President Obama has been meeting this week with lawmakers on Capitol Hill to talk about long-term budget planning. On Wednesday, Obama met with House Republicans who offered mixed views on how the dialogue went.

Democrats and Republicans are working from very different definitions of the term in discussing their budget proposals unveiled this week.

The Senate on Wednesday began working through the trillion dollar spending bill to keep government running through the end of September. Amid all the talk about budgets, the legislation is actually the only one that's necessary to avoid a March 27 government shutdown. Meanwhile, President Obama continued his charm offensive with a visit with House Republicans. Melissa Block talks to Tamara Keith.

Like the famous cherry blossoms forecast to bloom in a few weeks, this time of year is marked by the arrival of competing, partisan and utterly doomed federal budget proposals.

House budget chairman and former vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan released his chamber's version of a 10-year budget plan. It eliminates deficits in 10 years, thanks to a $600 billion tax increase in the fiscal cliff agreement, but would also repeal President Obama's health care law.

On Capitol Hill, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul launched a "talking filibuster" a little bit before noon on Wednesday, and he stopped talking shortly before 1 a.m. on Thursday. He was trying to block Senate confirmation of the president's nominee to lead the CIA John Brennan.

Automatic spending cuts are scheduled to take effect Friday. Over time, the across-the-board spending cuts could slow economic growth and lead to hundreds of thousands of government employees going out on furlough.

Earlier, we broke down a statement that President Obama has repeated about the sequester. As we continue trying to decipher the messaging war over the mandated budget cuts scheduled to kick in Friday, we now take a look at the political talking points of House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.

The key players in Washington seem unable even to define the terms around the debate, much less find a way to stop the automatic government spending cuts set to begin Friday. So today, we're taking a deeper look at the words of President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner

President Obama and congressional Republicans have been trying to negotiate a deal to avert the automatic tax hikes and spending cuts known as the "fiscal cliff." But what happens Jan. 1 if no agreement is reached? Some experts say not much will happen — at least not immediately.

As House Speaker John Boehner tries to work with President Obama to prevent automatic tax increases and spending cuts, he is taking heat from members of his own party. Some conservatives think he gave up too much, too soon in his opening offer.

The tax code has long favored investment income over the money you get in your paycheck. But today's rates on dividends and capital gains are especially low, dating to tax cuts installed under President George W. Bush. And they're one target in the talks to avert a so-called fiscal cliff.

It's now widely agreed that steering away from the fiscal cliff — the combination of spending cuts and tax increases set to hit at the start of the year — will require some combination of revenue increases and spending cuts. The central sticking point could well be whether President Obama and Congress can agree on the definition of revenue.

JPMorgan Chase's $2 billion loss in a risky investment brings attention to the presidential candidates' stances on financial regulation. President Obama supported the Dodd-Frank act, while Mitt Romney has said he would replace it with other regulations.

Mitt Romney's tax returns show he pays an effective rate of just under 15 percent. His father, George, paid two to three times that rate. What one family's changing tax burden reveals about the design of the American tax code.

President Obama is scheduled Monday to release his proposed federal budget for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1. House Republican leaders are likely to release their version in the coming days. Neither is likely to pass. Not that it matters — the spending level for the year was set in last summer's bill that settled the debt ceiling crisis.

House Republicans are rejecting a bipartisan compromise approved overwhelmingly by the Senate Saturday. The deal would have extended the payroll tax holiday and unemployment benefits through February.

Monday was to be the deadline for the Congressional Budget Office to release its analysis of the deficit-cutting proposal the supercommittee is to vote on no later than Wednesday. But there's not even an outline of an agreement.

Even with the latest change to Cain's tax reform plan, the lowest-income Americans would see their tax bills rise because they'd face a trickle-down effect from business taxes and they would still face the 9 percent sales tax, analysts say.

The FEMA disaster relief fund is once again flush with cash after coming precariously close to a zero balance last week. The fund got a quick hit of $2.65 billion as part of a temporary measure to keep the government open for business, but that money may not last very long.