Todd Zwillich

Later today, the House of Representatives will vote on the "cut, cap and balance" plan being pushed by House Republicans as a prerequisite for raising the country's debt ceiling. The plan is expected to pass in the House, where Republicans hold a majority, but will likely die in the Democrat-controlled Senate. President Obama has already said he will veto the bill.

Another weekend has passed with little progress made on reaching a compromise to raise the nation's debt ceiling. This week, Republicans say they'll vote on their new "cap, cut and balance" plan. The plan may get enough support to get past the House, but it's looking less likely in the Senate. Todd Zwillich, Takeaway Washington correspondent, previews what we can expect in the budget battle this week.

Responding to concerns that lawmakers in Washington will fail to reach an agreement on raising the country's debt threshold, credit ratings agency Moody's placed the U.S.'s credit rating under review for the first time since the federal government shutdown in 1995. The U.S. still risks losing the Aaa rating it has had since 1917, even if lawmakers come to a last minute agreement before the August 2 deadline.

As the August 2 deadline to raise the debt ceiling draws closer, there's more talk about the dire economic consequences that will ensue if policy makers in Washington fail to reach an agreement on a budget plan. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell says that a bipartisan agreement is not likely to happen, and has proposed a plan in which the president could increase the federal debt limit without Congressional approval.

Another shot has been fired in the ongoing negotiations between President Obama and Republican Congressional leaders to raise the nation's debt limit before the August 2 deadline. Obama challenged Republicans in a press conference on Monday, saying that it was time for the GOP to back up rhetoric about tackling the country's long-term debt problems. Republicans leaders have said they will seek a smaller deal with more cuts to social program and no tax increases on the wealthy. Lawmakers will return to the White House for more negotiations this afternoon.

President Obama will meet with Congressional leaders today to try and revive a $4 trillion deal to reduce the deficit and avoid a default on the national debt, a day after Speaker John Boehner rejected any agreement on that scale. Boehner says the parties should aim for a $2 to $3 trillion deal, because a larger deal would require tax increases. But President Obama says a larger deal would be easier to implement. Negotiations continued last night at the White House.

The latest news out of the ongoing negotiations to raise the country's debt limit is that President Obama is putting entitlement reform on the table. But Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats say they were caught completely off-guard by the president's latest proposal, and said that the Party is opposed to including Social Security cuts in any kind of deal. The president says the two sides remain divided and far from finding reaching an agreement, but House Speaker John Boehner says there's a 50-50 chance that they'll be able to arrive at a decision this week. Will the president's dramatic proposal be the catalyst that moves the debt deal forward?

Yesterday, President Obama held the first ever White House Twitter Town Hall meeting. The president fielded questions from Twitter users (asked in the site's standard 140 characters or less). But the president's answers were anything but concise. In fact, he responded to participants' questions with the same long-winded, professorial rhetoric he's been criticized for throughout his presidency. Obama's ability to address his base and stimulate audiences was perhaps his greatest strength as a candidate in 2008. This begs the question: Why has President Obama failed to properly get his messages across to the American people since then?

It’s Monday morning and that means it’s time to check out what’s on the AGENDA for the week ahead. We’re joined by Todd Zwillich, Washington Correspondent for The Takeaway. And Callie Crossley, host of the Callie Crossley Show at WGBH Boston.

President Obama spoke to the press on Wednesday in his first press conference in three months. He said that Democrats were willing to make compromises on spending, and pushed Republicans to "take on their sacred cows" and agree to tax increases for higher income earners and corporations. But the real sacred cow might be in his veiled threat to ask Congress to stay in session through their August summer holidays, if need be.

House Majority Leader Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) pulled out of talks with Vice President Joe Biden yesterday on whether to raise the nation's debt ceiling. Cantor was seen as a crucial Republican to have in the room. The move is seen to put talks on the fritz, with just weeks before the August deadline that could make the US default on trillions of dollars in debt.

The House of Representatives is set to vote on a resolution to scale back the US military intervention in Libya. House Republicans contend that President Obama violated the War Powers Act, which limits the president's ability to declare war without the consent of Congress. While the proposal will prevent the US military from engaging in direct combat operations in the Libya, it will allow it to continue to supply support and intelligence for our NATO allies.

There are potentially three different votes pertaining to Libya happening in Washington this week. House Republicans are set to vote on a proposal that would defund the American military mission in Libya, and Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) put out a joint resolution on Tuesday authorizing limited use of forces in Libya. The senators are partly responding to critics who say President Obama violated the War Powers Act by not getting the mission in Libya approved ahead of time by Congress. There is also talk of the House putting out its own resolution to remove all troops from NATO operations in Libya.

All the jawing and insult throwing has ceased for the time being as negotiations heat up on Capitol Hill over the debt ceiling. Vice President Joe Biden said there are four meetings scheduled, and "now we're getting down to the really hard stuff." Todd Zwillich, The Takeaway's Washington Correspondent, says Congress would love to get an agreement by the 4th of July—way ahead of the deadline in August. 

As Washington tries to get the debt ceiling squared away, the Federal Reserve will meet on Wednesday to discuss interest rates. Housing numbers have been consistently awful for some time now, with no sense of relief in sight. Charlie Herman, economics editor for The Takeaway and WNYC, looks at what we can expect from Wednesday's meeting, and whether or not it's likely that the Fed will decide to leave interest rates close to zero.

A mixture of cheers and jeers followed seven-term New York Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner's announcement Thursday that he would be resigning from public office. Weiner apologized to his constituents and to his wife for the sexting scandal, in which he admitted to sending lewd messages and photos to at least six women. Weiner was one of the more outspokenly liberal members of the House – and his 9th District that has been a Democratic stronghold for decades. Will his successor's replacement change the political spectrum or become a referendum on President Obama's politics, as a litmus test for 2012?

The White House and Congress are butting heads over who authorizes military action in Libya. The 60-day deadline for President Obama to get approval from Congress to go to war passed on May 20th.

Tuesday, the White House offered its first public argument on why the administration thinks it has not violated the War Powers Resolution. The White House Press Secretary said that President Obama’s actions are consistent with the War Powers Act. However, ten members of Congress, led by Representative Dennis Kucinich filed a lawsuit Tuesday, effectively asking a judge to order an end to U.S. involvement in the war.

Does the ethanol industry still need government subsidies? That is the question that will be debated in the Senate with Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) forcing a vote on a measure to repeal ethanol tax credits. Ethanol supporters argue that the alternative energy source should not be targeted, but cutting the subsidies could save the federal government billions. Takeaway Washington correspondent, Todd Zwillich, reports.

The Republican presidential candidates squared off last night in New Hampshire. It wasn’t the first debate – South Carolina beat the state to the punch. But it was the first one with former Massachusetts governor and front-runner Mitt Romney on stage, and a litmus test for Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann.

The GOP will see it's first major debate with all its prominent players in New Hampshire today. Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Michele Bachmann, and Rick Santorum are all expected to participate. Todd Zwillich, The Takeaway's Washington correspondent, is most interested in how Bachmann and Santorum try to "out-conservative" each other to gain the following of those who don't support Mitt Romney. A topic that will surely be a key part of the debate will be the poor state of the economy. A set of key economic indicators is set to be released this week. Charlie Herman, economics editor for The Takeaway and WNYC, is expecting retail sales to fall, and a stock market finishing down for six weeks in a row is certainly not helping either.