WHITE HOUSE

A new study finds that adults in Washington D.C. abuse more drugs and alcohol than anywhere else in the nation.

Leaders from both, major political parties fanned-out across Capitol Hill Monday night to secure votes to pass the bipartisan debt deal bill, which would also raise the debt ceiling, and avert a U.S. Government default. The strongest opposition will occur in the House, but two-chamber passage is expected by 1 a.m. EDT Tuesday.

The White House and congressional leaders scrambled for enough support from skeptical lawmakers on Monday to push through an 11th-hour deal to raise the U.S. borrowing limit and avert a devastating debt default.

Wall Street fell for a sixth day on Monday on renewed angst about Washington's ability to reach a deal on raising the U.S. debt ceiling and following disappointing news from the manufacturing sector.

The Congressional Budget Office's (CBO) estimate that the deal deal will cut the deficit by at least $2.1 trillion may not only save the debt deal -- it may save the nation's two, major political parties.

President Barack Obama will continue to push for an extension of the payroll tax cut despite that not being part of a deficit-cutting deal reached by lawmakers, the White House said on Monday.

Stocks fell a sixth day on Monday as weaker-than-expected U.S. manufacturing data and uncertainty over the debt deal in Washington kept the mood skittish on Wall Street.

Both the House and the Senate plan to vote Monday night on a deal to raise the debt ceiling.

The next battle already looms on the legislative horizon: it's the battle over the 2001/2003 Bush tax cuts.

Matt Damon delivers moving speech in protest against standardized testing.

The White House has one important tool in its arsenal to influence congressional talks over further deficit reduction measures in the coming months: the expiry of Bush-era tax cuts at the end of 2012.

After months of vitriolic discord, Republican and Democratic lawmakers were expected to vote on Monday on a White House-backed deal to raise the U.S. borrowing limit and avert an unprecedented default.

Congressional leaders and President Obama reached a deal to raise the federal debt ceiling in an effort to avoid the first U.S. default but a series of crucial votes in both chambers of Congress remain before the President can sign it into law.

A weary-looking President Obama told reporters late Sunday that a deal had been reached between the leaders of the White House, Senate and House of Representatives to raise the federal debt ceiling and avoid the first U.S. default, although a series of votes by all members in Congress is needed to make the ceiling raise a reality.

President Barack Obama said on Sunday that Democrat and Republican leaders had reached an agreement to reduce the U.S. deficit and avoid default, but it was not clear if the spending cuts were deep enough to stave off a credit rating downgrade. The White House said the compromise would cut about $2.5 trillion from the deficit over the next 10 years but the reductions would not happen so quickly that they would drag on the fragile U.S. economy.

President Barack Obama told reporters Sunday that a deal has been reached to raise the federal debt ceiling and avoid the first U.S. default, the culmination of days of high-level, high-stakes political wrangling to attempt to resolve the nation's large deficits.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has "signed-off" on a debt-raising deal that could be voted on as early as tonight, although the Senate's Republican leadership indicates a deal has not been reached yet as the U.S. attempts to avoid the first-ever default on debt by the U.S. government.

A deal to raise the federal debt ceiling and avoid the first ever U.S. default is "very close," but House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said Sunday there is a chance they may not pass it.

The Senate failed to advance Harry Reid's debt-ceiling plan, but leaders from both sides remained optimistic Sunday a deal can be reached before the Aug. 2 deadline to raise the U.S. debt ceiling.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is pushing ahead with a Senate vote on his debt plan, but the GOP votes are not there. Still, Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Sunday negotiators were "very, very close" to a deal.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said Sunday negotiators were "very, very close" to a deal to raise the debt ceiling. But Democratic leaders remain cautious. The deal is not done, they say.