Facing growing public unease about his handling of the economy, President Obama takes his weekly Internet and radio address to defend the $787 billion stimulus package he championed.

It is doing exactly what it was designed to -- stop the bleeding by slowing job losses, start reviving the economy, deliver tax relief to the middle class, and lay the groundwork for badly needed reform, he asserts.

"The Recovery Act wasn’t designed to restore the economy to full health on its own, but to provide the boost necessary to stop the free fall," he says. "It was designed to spur demand and get people spending again and cushion those who had borne the brunt of the crisis. And it was designed to save jobs and create new ones."

He counsels patience, cautioning against those already calling for a second stimulus package.

"I realize that when we passed this Recovery Act, there were those who felt that doing nothing was somehow an answer," he says. "Today, some of those same critics are already judging the effort a failure although they have yet to offer a plausible alternative. Others believed that the recovery plan should have been even larger, and are already calling for a second recovery plan.

"But, as I made clear at the time it was passed, the Recovery Act was not designed to work in four months – it was designed to work over two years. We also knew that it would take some time for the money to get out the door, because we are committed to spending it in a way that is effective and transparent. Crucially, this is a plan that will also accelerate greatly throughout the summer and the fall. We must let it work the way it’s supposed to, with the understanding that in any recession, unemployment tends to recover more slowly than other measures of economic activity," he adds.

During his weeklong trip to Europe and Africa that wraps up today, attacks grew louder on the stimulus, polls showed declining confidence in his job performance on the economy, and numbers showed continuing steep job losses.

In his address, Obama claims accomplishments abroad, but seeks to reassure Americans that he's focused on the homefront, that he will get federal budget deficits under control even as he tries to pass landmark legislation on healthcare and clean energy, and to remind the public of the depth of the economic crisis he inherited in January.

"We came into office facing the most severe economic downturn since the Great Depression," he says. "At the time, we were losing, on average 700,000 jobs a month. And many feared that our financial system was on the verge of collapse. As a result of the swift and aggressive action we took in the first few months of this year, we’ve been able to pull our financial system and our economy back from the brink."

"I said when I took office that it would take many months to move our economy from recession to recovery and ultimately to prosperity," he adds. "We are not there yet, and I continue to believe that even one American out of work is one too many. But we are moving in the right direction. We are cleaning up the wreckage of this storm. And we are laying a firmer, stronger foundation so that we may better weather whatever future storms may come. This year has been and will continue to be a year of rescuing our economy from disaster."

The full text is below, and the video of the address can be viewed here.

President Obama said today he still hopes that Congress can vote on a healthcare overhaul bill before its August recess, despite a series of setbacks this week for his top domestic priority.

House leaders hoped to unveil their bill today, but have put that off until at least Monday while they try to bring conservative Democrats, known as the Blue Dog Coalition, back into the fold. Democrats in both the House and Senate are scrambling to come up with a way to pay the estimated $1 trillion cost over the next decade.

UPDATE: In the latest approach to financing the overhaul, House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel told reporters this afternoon that the House bill to be unveiled on Monday would raise $540 billion over the next decade by imposing a 1 percent surtax on Americans with an annual income of more than $350,000. A higher surtax is proposed for people earning $500,000 and $1 million, he said.

Combined with savings promised by hospitals and pharmaceutical companies, including cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, the tax revenue is designed to be enough to pay for a bill costing about $1 trillion.

"Our team is working with members of Congress every day on this issue, and it is my highest legislative priority over the next month," Obama told reporters at the close of the G-8 summit in Italy.

He insisted that Washington is closer "at any time in recent history" to "achieving serious health care reform that cuts costs, provides coverage to American families, allows them to keep their doctors and plans that are working for them."

As both parties and both chambers work through the legislation, the president said, his job is to set "clear parameters" -- cutting costs, emphasizing prevention, covering the nearly 50 million uninsured, and doing it in a way that does not add to the federal deficit.

"There are going to be some tough negotiations in the days and weeks to come, but I'm confident that we're going to get it done," Obama added. "What I'm trying to keep focused on are the people out in states all across the country that are getting hammered by rising premiums. They're losing their jobs and suddenly losing their healthcare."

His full answer at the news conference is below:

In his meeting with Pope Benedict XVI today, President Obama asked him to pray for Senator Edward M. Kennedy and delivered a personal letter from the ailing senator.

White House national security aide Denis McDonough told reporters traveling with Obama that the president's discussion with the pope concluded with a talk about Kennedy, who is battling brain cancer.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters that as Air Force One lifted off , Obama phoned Kennedy and they spoke for about 10 minutes.

Asked about the letter, Gibbs replied, "The contents of the letter were not known to anybody that I know of except Senator Kennedy."

UPDATE: Kennedy's office declined to release the letter, saying it is private.

The first African-American president will arrive later today for his first visit to Africa. So understandably, there is quite a bit of buzz.

In Ghana, his public schedule on Saturday includes meeting Ghana's president at Christianborg Castle in Accra, then attending an event on maternal health at La General Hospital, and speaking to the Ghanaian parliament. Obama and Michelle Obama will travel to Cape Coast, where they will meet with Head Chief Osabarima Kwesi Atta II at his residence.

Obama's father was Kenyan, though he was raised by his Kansas-born mother. At the G-8 summit in Italy, Obama related his own family history as he pushed for more aid so that African countries can combat hunger and become self-sufficient in food.

"My father traveled to the United States a mere 50 years ago and yet now I have family members who live in villages -- they themselves are not going hungry, but live in villages where hunger is real," he said at the closing news conference today. "And so this is something that I understand in very personal terms, and if you talk to people on the ground in Africa, certainly in Kenya, they will say that part of the issue here is the institutions aren't working for ordinary people. And so governance is a vital concern that has to be addressed.

"Now keep in mind -- I want to be very careful -- Africa is a continent, not a country, and so you can't extrapolate from the experience of one country. And there are a lot of good things happening," he added. "Part of the reason that we're traveling to Ghana is because you've got there a functioning democracy, a President who's serious about reducing corruption, and you've seen significant economic growth.

"So I don't want to overly generalize it, but I do want to make the broader point that a government that is stable, that is not engaging in tribal conflicts, that can give people confidence and security that their work will be rewarded, that is investing in its people and their skills and talents, those countries can succeed, regardless of their history."

The White House put out a list of events being held in conjunction with Obama's speech by US embassies across Africa, below:

New poll results out today suggest that public support for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor may have dipped, just before her confirmation hearings begin Monday.

The CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey found that 47 percent of Americans want the Senate to confirm Sotomayor, while 40 percent do not and the remaining 13 percent have no opinion.

Those numbers are far more divided than the most recent justices to join the court -- Samuel Alito (54 percent in favor, 30 against) and John Roberts (60 percent versus 26 percent) -- just before their confirmation hearings. But they're better than for Harriet Miers (42 percent for, 43 percent against), whose nomination was withdrawn before hearings began.

While President Obama, Democrats, and other supporters have extolled Sotomayor's experience as a judge and her up-from-the-Bronx life story, Republicans and other critics have lambasted some of her rulings -- particularly one against white firefighters that was overturned by the Supreme Court last week -- and questioned whether she would be able to get beyond her own background in judging cases.

Anti-abortion and gun rights groups are also trying to build opposition to Sotomayor, who would be the first Hispanic on the high court.

Respondents in the poll were also divided whether the Senate -- if the confirmation hearings show she is qualified and has no ethical problems -- would be justified in voting against her if they disagree with her on issues such as gun control and abortion: 47 percent said senators would be justified, while 49 percent said they would not.

The poll also found that Americans expect a big fight over her nomination, though most observers expect she will be confirmed. Sixty percent said they expect a major battle between Democrats and Republicans, while only 38 percent anticipate a relatively easy process.

UPDATE: To combat the critics, Vice President Joe Biden sent an email today -- in both English and Spanish -- to the supporter lists of the Democratic National Committee and Organizing for America, Obama's grassroots organization.

Biden urges them to call their senator, write a letter to their local newspaper, or otherwise show their support for Sotomayor.

"Judge Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearings begin Monday, and that means we're one step closer to getting her on the Supreme Court," Biden says.

"Since President Obama nominated her back in May, Judge Sotomayor's brilliance and unique legal qualifications have stood strong against fierce scrutiny. Law enforcement officials have praised her tough-mindedness and experience as a prosecutor and trial judge, and just this week she earned the highest possible rating from the American Bar Association. There's no doubt -- the President picked the right person for the job.

"Next week, the Senate hearings will once again focus the press on this historic nomination, and those who are desperate to play politics with the President's nominee will see this as their last, best chance. Your support for Judge Sotomayor at this critical step will make a big difference."

Representative Ron Paul of Texas, who waged a surprisingly successful grassroots campaign for the Republican presidential nomination last year, makes an unwelcome cameo appearance in "Bruno," the latest Sacha Baron Cohen mockumentary that opens today.

Paul is lured into a bedroom by Bruno, a gay Austrian fashionista, who apparently has designs on the uptight congressman for a sex tape.

In the movie trailer, Cohen is shown dropping his pants -- and Paul is shown storming out, saying, "This is ended."

Well, let Paul, himself, describe what happened, as he did in an April interview with ABC Radio's Curtis Sliwa.

"Without you realizing who he was, Bruno tried and failed to seduce you in a Washington hotel room, even pulling down his pants in front of you. Now, is that true or untrue?" Sliwa asked.

"Well, it is. But, the way it's said — it sounds a little bit different. We were in a studio situation. I wasn't invited to a hotel room. A studio situation where they had a lot of lights burn and blaze and all kinds of commotion. They said — better get in this back room here. And all of a sudden, I was in this room...which they had it all fixed up as a bedroom. So, getting me there was sort of dishonesty. Getting me into the interview. I was expecting an interview on Austrian economics. So, that didn't turn out that way. But, by the time he started pulling his pants down, I ran out of the room. This interview has ended. When this all gets out, I'm probably going to have to apologize to my supporters because I think most of them are going to figure out why in the world didn't I sock this guy in the nose?

Sliwa asks Paul if he had seen "Borat," and thus would have been forewarned about Cohen's stunts.

"No, no," Paul answers. "Movies I used to see are 'Sound of Music.' Tonight, I was sitting here watching 'Gone with the Wind.' So, I don't watch that kind of stuff. And I understand he makes a lot of money. But, if he makes a lot of money — I have to permit the market to do this. I don't like the idea that he lies his way into an interview. That to me, is fraud. But, the fact that he has raunchy material and people buy into it — it's sort of sad that that is a reflection of our culture. To me, it's a real shame that people are going to reward him with millions and millions of dollars for being so crass."

At this point, it could be construed as piling on.

But the Democratic National Committee is continuing its assault on Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential nominee last year, soon-to-be-former governor of Alaska, and potential 2012 contender.

It posted a web video today that takes advantage of the hipster Urban Dictionary adding an entry called "pullin' a Palin" -- basically quitting midstream when times get tough.

It is today's word or phrase of the day. The definition:
"1. Quitting when the going gets tough; abandoning the responsibility entrusted to you by your neighbors for book advances and to make money on the lecture circuit.

"2. Bizarre move that will damn ambitions for higher office."

Palin shocked her state and much of the political universe a week ago when she announced her resignation as governor, 18 months before her term ends.

The DNC video is not very creative -- it just lifts a segment from Keith Olbermann's "Countdown" show on MSNBC that also wraps in sex scandal-plagued South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford and Senators Larry Craig and John Ensign.

Massachusetts Senators John F. Kerry and Edward M. Kennedy announced today that the Bay State's Department of Housing and Community Development will get nearly $51 million in stimulus cash to help revive the moribund housing market.

Nationally, housing starts have fallen almost 80 percent since the beginning of 2006, and Massachusetts is no exception. The drop in housing construction has led to severe job losses in building and related jobs, more than 1 million nationwide.

“We’ve got more than 750 Massachusetts families and 1,000 children hanging on by their fingernails living in motels at a cost to state taxpayers of nearly $2 million each month. This affordable housing investment will help these families and thousands more who are out of work or struggling with reduced incomes from fewer hours at work by creating good jobs and delivering affordable housing now. It will help keep these working families off the streets and out of shelters for good,” Kerry said in a statement.

“These funds are vital to Massachusetts families who are out of work and reeling from the soaring cost of housing,” added Kennedy. “I commend the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development for its extraordinary commitment to our citizens struggling with housing costs, and I commend President Obama for emphasizing the need to make these important investments that protect families and also create jobs in our Commonwealth.”

Is President Obama's honeymoon with the American public nearing an end?

A second poll out this week shows a noticeable drop in public confidence in the president, six months into his term. The CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released today put his overall job approval rating at 61 percent -- and on a steady decline from 76 percent in February.

As telling, 70 percent of respondents believe Obama is "a strong and decisive leader," down from 80 percent in February; 56 percent think he generally agrees with them on issues they care about, down from 63 percent five months ago; and only 53 percent said he has a "clear plan" for solving the nation's problems, down from 64 percent.

While 79 percent approve of Obama personally, a smaller subset -- 58 percent -- approve both him personally and his job performance, and 19 percent like him personally but not his job performance.

The poll, conducted June 26-28, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. A poll in the bellwether state of Ohio also found decreasing confidence in Obama and his economic proposals.

Obama's decline largely tracks the economy, which remains mired in recession. New numbers out today showed that laid-off workers are having trouble finding jobs -- continuing claims for unemployment benefits jumped by 159,000 last week, reaching 6.88 million, the highest in records dating from 1967.

As dissatisfaction grows with the $787 billion economic stimulus plan and Obama is on his foreign trip, the White House is dispatching Vice President Joe Biden today to Cincinnati, Ohio, and Saratoga County, New York, to cheerlead for the stimulus.

Biden spoke in front of the American Can Building, an abandoned factory being turned into a mixed-use development with stimulus money, and announced approval of Cincinnati's plan to use a $3.5 million federal grant to revive neighborhoods and fix up affordable housing and public facilities.

Overall, $4.4 billion in stimulus money has been targeted for Ohio, including $2 billion for education, $1 billion for health care, and $445 million for transportation.

“Roads plus teachers plus cops plus jobs equals a community — and that equals paychecks and prosperity,” Biden said. “In other words, it equals a better future right here in Southwest Ohio.”

Later, at Shenendehowa High School in Clifton Park, N.Y., Biden announced that the Labor Department has authorized $275 million in additional jobless benefits for New York, making it easier for unemployed workers seeking part-time work and those unemployed for family reasons to be eligible for benefits

So far, New York is in line to get $16 billion, including $2 billion for education and $700 million for transportation.

“I see it everywhere we go: communities being rebuilt, factories being reopened, workers rehired — teachers in their classrooms, cops on the streets, families better able to live a quality life,” Biden said. “With the Recovery Act, Saratoga County and America are reclaiming our proud past — and, while we’re at it, creating a better future.”

Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, the No. 2 Republican in the House, kept up the critique of the stimulus and adamantly opposed the idea of a second stimulus package.

"Clearly, we’re at the point now about five months after the passage of the spending bill that the administration is realizing that it’s not working," he said on Fox News Channel, one of a series of TV interviews he did today. "That frankly the stimulative effects that were intended have not come to fruition. And in fact, promises were made that we wouldn’t go over 8.5% unemployment. We know millions of people are losing their jobs. We’re inching toward 10% unemployment. So now’s not the time to start saying, ‘Hey, we need more of the same,’ because we know it didn’t work."

UPDATE: Late today, the Republican National Committee posted a hard-hitting web video called the stimulus "failed" and repeatedly slamming Obama.

The video shows Obama putting his feet up on the desk as the narrator talks about rising unemployment and deficits, and continually loops excerpts from an interview where Obama says he would have done nothing differently on the stimulus.

President Obama announced this evening he is nominating Richard Serino, Boston's EMS chief, as deputy administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Here's the White House mini-biography:

Richard Serino has had an impressive career in emergency management and emergency medical services. Currently, he is the Chief of Emergency Medical Services and the Assistant Director for the Boston Public Health Commission. Previously, he has served as the Superintendent-in-Chief and a Superintendent for Field Operations for Boston Emergency Medical Services having rose through the ranks over 35 years. He has also served as a guest lecturer at Harvard and Boston University on homeland security and emergency preparedness issues and as a national faculty member for the Domestic Preparedness Program at the U.S. Department of Defense. He has also participated in Senior Leadership programs in national preparedness and homeland defense at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and at the Naval Postgraduate School, Center for Homeland Defense and Security.

On the eve of Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearings that begin Monday, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island delivered a steadfast defense of the Supreme Court nominee on the Senate floor today.

Whitehouse, a member of the Judiciary Committee that will hold the hearings, said he's impressed as a former prosecutor with her experience as a practicing attorney and prosecutor.

"Like millions of Americans, I have been inspired by her personal story. Frankly, it gives me goose bumps to think of that little girl growing up in the projects in the Bronx and growing into the woman we see before us now at the top of the legal profession, with a career of exemplary conduct, exemplary academic achievement, exemplary judicial experience already behind her. It is really a great story of American discipline and achievement," he told his colleagues.

"Unfortunately, critics of Judge Sotomayor’s confirmation have unleashed an avalanche of innuendo meant to weaken the case for her confirmation. These criticisms began among the right-wing talking heads, but unfortunately some of them are now voiced by my Republican colleagues here on the floor. Indeed, rather than waiting for the hearing to ask her about her record and her judicial philosophy, a number of my colleagues have come to the floor to attack her and her nomination."

To criticism of her judicial philosophy as outside the mainstream, Whitehouse argued that Sotomayor has stuck to precedent during her career on the bench. He also tried to turn the tables, arguing that Chief Justice John Roberts has not been a neutral "umpire" on the court, but has been a judicial activist.

And to criticism that her life experience -- she would be the first Hispanic on the high court -- would damage her ability to be fair and impartial, Whitehouse asserted that judicial discretion -- based partly on personal experience -- is part and parcel of American legal tradition.

"It is harsh, narrow-minded, and ahistoric to contend that a rich life experience and natural empathy are at odds with that judicial tradition," he said.

Meanwhile, both Democrats and Republicans today submitted their witness lists for the confirmation hearings.

Republicans plan to call Frank Ricci, the white firefighter in New Haven, Conn., whose reverse discrimination claim was rejected by Sotomayor. He was the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging his city's decision to scrap the results of a promotion test because too few minorities scored highly enough to qualify. Sotomayor was part of an appellate court panel that rejected Ricci's claim. The Supreme Court reversed the ruling last week.

Republicans also plan to call Sandy Froman, a former president of the National Rifle Association, which has criticized Sotomayor on gun ownership rights, and Charmaine Yoest, president of Americans United for Life, a Washington-based group that opposes abortion.

Democrats' witnesses include New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former FBI Director Louis Freeh, and former Major League Baseball pitcher David Cone. As a federal district court judge, Sotomayor ended a long baseball strike in 1995, ruling in favor of the players and against the owners.

By Bryan Bender, Globe Staff

WASHINGTON -- It has been a mystery for more than two decades how former Liberian president Charles G. Taylor broke out of the Plymouth County Correctional Facility in 1985, beginning a journey that ultimately made him one of Africa's most notorious strongmen.

The world may finally get its answer as early as next week when Taylor takes the stand for the first time in his war crimes trial in The Hague, where he is accused of ordering atrocities during neighboring Sierra Leone's civil war.

Stephen J. Rapp, the prosecutor in the trial, told the Globe today that Taylor -- who has been indicted on 17 counts of crimes against humanity -- is expected to give testimony for as many as six weeks, during which he is predicted to detail extensively various periods of his life, including his time in the Boston area.

Rapp said that Taylor has provided the prosecution with just a five-page summary of what he is going to talk about. "I think he has a lot more to say," he said.

One incident that many observers are particularly curious to hear about is his Plymouth prison break, which has long been fodder for conspiracy theorists who believe Taylor may have been aided by elements within the US government who later used him as an informant.

Taylor was a student at Bentley College (now University) in Waltham after he fled Liberia in 1983 in the face of charges that he embezzled money from the Liberian government, then headed by Samuel Doe, whom Taylor supported in a bloody 1980 coup.

Taylor was arrested in 1984 in Somerville pending extradition. While fighting the extradition charges -- his lawyer was former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark -- Taylor escaped from the Plymouth prison on Sept. 15, 1985, along with four other inmates.

Taylor's wife and sister-in-law reportedly met him at nearby Jordan Hospital and drove him in a getaway car to Staten Island in New York, where he disappeared. All the other escaped inmates were eventually caught.

Taylor reportedly showed up in Muammar Qaddafi's Libya, where he underwent guerilla training before leading a bloody revolution in his native country at the head of an army known as the Revolutionary United Front.

After a 15-year reign of terror as Liberia's president -- including claims by the United Nations that he aided members of the Al Qaeda network raising money from the trade of gemstones -- Taylor was indicted by the special court for Sierra Leone in 2003.

Under pressure from the Bush administration he was handed over to the court in 2005 by the government of by Nigeria, where he was in hiding.

Since his trial began last year more than 90 witnesses have testified to his role in Sierra Leone's bloody civil war, in which hundreds of thousands of civilians were killed.

President Obama today honored three Massachusetts teachers and organizations among more than 100 nationwide receiving awards for excellence.

The Maria Mitchell Association in Nantucket is among those receiving the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring, which goes to individuals or organizations who mentor minority students studying science or engineering.

Erin Flynn of Roslindale and Deborah Seaver of Milford are among those getting the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching is given to the best pre-college-level science and math teachers from across the country.

The awards will be presented this fall at a White House ceremony

“There is no higher calling than furthering the educational advancement of our nation’s young people and encouraging and inspiring our next generation of leaders,” Obama said in a statement. “These awards represent a heartfelt salute of appreciation to a remarkable group of individuals who have devoted their lives and careers to helping others and in doing so have helped us all.”

The full White House release is below:

Many Americans are still grieving the death of Michael Jackson, but don't expect Congress to pass a resolution honoring him.

At the star-studded public memorial service on Tuesday in Los Angeles, Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, a Texas Democrat, effusively praised the King of Pop and held up a copy of House Resolution 600, (read it here) which would honor Jackson's life and charitable works.

But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said today that she has no plans to bring that resolution to the floor for a vote, suggesting that at least in part she wants to avoid the embarrassment of other House members criticizing Jackson.

"Michael Jackson was a great, great performer, and lots of sadness there for many reasons," she said at a wide-ranging news conference. "What I have said to my colleagues over the years, and certainly as leader and as speaker, is that there's an opportunity on the floor of the House to express their sympathy or their praise any time that they wish. I don't think it's necessary for us to have a resolution."

"A resolution, I think, would open up to contrary views to -- that are not necessary at this time to be expressed in association with a resolution whose purpose is quite different," she added.

One of the most vocal "contrary views" came from Representative Peter King, a New York Republican who in a widely viewed video blasted Jackson and the intensive media coverage his death prompted.

King called Jackson a lowlife, pervert, and child molester, and said that media attention should go instead to police officers, firefighters, teachers, and other unsung heroes.

The congressman has come under some criticism himself for the vehemence of his remarks. But on Fox News Channel Wednesday night, King stood behind what he said and lashed out at those who saw racism in his remarks.

“That is absolute nonsense. I stand by everything I said and there's absolutely nothing racist or racial in any of the words I used," he said. "I just think that people are raising this issue are absolutely phony.”

UPDATE: Asked about Pelosi's comments, Jackson Lee told the Associated Press that she isn't giving up. Honorary resolutions don't often pass right away, she said this afternoon.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sought today to avoid diving back into the controversy over what she knew about harsh interrogations of terrorist detainees and when she knew it, despited being armed with more ammunition on her side.

In May, she acknowledged for the first time that she knew by early 2003 that the Central Intelligence Agency had subjected terror detainees to waterboarding, but saw little recourse to challenge the practice except by achieving Democratic control of Congress and the White House.

In defending herself, she also accused CIA officials of misleading Congress about the extent of the use of waterboarding, which she, President Obama, and others say is torture and have harshly criticized. CIA Director Leon Panetta, a former congressional colleague, denied the accusation, and some Republicans called for Pelosi to resign as speaker.

But in a letter disclosed Wednesday, seven Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee asserted that Panetta told Congress last month that senior CIA officials have concealed significant actions and misled lawmakers repeatedly since 2001.

Pelosi told reporters today that Panetta has not told her that, and said she only knew of the letter from media reports.

Asked if the letter ends the debate over the "propriety" of her accusations about the CIA, she replied, "I didn't know there was any question about propriety. I'm very proud of my work in human rights over the years. And people know where I am on the issues on which we've agreed."

It's not clear what Panetta privately told the committee on June 24, but committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes, a Texas Democrat, said the CIA clearly lied in one case.

The CIA did not directly comment on what Panetta told the panel, instead issuing its stock response. "It is not the policy or practice of the CIA to mislead Congress. This agency and this director believe it is vital to keep the Congress fully and currently informed. Director Panetta's actions back that up," spokesman George Little told reporters.

Republicans say the letter is part of a campaign to protect Pelosi.

The top Republican on the committee, Pete Hoekstra of Michigan, called the letter "one of the most bizarre episodes in politics that I've seen in my time here in Washington." "It looks like they're working on the political equation," Hoekstra said on CBS' "The Early Show." "They're not trying to foster a bipartisan consensus on national security."

The back-and-forth comes as the House debates a bill that would let more lawmakers attending top-secret intelligence briefings -- legislation that President Obama vows to veto.

Top Obama administration officials are holding a swine flu preparedness summit today, trying to make sure that the fall flu season does not bring a more severe outbreak.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius -- who is hosting the meeting with top state officials along with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Education Secretary Arne Duncan -- said that the government is planning a vaccination campaign to stem any spread in schools and daycare centers.

"Over the course of coming weeks and months, we will move aggressively to prepare the nation for the possibility of a more severe outbreak of the H1N1 virus," Sebelius said in a statement. "We ask the American people to become actively engaged with their own preparation and prevention. It's a responsibility we all share."

Health and Human Services will offer grants totaling $350 million to help state and local public health offices and healthcare systems step up efforts, has launched a new informational website, and is holding a contest for a new public service announcement (prize for the winning submission is $2,500) to help educate Americans about how to prevent the spread of H1N1 influenza.

Governors Jim Douglas of Vermont, John Baldacci of Maine, and Jodi Rell of Connecticut joined in a videoconference as part of the summit at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md.

While H1N1 did not lead to as many deaths as many feared earlier this year, it did cause the first pandemic of the 21st century and specialists fear more cases later. It killed at least 429 people around the world, and at least 1 million infections in the United State, mostly mild cases.

"I think it's clear that although we were fortunate not to see a more serious situation in the spring when we first got news of this outbreak, that the potential for a significant outbreak in the fall is looming," President Obama told the gathering by phone from the G-8 summit in Italy.

"We want to make sure that we are not promoting panic, but we are promoting vigilance and preparation. And the most important thing for us to do in this process is to make sure that state and local officials prepare now to implement a vaccination program in the fall, but also that they are working on an overall public communications campaign with the White House and the possibilities that we may need to be dealing with schools that are seeing significant outbreaks of H1N1."

Obama's full remarks are below:

Immigration took a back seat during last year's presidential campaign, when Barack Obama and John McCain generally agreed for the need for sweeping change, including a path to citizenship for some illegal immigrants -- once the borders are secure.

It isn't on the front burner now, as the Obama administration focuses on healthcare and energy.

But a bipartisan panel put together by the respected Council on Foreign Relations tried today to put the issue back on the national agenda, issuing a report that argues that comprehensive immigration reform is needed now and failure to pass it "threatens to weaken America's economy, to jeopardize its diplomacy, and to imperil its national security."

The report (read it here) was issued by a task force that included former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and former Clinton White House Chief of Staff Thomas "Mack" McLarty.

Immigration overhaul advocates praised the report.
"That fact that the Council on Foreign Relations is examining U.S. immigration policy is a clear signal that immigration is now regarded as a matter of national security and international diplomacy, not only a domestic policy concern with broad economic implications," Mary Giovagnoli, director of the Immigration Policy Center, said in a statement.

"The Council on Foreign Relations' report states unequivocally that comprehensive immigration reform is not only good for America, but vital to our national interests. The report places the debate over comprehensive reform in a broader context, challenging Congress and the White House to move forward now on a sensible and thoughtful reform of our broken immigration system. The fact that a diverse group of leaders representing a range of political perspectives can reach consensus on immigration reform is not only a good sign, but an indication of just how critical immigration has become in efforts to maintain America's political, economic, and moral leadership in the world."

“The recommendations of this high-powered, diverse and bipartisan panel clearly underscore the urgent need for fundamental immigration reform if we are to make our nation stronger, more competitive and more secure," added Frank Sharry, executive director of America’s Voice. “The political middle ground is rapidly forming for all parties to come together and fix a problem that has festered too long. The American people are demanding a political solution to this vexing problem and they want it done now. This report reinforces the growing acceptance that through immigration reform we can advance our national security, help our economy and restore the rule of law in a way that is fair and just.”

The issue did rise up during the Republican primaries, where McCain found himself under attack from competitors for his sponsorship of a comprehensive bill that he championed with Senator Edward M. Kennedy, but that floundered in 2007 despite President George W. Bush's backing in the face of vehement opposition.

Today, the Senate voted to require real fencing along 700 miles of the border with Mexico rather than vehicle barriers and high-tech equipment, the Associated Press reports.

The plan won approval by a 54-44 vote during consideration of the Department of Homeland Security's budget.

Senator Jim DeMint, a South Carolina Republican who pushed the proposal, said that the US-Mexico border "has become a battleground" as drug and weapons traffickers, along with illegal immigrants, move too freely and that "virtual" fencing such as motion detectors doesn't work as well as a real fence, the AP says.

UPDATE: Meanwhile, the lead Democrat working on immigration in the Senate told the AP today that he expects to have a bill ready by Labor Day that is more generous to higher-skilled immigrant workers and that cracks down on future illegal immigration.

Senator Chuck Schumer of New York said an immigration deal can be done by early next year. "I think we'll have a good bill by Labor Day," he told the AP. "I think the fundamental building blocks are in place to do comprehensive immigration reform."

President Obama pledged during the campaign to push for overturning the Defense of Marriage Act, but has focused on the economy, healthcare, other issues since taking office.

But more pressure could come from Massachusetts, which today became the first state to sue over the 1996 law, which defines marriage as between one man and one woman and which allows states to ignore gay marriages performed in other states.

That unfairly excludes more than 16,000 Massachusetts same-sex couples, who have married since the Bay State in 2004 became the first to legalize gay marriage, from "critically important rights and protections based on marital status," Attorney General Martha Coakley said.

The lawsuit (read it here) asserts that DOMA is unconstitutional because it interferes with the commonwealth’s "sovereign authority to define and regulate the marital status of its residents" and also alleges that DOMA exceeds Congress’s authority because Congress does not have a valid reason for requiring Massachusetts to treat married same-sex couples differently from all other married couples.

“Today, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts takes an important step toward ensuring equality and fairness for its citizens and maintaining our authority as a sovereign state,” Coakley said in a statement. “DOMA affects residents of Massachusetts in very real and very negative ways by depriving access to important economic safety nets and other protections that couples count on when they marry and that help them to take care of one another and their families. DOMA also directly and fundamentally interferes with Massachusetts’s right as a state sovereign to determine the marital status of its residents.”

Besides Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, Maine, and New Hampshire allow or will soon permit same-sex marriages. California recognizes the marriage licenses of 18,000 same-sex couples prior to the passage of Proposition 8 last November. Two other states, New York and Rhode Island, as well as the District of Columbia honor gay marriages from Massachusetts.

Charles Miller, a spokesman for the US Justice Department, said: "The president supports legislative repeal of the defense of marriage act because it prevents LGBT couples from being granted equal rights and benefits. We will review this case.’’

While gay rights groups applauded the lawsuit, conservatives criticized Coakley, who harbors higher political ambitions, perhaps the US Senate.

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins president accused her of "expanding the fight against traditional marriage by demanding that federal taxpayers from all 50 states subsidize same-sex 'marriage' benefits in Massachusetts.

"American taxpayers should hold onto their wallets," he said in a statement. "Should this lawsuit succeed and President Obama's healthcare reform pass without an explicit ban on tax-funded abortions, taxpayers face the very real possibility of being forced to subsidize both same-sex 'marriages' and abortion coverage within a universal healthcare plan.

"Recognizing the ongoing threat to marriage, voters in the last election continued to define marriage in their state constitutions as the union of one man and one woman. We advise the US Justice Department to fulfill its constitutional duties and continue its defense of DOMA against such frivolous lawsuits. We also urge any federal courts that hear this case to dismiss it and preserve the right of the people to decide such important public policy decisions."

By Stephanie Vallejo, Globe correspondent

WASHINGTON -- In the three months since Sirdeaner Walker’s 11-year-old son, Carl Walker-Hoover, committed suicide, the Springfield mother has channeled her grief into action. Walker appeared on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" and "The Oprah Winfrey Show" to speak out on the dangers of bullying.

But that was just a warm-up.

Walker, once a self-described “ordinary working mom,” has become a persistent advocate for safer schools, and she’ll stop at nothing less than federal legislation. Appearing today before the House subcommittees on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education and Healthy Families and Communities, Walker related Carl’s story once again.

“What could make a child his age despair so much that he would take his own life?” Walker asked during a panel on “Strengthening School Safety Through Prevention of Bullying.” “I will probably never know the answer. What we do know is that Carl was being bullied relentlessly at school.”

Walker had known for months of her son’s situation, and, so did the staff at the New Leadership Charter School in Springfield.

She was unhappy with their course of action, and attributes it to a lack of training. The last week of Carl’s life, he had been assigned to sit with his tormentors at lunch as part of a mediation process. “Obviously there needs to be some professional development and instruction, because that’s not a solution,” she said.

While school officials acknowledge they knew of the bullying, they say they handled the situation appropriately.

Walker supports a bill that would require states that receive grants for safe and drug-free schools to invest in bullying prevention programs. She plans to speak with staff in the offices of Massachusetts Senators John F. Kerry and Edward M. Kennedy while in Washington.

“Everyone at the hearing listened to Carl’s story,” Walker said afterwards. “I really feel like now is the time that we look to the federal government for guidelines and leadership. Our children are suffering every day, in school.”

President Obama this afternoon announced he plans to nominate Francis S. Collins, who uncovered the human genetic code, as director of the National Institutes of Health.

“The National Institutes of Health stands as a model when it comes to science and research," Obama said in a statement. "My administration is committed to promoting scientific integrity and pioneering scientific research and I am confident that Dr. Francis Collins will lead the NIH to achieve these goals. Dr. Collins is one of the top scientists in the world, and his groundbreaking work has changed the very ways we consider our health and examine disease. I look forward to working with him in the months and years ahead.”

Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, chairman of the Senate's health committee, praised Obama's pick.

“President Obama has made an inspired choice in selecting Dr. Francis Collins to lead NIH in this era of extraordinary progress in health research," Kennedy said in a statement. "He combines exceptional scientific skill with a deep commitment to the role of science in serving the American people. I look forward to working with my colleagues in the Senate to see that his nomination is approved without delay.”

The mini-biography provided by the White House is below: