Looking for Lessons In the 1990 Budget Deal

Thomas S. Foley, a Democrat, and John H. Sununu, a Republican, were two of the Big 8 who negotiated a bipartisan budget deal in 1990. They met Wednesday to discuss what lessons that showdown could offer those now trying to avoid a new fiscal crisis.

Explaining the Origin of the Fiscal Threat

The fiscal and economic threat created by the parties was part intentional, part coincidental.

The intentional: Since Ronald Reagan's administration, with mixed results, presidents and Congresses have occasionally mandated a self-imposed future crisis to force themselves to agree on unpopular tax and spending actions. In that spirit, the idea behind the August 2011 deal was that Republicans would so greatly fear the military cuts, and Democrats the domestic spending cuts, that they would negotiate a deficit-reduction alternative by the Jan. 1 deadline.

The coincidental: The measures from the 2011 deal are set to take effect at the same time as the changes to jobless benefits, the alternative minimum tax adjustment and the Medicare “doc fix,” and the expiration of the Bush tax cuts - a confluence that the two parties did not fully expect back in August 2011. The nation will also reach its debt ceiling in January, creating additional uncertainty. Accounting m aneuvers by the Treasury Department could push that deadline to March, but Mr. Obama wants a debt-limit increase as part of any deal, adding another item to the agenda.

Another Key Republican Senator Expresses Concern Over Rice

Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, said she still harbors serious doubts about the Obama administration's explanation of its response to the deadly attack on an American mission in Benghazi, Libya, further clouding Susan E. Rice's prospects as secretary of state and dealing another serious blow to the White House.

Emerging from an hourlong meeting with Ms. Rice, the ambassador to the United Nations, Ms. Collins said on Wednesday that she remained deeply troubled that Ms. Rice did not seem to have a good answer for why the White House did not immediately classify the attack as an act of terror.

“I continue to be troubled by the fact that the United Nations ambassador decided to play what was essentially a political role at the height of a contentious presidential election campaign,” Ms. Collins told a throng of reporters after the meeting concluded.

Ms. Collins is the latest Republican senator to meet with Ms. Ri ce this week and express significant concerns about her ability to lead the State Department if nominated by President Obama.

In an effort to smooth over growing tensions with Senate Republicans, Ms. Rice met with Senators John McCain of Arizona, Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina on Tuesday. Yet all three senators said they were dismayed by what they had heard in the meeting. Ms. Ayotte and Mr. Graham went as far as to threaten to block Ms. Rice's nomination.

Ms. Collins said she would need additional information before she could support Ms. Rice's nomination. But in response to a question about support in the Senate for John Kerry of Massachusetts, who is Ms. Rice's main rival for the job, Ms. Collins said, “I think John Kerry would be an excellent appointment and would be easily confirmed by his colleagues.”

After she met wi th Ms. Collins, Ms. Rice was also scheduled to meet with Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee on Wednesday.

Congressional Republicans have accused the White House of playing down the possibility that the attack in Benghazi was terrorism because it occurred just weeks before the election and could have seriously undercut the president's contention that he has undermined Al Qaeda.

Ms. Collins echoed those concerns on Wednesday but said she was also troubled by another issue, which she described as an “eerie echo” of previous attacks on Americans in Africa.

Ms. Rice, as a senior American diplomat in Africa the late 1990s, should have known the dangers posed by terrorists there, Ms. Collins said, particularly because Americans were attacked while Ms. Rice was on the job.

“We seem not to have learned from the 1998 bombings of two of our embassies in Africa at the time when Ambassador Rice was the assistant secretary for African affairs,” Ms. Collins sai d. “These are issues I believe deserve further investing.”

What Happens if We Go Over the So-Called \'Fiscal Cliff\'?

Taxes would rise for nearly every taxpayer and many businesses. Financing for most federal programs, military and domestic, would be cut. Many economists say that while annual budget deficits are too high, these new taxes and spending cuts would be too much deficit reduction, too suddenly, for a weak economy. More than $500 billion equals roughly 3 percent to 4 percent of gross domestic product. The Congressional Budget Office has said the result would be a short recession, though some analysts say the measures could be managed so they do less damage. “Slope,” they argue, is a better metaphor than cliff.

What Tax Increases Are in Store at the End of 2012?

When a tax cut expires, the practical effect is a tax increase. And a slew of tax cuts - $400 billion for 2013 - expire on Dec. 31: All of the Bush-era rate reductions; smaller tax cuts that periodically expire for businesses and individuals; and the 2-percentage-point cut in payroll taxes that Mr. Obama pushed in 2010, which increased an average worker's take-home pay by about $1,000 a year.

Also, 28 million taxpayers - about one in five, all middle- to upper-income - would have to pay the alternative minimum tax in 2012, raising their taxes more. That is because Congress has failed to pass an inflation adjustment, as it usually does, to restrict the number of taxpayers subject to the alternative minimum largely to the affluent.

What Spending Would be Cut if a Debt Deal is Not Reached?

An emergency unemployment-compensation program is expiring, which would save $26 billion but end payments to millions of Americans who remain jobless and have exhausted state benefits. Medicare payments to doctors would be reduced 27 percent, or $11 billion, because this year Congress has not passed the usual so-called “doc fix” to block the cuts, which otherwise are required by a 1990s cost-control law.

The biggest cut would be $65 billion, enacted across the board for most federal programs over the last nine months of fiscal year 2013, from January through September. This cut, known as the sequester, was mandated by an August 2011 budget deal between Mr. Obama and Congress that ended their standoff over raising the nation's debt limit. In that deal, they agreed to reduce spending by $1 trillion over 10 years and to identify an additional $1.2 trillion in savings by January 2013. If they fail to agree on the second installment - as is the case so far - the autom atic cuts will kick in.

Explaining the \'Fiscal Cliff\'

The term refers to more than $500 billion in tax increases and across-the-board spending cuts scheduled to take effect after Jan. 1 - for fiscal year 2013 alone - unless Mr. Obama and Republicans reach an alternative deficit-reduction deal. Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, who is not known for catchy phrases, coined the metaphor “fiscal cliff” last winter to warn of the dangerous yet avoidable drop-off ahead in the nation's fiscal path. It stuck.

A version of this explainer was published on Nov. 15, 2012.

For Obama and Romney, Lunch at the White House

President Obama will have lunch with his one-time Republican rival, Mitt Romney, at the White House on Thursday, making good on an election-night pledge by the president to meet with Romney in the days ahead.

The White House announced the event in a statement released by Mr. Obama's press secretary on Wednesday.

“It will be the first opportunity they have had to visit since the election,” the statement says. “There will be no press coverage of the meeting.”

In fact, the meeting will be closely watched. The two men competed intensely against each other for the better part of a year. Mr. Romney, in private conversations with donors shortly after the election, blamed his loss in part on the president promising “gifts” to Democratic constituencies like minorities and students.

In his speech claiming victory on election night, Mr. Obama praised Mr. Romney's legacy of public service and said that he looked “for ward to sitting down with Governor Romney to talk about where we can work together to move this country forward.”

A week later, in his first post-election news conference, Mr. Obama elaborated on that promise, saying that he thought there were “certain aspects” of Mr. Romney's background that could help the country confront the fiscal challenges in the years ahead.

“I do think he did a terrific job running the Olympics,” Mr. Obama said. “And you know, that skill set of trying to figure out how do we make something work better applies to the federal government. There are a lot of ideas that I don't think are partisan ideas but are just smart ideas about how can we make the federal government more customer-friendly?”

The president added: “He presented some ideas during the course of the campaign that I actually agree with. And so it'd be interesting to talk to him about something like that.”

But it's unclear whether the lunch will lead to any long-term political partnership between the two men. Past pledges of cooperation between presidential rivals have sometimes faded amid the intense partisanship that grips Washington.

Four years ago, Senator John McCain of Arizona, who lost his presidential bid to Mr. Obama, pledged to work with the president in the weeks after the 2008 election. But Mr. McCain has become one of Mr. Obama's fiercest critics, not a bipartisan partner.

Bipartisan Group Recommends Middle Ground on Aid to Egypt

A bipartisan task force is recommending that President Obama rethink the country's approach to Egypt, and pursue a “quid pro quo” relationship that conditions American aid on the new Islamist government's cooperation on terrorism and other issues.

After decades of cooperation with Hosni Mubarak's government, the United States should build ties with President Mohamed Morsi based on mutual interests, the task force said in a report to be released on Wednesday. Rather than assume Washington can change the Islamists' ideology, the task force said, policy can leverage Egyptian behavior.

The report comes at a decisive moment in the evolving relationship between Washington and Cairo. Just last week, Mr. Morsi proved to be a critical player in working with Mr. Obama to broker a cease-fire in Gaza, leading the White House to think he could be a constructive partner in the region. But the next day, Mr. Morsi provoked an uproar at home with an edict temporarily exe mpting his decrees from judicial review.

The task force, formed by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, was headed by Vin Weber, a former Republican congressman from Minnesota who advised Mitt Romney's campaign for president, and Gregory B. Craig, a former White House counsel under Mr. Obama and top State Department official under President Bill Clinton.

In essence, the task force recommended a middle ground between continuing aid to the new Egypt without conditions and cutting it off.

The United States should “confront Egyptian leaders with a set of stark choices that would give them a pathway to act as responsible national leaders rather than as religiously inspired ideologues,” the report said. It called for “an approach whereby the United States continues to provide substantial economic and military aid while linking both direct support and backing for international financial support to Egyptian cooperat ion on key U.S. interests.”

For example, the task force suggested devoting part of United States aid to Egypt, starting at $100 million and growing over time, to encourage the government to do more to fight terrorists in the Sinai Peninsula. Mr. Obama and Congressional leaders should also tell Cairo that human rights violations or a retreat from democratic reform would make it harder to maintain a beneficial relationship.

At the same time, the task force said Washington should expand its contacts with political opposition in Egypt and recommit to spending tens of millions of dollars to support the development of civil society. “Now is not the time to trim the sails of U.S. outreach,” the report said. “To the contrary, now is the time to redouble U.S. effort to talk with the broad array of actors in Egypt's fluid political environment.”

Follow Peter Baker on Twitter at @peterbakernyt.

Virginia Lieutenant Governor Won\'t Run for State\'s Top Job

Bill Bolling, Virginia's lieutenant governor, has decided not to seek the Republican nomination for governor next year, clearing the way for a high-profile battle between the state's conservative attorney general and an ally of former President Bill Clinton.

Sources familiar with Mr. Bolling's decision said he planned to announce it Wednesday morning. Mr. Bolling is in his second four-year term as lieutenant governor and had been widely expected to seek the state's top elected job.

His decision means Republicans will avoid a costly and potentially damaging nominating contest between Mr. Bolling and Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II, the attorney general. Last year the Republicans decided they would choose the nominee at a state party convention, rather than in a primary, a move that was seen as a victory for Mr. Cuccinelli, who is popular among conservative activists who are likely to attend.

Mr. Cuccinelli, a Tea Party favorite, has supported conservative social legislation, including limits on abortion clinics in the state. He was also a leading voice nationally in the fight against President Obama‘s health care legislation, filing the first legal challenge to the law.

He is likely to be challenged for the party's nomination by some less well known Republicans. But if he gets the nomination, Mr. Cuccinelli will probably face Terry McAuliffe, a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee and a fund-raiser and confidant of Mr. Clinton.

Mr. McAuliffe sought the Democratic nomination for governor four years ago, but lost in a primary campaign against Creigh Deeds, a Democratic state senator. Mr. Deeds went on to lose the governorship to Robert F. McDonnell, the state's current Republican governor.

Virginia is one of two states that elect governors a year before Congressional midterm elections (New Jersey is the other). The results of these races are sometimes viewed as an ear ly indicator of the country's political mood in the year after a presidential campaign.

In Virginia, the race for the executive mansion in Richmond is likely to be a costly one. Mr. McAuliffe was a prolific fund-raiser for Mr. Clinton and is likely to raise millions of dollars in his bid to win the office that Thomas Jefferson once held.

But Mr. Cuccinelli is sure to be the recipient of donations from national Tea Party and conservative organizations.

The clash between the two men would play out against the backdrop of a state that has been changing demographically and politically. Tim Kaine, the state's former Democratic governor, won a seat in the United States Senate earlier this month and Mr. Obama won Virginia for the second time.

Both Democrats won in part by tapping into a growing minority population in the state and by appealing to the state's populous Northern Virginia region.

But parts of the state remain very conservative, and Mr. Cuc cinelli is from Northern Virginia, where he hopes to perform better than some previous Republicans. Mitt Romney lost the state in his battle with Mr. Obama in part by underperforming in key suburban parts of the state.

Mr. Bolling was Mr. Romney's state chairman.

Follow Michael D. Shear on Twitter at @shearm.

Lobbying Efforts Continue Ahead of Fiscal Deadline

Summary for graphic goes here

Durbin to Stress Liberal Viewpoints in Speech

Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the second ranking Democrat in the Senate, will make the liberal case for a major deficit reduction deal on Tuesday morning, arguing that it is in the left's interest to ensure the long-term viability of Medicare and Medicaid while using a "Grand Bargain" to win concessions on upfront spending to improve the economy.

Focus on Small in Race of Ideas

President Obama may have Air Force One to take him around as he tries to sell his ideas for deficit reductions, but that doesn't mean House Republicans won't be on the move as well.

The Early Word: No Satisfaction

Today's Times

• Susan E. Rice, the ambassador to the United Nations, hoped to smooth over a festering dispute with Republican senators on Tuesday with a conciliatory meeting about the attacks in Libya, Mark Landler and Jeremy W. Peters report. But lawmakers were anything but satisfied, saying they would still oppose Ms. Rice if she were nominated for secretary of state.

• Erskine B. Bowles, Democrat of North Carolina, and former Senator Alan K. Simpson, Republican of Wyoming, have perfected a wonks' version of a hit Off Broadway show, pushing the recommendations from their bipartisan fiscal commission in presentations around the nation, Jackie Calmes reports. That so many people talk about “Simpson-Bowles” as if it is shorthand for the solution to the nation's fiscal woes is a testament to the men's indefatigable efforts.

• Tuesday was a day of mixed signals about whether progress is being made to avoid the “fiscal cliff.” Jon athan Weisman writes that senior Democrats took a stern posture, saying President Obama would not accept any deficit reduction deal that did not include an extension of the debt ceiling. But a senior House Republican on Tuesday urged his party's leadership to work with the president now, embracing the immediate extension of the Bush-era tax cuts for households earning less than $250,000, then fighting out the fate of higher-income tax breaks later.

• Lizette Alvarez delves into the grass-roots operation that resulted in a high voter turnout among Latinos.

Around the Web

• President Obama signed a bill that exempts United States airlines from European carbon emissions fees, despite objections from environmentalists, The Hill reports.

Happenings in Washington

• President Obama will host a cabinet meeting in the White House, followed by a meeting with business leaders in the Roosevelt Room.

• Vice Preside nt Joseph R. Biden Jr. will attend both gatherings with the president and meet with Martin Schulz, president of the European Parliament, as well.

• Michelle Obama will welcome military families to the White House to view this year's holiday decorations.

 

Mexico\'s President-Elect Discusses Immigration Policy With Obama

The incoming president of Mexico visited President Obama in the White House on Tuesday and vowed to help him pass comprehensive legislation overhauling the American immigration system even as Republicans begin looking for a bill they can support too.

Enrique Peña Nieto, who will be inaugurated as Mexico's president on Saturday, made the customary stop in Washington first to get acquainted with his northern counterpart. His arrival coincided with a postelection political shift in Washington that has given fresh momentum to long-stalled proposals to liberalize immigration policy.

“We fully support your proposal, sir, for this migration reform,” Mr. Peña Nieto told Mr. Obama in the Oval Office. “More than demanding what you should do or shouldn't do, we do want to tell you that we want to contribute. We really want to participate with you. We want to contribute towards the accomplishment.”

Mr. Peña Nieto's visit came on the same day that two re tiring Republican senators unveiled their own proposal to make it easier for immigrants brought to the United States illegally as children to stay, a sign of the rapidly evolving politics of immigration.

Senators Jon Kyl of Arizona and Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas introduced what they called the Achieve Act as an alternative to the so-called Dream Act supported by Mr. Obama and most Democrats. The Kyl-Hutchison plan would give legal residency to many younger illegal immigrants, but not a path to citizenship as the Democratic version would.

“Many young people in this country are here illegally through no fault of their own,” the two senators said in a joint written statement. “Relegating a potentially productive portion of the population to the shadows is neither humane nor good economic or social policy.”

A number of prominent conservatives, including Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio, former Gov. Haley Barbour of Mis sissippi and the Fox News host Sean Hannity, have embraced some moves toward easing immigration rules since this month's election. Latinos made up 10 percent of the electorate for the first time and overwhelmingly supported Mr. Obama's re-election.

Unless they relax the party's traditional hard line on illegal immigration, some Republicans believe they risk long-term political damage. As a result, the White House, which had largely abandoned immigration legislation since Republicans took control of the House in the 2010 midterm elections in favor of less sweeping executive action, now sees a chance for early bipartisan consensus on the issue in the new year.

The Kyl-Hutchison proposal would extend legal residency to illegal immigrants seeking college degrees or serving in the military who entered the country before the age of 14, have lived here for five years, have not committed a felony, can demonstrate knowledge of English and are still 28 or younger, or 32 if they have a degree from an American college. They would be denied access to public welfare benefits, federal student loans or other federal benefits.

Immigration activists rejected the proposal. United We Dream, a network of young immigrants, called it “a cynical political gesture” because it does not provide a road map to citizenship. “We won't stop fighting until we win citizenship for every single new American,” Lorella Praeli, the group's advocacy and policy director, said in a statement.

In addressing reporters in the Oval Office, Mr. Peña Nieto did not elaborate on how he hoped to help Mr. Obama pass immigration legislation. Before arriving at the White House, he visited Capitol Hill, where he had a photo opportunity with Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic minority leader. “We hope to address the migration issue by having comprehensive immigration reform brought before the Congress when the president sends it to us,” she said.

After several years in which security and drugs dominated the Mexican-American relationship, Mr. Peña Nieto stressed that he wanted to talk about a variety of other issues as well, including jobs, trade, North American integration and education.

Mr. Obama announced that he would send Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to Mr. Peña Nieto's inauguration on Saturday and hinted that he would visit himself in 2013. “Any excuses to go to Mexico,” Mr. Obama said, “I'm always game.”

Obama Goes Back on the Trail Ahead of Debt Talks

After weeks under fire, Susan E. Rice will face her accusers on Tuesday.

Ms. Rice, the president's ambassador to the United Nations and a front-runner to be the next secretary of state, will meet with Senator John McCain of Arizona and two other Republican senators who have excoriated her, saying she provided a misleading account of the attack on the diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya.

Ms. Rice asked for the meeting, according to a government official. Mr. McCain seemed to soften his opposition to her potential nomination on “Fox News Sunday” and said “she deserves the ability and the opportunity to explain herself.” Also attending the meeting will be Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, officials said. Ms. Rice will be accompanied by Michael J. Morell, the acting C.I.A. director.

The White House welcomed Mr. McCain's shift in tone during a briefing Monday before news of the meeting was disclosed. “ I certainly saw those comments and appreciate them,” said Jay Carney, the White House press secretary. “As the president has said, and I and others have said, Ambassador Rice has done an excellent job at the United Nations and is highly qualified for any number of positions in the foreign policy arena.”

Ms. Rice told a series of Sunday talk shows in the week after the Benghazi attack that it stemmed from a spontaneous protest that extremists then exploited, rather than being a premeditated terrorist attack. That characterization proved inaccurate, and Republicans seized on her interviews as evidence of an attempted cover-up by the administration. The White House has defended Ms. Rice by saying she was simply articulating talking points produced by intelligence agencies.

Mr. Obama has not said whom he will nominate to replace outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, but Ms. Rice was seen as the favorite until the Be nghazi episode. Mr. Obama's sharp and aggressive defense of her at a postelection news conference led many in Washington to think he may yet go ahead with her nomination and dare Republicans to oppose her. Another top candidate, according to White House officials, is Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, the Foreign Relations Committee chairman and a former presidential candidate.

Obama Goes Back on the Trail Ahead of Debt Talks

President Obama plans to try to ratchet up public pressure on Congress to accept his ideas for resolving the looming tax-and-spending crisis with a series of events at the White House and on the road this week.

TimesCast Politics: Strong Words After Susan Rice Visits Capitol Hill

Today's Times

• Some liberal lawmakers are resisting significant changes to entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare, but many Republicans say President Obama will have to acquiesce if he wants to strike a deal with Congress, Robert Pear reports.

• With the retirement of Senator Joseph I. Lieberman in January, Senators John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina will lose a colleague who has contributed to the veneer of bipartisanship that helped advance their foreign policy goals for more than a decade, Jennifer Steinhauer writes.

• A special primary election to replace Jesse L. Jackson Jr., who resigned his House seat last week, will be held in February in Illinois, and the line to succeed him is forming fast, Steven Yaccino and Monica Davey report.

 Around the Web

• Politico wants to know how that whole “super PAC” thing is workin g out.

• Former President Jimmy Carter is in Haiti building houses in a town still devastated by the 2010 earthquake, The Associated Press reports.

 Happenings in Washington

• Enrique Peña Nieto, president-elect of Mexico, will meet with President Obama and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. in the White House. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will attend as well.

TimesCast Politics: Strong Words After Susan Rice Visits Capitol Hill

Senators McCain and Graham versus the potential secretary of state. | The prospects for filibuster reform. | Obama in campaign mode for the fiscal negotiations.

Durbin to Stress Liberal Viewpoints in Speech

Senators McCain and Graham versus the potential secretary of state. | The prospects for filibuster reform. | Obama in campaign mode for the fiscal negotiations.

Mexico\'s President-Elect Discusses Immigration Policy With Obama

The incoming president of Mexico visited President Obama in the White House on Tuesday and vowed to help him pass comprehensive legislation overhauling the American immigration system even as Republicans begin looking for a bill they can support too.

Enrique Peña Nieto, who will be inaugurated as Mexico's president on Saturday, made the customary stop in Washington first to get acquainted with his northern counterpart. His arrival coincided with a postelection political shift in Washington that has given fresh momentum to long-stalled proposals to liberalize immigration policy.

“We fully support your proposal, sir, for this migration reform,” Mr. Peña Nieto told Mr. Obama in the Oval Office. “More than demanding what you should do or shouldn't do, we do want to tell you that we want to contribute. We really want to participate with you. We want to contribute towards the accomplishment.”

Mr. Peña Nieto's visit came on the same day that two re tiring Republican senators unveiled their own proposal to make it easier for immigrants brought to the United States illegally as children to stay, a sign of the rapidly evolving politics of immigration.

Senators Jon Kyl of Arizona and Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas introduced what they called the Achieve Act as an alternative to the so-called Dream Act supported by Mr. Obama and most Democrats. The Kyl-Hutchison plan would give legal residency to many younger illegal immigrants, but not a path to citizenship as the Democratic version would.

“Many young people in this country are here illegally through no fault of their own,” the two senators said in a joint written statement. “Relegating a potentially productive portion of the population to the shadows is neither humane nor good economic or social policy.”

A number of prominent conservatives, including Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio, former Gov. Haley Barbour of Mis sissippi and the Fox News host Sean Hannity, have embraced some moves toward easing immigration rules since this month's election. Latinos made up 10 percent of the electorate for the first time and overwhelmingly supported Mr. Obama's re-election.

Unless they relax the party's traditional hard line on illegal immigration, some Republicans believe they risk long-term political damage. As a result, the White House, which had largely abandoned immigration legislation since Republicans took control of the House in the 2010 midterm elections in favor of less sweeping executive action, now sees a chance for early bipartisan consensus on the issue in the new year.

The Kyl-Hutchison proposal would extend legal residency to illegal immigrants seeking college degrees or serving in the military who entered the country before the age of 14, have lived here for five years, have not committed a felony, can demonstrate knowledge of English and are still 28 or younger, or 32 if they have a degree from an American college. They would be denied access to public welfare benefits, federal student loans or other federal benefits.

Immigration activists rejected the proposal. United We Dream, a network of young immigrants, called it “a cynical political gesture” because it does not provide a road map to citizenship. “We won't stop fighting until we win citizenship for every single new American,” Lorella Praeli, the group's advocacy and policy director, said in a statement.

In addressing reporters in the Oval Office, Mr. Peña Nieto did not elaborate on how he hoped to help Mr. Obama pass immigration legislation. Before arriving at the White House, he visited Capitol Hill, where he had a photo opportunity with Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic minority leader. “We hope to address the migration issue by having comprehensive immigration reform brought before the Congress when the president sends it to us,” she said.

After several years in which security and drugs dominated the Mexican-American relationship, Mr. Peña Nieto stressed that he wanted to talk about a variety of other issues as well, including jobs, trade, North American integration and education.

Mr. Obama announced that he would send Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to Mr. Peña Nieto's inauguration on Saturday and hinted that he would visit himself in 2013. “Any excuses to go to Mexico,” Mr. Obama said, “I'm always game.”

Focus on Small in Race of Ideas

Summary for graphic goes here

In Protesting Cuts, AIDS Activists Bare All

Summary for graphic goes here

In Protesting Cuts, AIDS Activists Bare All

AIDS activists on Tuesday took what they saw as the naked truth to the office of the House speaker, John A. Boehner of Ohio, stripping down to protest further spending cuts in any deal to head off a fiscal crisis in January.

The Early Word: No Satisfaction

Today's Times

• Susan E. Rice, the ambassador to the United Nations, hoped to smooth over a festering dispute with Republican senators on Tuesday with a conciliatory meeting about the attacks in Libya, Mark Landler and Jeremy W. Peters report. But lawmakers were anything but satisfied, saying they would still oppose Ms. Rice if she were nominated for secretary of state.

• Erskine B. Bowles, Democrat of North Carolina, and former Senator Alan K. Simpson, Republican of Wyoming, have perfected a wonks' version of a hit Off Broadway show, pushing the recommendations from their bipartisan fiscal commission in presentations around the nation, Jackie Calmes reports. That so many people talk about “Simpson-Bowles” as if it is shorthand for the solution to the nation's fiscal woes is a testament to the men's indefatigable efforts.

• Tuesday was a day of mixed signals about whether progress is being made to avoid the “fiscal cliff.” Jon athan Weisman writes that senior Democrats took a stern posture, saying President Obama would not accept any deficit reduction deal that did not include an extension of the debt ceiling. But a senior House Republican on Tuesday urged his party's leadership to work with the president now, embracing the immediate extension of the Bush-era tax cuts for households earning less than $250,000, then fighting out the fate of higher-income tax breaks later.

• Lizette Alvarez delves into the grass-roots operation that resulted in a high voter turnout among Latinos.

Around the Web

• President Obama signed a bill that exempts United States airlines from European carbon emissions fees, despite objections from environmentalists, The Hill reports.

Happenings in Washington

• President Obama will host a cabinet meeting in the White House, followed by a meeting with business leaders in the Roosevelt Room.

• Vice Preside nt Joseph R. Biden Jr. will attend both gatherings with the president and meet with Martin Schulz, president of the European Parliament, as well.

• Michelle Obama will welcome military families to the White House to view this year's holiday decorations.

 

Tip of the Week: Screen Savers That Educate

Screen saver programs, originally intended to help prevent damage to older computer monitors, are often used now for security or entertainment purposes when the computer is idle. Most operating systems include a few built-in screen savers that display animated geometric patterns or photos, but you do not have to go too far to find screen savers that educate as well.

Windows users still trying to get the hang of Microsoft Office 2010, for example, can grab a free screen saver that shows tips for using the software. A trial version of the Universal Tutor screen saver from Cool Educational Software is available; an annual subscription costs $30.

Recent versions of Mac OS X have included screen savers that display the Word of the Day from the New Oxford American Dictionary, or an RSS Visualizer that pulls down headlines from online news sources. To see what is available in your version of Mac OS X, click the System Preferences icon in the Dock, click on the Desktop and Screen Saver icon and click the Screen Saver tab in the box.

Plenty of shareware sites offer free screen savers, but be careful when installing any third-party program, as malicious software may also be along for the ride. Screen savers can also sap resources from the computer, so go to your computer's settings and just set your monitor to turn off after a short period of inactivity if you would rather not lose processing power. But if your computer has power to spare, donating its idle time to a group-computing effort like SETI@Home or one from the Boinc project usually gets you an interesting screen saver - while helping scientific causes.