion by 2023, reduce defense spending by $400 billion, reduce health care spending by $480 billion over that period and an additional $1 trillion over the subsequent decade, lower Medicaid spending by at least $100 billion and Medicare spending by at least $200 billion over 10 years. Obama also wants to see $360 billion in spending reductions for mandatory programs like agricultural subsidies, federal pension insurance and anti-fraud measures by 2023.

He has proposed a "debt failsafe" that he said would hold him -- and Washington -- accountable for failing to reach the goals he is setting. The plan would include a trigger that would require across-the-board spending reductions if, by 2014, the national debt is not projected to fall as a share of the economy.

The president said little on Social Security, which he does not believe is in crisis, arguing only that there should be a bipartisan effort to strengthen the costly entitlement program.

The speech was short on specifics on how to achieve the proposed cuts -- in fact one senior administration official conceded on a conference call before the speech that the White House was "putting forward a framework and we're not trying to lock down every detail."

Still, the president made a point of drawing a distinction between his approach and the one proposed by Congressman Paul Ryan, the Wisconsin Republican whose plan for cutting $4.4 trillion from the deficit the White House believes favors the wealthy at the expense of seniors, the disabled and the poor.

Obama said Ryan's plan had been championed by House Republicans and "embraced by several of their party's presidential candidates" -- a notable reference to the upcoming 2012 campaign -- and said the congressman deserved credit for putting one forward. But he argued the plan's cuts to clean energy, education and transportation and the changes it would make to Medicare and Medicaid would result in a "fundamentally different" nation than the one Americans have known throughout most of the country's history. 

"This vision is less about reducing the deficit than it is about changing the basic social compact in America," the president said of the Republican budget. "I don't think there's anything courageous about asking for sacrifice from those who can least afford it."

The president has also proposed allowing the Bush-era tax rates for the wealthy -- couples making more than $250,000 and individuals making $200,000 -- to expire -- a move Republicans have already said they oppose. The president tried to end those tax breaks last year to fulfill a promise he made during the presidential campaign, but was stymied. In today's speech, he said he would "refuse" to renew those cuts again.

Obama and Vice President Biden briefed a bipartisan group of lawmakers on the plan this morning, including House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Representatives Eric Cantor (R-VA) and Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and  Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Jon Kyl (R-AZ). The president has asked Boehner, Reid, Pelosi and McConnell  to each designate four members of their caucuses to participate in negotiations on a legislative framework for deficit reduction. The discussions would be led by Biden and would begin early next month.

As part of their pre-buttal to Obama's speech, the Republican National Committee released a video of the president underperforming at various sports from basketball to bowling to golf, while calling for him to engage in an "adult conversation."

Other responses to Obama's proposals were more serious, with Boehner releasing a statement after the speech in support of Ryan's proposals and sounding a familiar GOP refrain against tax increases.

“To reduce the economic uncertainty hanging over American job creators we must demonstrate that we’re willing to take action.” Boehner’s release said in part.” And any plan that starts with job-destroying tax hikes is a non-starter. We need to grow our economy – not our government – by creating a better environment for private sector job growth. That’s why Republicans are fighting for meaningful spending cuts and fighting against any tax increases on American small businesses.”

From NBC's Mark Murray and Domenico Montanaro
President Obama's address today was part a recent history of America's growing deficits, part a defense of entitlement programs like Medicare and Medicaid, and part an explanation of his vision how to reduce trillions of dollars over the next several years.

But more than anything else, the address at George Washington University was the president's first 2012 campaign speech a week after he formally filed for re-election. And it was an effort to define the Republican Party -- arguments we’re sure to hear over the next year and a half.

Obama took aim at the GOP budget proposal by House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI), which would phase out Medicare. The House of Representatives will vote on the measure later this week.

"It’s a vision that says America can’t afford to keep the promise we’ve made to care for our seniors," Obama said. "It says that 10 years from now, if you’re a 65-year-old who’s eligible for Medicare, you should have to pay nearly $6,400 more than you would today. It says instead of guaranteed health care, you will get a voucher. And if that voucher isn’t worth enough to buy insurance, tough luck -- you’re on your own."

"Put simply," he added, it ends Medicare as we know it."

He contrasted that Medicare proposal with the GOP support of permanent tax cuts, even for those making $250,000 or more a year. "This is a vision that says even though America can’t afford to invest in education or clean energy; even though we can’t afford to care for seniors and poor children, we can somehow afford more than $1 trillion in new tax breaks for the wealthy."

The president also defended safety-net programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. "We are a better country because of these commitments,” he said. “I’ll go further -- we would not be a great country without those commitments."

But Obama warned that if these entitlement programs aren't reformed, it will be more difficult to for future generations to afford these programs. "To those in my own party, I say that if we truly believe in a progressive vision of our society, we have the obligation to prove that we can afford our commitments." 

As far as the president's own proposal to reduce the deficit, he called for a "balanced" approach -- finding additional savings in domestic programs, eliminating "wasteful" defense spending, using the health-care law to slow the growth of Medicare, refusing to renew the tax cuts for those making more than $250,000 per year, and reforming the tax code.

"This is my approach to reduce the deficit by $4 trillion over the next 12 years," Obama said. "It’s an approach that achieves about $2 trillion in spending cuts across the budget... And it achieves these goals while protecting the middle class, our commitment to seniors, and our investments in the future."

Yet how the math adds up to achieve those reductions remains an open question. The White House hasn’t posted a plan, and the president called for creating another group, led by Vice President Biden and congressional leaders, to come up with legislation.

Acknowledging that many Americans and politicians might not agree with his approach, the president called to bring Democrats and Republicans together -- once again trying to rise above the fray (despite his tough critique of the GOP's budget plan). "This morning, I met with Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress to discuss the approach I laid out today,” he said. “And in early May, the vice president will begin regular meetings with leaders in both parties with the aim of reaching a final agreement on a plan to reduce the deficit by the end of June."

He ended his speech by calling for common ground -- even after his harsh words for the Ryan plan. "Though I’m sure the criticism of what I’ve said here today will be fierce in some quarters, and my critique of the House Republican approach has been strong,” the president said. “Americans deserve and will demand that we all bridge our differences, and find common ground."      

As if on cue, Republicans quickly criticized Obama’s speech. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who formed his presidential exploratory committee earlier this week, said in a statement: "Instead of supporting spending cuts that lead to real deficit reduction and true reform of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, the president dug deep into his liberal playbook for ‘solutions’ highlighted by higher taxes."

Romney added, "With over 20 million people who are unemployed or who have stopped looking for work, the last thing we should be doing is raising taxes on job-creators, entrepreneurs, and small business owners across America.”

And House Speaker John Boehner said, “To reduce the economic uncertainty hanging over American job creators we must demonstrate that we’re willing to take action. And any plan that starts with job-destroying tax hikes is a non-starter. We need to grow our economy -- not our government -- by creating a better environment for private sector job growth.

Domenico Montanaro writes:Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus charged today that President Obama is long on speeches and short on follow through.

“We'll probably be talking in another in six months before another 'great speech' from the president who is in love with the sound of his own voice,” Priebus said this afternoon on MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports.

Congress is expected to vote tomorrow on a continuing resolution that would keep the government funded through September. But when that expires, observers are expecting another fight over the 2012 budget.

“He's in love with giving speeches,” Priebus continued, “but he's not really in love with following through with his promises and his rhetoric.”

Priebus noted that Obama had a chance to rein in entitlement spending, when he rolled out his 2012 budget, but didn’t do so. “His time of embracing reducing debt came in his budget, which he didn't do anything about,” he said.

The RNC chief rejected the idea of any potential tax increases – even for the wealthy, equating that to “tax hikes for people with small businesses.” That was an argument Republicans made during the 2010 debate over the expiring Bush tax cuts.

He then repeated a GOP talking point that is being hammered all over the airwaves: “We don’t have a revenue problem in this country,” Priebus said. “We have enough money coming in. The problem in this country, and the president has said himself over and over, is that we are addicted to spending in Washington and that's where the focus needs to be.”

Priebus isn’t the first to make the political charge Obama is long on speeches, but short on substance. Hillary Clinton took to using the “Speeches not Solutions” slogan in attacking candidate Obama during the bitter 2007-2008 Democratic primary. John McCain charged that Obama used “empty words.”

The White House and Democratic National Committee would argue that the president won the primary, the general election and got health care passed with a similar approach.

From NBC's Shawna Thomas
Returning from a White House briefing in advance of the president’s remarks on the deficit this afternoon, Republican House and Senate leaders remained unreceptive to President Barack Obama’s strategy for taking on the nation’s growing debt.

"The President gave us a general outline,” said House Speaker John Boehner. “But the one area that we know we're not going to get very far on is the idea that we're going to raise taxes on the very people we expect to invest in our economies and to help create jobs.”

The leaders called the discussion "frank" and "constructive," but their sharp critiques indicated some loose interpretations of those more complimentary adjectives.

While conceding that "not meeting our debt obligations is a very bad idea," Boehner agreed with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell that both chambers would oppose raising the federal debt limit without attaching robust legislation to reduce the deficit.

The leaders’ linkage of the two issues almost assures that the Democrat's desire to have a "clean” vote on the debt ceiling may be a pipe dream.  

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has said that he expects the country to reach its debt limit by May 16th, but that default could be held off until July 8th. 

Asked if the president seemed open to tying other obligations to the debt ceiling vote, the speaker responded with one word, "Yes." 

"We've got to take meaningful steps towards solving our long term debt problem if in fact we're going to find the votes to increase the debt ceiling,” he added.  

From NBC’s Doug Adams
Calling Social Security "broken," three Republican senators unveiled a plan Wednesday to overhaul the 75-year old entitlement program by raising the retirement age and reducing benefits for some wealthier Americans.

Two freshmen -- Tea Party Republicans Mike Lee of Utah and Rand Paul of Kentucky -- joined Sen. Lindsay Graham of South Carolina, who has been working on this issue for more than five years.

A key part of their proposal would be to gradually raise the mandatory retirement age to 70 years old by 2032. 

“If you talk to young people in America - they've already accepted this,” Paul said. “I tell people ‘the knowledge has already been discounted. Young people know the age will have to go up gradually.’”

The senators also proposed "means testing" for Social Security benefits, meaning the reduction of benefits for wealthier Americans.

Under their plan, seniors making over $43,000 a year would have their monthly benefits reduced by $300 to $400 by 2032.

This year is the first year in which Social Security pays out more than it takes in, because people are living longer, and the huge wave of Baby Boomers is starting to hit retirement age. 

Neither Rep. Paul Ryan’s FY2012 budget nor the deficit plans outlined by President Barack Obama to date address specifics for addressing Social Security’s long-term solvency.

Graham noted the political hazards of discussing changes to benefits for America’s retirees, saying that Paul and Lee are the only co-signatories on his proposal.

"These are the only 2 guys I could find,” he said.

Mnsbc.com's Carrie Dann contributed.

Carrie Dann writes:When President Barack Obama takes the stage on Wednesday to discuss his plan for deficit reduction, the author of a rival GOP budget plan is likely to be on most observers' minds as well.

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan's FY2012 budget, which would eliminate $6 trillion in federal spending over the next decade, would fundamentally transform Medicare and make major changes to Medicaid spending.

Democrats have called those changes "dangerous," and, while Ryan has won praise from many in his party for showing leadership on the budget issue, not all GOP leaders have categorically embraced its specifics.

Here's a quick summary of where possible 2012 Republican contenders stand on the Paul Ryan plan:

ROMNEY 
Praising Ryan for his “bold thinking,” the former Massachusetts governor was supportive but vague in a statement issued after the Ryan plan was released.

“I applaud Rep. Paul Ryan for recognizing the looming financial crisis that faces our nation and for the creative and bold thinking that he brings to the debate,” he said. “He is setting the right tone for finally getting spending and entitlements under control. Anyone who has read my book knows that we are on the same page.”

PAWLENTY
Without naming specifics of the Ryan budget, the former Minnesota governor drew a contrast between Ryan’s leadership and the president’s.  

“Thanks to Paul Ryan in Congress, the American people finally have someone offering real leadership in Washington. President Obama has failed to lead and make tough choices his entire time in the White House. While the budget is going to be debated for several months to come, the more immediate issue we face is President Obama’s plans to raise the debt ceiling next month,” he said. “That's a really bad idea.”

“With over $14 trillion debt already, we should not allow Washington’s big spenders to put us further in the hole,” he added. “We must get our fiscal house in order with real spending cuts and with real structural reforms that stop the spending spree before it bankrupts our country.”

DANIELS
Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels lauded the plan, and also preemptively challenged its dissenters.

“The House budget resolution is the first serious proposal produced by either party to deal with the overriding issue of our time,” he said in a statement. “The national debt we are amassing threatens the livelihood and the liberty of every single American, and in particular the life prospects of our young people. Anyone criticizing this plan without offering a specific and equally bold program of his own has failed in the public duty to be honest and clear with Americans about the gravest danger we are facing together.”

BACHMANN
Minnesota conservative Rep. Michele Bachmann told the Associated Press that she supports the notion of a subsidy system for people under age 55, but she wouldn’t say if she backs the Ryan Medicare proposal specifically.

"It's an aspirational document. It's not a piece of legislation," she said.

SANTORUM
The former Pennsylvania senator was one of the most direct of the potential 2012 candidate in embracing the specifics of Ryan’s plan.

“I commend Chairman Ryan’s long-term budget proposal that tackles entitlement programs, particularly his proposed reforms of the Medicaid program,” Santorum said in a written statement. He also said the Republican plan’s “approach to reforming Medicare is right on target to streamline the program, reduce waste and allow future Medicare beneficiaries to have more of a say in the needs of their benefits with a market driven approach.”

GINGRICH
The onetime House speaker pointed to the “general shape” of the Ryan-proposed reforms. "Paul Ryan is going to define modern conservatism at a serious level. You can quibble over details but the general shape of what he's doing will define 2012 for Republicans," he said on a radio show.

In an interview with the New York Times, however, Gingrich warned that proposing to overhaul entitlement programs could be very tricky politics.

“I think it is a dangerous political exercise,” Mr. Gingrich said. “This is not something that Republicans can afford to handle lightly.”

HUCKABEE
Taking a realist’s approach to the plan’s political steam, the former Arkansas governor pointed out that “it’s doubtful” the Ryan budget will be passed in its current form. He called the plan “a start.”

His statement: "I have been reviewing the document since its release – and so far, several of Congressman Ryan's ideas, are ideas that I have been advocating for many months. I am especially pleased that the proposal provides for streamlining many government agencies and repealing Obamacare."

"It’s doubtful the House’s proposal will be passed in its current form, and it’s unlikely that this one proposal will be the ultimate solution to all of our economic problems.  But Congressman Ryan's proposal is certainly a start – one that I support as a small step to restoring fiscal sanity and reducing the size of government."

PALIN
Also calling the plan a “start” was former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who tweeted: “There is hope! Serious and necessary leadership rolls out serious and necessary reform proposal. Good start."

BARBOUR
In a tweet, the Mississippi governor said that “Rep. Ryan's budget recognizes the problem with government: too much spending without fiscal responsibility.”  He also signed on to a letter with other Republican governors saying that the plan “halts the out of control spending spree of recent years, and imposes a back to basics, fiscal discipline that voters clearly asked for in last November's mid-term elections.”

TRUMP
Emphasizing that he “cherish[es] our seniors,” The Donald said in an interview that Republicans are on a risky “ledge” by backing a plan that could be perceived as hurting older Americans. “I’d have to study the plan,” Trump said in an interview on CNN. “I will tell you, I think it's very dangerous for the Republicans to go on this ledge, because I, for one, would have to be very, very careful.”

“I have a lot of respect for Paul Ryan, but what is happening is the Republicans are going way, way, way far out on the ledge,” he said.

Obama steps into the deficit/debt/entitlement fray with his speech at 1:35 pm ET… Why is he doing it? The smart money: to use Ryan’s budget plan as a foil, as well as to placate arm-chair pundits and indies… An important reality check: The talk about cutting spending and reducing the deficit is primarily coming from the right… The lack of political will in reforming entitlements… How did we get from a budget surplus to deficits as far as the eye can see?... Obama to preview speech to congressional leaders at 10:40 am… Boehner’s still trying to sell the spending-cut deal… On T-Paw’s “I’m running for president”… On Romney’s “Why didn’t they call me?”… And Santorum to announce “next steps” tonight on FOX.

From NBC's Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Ali Weinberg
*** Stepping into the fray: Outside of campaigns for high office, nothing in American politics brings more passion, argument, and risk than tackling entitlements and taxes. "Hands off my Social Security!" one side will say. "Don't even think about raising my taxes!" the other will reply. And if you talk about cutting military spending, watch out. Stepping into this fray, in fact, is the equivalent of walking into a biker bar and punching someone in the face, no matter how much that person deserved it. It's nothing but trouble. Yet just two months after President Obama -- who's up for re-election next year -- declined to address entitlements in his FY 2012 budget, he's stepping into this fray with a speech at George Washington University at 1:35 pm ET.

*** Using Ryan’s plan as a foil and placating arm-chair pundits and indies: If it's nothing but trouble, then why is he doing it? Is it to blast Paul Ryan and Republicans who want to phase out Medicare (as many Democrats seem to want)? Is it to appeal to independents as a sensible reformer, even if nothing gets done (which his campaign strategists would like)? Or is it to truly lay out an actual plan that could pass and become law (which Erskine Bowles, Alan Simpson, and Andrew Sullivan are crossing their fingers for)? From our reporting and hunches, it’s more of the first two. Expect the president to use Ryan’s budget as a foil. Heading into next year’s election, if the two plans are Ryan’s and Obama’s, that’s a fight the White House thinks it can win. (Democratic operatives are probably licking their chops at the opportunity to go after the “Ryan-Romney plan” or “Ryan-Pawlenty plan” in states like Florida, Ohio and Iowa.) Moreover, Obama seems to be delivering this speech to placate arm-chair pundits and independents, who want to at least hear the president’s plans for tackling the debt.

*** An important reality check: Of course, if Obama doesn’t offer a specific plan today, the White House is opening itself up to criticism from the chattering class. But it’s criticism it would probably take. Why? Talk about cutting the deficit and government spending is coming exclusively from the right. In our February NBC/WSJ poll, Democrats and independents overwhelmingly said job creation and economic growth should be the government’s top priority, versus Republicans and Tea Party supporters who said it should be the deficit and government spending. In addition, when Americans say they want to reduce the deficit, they also don’t want to see their benefits go away. In that February survey, 67% said it was unacceptable to cut Medicaid to balance the budget, 76% said it was unacceptable to cut Medicare, and 77% said it was unacceptable to cut Social Security. And in our most recent NBC/WSJ survey last week, while 61% said they favor a balanced-budget amendment, 69% said they would OPPOSE one if it requires a significant cut to Medicaid, Medicare, and veterans benefits.

*** A lack of public support and political will: When it comes to deficit/debt/entitlement reform, there have always been plenty of plans. Bowles-Simpson. Ryan. Schakowsky. The so-called Gang of Six. What always seems to be lacking, though, is political will. Yesterday, House Speaker John Boehner released a saying that any kind of tax increase is a “non-starter,” despite the fact that Americans are paying a lower level in taxes than at any point since 1950. “We don’t have deficits because Americans are taxed too little, we have deficits because Washington spends too much,” Boehner said. On the other hand, liberals reject any cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security, even though entitlements like Medicare are long-term drivers of U.S. deficits. "President Obama: If you cut Medicare and Medicaid benefits … don't ask for a penny of my money or an hour of my time in 2012,” the Progressive Change Campaign Committee said in a pledge it’s circulating to its members. So when you add it all up -- the lack of political will, a lack of public demand -- you see why this is usually more talk than action.

*** How did we get here? So how did we get from a budget surplus at the beginning of George W. Bush’s presidency to deficits and debt as far as the eye can see? Here’s a quick timeline: the Bush tax cuts (2001), 9/11 and the Afghanistan war (2001), the Iraq war (2003), more tax cuts, the unpaid-for Medicare prescription-drug benefit (2003), the financial collapse and economic downturn (2008), the Obama stimulus (2009), and the two-year extension of the Bush tax cuts (2010). Then you add the aging Baby Boomers to the whole mix. Back in 2009, the New York Times calculated that 37% of the deficits were due the economic downturn, 33% were due to Bush’s policies, 20% were due to Obama’s extensions of Bush’s policies, and another 10% were due to Obama’s policies like the stimulus.

*** Obama to preview speech to congressional leaders: Before he delivers his speech today, President Obama will preview it at 10:40 am ET before a bipartisan group of congressional leaders. Expected to attend: Speaker John Boehner, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and Sens. Dick Durbin and Jon Kyl.

*** Boehner still trying to sell the deal: Turning from entitlements to last week’s spending-cut deal, it certainly looks like Boehner is trying to sell Republicans and conservatives on the deal in advance of Thursday’s vote. A press release Boehner’s folks issued yesterday was entitled: “President Who Began 2011 Saying “No Cuts” Now Poised to Sign Largest Spending Cut Since WWII.” As it turns out, conservatives aren’t happy with the deal, given that many of the spending cuts don’t directly come from this year’s discretionary spending. The AP: “The historic $38 billion in budget cuts resulting from at-times hostile bargaining between Congress and the Obama White House were accomplished in large part by pruning money left over from previous years, using accounting sleight of hand and going after programs President Barack Obama had targeted anyway.” In retrospect, it appears the White House got as good of a deal as it could get.  

*** “I’m running for president”: You just knew this was coming. Lots of people got excited last night after Tim Pawlenty told CNN that “I’m running for president” (even though we already know T-Paw is running and even though he later added that “we'll have a final or full announcement in the coming weeks”). Here’s an important point to remember: There really isn’t such a thing as an exploratory committee. You are either testing the waters (as Newt Gingrich is doing now) or you’ve filed paperwork with the FEC to begin raising money for a full-fledged presidential campaign (as Obama, Pawlenty and Romney have done). Yet there’s a reason why candidates say they’re setting up an exploratory committee, tell an interviewer they’re “running” but add they will have an announcement later, and then formally announce (“Today, I am officially announcing my bid for president”) in Iowa or their hometown. They want several bites at the apple. Legally, Pawlenty, Romney and Obama (as well as Herman Cain and Buddy Roemer) are all ACTIVE presidential candidates.

*** “Why didn’t you call me?” Romney, meanwhile, appeared on CNBC's "The Kudlow Report" yesterday, and gave this response on the 5th anniversary of Massachusetts' health-care reform becoming law: I'm very happy that the Democrats are celebrating the fact that we put in a health-care proposal in Massachusetts as an experiment," he said, per NBC's Lauren Selsky. "And I have one question for them -- why didn't anyone of them or the president ever call me and say what worked what didn't?" It’s the second time he’s used this line. But here’s a weakness in that defense: What if Romney’s health-care advisers also advised the White House? Paging MIT’s Jonathan Gruber…

*** More 2012: Rick Santorum will appear on FOX at 10:00 pm ET tonight, and a spokeswoman tells First Read that he will “announce the next steps he is taking in weighing a run for president in 2012”… Newt Gingrich hits a fundraiser in Atlanta… And Haley Barbour and Buddy Roemer are in New Hampshire.

Countdown to NY-26 special election: 41 days
Countdown to Iowa GOP straw poll: 121 days
Countdown to Election Day 2011: 209 days
Countdown to the Iowa caucuses: 299 days
* Note: When the IA caucuses take place depends on whether other states move up

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AP

President Obama poses for photographers at the White House after he spoke regarding the budget and averted government shutdown last Friday. The president will speak today at The George Washington University about the nation's spending habits.

“President Obama, jumping into a debt-reduction debate that will help define the rest of his term, will outline his ideas today for curbing the costs of Medicare and Medicaid and taking other steps to turn around the nation’s spending habits,” the AP’s Feller writes. “Ahead of his effort, House Republicans warned they would not consider any plan that includes tax increases.”

The Washington Post’s preview: “Lawmakers in both parties are urging President Obama to offer a detailed plan for curbing the national debt in the speech he is to deliver Wednesday, warning that they will not authorize fresh borrowing unless he agrees to mandatory restraints on future spending.”

The New York Times’ Leonhardt proposes this suggestion for tackling the nation’s deficit/debt: Let the Bush tax cuts expire for all Americans.

The Hill writes of the left’s “anxiety” over President Obama’s “shift to the political center.” The Washington Post also notes that liberals are disappointed with the president after cutting last week’s deal with Republicans.

But the latest NBC/WSJ polling doesn’t bare out that it’s any wider than that. Obama’s approval ratings among Democrats and liberals have been solid and steady. It’s actually up since December with those groups. The April NBC/WSJ poll showed Democrats approve of the president’s job 83%-13%; in February, it was 82%-13%; in January, it was 86%-9%; and in December, it was 76%-17%. Among liberals, it was 79%-17% in April; in February, it was 81%-15%; in January, it was 82%-12%; and in December, it was 71%-21%.

President Obama’s half-sister was on CNN telling birthers to essentially get over it, that he was born in Hawaii.

And NBC’s Michael Isikoff interviewed the former director of Hawaii’s Department of Health, who said of people asking questions about Obama’s birth: "It’s kind of ludicrous at this point." Of the birthers, Dr. Chiyome Fukino said, “They’re going to question the ink on which it was written or say it was fabricated. The whole thing is silly." And, Fukino who has seen the “long form” birth certificate, added, "It is real, and no amount of saying it is not, is going to change that… What he got, everybody got. He put out exactly what everybody gets when they ask for a birth certificate."

“Despite scattered opposition from both ends of the political spectrum, House Republicans and the White House both predicted approval yesterday for the hard-bargained $38 billion package of spending cuts that narrowly avoided a government shutdown,” AP writes.

“Mark Meckler, co-founder of Tea Party Patriots, says dissatisfaction with the budget deal has local activists already seeking out primary challengers to sitting House GOP members who are supporting the deal,” The Hill writes. "I'm literally getting emails by the hour from people talking about primary challenges," Meckler said.

Roll Call writes: “The prospects for a grand bipartisan debt deal may depend in large part on the personal marketing skills of Sen. Saxby Chambliss.” (By the way, Tea Party Patriots is not exactly a fan of Chambliss because of his TARP vote.)

The Boston Globe’s Johnson writes of John Kerry and John McCain soothing their rift that developed during the 2008 campaign.