user: In this task, you are given a text of many news articles seperated by special token "|||||". Your task is to summarize them.

Q: President Donald Trump speaks as he signs the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) executive order, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2017, in the Roosevelt Room in the White House in Washington, which directs the Environmental... (Associated Press) 
  
 President Donald Trump speaks as he signs the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) executive order, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2017, in the Roosevelt Room in the White House in Washington, which directs the Environmental Protection Agency to withdraw the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule, which expands... (Associated Press) 
  
 President Donald Trump speaks as he signs the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) executive order, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2017, in the Roosevelt Room in the White House in Washington, which directs the Environmental Protection Agency to withdraw the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule, which expands... (Associated Press) President Donald Trump speaks as he signs the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) executive order, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2017, in the Roosevelt Room in the White House in Washington, which directs the Environmental... (Associated Press) 
  
 NEW YORK (AP) — Less than a week after President Donald Trump publicly attacked journalists for using anonymous sources in stories about his administration, it appears the president become one himself on Tuesday — at least briefly. 
  
 Three television anchors, shortly after attending from a White House lunch meeting with the president, emerged to report news on the president's belief that the time may be right for immigration reform. Fox News Channel's Bret Baier, and CNN's Wolf Blitzer and Jake Tapper, attributed the news to a "senior administration official." ABC's George Stephanopoulos, in a tweet, sourced it to a "WH official." 
  
 After being asked about the apparent contradiction, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said in an email that "the president's comments on that subject are on the record." 
  
 And minutes after that, ABC's David Muir, who was also in the meeting, posted a story on the network's web site quoting Trump by name saying the president had told news anchors and correspondents at the White House lunch that "the time is right for an immigration bill, as long as there is compromise on both sides." 
  
 The episode illustrated the administration's difficulties in squaring a longtime practice of anonymous sourcing in Washington politics and journalism with the president's anger at stories that displeased him. Trump has decried "fake news" and called journalists "enemies of the people." Friday, in a speech before a conference of conservatives, he said that reporters "shouldn't be allowed to use sources unless they use somebody's name. Let their name be put out there." 
  
 It's not unusual for presidents to invite journalists for private meetings like Tuesday's lunch before a major speech, like Trump's before Congress on Tuesday. In the past, they have been considered off the record — meaning nothing said at the meeting could be reported publicly. 
  
 Before Trump publicly became the source of the immigration news, a White House official acknowledged to The Associated Press that it came from the meeting with news anchors. The AP was not included in the meeting. 
  
 Fox News' Chris Wallace, who was also in the meeting, reported on Shepard Smith's afternoon show that he saw a "kinder, gentler Donald Trump" during the lunch. 
  
 "It was in this context that a senior administration official said that the president thinks that the time was right for immigration reform," Wallace said. "That came as kind of a surprise." 
  
 After some more discussion of nuggets from the "senior administration official," Smith couldn't take it anymore. 
  
 "So they give us anonymous sources after they rail at us for using anonymous sources?" he said. "That is hilarious." 
  
 Replied Wallace: "Don't shoot the messenger, Shep." 
  
 Smith said that Trump "wants people to think there's a major war against people who report facts that he doesn't like. But when you're in the room with him, it's all good. When you're on TV, he vilifies you and treats you as if you're doing something wrong when you're actually doing everything right. That's annoying." 
  
 ___ 
  
 AP Chief White House Correspondent Julie Pace in Washington contributed to this report. ||||| (CNN) President Donald Trump wants to pass an immigration reform bill that could grant legal status to millions of undocumented immigrants living in the US. 
  
 "The time is right for an immigration bill as long as there is compromise on both sides," Trump told reporters Tuesday at the White House. 
  
 The President is eager to pass a compromise immigration bill in his first term that would stop short of granting a path to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants, but would allow undocumented immigrants who aren't serious or violent criminals to live, work and pay taxes in the US without fear of deportation, a senior administration official said. 
  
 Trump included the idea of a compromise in his address to a Joint Session of Congress on Tuesday night. 
  
 "I believe that real and positive immigration reform is possible, as long as we focus on the following goals: to improve jobs and wages for Americans, to strengthen our nation's security and to restore respect for our laws," Trump told lawmakers. "If we are guided by the well-being of American citizens then I believe Republicans and Democrats can work together to achieve an outcome that has eluded our country for decades." 
  
 But Trump also signaled he stands behind some of his most controversial pledges from the campaign cycle, including the "extreme vetting" behind his travel ban that was blocked by the courts, and a call to cut back on low-skilled workers entering the country with a "merit-based" immigration system. 
  
 A path to citizenship for those in the country illegally would not be part of Trump's vision for this deal, with the possible exception of "Dreamers" -- those brought into the US illegally as children. 
  
 News of the President's support for a comprehensive reform of the US's immigration system fell against a backdrop of increasingly aggressive actions by immigration authorities across the US, who under Trump's administration have found new freedom to deport undocumented immigrants who have not been convicted of a serious crime -- the bar they were told to abide by under President Barack Obama's tenure. 
  
 But Trump's new apparent desire to grant legal status to many undocumented immigrants living in the US also marks a startling reversal from the positions he championed during his campaign for president. Trump focused on the need to build a wall along the US-Mexico border, and for much of his campaign, called for deporting all estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the US. The closest he came to calling for a path to legalization for undocumented immigrants was in his calls to allow the "good ones" who had been deported to reenter the US through an expedited, legal process. 
  
 Democrats on the Hill may be open to working with the administration on a compromise, sources said -- but healthy skepticism remained about Trump's true intentions on Tuesday and lawmakers signaled they'd want to see more from the President, and less aggressive immigration enforcement actions, before they believed him. 
  
 Tackling immigration reform would be another massive legislative endeavor, piling on top of Trump's already ambitious goals of repealing and replacing Obamacare and passing a tax reform package. 
  
 It would perhaps be the ultimate test of Trump's deal-making credentials, which he touted daily on the campaign trail. 
  
 Supporting a pathway to legalization for millions of undocumented immigrants could roil his base of supporters, many of whom flocked to Trump early on due to his controversial and hardline position on immigration. 
  
 But the official said Trump does not see the bill as something that would necessarily upset Trump's base, stressing that there would need to be "a softening on both sides." 
  
 "It has to be a negotiation," the official said, arguing that the bill theoretically could make people on both the "far right" and "far left" happy -- and it's a negotiation the President believes he could successfully broker, the official said. 
  
 The President believes that the nation is now in a position where it can pass immigration legislation after decades of failed efforts, and he believes the country is "exhausted." 
  
 "There's got to be a coming together," the official said. 
  
 In private, immigration activists on both sides of the spectrum believe that compromises can be made during Trump's tenure, although the inclusion of a "pathway to citizenship" for the millions of people living in the US illegally remains a tough sticking point. 
  
 "People would be willing to discuss it," one senior Democratic Hill aide who works on immigration issues said. 
  
 For Democrats, "there is openness to discussing options that may fall short of a full path to citizenship," the aide added. 
  
 Still, healthy skepticism remains about whether the White House is being genuine. 
  
 "It's just hard to believe this President," the Democratic staffer said. "He says things in one room to one group of people and then the next day he does things that are the opposite." 
  
 Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Trump still has work to do to gain Democrats' trust. 
  
 "He's got a lot to undo," Schumer said. "The immigrant community is rightfully scared of what President Trump has done. His executive order goes far beyond what anyone proposed. People are cowering. It's going to hurt us economically. ... (The administration doesn't) seem to know what they are doing. They simply come up with these proposals that sound good and then they can't implement them." 
  
 Schumer was echoed by fellow Democrat Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, who said Trump would have some walking back to do. 
  
 "I would have to see the details of any proposal," Wyden said. "Certainly if he is looking at something bipartisan, he's going to have to walk back some of the statements that he has made time after time after time, which in effect would say that there'd be a lot of focus by immigration authorities like ICE on people who have not committed any serious crimes." 
  
 The Congressional Hispanic Caucus, mainly made up of Democrats, released a statement in response to Trump's Tuesday remarks, essentially welcoming him to the immigration reform club. 
  
 "We've been ready," said Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, chairwoman of the caucus. 
  
 As always with immigration reform, the devil is in the details. In 2013, the Gang of Eight's immigration reform bill passed with wide bipartisan support in the Senate only to die in the House, where leadership did not move it forward. 
  
 Many of the compromises in that bill still enjoy wide support in Washington, but the pathway to citizenship has remained toxic for the Republican base, which labeled it "amnesty." 
  
 Trump has taken a hardline position on immigration -- with charged rhetoric against illegal immigration throughout the campaign. 
  
 In the later stages of the campaign and after, he softened slightly, signaling empathy toward Dreamers and saying that deportations for some undocumented immigrants are not necessarily a priority. 
  
 White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the President has been clear about his openness to conversations about a compromise on immigration, but added the focus at the moment is "border control" and "deporting criminals." 
  
 For both Democrats and Republicans, the sequencing matters greatly in negotiating a compromise on immigration. 
  
 Some Republican lawmakers endorsed the idea of reform compromises, but said they would like to see efforts to move forward come in pieces. Colorado Republican Sen. Cory Gardner said there are areas of "common ground," but that it would have to be done piecemeal. 
  
 "I think that's something I've been asking for for a very long time," Gardner said. "I think we can find there is a way forward on an immigration package that Democrats and Republican can support. ... (But) the American people have expressed whether it's through the Affordable Care Act or through the Gang of Eight bill that they would rather see a series of package of bills that Congress can use to gain the trust of the American people as we implement the reform." 
  
 Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, one of the members of the 2013 Gang of Eight who suffered politically for his participation, said that he thinks legalization is better than the status quo, though he originally supported a pathway to citizenship in his bill. 
  
 "I personally have always believed that it's not a good idea to have millions of people in your country that can never become citizens but I certainly think legalization is better than what they have now," Rubio said. "And if that's what we need to do to get progress, I would be able to accept that." 
  
 But he also said the path forward exists through smaller pieces. 
  
 "Immigration reform is something most people are in favor of," Rubio said. "It's what's in that immigration reform that can quickly become controversial. So we'll see. It will take a lot of work. It's a tough issue. And I truly believe it has to be done in multiple steps, piecemeal approach." 
  
 Other Republicans didn't want to discuss the possibility until border security was addressed. 
  
 "It's an important discussion and one we've been trying to resolve for many years now, so I welcome the opportunity to have that discussion," said No. 2 Senate Republican and Texan John Cornyn. "For my own part, I believe we need to regain the public's confidence that we're actually serious about enforcing the law and securing the border, and to me those are the most important priorities." 
  
 Republicans have for years insisted they would be open to immigration reform -- if border security and enforcement of existing laws come first. They blamed President Barack Obama for not enforcing laws, and said they did not trust him enough to send him any bill that would be lenient toward undocumented immigrants, alleging he would ignore any enforcement provisions of such a bill. 
  
 Now, with Trump as president, the winds have shifted and that argument is off the table, since Trump has made enforcing immigration laws on the books that have been unused for years a priority in his first month as President. 
  
 But Democrats are also concerned about sequencing, and while they would agree to certain enhanced enforcement and border-security measures, they are concerned that if they agree to too much compromise, Republicans will never return to working out something to give security to the undocumented immigrants living in the US peacefully who have often have families that are American citizens. 
  
 The difficulty has extended even to the narrow BRIDGE Act, proposed by Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin, which would give the undocumented Dreamers currently protected by Obama administration policies formal reprieve from deportations, should the policy be ended by the Trump administration. 
  
 The legislation enjoys generally wide support among lawmakers and could likely have the votes to pass Congress, but leadership has been hesitant to move the bill forward, with Republicans concerned that it would be viewed by their base as too lenient and Democrats concerned that agreeing to pass the BRIDGE Act along with another compromise would mean other undocumented immigrants would not be given any such relief in the future. |||||

A: President Trump scolded the media last week for using anonymous sources in stories—they "shouldn't be allowed," he said—but BuzzFeed reports that the president allowed himself to be quoted as one on Tuesday. It came during a meeting with TV news anchors, when the president signaled a softening of his stance on immigration reform. Outlets including CNN quoted a "senior administration official" on the subject as saying, "There's got to be a coming together." BuzzFeed reports that the official was none other than the president. A bit later, the White House allowed reporters to quote Trump himself from the meeting. As the AP notes, it's commonplace for presidents to have off-the-record conversations with journalists ahead of major speeches. (Trump addressed Congress on Tuesday night.) This meeting was a bit different in that the journalists were allowed to report the immigration scoop on background—meaning they could quote the anonymous "senior" official. Before Trump publicly became the source of the immigration news, the AP confirmed that the source of the scoop was indeed Trump, though, perhaps fittingly, it attributed that nugget to an unnamed "White House official."
****
Q: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell walk to the Senate floor Wednesday. | John Shinkle/POLITICO Congressional leaders reach budget deal The agreement would raise stiff spending caps and help stave off a shutdown. 
  
 Congressional leaders on Wednesday clinched a two-year deal to lift strict budget caps on defense and domestic spending, likely putting an end to a series of short-term spending bills and shutdown fights that have defined Washington the past few months. 
  
 The deal is expected to increase defense and domestic spending by roughly $300 billion over two years, according to administration and congressional sources, as well as lift the debt ceiling through the election and include tens of billions of dollars in disaster aid. 
  
 Story Continued Below 
  
 "This bill is the product of extensive negotiations among congressional leaders and the White House. No one thinks this bill is perfect. But we worked hard to find common ground and stay focused on serving the American people," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said in announcing the agreement. 
  
 "The budget deal doesn’t have everything Democrats want. It doesn’t have everything the Republicans want. But it has a great deal of what the American people want," said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). "After months of legislative logjams, this budget deal is a genuine breakthrough." 
  
 The most reliable politics newsletter. Sign up for POLITICO Playbook and get the latest news, every morning — in your inbox. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. 
  
 The Senate is expected vote on the pact on Thursday, according to Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas). It's likely to pass easily, but House approval will be a tougher lift. 
  
 And though President Donald Trump suggested that the government could shut down without action on immigration, a top White House aide signaled that Trump supports the bill. 
  
 “I’m not going to say every piece of it. But obviously, we’re excited about the defense numbers," said Marc Short, the White House legislative director. 
  
 Trump tweeted in support of the deal a few hours later. 
  
 "The Budget Agreement today is so important for our great Military," he wrote. "It ends the dangerous sequester and gives Secretary Mattis what he needs to keep America Great. Republicans and Democrats must support our troops and support this Bill!" 
  
 The agreement would increase defense spending this year by $80 billion and domestic spending by $63 billion beyond strict budget caps, according to a summary of the deal obtained by POLITICO. Next year, defense spending would increase by $85 billion and domestic funding by $68 billion beyond the caps. The deal also includes $140 billion for defense and $20 billion for domestic in emergency spending over two years. 
  
 A plan to lift the debt limit, which requires action in the coming weeks, and whether to extend expiring tax provisions were among the few outstanding issues that could be attached to the deal, according to aides in both parties familiar with the talks. Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) said the debt ceiling is likely to be suspended through next March in tandem with the budget deal. Cornyn said nearly $90 billion of disaster aid for wildfires and hurricane damage will also be included. 
  
 For such a large package to be passed before funding expires, all 100 senators will need to agree to speedy action on the spending bill and budget package. Any one senator can object to moving forward and derail the leaders’ plan, though McConnell said it is unlikely that the budget deal would fall apart at this late stage. 
  
 Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who opposes the deal, said he hasn't decided whether he would deny a swift vote — and potentially cause a government shutdown. 
  
 McConnell briefed the Senate GOP on the contours of the deal at a party lunch Wednesday, and House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) also read in his members across the Capitol. Both GOP leaders faced pushback, but allies exuded confidence the budget deal will be on Trump's desk by Thursday evening. 
  
 "The House, and Republicans in the Senate and some Democrats in the Senate, are totally committed to increasing defense. And you weren't going to increase defense successfully without a big increase in nondefense," Blunt said. 
  
 poster="http://v.politico.com/images/1155968404/201802/844/1155968404_5728192221001_5728191585001-vs.jpg?pubId=1155968404" true 
  
 "I've got mixed feelings," said Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.). “This has been a hard-fought negotiation. I think our leadership really worked hard. It’s obviously not our leadership’s first preference, but we had to work it out with the other side." 
  
 Support from GOP defense hawks, especially in the House, will be critical in passing the bill. Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) — at home in Arizona while being treated for brain cancer — and House Armed Services Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) came out strongly in support of the package. 
  
 "This budget agreement is indispensable for our national security," the two Republicans said in a joint statement. "Without it, our military would not be able to defend our nation, as Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis and our military leaders have repeatedly warned." 
  
 However, the negotiations hit a major snag on Wednesday: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said she cannot support any budget agreement without a commitment from Ryan to vote on an immigration bill to protect immigrants covered under the Deferred Action for Child Arrivals program. 
  
 Still, McConnell and Schumer are bullish about success. The two Senate leaders, along with Ryan and Pelosi, have been engaged in high-level spending talks for weeks. 
  
 If all goes according to plan, the Senate will amend a short-term spending bill passed by the House to include the deal to lift strict budget caps and send the package back for the House’s approval before a Thursday night deadline to fund the government. House Democrats moved their annual retreat from Maryland’s Eastern Shore to the U.S. Capitol in anticipation of having to vote on the Senate plan. 
  
 Hard-line GOP conservatives in the House Freedom Caucus oppose the deal, which means Ryan will need some votes from Pelosi. But many Republicans are expected to back it. 
  
 "There’s substantial support within our caucus. So I don’t think we’ll need that many Democrat votes," said Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.). 
  
 poster="http://v.politico.com/images/1155968404/201804/3805/1155968404_5768203162001_5767695500001-vs.jpg?pubId=1155968404" 
  
 Pelosi is facing pressure from some of rank-and-file members — as well as from progressive groups — to reject a budget caps agreement unless Trump and the Republicans agree to a legislative fix for Dreamers. After surveying her caucus, she implored Ryan on the House floor to "Let Congress work its will. What are you afraid of?" 
  
 "Without a commitment from Speaker Ryan comparable to the commitment from Leader McConnell, this package does not have my support," Pelosi said. McConnell promised to hold a floor debate on various Dreamers proposals later this month as long as the government remains open. 
  
 Ryan has said he would bring up a Dreamers deal if Trump signs off on it. 
  
 "We've been very clear about this," Ryan said at a news conference earlier this week. "We will take a bill that the president supports." 
  
 Republicans said privately they were not going to overreact to Pelosi's comments, even as she held the House floor for hours demanding action for Dreamers. Pelosi and her aides have been part of the budget caps negotiations from the start, and no deal will occur unless all four party leaders on the Hill support any agreement and work to pass it. 
  
 On Tuesday, Schumer said he and Pelosi are aligned strategically on moving forward, potentially defusing another government shutdown. 
  
 And many Democrats and Republicans will find relief in a break from budget brinkmanship and in boosting domestic programs and defense spending. The House passed a bill Tuesday funding the government until March 23, which would allow Congress to write a new spending bill for the rest of the year at levels set by the emerging budget deal, potentially avoiding more shutdown fights in an election year. 
  
 Though Democrats were unable to secure complete parity in domestic spending alongside the big boost in military dollars, they were quick to note the agreement includes $20 billion for infrastructure, $5.8 billion for child care and $6 billion to fight opioid addiction. The bill also includes a two-year extension of expired Community Health Centers funding and a 10-year extension of Children's Health Insurance Plan funding. 
  
 Separately, Schumer and McConnell have been discussing how the Senate will handle a debate on immigration to protect immigrants under DACA from deportation. While House Democrats had been pushing Senate Democrats to clinch a DACA deal in tandem with the budget, there is little hope of a deal on immigration this week. 
  
 All McConnell would promise is a wide-ranging floor debate to begin next week. 
  
 Jennifer Scholtes contributed to this report. ||||| Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., smiles as he meets with reporters as work continues on a plan to keep the government as a funding deadline approaches, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday,... (Associated Press) 
  
 Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., smiles as he meets with reporters as work continues on a plan to keep the government as a funding deadline approaches, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2018. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) (Associated Press) 
  
 WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate's top leaders announced Wednesday they have sealed agreement on a two-year budget pact that would shower both the Pentagon and domestic programs with almost $300 billion above existing limits, giving wins to both GOP defense hawks and Democrats seeking billions for infrastructure projects and combatting opioid abuse. 
  
 The agreement is likely to be added to a stopgap spending bill that passed the House on Tuesday and is aimed at averting a government shutdown Thursday at midnight. 
  
 The plan also contains almost $90 billion in overdue disaster aid for hurricane-slammed Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico. 
  
 And it would increase the government's borrowing cap to prevent a first-ever default on U.S. obligations that looms in just a few weeks. 
  
 The House's top Democrat, however, swung out against the plan. 
  
 House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California announced she would oppose the budget measure unless her chamber's GOP leaders promised a vote on legislation to protect "Dreamer" immigrants who face deportation after being brought to the U.S. illegally as children. 
  
 The House on Tuesday passed legislation to keep the government running through March 23, marrying the stopgap spending measure with a $659 billion Pentagon spending plan, but the Senate plan would rewrite that measure. 
  
 Senate Democratic leaders have dropped their strategy of using the funding fight to extract concessions on immigration, specifically on seeking extended protections for the "Dreamer" immigrants. Instead, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., went with a deal that would reap tens of billions of dollars for other priorities — including combatting opioids — while hoping to solve the immigration impasse later. 
  
 The budget agreement would give both the Pentagon and domestic agencies relief from a budget freeze that lawmakers say threatens military readiness and training as well as domestic priorities such as combating opioid abuse and repairing the troubled health care system for veterans. |||||

A: Congress is getting closer to avoiding another shutdown later this week. The Senate's top leaders announced Wednesday they have sealed agreement on a two-year budget pact that would shower both the Pentagon and domestic programs with almost $300 billion above existing limits, giving wins to both GOP defense hawks and Democrats seeking billions for infrastructure projects and opioid abuse. The agreement is likely to be added to a stopgap spending bill that passed the House on Tuesday and is aimed at averting a government shutdown Thursday at midnight, per the AP. One new hurdle: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California announced she would oppose the budget measure unless her chamber's GOP leaders promised a vote on legislation to protect "Dreamer" immigrants. Senate Democratic leaders earlier dropped their strategy of using the funding fight to extract concessions on immigration, specifically on seeking extended protections for young immigrants brought to the US illegally as children. Instead, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer went with a deal that would reap tens of billions of dollars for other priorities while hoping to solve the immigration impasse later. Both he and Mitch McConnell said they were confident of avoiding a shutdown, and the White House signaled that President Trump supports the deal, reports Politico. The plan also contains almost $90 billion in overdue disaster aid for hurricane-slammed Texas, Florida, and Puerto Rico. It would also increase the government's borrowing cap to prevent a first-ever default on U.S. obligations that looms in just a few weeks.
****
Q: Former Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum said Sunday he won’t be serving in a Mitt Romney’s administration if the Republican is elected president this fall. 
  
 CNN "State of the Union" host Candy Crowley asked Santorum if he could see himself serving in a Romney administration — and Santorum said no. 
  
 “It’s pretty much a flat 'no,'” he said. “And it’s not because I don’t want to help Gov. Romney and I don’t want to be part of him having a successful presidency, it’s just for me it’s a matter of my priorities and my time of being a husband and a father. I have to take care of them.” 
  
 Read more about: Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum ||||| Former Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum said Sunday that Mitt Romney’s response to the White House’s immigration decision shows he’s “trying to walk a line as not to sound like he’s hostile to Latinos.” 
  
 Romney has to take into account "very important states" with his own immigration policies, Santorum said on CNN's "State of the Union." 
  
 But Santorum said the presumptive Republican presidential nominee needs to take this chance to “hammer on the president on this now habitual abuse of power,” pointing to President Barack Obama’s decision not to enforce the Defense of Marriage Act. 
  
 Santorum told host Candy Crowley that Obama, with his immigration directive, “has not faithfully executed” the law. 
  
 "There's a difference between saying, 'I don't like the law. I wish, you know, I wish the law were different. But I'm the president. My job is to faithfully execute.' And he has not faithfully executed," Santorum said. 
  
 "To me, the most outrageous thing was the process in which he did it," he added. 
  
 Read more about: Immigration, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum ||||| Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said on Sunday President Barack Obama's immigration move was a “way to divert attention” from a rough few weeks for him. 
  
 “This is obviously a way to divert attention from very bad news the president has had for three or four weeks,” McCain said. “That’s very clear.” 
  
 There is one “thing that may disturb people after the initial euphoria is over" — that the president can dictate certain laws will not be enforced, the senator said. 
  
 “I don’t recall a time when any president has basically said, ‘we’re not going to enforce a law that’s on the books,’” McCain said of the administration's decision not to seek the deportation of young illegal immigrants. 
  
 “I don’t think a Mitt Romney as president of the United States would say, 'we’re not going to enforce existing laws,'” he added. “That’s the first time I’ve ever heard of a president doing that. It may have happened, but certainly not in this fashion.” 
  
 Read more about: Barack Obama, John McCain, Immigration ||||| Mitt Romney says the United States is “not going to send checks to Europe” to stabilize the continent’s shaky economies and American banks will be able to withstand whatever shocks come from the aftermaths of Sunday’s Greek elections. 
  
 “We’re not going to bail out the European banks,” the presumptive Republican presidential nominee told Bob Schieffer in an interview aired Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “We’re going to be poised here to support our economy, but I’m very much in favor of the fundamental things one does to strengthen the economic footings of a nation and as to what’s going to happen in Europe and what kind of impact that will have here, time will tell. But our banks are on a much stronger basis than they were at the time of the last economic crisis and they have built their capital base and their equity base and worked through a lot of their toxic assets, their toxic loans. And hope that regardless of what happens in Europe, that our banking sector is able to weather the storm.” 
  
 Romney said Europe can handle its own economic problems. 
  
 “Europe is capable of dealing with their banking crisis if they choose to do so,” he said. “Obviously, this is going to depend enormously on Germany. But they and others will have to make that decision but we don’t want to go in and start providing funding to European banks.” 
  
 Read more about: Mitt Romney ||||| There'll be no pictures of Mitt Romney watching his wife’s Olympic horse this summer in London. 
  
 Romney, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, told Bob Schieffer in an interview aired Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that his wife, Ann, is “quite thrilled” that her horse, Rafalca, qualified for the 2012 London games but he’ll be too busy to attend the dressage events. 
  
 “She’s quite thrilled, and I’m sure she’ll be watching,” Romney said. “I have a campaign to attend to so I wont be able to see it perform.” 
  
 Romney then made an awkward joke about his wife being addicted to horses. 
  
 “It’s the sport of dressage,” he said. “Not many people are familiar with it, but its something for which she has a passion and, frankly, her getting back on a horse after she was diagnosed with M.S., was able she’s convinced to regenerate her strength and renew that vigor, so she cares very deeply about this sport and about horses. She’s a real, I joke that I’m going to have to send her to Betty Ford for an addition to horses.” 
  
 Read more about: Mitt Romney, Ann Romney, Horses ||||| Mitt Romney refuses to say whether he’d repeal the Obama administration’s decision to stop deporting certain undocumented immigrants. 
  
 In an interview with Bob Schieffer aired Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” the presumptive Republican presidential nominee five different times declined to answer whether he would conduct the same policy President Barack Obama on Friday announced his Department of Homeland Security will now pursue. 
  
 Instead of answering the question posed, Romney called for a permanent solution. 
  
 “With regards to these kids who were brought in by their parents through no fault of their own, there needs to be a long-term solution so they know what their status is,” Romney said. “This is something Congress has been working on, and I thought we were about to see some proposals brought forward by Sen. Marco Rubio and by Democrat senators, but the president jumped in and said I'm going to take this action, he called it a stop-gap measure. I don't know why he feels stop-gap measures are the right way to go.” 
  
 After Schieffer asked, directly, four additional times if Romney would repeal the policy without receiving an answer, Romney called the move political. 
  
 “I think the timing is pretty clear, if he really wanted to make a solution that dealt with these kids or with illegal immigration in America, than this is something he would have taken up in his first three and a half years, not in his last few months,” he said. 
  
 Romney has yet to offer an opinion on the merits of Obama’s immigration policy change. On Friday, he told reporters in New Hampshire that he supports Rubio’s proposal, which has yet to be introduced in the Senate. 
  
 On “Fox News Sunday,” Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol said Obama’s moved successfully undercut both Rubio and Romney. 
  
 “This was the anti-Marco Rubio initiative by the administration,” Kristol said. “They were scared. Sen. Rubio was about to introduce his version of the Dream Act, which would have been closer to what President Obama announced than the actual Democratic Dream Act. I wish Rubio had introduced it over the last month or two. He got stalled, not every Republican was on board, the Romney campaign’s been cautious about it.” 
  
 And Kristol said Romney, who during the GOP primary staked out a more conservative position on immigration than his opponents, in particular Texas Gov. Rick Perry, is now in a tight spot. 
  
 “This is a big problem for Romney,” Kristol said. “He needs to take the lead on this, and in my view embrace Marco Rubio’s Dream Act if that’s what he wants and say, ‘Let’s pass this in Congress over the next few months, this is what I’m for.” 
  
 Read more about: White House, Immigration, Mitt Romney, Bill Kristol |||||

A:

assistant: As Republicans pounced on President Obama's immigration shift, Mitt Romney was surprisingly noncommittal when asked today no fewer than five times whether he'd repeal the policy. Instead, Romney, who needs to make tracks with lukewarm Latino voters, called for a "long-term solution." He further blasted Obama's move as political, saying that he'd had "three and a half years" to find a meaningful solution. "I don't know why he feels that stop-gap measures are the right way to go," Romney said, adding that he'd hoped Marco Rubio's plan would have proven to be a winner. Elsewhere on the Sunday dial, as per Politico: Bill Kristol on Romney and immigration: “This is a big problem for Romney. He needs to take the lead on this, and in my view embrace Marco Rubio’s Dream Act if that’s what he wants and say, ‘Let’s pass this in Congress over the next few months." Rick Santorum on Romney's immigration reaction: He's “trying to walk a line as not to sound like he’s hostile to Latinos." Romney needs to "hammer on the president on this now habitual abuse of power." Santorum on working for Romney: “It’s pretty much a flat 'no.' And it’s not because I don’t want to help Gov. Romney, it’s just for me it’s a matter of my priorities and my time of being a husband and a father. I have to take care of them.” John McCain on Obama's immigration shift: “I don’t recall a time when any president has basically said, ‘we’re not going to enforce a law that’s on the books.' I don’t think a Mitt Romney as president of the United States would say, 'we’re not going to enforce existing laws. That’s the first time I’ve ever heard of a president doing that.” Romney on Europe's financial woes: “We’re not going to bail out the European banks... Europe is capable of dealing with their banking crisis if they choose to do so." Romney on wife Ann's horse making the Olympics: “She’s quite thrilled, and I’m sure she’ll be watching. I have a campaign to attend to so I wont be able to see it perform." Also: "I joke that I’m going to have to send her to Betty Ford for an addiction to horses.”
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