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."
So, if President Obama is able to make progress by finally compromising, will he be blamed for causing this stalemate? Remember, the Republicans have already compromised on taxes and President Obama was dragged kicking and screaming into cutting a miniscule amount of spending. Something he never intended to do mind you.
"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."
A Republican is saying that? Really?
First offer to discuss the problem and seriously consider the opposition's input. Then drag out negotiations until the deadline. At the last minute offer a "compromise" that has minor concessions to the opposition party but include provisions guaranteed to be rejected. When the opposition party rejects it, you blame the whole mess on them for being unreasonable and unwilling to negotiate in good faith.
Anyone else tired of re-runs?
Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., said. 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."
Yea, Right. Be VERY WARY. He really hates Republicans. Don't let him fool you, and don't be fooled by him. Oh and Check your back for that knife that's stuck in it when you leave. Obama is a snake in the grass, and can't be trusted. And of course he wants to settle the budget soon, because spring break is coming and the girls and mama need to use the jet to fly somewhere, probably down to mexico, or they all take seperate planes to Hawaii. All the while the whitehouse is closed to schoolchildren.
Wow, finally. Nothing can ever be negotiated unless all parties and the administration sit down in good faith and talk.
Only took him 4 years !
@Rob C 503 I'm not convinced. He's back in campaign mode kissing the little babies.
There's 3 sides to every story. There's my side, your side and the truth. All 3 will share elements, and we will both be convinced that our side is the only correct one.Â
What's really, really sad is how convinced either party is that 'the other party' is the problem. They can, of course, go on and on ad nauseam citing examples of how 'their' party has been doing the right thing, and equal numbers of examples of how 'the other party' has been to blame for all our countries woes.Â
Which only reaffirms my original statement. The two sides are absolutely convinced of only one thing, it's all the other parties fault.Â
The reality is that the financial mess that we found ourselves facing in the fall of 2008 was not something that happened overnight. We can no more blame Bush II than we can Obama. We can no more lie blame entirely upon Clinton than we can Bush I or Reagan. It was a culmination of a series of small steps passed into law by BOTH parties because of ample amounts of 'free speech' flung about on Capitol Hill in the decade or so preceeding the collapse.Â
For all the whining about President Obama that Lars and Rush do, they seem to forget that it was Dick Cheney (while VP) who said that deficits are irrelevent, and President Bush II who strongarmed the invasion of Iraq under any number of lines of reasoning, none of which ended up to be true. All of this was done at enormous expense, and not included in the budgets that were enacted while he was in office. THAT is his legacy.Â
President Obama inherited the mess, and immeidately got to work on the single most important thing facing our nation.... universal healthcare???? He then handed the whole financial mess off to an industry insider to take care of it, and borrowed trillions of dollars to fund both the bailouts and his pet projects that were supposed to 'jumpstart' the economy. THAT is his legacy.Â
Anyone with the slightest interest in seeing the forest for the trees can do the research and find out that BOTH parties are complicit in the behavior that has bankrupted our country, and polarized out governement.... and yet, we continue to elect the same people over and over again.Â
Someone once quipped that the definition of insainity is doing the exact same thing, the exact same way, over and over expecting to get a different result.Â
By that logic, I submit that our Federal government is insaine. But, we have no one but ourselves to thank for the insanity.Â
@MarkKpic I've been saying it for years MarkKpic, the only real solution is a viable third party. Might I suggest the Libertarian Party for those tired of the status quo.
@MarkKpic Anybody read this long of post
@Bert @MarkKpic Yeah. Looks like quite a few people appreciated it, too.
@Bert @MarkKpic I don't always agree with Mark, but he's sincere and interesting. This is one of his better posts, IMHO. So, yes. I skip a lot of the one-liners.
""""""the next deadline is March 27, when the current short-term budget extension expires and a government shutdown looms."""""""
I can only hope the R's have the nads to use this as leverage to at the very least slow the growth of  spending  and are vocal enough to counter the D's  nonsense about Draconian  cuts. Â
""@kramr The republican plan is to increase defense spending. Cuts are not an option there because private sector trough feeders might suffer.
How to save 44% of the current federal budget deficit: Make all contracts with the federal government FIXED PRICE (Bid $1 Million, get paid $1 Million, no "cost overruns"). Of course, we can't expect the Private Sector to do things like actually take responsibility for their poor (translation: low ball, rigged) bids, can we?
@ShallowEnder @kramr This should have been passed into law long ago, along with a presidential line item veto.
You Can nmention obstructionism  and be politically correct..
As Mitch McConnell said nothing this President put's to the house will get passed...
Can't mention "logjam" and be politically correct. Logjams, besides referring to the logging industry, also suggests improper current river usage degrading and lessining the protected salmon population by inhibiting spawning. Â
@jpk Well dang! If all that's wrong is a freakin' logjam, then why don't we send some loggers back there instead of all these over priced politicians. SHEEIT!
How about Timber Joey? LOL
Why didnt he do this before? Â Something is not right with this guy.
How can anyone "woo" the President? He's married!
@jpk Disappearing with tiger woods while the wife is out of town. Tiger does keep secrets. Obama must of helped tigers game though he is kicking in the whatever tourney
What did Obama do during his first two years in office? When the dems controlled both houses. He did not even make good on his promise to close gitmo. Yep I don't like Obama so I am a racists. But on the other side I'm gay and you gotta love me.
@Bert Mitch  McConnell and Obstructionism look it up.....
@Bert I guess on the shorter list, what promises did he keep?
@axpman @Bert And fox news lies
@Bert @axpman I like to stick to the truth tellers myself. You know, MSNBC, ABC, NPR, CBS, Entertainment Tonight, etc.
Political party affiliation aside, America does have a spending problem if we're spending more money than we're collecting from taxes. And this is a huge problem if it's done for a long time, in that we create a thing called a deficit. So what's the solution? First and foremost---bring spending in line with income. After that, we can address the deficit. Since the deficit has been created over a long time, it will take a long time to reduce it, and that takes planning, and sacrifice. Job creation brings in more revenue, raising taxes slightly (and on all of us, from the poorest to the wealthiest) will be needed as well. It seems we spend too much time looking for someone to blame for our problems instead of simply rolling up our sleeves and actually doing whats needed for the common good. It's not the Democrats fault, the Republicans fault, George Bush's fault or President Obama's fault, it's America's fault
I wouldn't trust Obama as far as I could throw him. This is just more poitical posturing. He hasn't been getting his way lately like he has over the last 4 years, and now he is afraid. We need to continue to stand for what is right, and that is to keep this dictator wanna be contained. He has done enough harm to this once great nation.  We cannot fall for his "courtship" which is merely a facade to get more of what he wants, rather that what is good for the nation.Â
@wondering Yea destroy the Nation and the people before we let one of his kind help anyone or anything.
Just keep obstructing any bill and all proposals..
Oh yea because it's what is right .. Now you see why only 17% of America thinks the republicans
are doing a good job.
They Don't have a clue..
@yesiam@wondering "Yea destroy the Nation and the people before we let one of his kind help anyone or anything."Â One of his kind?
"help?"
Who's Obama helping? It hasn't been me. Not the taxpaying middle class working people, unless they're SEIU, I guess, but then only marginally.
Your reaction is typical knee-jerk Obama-fan-club liberalism; anybody who criticizes him must automatically be a Republican. Anything more complex than that doesn't fit into the sophomoric whiz-wheel of public political debate.
They only, the one, the obvious solution to America's tragic overblown budget, is for Obama to stop spending money that we cannot afford.Â
@last boyscout
@Diogenes@last boyscout "If you don't know very much about a subject, ask questions instead of making ignorant declarations."
If anybody in DC is in dire need of heeding this advice, it's Joe Biden when it comes to gun ownership.
@Diogenes @last boyscout
""""""
Thanks for the comedic post of the day.......
You should really  have read your number 1 post before you posted  number three 3
cause with your logic,  the 97th, 98th, 99th, and 100th  congress tripled the debt NOT the POTUSÂ
@DiogenesThat last one, "If you don't know very much about a subject, ask questions instead of making ignorant declarations." would have been good advice for your buddy Obama during his "57 states" comment. Or really just about anything Obama talks about.
@last boyscout @Diogenes  He never actually said "Marine Corpse", by the way.
Actually, he was referring to a Navy "Corpseman."
@last boyscout Were you absent that day in American Government?
the President doesn't 'spend money'. Congress 'spends money', and the President either signs or vetoes the budget.Â
I'll send you the bill for the refresher course.Â
@MarkKpic @last boyscout schmobozo has already demonstrated his utter contempt towards congress and the supreme court. Although I will give the supreme court some credit for standing up against him and slapping down a couple of his unconstitutional recess appointments.
@MarkKpic @last boyscout  """""""the President doesn't 'spend money'. Congress 'spends money', and the President either signs or vetoes the budget.Â
I'll send you the bill for the refresher course. """"""""""
Funny how the left never blames congress  for W's excessive spending.............
@MarkKpic Thanks for the refresher course teacher. While you in a teaching mood, go ahead and tell all of the liberals how everything Bush is blamed for was the fault of Congress, so Obama and his many liberal followers can finally rest, and stop blaming Bush for the wars and everything else.
@Bert @hokeywolf @last boyscout Then ask, "who gave saddam those weapons"....D'OH !
@last boyscout It's a shame that your party is carrying the fundamentalist Christian baggage I can't accept the idea of big government regulating the personal activities and legal arraignments of gay and lesbian people.Many people say that social issues didn't sway the election but I strongly disagree.Get rid of the Religous kooks and you might have a chance of winning the election.And nominate someone like Gary Johnson.This last election shows that a good amount of the voters tend to be center left or right.
@hokeywolf @last boyscout Sorry but you are wrong...Obama is the worst president this country has ever had.
@hokeywolf @last boyscout Ask the kurds about weapons of mass destruction existence
@last boyscout Actually I blame Bush for the complete incompedence in running the Afgan war and for lying to the country to start a second war. Bush is a war criminal. He can't leave the country or he'll be arrested. Bush is the worst pres. we have ever had.
@MarkKpic "All the answers"? HeII no, not by a log shot. But having an answer, or at least an alternative to a given problem, and being shut out and shut down by those in power, gives the people the impression that the Democrats have the only viable solutions to our problems. There are those that believe their party is the solution period, I'm not of that belief.Â
@last boyscout @MarkKpic Oooooh, well that clears it all up.Â
It's all 'their' fault.Â
'We' have it all figured out.Â
Miopic idealism is the single biggest problem in our government today.Â
If you sincerely believe that your party has all the answers, you're a big part of the problem.Â
@MarkKpic @last boyscout Come on now that's not what rush told him...
yesiam You go ahead an listen to  Saul D. Alinsky. I'll listen to common sense.