NPR 2011-07-28

Facing a rebellion from fellow House Republicans over his debt ceiling plan, Speaker of the House John Boehner took a hard line today, trying to drum up more support. NPR's David Welna reports Boehner postponed 1 a House vote on his plan until tomorrow after the Congressional Budget Office found it delivered fewer spending cuts than promised.

Many House Republicans are balking 2 at Speaker John Boehner's plan that would raise the debt ceiling in two stages. They say his proposal does not cut spending enough, and congressional budget officials found the cuts he does propose were overstated by 350 billion dollars. Boehner told conservative radio host Laura Ingraham he's retooling 3 that plan and winning over some of the skeptics.

"We had a very good meeting this morning, and we picked up more members. I do believe that we can win this, and my goal is to continue to work with all of our members to get them to the point where they say yes."

Boehner's plan is competing with another put forward by Senate Majority Leader Harry 4 Reid. It's proposed spending cuts were found by the CBO to be overstated by half a trillion dollars. David Welna, NPR News, the Capitol.

Now Senate Majority Leader Reid calls Boehner’s plan a "big wet kiss for the right-wing."

"I really believe it's time for the House Republicans to face facts. They're struggling to save a Tea Party bill. It's not a balanced solution."

But Reid won't say when he plans to bring his bill up for a vote, saying he's gonna wait to see what GOP-led House does.

Now Wall Street is getting more jittery 5 about the debt impasse 6 with the Dow down 197 points or more than 1.5% at last check at 12,304, and Main Street is just as nervous. We spoke 7 to NPR digital contributor Alan Greenblatt, who found conservative voters in the St. Louis area appear to be running out of patience with both parties.

"They all have opinions. Mostly they're mad at Congress for not getting the deal done; at the same time, re-recognize that there are only bad choices—cutting Social Security or raising taxes or cutting elsewhere in the federal government. For the most part, they want something to happen. They want a deal that they can agree with."

That's Alan Greenblatt.

The United States says its decision to bar some Russian officials from the US should not hurt overall relations with Moscow. But as NPR's Michele Kelemen reports, Russia is threatening to curtail 8 cooperation.

The US has imposed visa bans on dozens of Russian officials it believes were responsible for the 2009 death of a hedge fund lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky. State Department spokesman Mark Toner says the US has long expressed concern about the case even as the US was resetting 10 relations with Russia.

"The reset 9 has always been about working constructively 11 with Russia in those areas where we share common concerns, and we've always said that that's not going to be done at the expense of our basic principles, including human rights."

Russia called the travel restrictions 12 an "unfriendly move" and vowed 13 to respond.

This is NPR News.

Astronomers 14 have discovered an asteroid 15 that shares the Earth's orbit as it travels around the sun. But as NPR's Richard Harris explains, the scientists say we are not going to collide with this giant hunk of rock.

The asteroid is about 300 yards across, which is more than bigger enough to do real damage if it ever smashed into the Earth. But the astronomers who discovered it say it's stuck in a spot that will keep it out of harm's way for at least 10,000 years. The Earth basically chases this object as we both orbit the sun. The asteroid wobbles around an odd gravitational center called Lagrange Point 4, and that's permanently 16 in front of the Earth by millions and millions of miles. Astronomers have known since the late 1700s that objects could end up in orbits like this that called Trojan asteroids 17. Trojan asteroids had been previously 18 discovered around Jupiter, Neptune 19 and Mars, and a report in Nature magazine says Earth has at least one as well. Richard Harris, NPR News.

A federal judge is upholding the Obama administration's rules that allow funding of human embryonic 20 stem cell research. Today, US District Judge Royce Lamberth threw out a legal challenge, saying the National Institutes of Health guidelines do not violate federal law. Now opponents argue the research unlawfully destroys human embryos 21. But proponents 22 say research involving stem cells could lead to treatment for a variety of diseases.

Norway's prime minister's creating a commission to investigate last week's double attacks that killed 76 people. But Jens Stoltenberg says that people can respond powerfully by politically promoting a more inclusive society. The self-confessed perpetrator of last week's violence says he was driven by a war against Muslims. Anders Breivik's lawyer, meanwhile, says his client is insane.