Jay Carney

We're surprised he cleared Secret Service security, but Phawker.com editor Jonathan Valania was at the White House on Friday interviewing President Obama's press secretary, Jay Carney, about his love of indie-rock veterans Guided By Voices.   The interview is to appear in the October issue of Magnet. Like the local music magazine, which had been on hiatus, Guided By Voices is also back, after more than five years apart, and plays the Trocadero (1003 Arch) on July 6. Carney revealed his affinity for the Ohio-based Robert Pollard and his GBV cohorts last year.

WASHINGTON - President Obama prodded Congress yesterday to reach a sweeping long-term deal within the next two weeks to raise the nation's borrowing limit rather than "kick the can down the road" with a makeshift, short-term solution, and he declared that it must include the tax hikes that Republicans strongly oppose. He said that he was summoning leaders of both parties to the White House tomorrow to try to get it done and beat an Aug. 2 deadline to avert a first-ever federal default that could shake economic markets worldwide.

WASHINGTON - The House passed a massive $662 billion defense bill last night after last-minute changes placated the White House and ensured President Obama's ability to prosecute terrorist suspects in civilian courts. The vote was 283-136 and reflected the strong support for annual legislation that authorizes money for the men and women of the military, as well as weapons systems and the millions of jobs they generate in lawmakers' districts. It was a rare instance of bipartisanship in a bitterly divided Congress.

The Obama administration plans to nominate within weeks a candidate to replace World Bank president Robert Zoellick, who announced Wednesday that he would leave the institution when his five-year term ends June 30. "It is very important that we continue to have a strong, effective leadership in this important institution," Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said in a statement. "In the coming weeks, we plan to put forward a candidate with the experience and requisite qualities to take this institution forward.

WASHINGTON - President Obama and Michelle Obama will attend events next month in New York City, Pennsylvania, and suburban Washington to mark the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, the White House said Tuesday. The hijacked-plane attacks killed nearly 3,000 people at the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan; at the Pentagon in northern Virginia; and near Shanksville, Pa., where United Flight 93 went down. The president will participate in commemorations at all three sites, spokesman Jay Carney said.

WASHINGTON - Forget about raising the federal debt limit. House Republicans are proposing to ignore it altogether - at least until May 18. The House plans to vote Wednesday on a measure that would leave the $16.4 trillion borrowing limit intact but suspend it from the time the bill passes until mid-May. The declaration that the debt ceiling "shall not apply" means that the government could continue borrowing to cover its obligations to creditors until May 18. This approach - novel in modern times - would let Republicans avoid a potentially disastrous fight over the debt limit without actually voting to let the Treasury borrow more money.

WASHINGTON - The White House said that despite bellicose rhetoric from North Korea, the Obama administration has not seen changes in the regime's military posture. White House press secretary Jay Carney said Monday that the U.S. has not detected any military mobilization or repositioning of forces from Pyongyang to back up the threats from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Nonetheless, the U.S. has made a point of publicizing its own recent military moves, including the deployment of bombers and F-22 stealth fighters to South Korea as part of military exercises.

WASHINGTON - Despite rebel setbacks and an increasingly public rift with NATO allies, the U.S. will stick to its plan to remain in the back seat of the Libya air campaign, the Obama administration insisted yesterday, after three weeks of air missions that have failed to turn the tide against Moammar Gadhafi. France's defense minister declared that without full American participation, the West probably would not be able to stop attacks by Gadhafi loyalists on besieged rebel cities. U.S. officials said they were comfortable with their role and had no plans to step up involvement, even as British and French officials said Washington's military might was needed to ensure the mission's success.

WASHINGTON - The White House brushed off congressional demands for a detailed report outlining U.S. objectives in Libya, a move likely to stoke further anger on Capitol Hill over President Obama's decision not to seek lawmakers' consent for the military operation. White House spokesman Jay Carney said yesterday that administration officials were already answering questions about Libya in briefings on Capitol Hill. A House resolution calling on Obama to provide more detailed answers was "unhelpful," Carney added.

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration on Wednesday toned down criticism of Pakistan leveled by the departing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff but made clear that it expected more counterterrorism cooperation from Islamabad if relations are to improve. The softening of rhetoric came as some in Pakistan reacted angrily to Adm. Mike Mullen's remarks that formal links between the Haqqani insurgent network and Pakistan's main intelligence service whipped up media fears of an American invasion and threatened to complicate already-tense relations.

WASHINGTON - The White House declared yesterday that U.S. intelligence indicates Syrian President Bashar Assad has twice used deadly chemical weapons in his country's fierce civil war, a provocative action that would cross President Barack Obama's "red line" for a significant military response. But the administration said the revelation won't immediately change its stance on intervening. The information, which has been known to the administration and some members of Congress for weeks, isn't solid enough to warrant quick U.S. involvement in the 2-year-old conflict, the White House said.

WASHINGTON - Liberal lawmakers from Congress and a coalition of like-minded groups rallied outside the White House on Tuesday, voicing frustration at the Democratic president they say has let them down by proposing cuts to Medicare and Social Security. One day before President Obama was set to unveil his budget, organizers stacked nine file boxes in front of the White House that they said contained more than two million signatures on petitions telling Obama they won't stand for cuts to entitlement programs cherished by the Democratic base.

WASHINGTON - The White House said that despite bellicose rhetoric from North Korea, the Obama administration has not seen changes in the regime's military posture. White House press secretary Jay Carney said Monday that the U.S. has not detected any military mobilization or repositioning of forces from Pyongyang to back up the threats from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Nonetheless, the U.S. has made a point of publicizing its own recent military moves, including the deployment of bombers and F-22 stealth fighters to South Korea as part of military exercises.

WASHINGTON - President Obama signed into law a catchall government-funding bill that ends the 2013 budget fight and locks in $85 billion in budget cuts the president opposes. With Obama's signature, day-to-day operations of cabinet departments and federal agencies will continue without interruption through Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year. With the automatic cuts known as sequestration, the spending will amount to about $984 billion. The previous funding authorization had been due to expire Wednesday.

WASHINGTON - President Obama is opening the door to the possibility of resuming White House tours for student groups amid some confusion over who made the ultimate decision to cancel them. The decision has been much criticized by Republicans who say the White House should remain open to the public and by some expectant visitors who were planning to see inside the White House during the spring-break travel season. Obama said in an interview with ABC News that the decision to cancel the tours was made by the Secret Service, citing the need to furlough some employees.

WASHINGTON - Reviving his populist re-election message, President Obama will press a politically divided Congress to approve more tax increases and fewer spending cuts, during a State of the Union address focused on stabilizing the middle class and repairing the still-wobbly economy. The agenda Obama will outline Tuesday before a joint session of Congress will include more money for infrastructure, clean energy technologies, and manufacturing jobs, as well as for expanding access to early childhood education.

WASHINGTON - President Obama has directed the Justice Department to give Congress' intelligence committees access to classified legal advice providing the government's rationale for drone strikes against American citizens working with al-Qaeda abroad, a senior administration official and Democratic lawmakers said Wednesday. A drumbeat of demands to see the document has swelled on Capitol Hill as the Senate intelligence committee prepares to hold a confirmation hearing Thursday for John Brennan, who helped manage the drone program, to be CIA director.

WASHINGTON - Two days before President Obama's first trip outside Washington to promote his gun-control proposals, the White House tried to settle a brewing mystery when it released a photo to back his assertion that he's a skeet shooter. Obama had set inquiring minds spinning when, in an interview with the New Republic magazine, he answered yes when asked whether he had ever fired a gun. The admission surprised many. "Yes, in fact, up at Camp David, we do skeet shooting all the time," Obama said in the interview released last weekend, referring to the official presidential retreat in rural Maryland, which he last visited in October while campaigning.

WASHINGTON - President Obama met Monday with law enforcement leaders, including officials from four communities where mass shootings took place recently, and urged them to help him build support in Congress to pass his proposals to toughen gun laws. Obama asserted that law enforcement leaders were the most important group in the fraught and emotional gun debate - "they are where the rubber hits the road," he said - and that a consensus among police chiefs and sheriffs could influence wavering lawmakers.

WASHINGTON - A working group of senators from both parties is nearing agreement on broad principles for overhauling the nation's immigration laws, representing the most substantive bipartisan effort toward comprehensive legislation in years. The six members have met quietly since the November election, most recently on Wednesday. Congressional aides stressed there is not yet final agreement, but they have eyed Friday as a target date for a possible public announcement. The talks mark the most in-depth negotiations involving members of both parties since a similar effort broke down in 2010 without producing a bill.