Conservatives denounce Boehner plan  —  The chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee wasted little time announcing his opposition to the House GOP leadership's two-step plan to raise the debt ceiling.  —  Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who stood — visibly uncomfortable …

Address by the President to the Nation  —  THE PRESIDENT: Good evening.  Tonight, I want to talk about the debate we've been having in Washington over the national debt — a debate that directly affects the lives of all Americans.  —  For the last decade, we've spent more money than we take in.

Challenging Obama, House GOP unveils new debt bill  —  WASHINGTON  —  In a blunt challenge to President Barack Obama, House Republicans drafted legislation Monday to avert a threatened Aug. 2 government default — but along lines the White House has already dismissed.  U.S. financial markets shrugged off the uncertainty.

Congress In the Lead  —  Some of us like to think big.  We thought at the beginning of this debt crisis that it might be possible to reach a Grand Bargain.  This deal would make a serious dent in the country's awful debt problem.  It would begin to reform entitlements.

Debt ceiling speeches: Obama reasserts himself; Boehner pushes back  —  President Barack Obama elbowed his way back into the debt ceiling debate Monday night, three days after Republicans shoved him out, but he offered no hint of a solution to the escalating political and financial crisis.

More Americans unhappy with Obama on economy, jobs  —  More than a third of Americans now believe that President Obama's policies are hurting the economy, and confidence in his ability to create jobs is sharply eroding among his base, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Baby Talk  —  I was struck by these sentences in President Obama's speech: … Consider the condescension implicit in the president's statement—"a term that most people outside of Washington have probably never heard of before."  These “people outside of Washington” are not little children …