Washington (CNN) — Congressional Democrats and Republicans escalated their rhetorical war Thursday over a pending federal rule requiring religiously affiliated employers to provide full contraception coverage to women — one day after hints emerged of a possible compromise between the White House and conservative religious critics.

Numerous rank-and-file Democrats urged the White House not to back away from its support for the rule, while Republicans demanded a full retreat.

“It is time for the extreme right wing to stop playing football with women’s health,” said Rep. Nita Lowey, D-New York. “My colleagues and I stand in solidarity with American women who have waited decades for equity in contraceptive coverage. We have fought for too long.”

(CNN) — President Barack Obama unveiled a new college affordability plan Friday, proposing to further expand student financial aid while providing more assistance to schools that hold tuition down and cutting aid to those that do not.

The plan is part of a populist White House pitch to middle class families that promises to play an integral role in the Democrats’ 2012 campaign.

Appearing before a raucous student crowd in Michigan — a potentially critical swing state this year — Obama outlined plans to boost total federal spending on Perkins loans from $1 billion to $8 billion. He also announced plans to push for the creation of a $1 billion competition encouraging states to contain public tuition rates, among other things.

Washington (CNN) — President Barack Obama unveiled his administration’s plan Thursday for a leaner, cheaper military, a reflection of Washington’s fiscal belt-tightening and slower national economic growth.

The president insisted the new strategy — which eliminates the military’s ability to actively fight two major wars at once — will allow U.S. armed forces to effectively combat terrorism while confronting any new threats from countries like China and Iran.

WASHINGTON — Congressional negotiators reached agreement Thursday on a compromise spending bill to avert a weekend federal shutdown. They also worked toward a deal renewing the payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits for another year but prepared a shorter version as a fallback.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told reporters he was still optimistic that bipartisan talks on yearlong extensions of the Social Security payroll tax cut and unemployment coverage would succeed. But as a “Plan B,” he said, they were working on a two-month extension as well, which would also prevent cuts in Medicare reimbursements for doctors during that period.

“We’re still working on the long-term” bill, Reid told reporters as he exited the Capitol after a day of talks over both the payroll tax and spending measures. As for the two-month version, he said, “We’ll only do that if what we’re working on doesn’t work out.”

Full Story at NBC Politics – Deal made to avoid government shutdown

Deal made to avoid government shutdown

(CNN) — A Tennessee man was arrested Wednesday and charged with making threats against the family of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, according to federal documents.

Glendon Swift allegedly twice called Cantor’s office in Glen Allen, Virginia, on October 27 and left voice mail threatening to rape the congressman’s daughter and to kill his wife, according to a criminal complaint. The court document also charges Swift made anti-Semitic remarks about Cantor and said he would destroy him.

WASHINGTON (CNNMoney) — The FBI and federal prosecutors are investigating how some $600 million of MF Global customers’ money has gone missing, CNN learned Tuesday from sources close to the probe.

The investigation of MF Global (MF) is being conducted by the FBI and other federal regulators, including the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission.

This past weekend, executives at MF Global had been scrambling to sell the firm to Interactive Brokers, but the missing money cost the firm the deal and forced it into bankruptcy, regulators said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Craig Donohue, CEO of CME Group (CME), the operator of the nation’s largest commodity exchanges, told analysts that his firm has determined MF Global had broken government and CME rules requiring it to keep its customers’ funds separate from the firm’s assets.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — The economy is losing steam across much of the nation, but is still growing and not in recession, according to the latest outlook from the Federal Reserve.

Wednesday’s release of the so-called Beige Book, which is a summary of outlooks from the 12 district banks from across the country, certainly didn’t portray a robust economy.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — If Senate Democrats have their way, millionaires and billionaires will pay more in taxes for President Obama’s jobs bill. How much?

Answer: $110,467 a year.

That’s the average additional amount they would owe in federal taxes starting in 2013, according to estimates released Thursday by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center.

How many households would be on the hook? 392,000, or 0.2%.

The proposal – which seems very unlikely to pass into law — would add a 5.6% surtax on modified adjusted gross income over $1 million.

Washington (CNN) — The Republican-controlled House of Representatives approved legislation Tuesday keeping the federal government funded through November 18 — effectively ending another partisan showdown over taxes and spending.

House members passed the bill easily in a 352-66 vote.

The measure, which also ends the latest threat of a government shutdown, has already cleared the Democratic-controlled Senate and is certain to be signed into law by President Barack Obama.

A separate short-term funding measure approved last week is set to expire after Tuesday.

Washington (CNN) — Hundreds of mail-handling facilities have been named in a shutdown list released Thursday by the U.S. Postal Service as the agency tries to cut massive red ink.

The potential closings are the latest chapter in a fundamental overhaul of the agency that may also mean closing thousands of smaller post offices across the country, and cuts in tens of thousands of Postal Service jobs in years to come.