Lawmakers: Obama wooing might break budget logjam
WASHINGTON (AP) - Republican lawmakers said Sunday they welcome President Barack Obama's courtship and suggested the fresh engagement between the White House and Congress might help yield solutions to the stubborn budget battle that could cost scores of Americans their jobs.
Yet the lawmakers cautioned that years of hurt feelings were unlikely to heal simply because Obama dined last week with Republican lawmakers. They also said they would not to rush too quickly into Obama's embrace during three scheduled, and unusual, visits to Capitol Hill next week to win them over.
"He is moving in the right direction. I'm proud of him for doing it. I think it's a great thing," Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., said. "I'm welcoming (him) with open arms. I think the president is tremendously sincere. I don't think this is just a political change in tactic. I think he would actually like to solve the problems of this country."
The White House charm offensive comes as automatic spending cuts have begun to take hold, and if Washington does not block them, they could cut jobs as varied as air traffic controllers, meat inspectors and Head Start teachers.
"I hope that this is sincere," said Republican Rep. Paul Ryan, chairman of the House Budget Committee, who lunched with Obama at the White House last week. "We had a very good, frank exchange. But the proof will be in the coming weeks as to whether or not it's a real, sincere outreach to find common ground."
His close friend, Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., said lawmakers were unlikely to become fast friends with Obama after four years of being vilified in private and, in some cases, public. "I hope that he's genuine. But I don't think we're going to be doing the Harlem Shake any time soon together," Gardner said.
Obama hopes this week to woo lawmakers to help avert a coming budget showdown - the next deadline is March 27, when the current short-term budget extension expires and a government shutdown looms.
Yet Congress is scheduled to leave town on March 22, meaning the president is working on a shortened timeline to avert the latest crisis. And the automatic spending cuts, known as sequester, remain in place despite both parties calling them ill-conceived and -executed.
Senate Democrats said they were ready to pass a spending measure to pay for day-to-day federal operations through September. The measure would impose automatic cuts of 5 percent to domestic agencies and 7.8 percent to the Pentagon
"At the end of the day, we're going to have to find a balanced solution," said Sen. Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat whose state economy is closely tied to military contractors. The budget cuts are expected to be devastating to Virginia if they are not reversed.
Coburn said he was puzzled that it took so long for Obama - whom he called a friend after last week's dinner - to make the effort to work across party lines. "It shouldn't be news that the president is reaching out in a bipartisan fashion," Coburn said.
Obama seems to be making up for lost time after four years of frosty relationships with Capitol Hill. The White House said Obama planned to meet with the Senate Democratic Caucus on Tuesday, House Republicans on Wednesday and Senate Republicans and House Democrats on Thursday. Last week, Obama had Ryan and the Budget Committee's top Democrat, Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, to lunch at the White House the day after he dined with a dozen Republican senators.
"I don't know what he's doing, but I would encourage him to do more of it," said Republican former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, a brother and son to U.S. presidents who visited five Sunday shows to keep buzz building toward a potential presidential candidacy in 2016. "People are more willing to do so if they believe that their partner is sincere in their efforts. And the only way you can do that is to engage them on a personal level."
Republican Whip Kevin McCarthy, the number-three GOP lawmaker in the House, said Obama's visit might be plain politics and tried to tamp down expectations.
"He has problems on both sides of the aisle. He hasn't brought many people to the White House; he doesn't know that many people in the House; he knows more people in the Senate because he served there for a couple of years," McCarthy said. "He is coming to the House Republican Conference, which I think is positive. He has only done that once before. But he should come and listen, communicate and try to find where we can find common ground."
Even members of the president's own party said the outreach was needed.
"I think frustration by the American people - and frustration by members of Congress as well - have stemmed from the fact that a lot of these debates have taken place on TV or on the House floor but have not had very meaningful discussion," said first-term Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii.
Coburn, Gardner, Kaine and Gabbard appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press." Ryan spoke to "Fox News Sunday." Bush appeared on CNN's "State of the Union," ABC's "This Week," ''Meet the Press," CBS' "Face the Nation" and "Fox News Sunday." McCarthy appeared on "State of the Union."
Yet the lawmakers cautioned that years of hurt feelings were unlikely to heal simply because Obama dined last week with Republican lawmakers. They also said they would not to rush too quickly into Obama's embrace during three scheduled, and unusual, visits to Capitol Hill next week to win them over.
"He is moving in the right direction. I'm proud of him for doing it. I think it's a great thing," Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., said. "I'm welcoming (him) with open arms. I think the president is tremendously sincere. I don't think this is just a political change in tactic. I think he would actually like to solve the problems of this country."
The White House charm offensive comes as automatic spending cuts have begun to take hold, and if Washington does not block them, they could cut jobs as varied as air traffic controllers, meat inspectors and Head Start teachers.
"I hope that this is sincere," said Republican Rep. Paul Ryan, chairman of the House Budget Committee, who lunched with Obama at the White House last week. "We had a very good, frank exchange. But the proof will be in the coming weeks as to whether or not it's a real, sincere outreach to find common ground."
His close friend, Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., said lawmakers were unlikely to become fast friends with Obama after four years of being vilified in private and, in some cases, public. "I hope that he's genuine. But I don't think we're going to be doing the Harlem Shake any time soon together," Gardner said.
Obama hopes this week to woo lawmakers to help avert a coming budget showdown - the next deadline is March 27, when the current short-term budget extension expires and a government shutdown looms.
Yet Congress is scheduled to leave town on March 22, meaning the president is working on a shortened timeline to avert the latest crisis. And the automatic spending cuts, known as sequester, remain in place despite both parties calling them ill-conceived and -executed.
Senate Democrats said they were ready to pass a spending measure to pay for day-to-day federal operations through September. The measure would impose automatic cuts of 5 percent to domestic agencies and 7.8 percent to the Pentagon
"At the end of the day, we're going to have to find a balanced solution," said Sen. Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat whose state economy is closely tied to military contractors. The budget cuts are expected to be devastating to Virginia if they are not reversed.
Coburn said he was puzzled that it took so long for Obama - whom he called a friend after last week's dinner - to make the effort to work across party lines. "It shouldn't be news that the president is reaching out in a bipartisan fashion," Coburn said.
Obama seems to be making up for lost time after four years of frosty relationships with Capitol Hill. The White House said Obama planned to meet with the Senate Democratic Caucus on Tuesday, House Republicans on Wednesday and Senate Republicans and House Democrats on Thursday. Last week, Obama had Ryan and the Budget Committee's top Democrat, Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, to lunch at the White House the day after he dined with a dozen Republican senators.
"I don't know what he's doing, but I would encourage him to do more of it," said Republican former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, a brother and son to U.S. presidents who visited five Sunday shows to keep buzz building toward a potential presidential candidacy in 2016. "People are more willing to do so if they believe that their partner is sincere in their efforts. And the only way you can do that is to engage them on a personal level."
Republican Whip Kevin McCarthy, the number-three GOP lawmaker in the House, said Obama's visit might be plain politics and tried to tamp down expectations.
"He has problems on both sides of the aisle. He hasn't brought many people to the White House; he doesn't know that many people in the House; he knows more people in the Senate because he served there for a couple of years," McCarthy said. "He is coming to the House Republican Conference, which I think is positive. He has only done that once before. But he should come and listen, communicate and try to find where we can find common ground."
Even members of the president's own party said the outreach was needed.
"I think frustration by the American people - and frustration by members of Congress as well - have stemmed from the fact that a lot of these debates have taken place on TV or on the House floor but have not had very meaningful discussion," said first-term Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii.
Coburn, Gardner, Kaine and Gabbard appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press." Ryan spoke to "Fox News Sunday." Bush appeared on CNN's "State of the Union," ABC's "This Week," ''Meet the Press," CBS' "Face the Nation" and "Fox News Sunday." McCarthy appeared on "State of the Union."
As long as the GOP keeps putting up crackpots every election they won't stand a chance. They whine when the president doesn't try to moderate the dysfunctional congress and when he does they whine at that too. What do they want a republican president? That's just not going to happen.
Can't he just fly to some obscure High School at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars and give a speech, fergawdsake?
 It has worked well in the past, no?
"No Charlie Brown, I won't pull the football away this time."
"AARRGHH"
Once the old farts get Alzheimer's, our country can start acting a like a 21st century global leader, and not a bunch of children trying to prove who has power.
2014 is what we need to be concerned about. We will be fundamentally changed if O get congress
Be afraid, be very afraid. He didn't consult one lawmaker from the other side on Obamacare or anything else.
His poll numbers are collapsing and that is all he really cares about.
@MonroeMad Nor did he negotiate it with them. He negotiated against himself from single payer right into a mandate to pay private, for profit insurance companies to provide health care with no cost containment (corporatism at its finest).
He is another bush is all. More torture, more war, more tours of duty, more transfer of wealth up to the rich, more patriot act, more murder of innocent families, more soldiers guarding poppy fields that had been wiped out completely by the Taliban and now restored to fund CIA covert operations without regard to congressional funding or approval, more excuses, more imported engineers being trained by US workers only to be laid off when the foreigner is trained up and ready to go, more starving children, more corporatism, more part time jobs, less allies, less credibility, less families working, no middle class left, nothing left of the USA that I grew up in and raised a family in and retired in. No rule of law for the rich, no rule of law for the financial industry, no constitution. He is coming for SSI and medicare next as well as another war, this time with Iran.
He wants austerity because his rich friends want the rest of your wealth and not because it worked so well in Greece.
"Lawmakers: Obama wooing might break budget logjam"
Sounds like he is getting ready to do some more of that negotiating against himself at the expense of US families. I think I feel another transfer of wealth upwards coming from the working class.
I hate politics.
All elected officials are out of touch with the country. We are not a country of opposite political parties. Most people are far more in the middle then any political party. The two extremes refuse to work like adults and blame each other. Neither are willing to try to work with the other. They use the media to belittle each other. They spend more time jockeying for position with the media then they actually do working.
Stop voting for people who are already in office...recycle them as often as possible, no matter the party.
@K00lGuy Morons elect morons
@MonroeMad @K00lGuy that would make you a ?
President Obama hasn't done anything in the past five years so what makes anyone think the next 3 years will be any different?
@Windowseat Huh? I disagree.Â
He bailed out GM, he bailed out the financial sector, he bailed out the insurance industry, he bailed out oil and coal, he kept the military industrial complex running at full speed, he gave BP a free pass on killing 11 oil rig workers and polluting the Gulf, he gave his OK to use dispersant on the crude so it would sink instead of being on top where it could be cleaned up, he extended the Patriot act, he gave us N.D.A.A. on Dec. 31st when nobody was looking, he has increased the torture, spent countless hours attempting to induce war with Iran, increased the body counts, increase the ability to eavesdrop on americans, taken time with Tiger to get his game on track, kept hundreds of thousands of foreign engineering students coming to be trained by US workers so they could take the same jobs from the US workers and, not had time to one damned thing for the working families in the US that are suffering at the hands of bankers. He has been busy as a bee.
His Senate majority leader(?) has budgets passed by the House tucked in his desk drawer. POTUS should start by talking to him and telling him to dig them out and vote on them. That's how the process works.
Wow. Year 5 of Obama's new era and he's actually doing something all his predecessors could do from day 1 of their administrations. At this rate, our unqualified, incompetent, racist, useless Nobel-Prize Winning, "Genius", Spock-like", "Messiah" might actually get something positive accomplised by 2016.
If Obozo picks his nose, the Obama leg-humpers will want to give him another well-deserved Nobel Prize.
@Attila Thank you for your intelligent and thoughtful post. I will take it under consideration.
@Hagar @Attila it was intelligent and thoughtful wasn't it... and very adjective heavy. That poster has "adjective skills"!
I just love seeing you tea party lovers whining. You do it so well.
@Fred Mulligan Nobody can whine like Obama. That is all we see of him.
@Fred Mulligan you are not tired of obama doing everything he can to hurt our economy? you like the fact that there are now about 50 million people on food stamps? you like the fact that obama's policies have added 6.5 trillion dollars of extra debt? you like the fact that we took a week to tell everybody that the sequester was going to devastate our economy and then turn around and give egypt 250 million dollars? you really think that all these things are good for america?
@takingamericaback @Fred MulliganÂ
It was the right wing that put us in the position we are in. Fact.
@Fred Mulligan @takingamericaback When the Proggers use "Fact!" as a sentence, reach for the source and your wallets.
@Fred Mulligan @takingamericaback Blah blah blah. This hope and change business was just a big lie that you don't want to let go of five years later. Look at the stock market, wages, & housing prices. They're the same as they were five years ago. The only thing that has changed is the prices of commodities. Food, energy, and clothing prices have gone through the roof since Bush left office.
@TruthinAdverts @Gaikokujin @Fred Mulligan @takingamericabackHuh? too funny
@Gaikokujin @Fred Mulligan @takingamericaback Gaik, I noticed you liking the posts of the poster with the satanic head icon the other day... naughty naughty
@Fred Mulligan @takingamericaback WOW that is some serious kool-aid you are drinking there.Â
@Fred Mulligan @takingamericaback Red Herring... What has Obama done?
No, he's not sincere. He just didn't leave himself any other options.
" I think the president is tremendously sincere. I don't think this is just a political change in tactic. I think he would actually like to solve the problems of this country." BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I love starting my Sunday mornings off with a good chuckle!
In the past 4 years ObUma has done nothing to get any kind of agreement with the house and senate so why do we think he is going to be able to do anything now??? He may be a great speaker, have 32 teeth and crack some lame jokes, but as far as a politician he is a total waste. What we need is leadership and he couldn't lead a pack of dogs to a bone so how does he expect to lead our fragmented government on any kind of path at all??? I doubt that even now those damn fools that put him back in office for another term can see what they did, but they will.Â
@LongBeachBum You forgot to say that he is a Muslim born in Kenya.