Obama to Host Senate Democrats at Birthday Lunch

U.S. President Barack Obama, facing tough fights over his climate change and health care plans, has invited all of his Senate allies to lunch on Tuesday -- his birthday -- his spokesman said Monday.

"U.S. President Barack Obama, seen here in Virginia, facing tough fights over his climate change and health care plans, has invited all of his Senate allies to lunch on Tuesday -- his birthday -- his spokesman said Monday."

Obama invited all 58 Democrats, and the two independents who typically vote with them, to the White House "to continue to talk about the priorities that they have," press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters.

"I don't doubt that health care will be discussed. I believe the economy will also be heavily discussed," he said. "They'll go through and discuss energy legislation."

Obama, who turns 48 on Tuesday, also plans to press senators to inject roughly two billion dollars more into a program that lets consumers trade in gas-guzzling cars and trucks for more efficient vehicles, said Gibbs.

The U.S. president faces stiff challenges to his effort to remake the U.S. health care system and drive a "cap-and-trade" system to curb carbon emissions through the congress -- in part because of hesitations among his own Democrats.