President Barack Obama plans to announce new fuel economy standards for cars and light trucks for the model years 2017 through 2025 at an event Friday in Washington.

The administration has been in negotiations with automakers on boosting fuel economy.

Officials familiar with the talks told The Associated Press this week that recent changes to the standards for light trucks have reduced the proposal to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. The administration's initial target for cars and light trucks was 56.2 miles per gallon last month.

White House press secretary Jay Carney said Wednesday that this new round of standards will save consumers money, reduce oil consumption, cut pollution and create jobs.

In 2009, automakers agreed to raise fuel economy standards to 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016.

Increasingly troubled by the economy, more Americans are convinced the country is headed in the wrong direction and fewer approve of President Barack Obama's economic stewardship. The sentiments pose a new complication for the president's re-election hopes and create an obstacle to a recovery that relies in part on public perceptions.

For the first time this year, less than 50 percent of respondents to an Associated Press-GfK poll say Obama deserves re-election. The new poll shows a virtual split of 48-47 in favor, raising a new hurdle for the president as economic concerns strip away the gloss he briefly gained in May after the death of Osama bin Laden.

What's more, four out of five now believe the economy is in poor shape, with 36 percent calling it "very poor," a new high in AP-GfK polling.

The survey findings track with recent independent data that show a dip in consumer confidence, and they reflect the May uptick in unemployment and a stubbornly depressed housing market. Amid anemic hiring, high gas prices and financial turmoil in Europe, Americans are increasingly interested in saving — not spending — their money, adding yet another constraint to the economic recovery.

Yet, 16 months before the November 2012 elections, Obama also is perceived favorably by 56 percent of respondents and 52 percent approve of his job performance overall. Despite the overwhelming sentiment that the national economy is in poor shape, more than three of five of those polled rated the financial situation of their own households as good. And, echoing previous findings, about three-quarters of the survey participants said it is unrealistic to expect noticeable results on the economy in one term.

President Barack Obama says he will travel to Missouri on Sunday to meet with people affected by the devastating tornadoes there.

The president said Tuesday he wants Midwesterners whose lives were upended by the deadly storms last weekend to know that the federal government will use all the resources at its disposal to help them recover and rebuild.

Obama is in the midst of a six-day Europe trip, but the White House wants to make clear he's staying on top of the tragedy at home, where more than 100 people were killed in the Missouri town of Joplin when a monster twister hit Sunday. A hospital and countless homes and businesses were destroyed, and more storms, possibly strong ones, are on the horizon.

"I want everybody in Joplin, everybody in Missouri, everybody in Minnesota, everybody across the Midwest to know that we are here for you," the president said in London on day two of his four-country tour.

"The American people are by your side. We're going to stay there until every home is repaired, until every neighborhood is rebuilt, until every business is back on its feet."

The president phoned Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon again Tuesday to get an update on the destruction in the state, and spoke with Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Craig Fugate, the White House said.

Two years after Texas became one of the last states to allow transgendered people to use proof of their sex change to get a marriage license, Republican lawmakers are trying to roll back the clock.

Advocates for the transgendered say a proposal to bar transgendered people from getting married smacks of discrimination and would put their legally granted marriages in danger of being nullified if challenged in court.

One of the Republican sponsors of the legislation said he's simply trying to clean up the 2009 law in a state that bans same-sex marriage under the constitution.

"The Texas Constitution," Sen. Tommy Williams said, "clearly defines marriage between one man and one woman."

The legislation by Williams, of Houston, and Rep. Lois Kolkhorst, of Brenham, would prohibit county and district clerks from using a court order recognizing a sex change as documentation to get married, effectively requiring the state to recognize a 1999 state appeals court decision that said in cases of marriage, gender is assigned at birth and sticks with a person throughout their life even if they have a sex change.

Most states allow transgendered people to get married using a court order that also allows them to change their driver's license, experts said. Some advocates for the transgendered say the Texas proposal would not only prevent future transgendered marriages but also open up the possibility that any current marriage could be nullified.

One budget deal down, President Barack Obama and Congress began to pivot Sunday from the painful standoff over this year's spending to a pair of defining debates over the nation's borrowing limit and the election-year budget.

Much will be revealed at midweek, when the House and Senate are expected to vote on a budget for the remainder of this fiscal year and Obama reveals his plan to reduce the deficit, in part by scaling back programs for seniors and the poor. Across the dial on Sunday, messengers from both parties framed the series of spending fights as debates over cuts — a thematic victory for House Republicans swept to power by a populist mandate for smaller, more austere government.

"We've had to bring this president kicking and screaming to the table to cut spending," said House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., on "Fox News Sunday."

Presidential adviser David Plouffe said Obama has long been committed to finding ways for the nation to spend within its means. He confirmed that the president would unveil more specifics for deficit reduction with a speech Wednesday that would reveal plans to reduce the government's chief health programs for seniors and the poor.

The official start of his second White House bid, in the midst of three wars, a budget fight with Congress, and sluggish economic recovery, comes 20 months before the November 2012 election.

"We've always known that lasting change wouldn't come quickly or easily. It never does," the Democrat said in an e-mail announcing his candidacy to more than 13 million supporters. "But as my administration and folks across the country fight to protect the progress we've made — and make more — we also need to begin mobilizing for 2012, long before the time comes for me to begin campaigning in earnest."

He told them he was filing the necessary paperwork with the Federal Election Commission, and directed them to his new campaign website where a launch video featured clips from supporters talking about their continued backing of the Democrat.

"I don't agree with Obama on everything but I respect him and I trust him," Ed from North Carolina says, delivering what's certain to become a key part of the president's pitch as he tries to re-energize liberal backers who have criticized some of his policies and independent voters who have fled from him in his first term.