The White House is touting support from the Catholic Health Association and Planned Parenthood for the decision to step back on requiring religious organizations to provide contraceptive coverage. The change: insurance companies will be required to provide coverage.

Catholic leaders had assailed the original move as an assault on religious freedom, but Sister Carol Keehan, president of the Catholic Health Association said in a press release forwarded by the White House that the group is "very pleased" with the compromise, which she said "protects the religious liberty and conscience rights of Catholic institutions.

"This difference has at times been uncomfortable but it has helped our country sort through an issue that has been important throughout the history of our great democracy," she said.

And Cecile Richards, Planned Parenthood president, said the group believes the move does not compromise a woman's right to coverage.

President Obama will announce today that religious employers won't have to cover birth control for employees -- their insurance companies will, senior administration officials said.

The change in policy -- which the White House characterized as an "accomodation" to religious organizations -- comes as the White House tries to tamp down outrage among Roman Catholic leaders and end an election-year controversy as Republicans from Capitol Hill to the presidential trail have ripped the administration, saying its initial mandate for religious organizations to cover contraceptives violated religious freedom.

Senior administration officials say the compromise "adheres to two core principles: that women deserve to have preventive health available and affordable, and in instances where employers have religious objections, it gives them the same access, the same affordablity .. but institutions don’t have to offer or pay for it."

The recently-resigned Arizona congresswoman will be back at the White House today where President Obama will sign the last piece of legislation that Giffords sponsored and voted on in the House.

The bill is H.R. 3801, the Ultralight Aircraft Smuggling Prevention Act of 2012. The White House says Obama will be joined in the Oval Office by the Vice President, Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly. The bill targets smugglers who use ultra light aircraft to deliver drugs into the U.S.

Appearing at a fundraiser Thursday night in DC, the president gave a tip of the hat to Health and Human Services Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius -- but didn't mention a word of the controversy over his and Sebelius' decision to require religious instituions to provide contraceptives.

"I do want to acknowledge that I have as good a Cabinet as I think any President in modern history has had," he said at the top of his remarks. " And one of the stars of that Cabinet is sitting right here, Kathleen Sebelius."

More than 40 gay and lesbian contributors attended the $35,800 per ticket event at the home of two women whom ABC reported were married in Chicago in 2008. Obama, who has not embraced same sex marriage -- the White House has said his views on the issue are "evolving' -- concentrated on his administration's successful repeal of the ban on gay military service members.

Weeks after the president's crooning of Al Green's Let's Stay Together went viral hit, the Obama 2012 campaign has added the song to its playlist for the election.

The eclectic mix ranges from REO Speedwagon's Roll With the Changes (got that Republicans?) to Raphael Saddiq's Keep Marchin'.

Also making the cut: Tonight's the Kind of Night, Noah and the Whale; We Take Care Of Our Own, Bruce Springsteen; Keep Me in Mind, Zac Brown Band; The Weight, Aretha Franklin; Even Better than the Real Thing, U2; The Best Thing About Me is You, Ricky Martin; Home, Dierks Bentley; You Are the Best Thing, Ray LaMontagne; the live version of Got to Get You into My Life, Earth Wind & Fire; Green Onions, Booker T & the MGs; I Got You, Wilco; Keep On Pushing, The Impressions; Love You I Do, Jennifer Hudson; No Nostalgia, Ages and Ages; Stand Up, Sugarland; This, Darius Rucker; We Used to Wait, Arcade Fire; You've Got the Love, Florence + the Machine; Your Smiling Face, James Taylor; Everyday America, Sugarland; Learn to Live, Darius Rucker.

President Obama today hailed a multi-state, multi-billion deal that he said will deliver some relief to besieged homeowners.

Flanked by Attorney General Eric Holder and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan, along with attorneys general from hard-hit states like Connecticut and North Carolina, Obama said the "landmark settlement" with some of the nation's biggest banks would speed relief to homeowners and end some abusive practices of the mortgage industry. 

Under the settlement, banks are to put billions towards relief for homeowners, provide refinancing and reduce loans for homeowners who are underwater.

But the measure won't effect all in trouble and Obama acknowledged it's only a start: "No compensation, no amount of money, no measure of justice is enough to make it right for a family who's had their piece of the American Dream wrongly taken from them. And no action, no matter how meaningful, is going to, by itself, entirely heal the housing market."

President Obama's re-election campaign confirms it will return money tied to the family of Juan Jose Rojas-Cardona, a subject of a McClatchy probe that last fall found deep seated corruption in Mexico's gambling industry.

The campaign confirmed Tuesday it's returning the money -- following a New York Times story that found two American brothers had emerged as major fund-raisers and donors for President Obama's re-election campaign.

The campaign said it didn't know about the connection until the story broke: "We have more than 1.3 million contributors and it was very difficult to track down full information on this," a senior campaign official told reporters. "Our vetters don't necessarily have the ability to pursue that with all 1.3 million donors. As soon as the questions were raised, we refunded the contributions."

The big item on President Barack Obama's agenda today: the second White House Science Fair -- "celebrating the student winners of a broad range of science, technology, engineering and math competitions from across the country.

The White House says Obama will also announce additional steps the administration and partners are taking to prepare 100,000 effective math and science teachers and to meet the need to train 1 million additional STEM graduates over the next decade.

"When students excel in math and science, they help America compete for the jobs and industries of the future," Obama said.

Worried about the flood of unlimited -- and often undisclosed -- dollars streaming into political action committees that are backing Republicans, President Obama's campaign is changing its tune -- which had been to oppose the committees.

In a late night email to supporters, Obama campaign manager Jim Messina says it has decided to back Priorities USA, the super PAC run by former WH spox Bill Burton.

Messina called the Republican super PACs, a "real risk," noting that in 2011 the committee supporting Mitt Romney raised $30 million from less than 200 contributors. "Ninety-six percent of what they've spent so far, more than $18 million, has been on attack ads," he said.

Obama vociferously opposed the Citizens United Supreme Court decision that opened the door to super PACS, but Messina argues that "this cycle, our campaign has to face the reality of the law as it currently stands.

"With so much at stake, we can't allow for two sets of rules in this election whereby the Republican nominee is the beneficiary of unlimited spending and Democrats unilaterally disarm."

Some viewers saw Chrysler's "Halftime in America" ad -- narrated by Clint Eastwood and aired during yesterday's Super Bowl -- as a big bonus for President Obama -- who pushed to keep the auto maker afloat.

In the 2-minute spot about the company's comeback, Eastwood notes "It's halftime in America, too. … Detroit's showing us it can be done. …This country can’t be knocked out with one punch. … Yeah, it's halftime America. And, our second half is about to begin."

Former Bush strategist Karl Rove ripped the ad earlier today, calling it a sign of "Chicago-style politics." CEO Sergio Marchionne insisted in an interview on Detroit radio that the ad "has zero political content." 

Asked about the ad at today's White House briefing, spokesman Jay Carney said the White House had no role in the piece.

"It was news to me," Carney said. But, prompted, he went on: "It does point out a simple fact, which is that the automobile industry in this country was on its back and potentially poised to liquidate three years ago."