In Today’s Times
- The Obama administration is moving forward with a rule requiring most employers to provide free insurance coverage for women’s contraceptives, in spite of strong resistance from religious groups, Robert Pear writes. The decision has touched off a legal and political battle that figured prominently in last year’s elections and is likely to rage for another year.
- While supporters of an immigration overhaul are hardly confident, they say House Republicans will discover a crucial difference this year from failed immigration efforts of the past: The coalition behind the bill is far more energized and committed than in previous fights. The movement’s diversity gives advocates a variety of pressure points for aproaching reluctant House Republicans, Julia Preston reports.
- Whether at the White House or the grand presidential palace in Senegal, President Obama has made a point in recent weeks of reassuring Americans that he is not spying on them, Peter Baker writes. His statements reflect the sensitivity of a president elected after assailing counterterrorism policies that he ultimately adopted in some form after taking office.
- Thousands of couples, married in one state but living in another, are caught in a confusing web of laws and regulations when moving from one part of the country to another, Sheryl Gay Stolberg reports. The Obama administration is now trying to grapple with how to extend federal rights and benefits to same-sex cou! ples when states, not the federal government, dictate who is married.
Weekly Address
- President Obama used this week’s address to talk about his latest plan to combat climate change and the string of severe weather events that battered parts of the country. “The cost of these events can be measured in lost lives and livelihoods, lost homes and businesses, and hundreds of billions of dollars in emergency services and disaster relief,†he said. “The question is not whether we need to act. The question is whether we will have the courage to act before it’s too late.†He discussed a plan that would cut carbon pollution, provide more resilient infrastructure for homes and businesses, and enable the country to lead global efforts to use cleaner energy sources. “This is the fight America can and will lead in the 21st century,†he said. “But it will require all of us, as citizens, to do our art.â€
Happenings in Washington
- Teams from each branch of the military will compete in “Grill of Honor,†a Fourth of July grilling contest judged by the celebrity guests Carson Daly and Brooklyn Decker.
