WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama scheduled a surprise news conference for 11:15 a.m. EST (1615 GMT) on Monday to press his case for raising the U.S. borrowing limit.

Obama is expected to focus on looming budget and borrowing due dates, White House officials said.

"He'll use it to discuss a number of issues including some of the upcoming fiscal deadlines like the debt ceiling," a senior White House official said.

Obama's last full-scale news conference was on November 14, shortly after he won re-election. He took questions from the media last week after a meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Fresh off negotiating a resolution to the so-called fiscal cliff, new political confrontations loom over budget and borrowing.

The United States is due to bump up against its borrowing ceiling in mid-February. Republicans have said they will insist on spending cuts in exchange for raising the debt limit, but the president has declined to negotiate over the increase.

In addition to the debt ceiling, Washington faces tough deadlines around the end of next month over harsh across-the-board spending cuts that would kick in unless Congress acts and the end of a stopgap government spending bill.

(Reporting By Mark Felsenthal; Editing by Paul Simao and Mohammad Zargham)