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The US Capitol in Washington, DC on Thursday night.
WASHINGTON — President Obama met with congressional leaders at the White House Friday, hours before a series of mandatory budget cuts start to kick in, for intense talks where Democrats and Republicans were most likely to stake out fiscal positions with the threat of a government shutdown looming.
With no expectations of a breakthrough, Obama was to once again argue for a big fiscal deal that would raise taxes and trim billions from expensive and ever-growing entitlement programs. But with automatic federal spending cuts ready to start taking their toll, the path toward that grand bargain Obama campaigned on last year has significantly narrowed.
Arriving separately in their black SUVs, House Speaker John Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi entered the West Wing shortly after 10 a.m. EST. The White House said the meeting was underway by 10:18.
"I'm happy to discuss other ideas to keep our commitment to reducing Washington spending at today's meeting," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said in a statement ahead of the session. "But there will be no last-minute, back-room deal and absolutely no agreement to increase taxes."
For Obama, Friday's session would be his first opportunity to spell out his 10-year, $1.5 trillion deficit reduction plan in a face-to-face meeting with congressional allies and adversaries.
His chances are squeezed by anti-tax conservatives, by liberals unwilling to cut into Medicare and Social Security, and by a Republican leadership that has dug in against any new revenue after ceding to Obama's demands two months ago for a higher tax rate for top income earners.
On Thursday, two ill-fated proposals aimed at blunting the blame over the cuts — one Democratic and the other Republican — failed to overcome procedural hurdles in the Senate. Obama placed the responsibility on Republicans.
"They voted to let the entire burden of deficit reduction fall squarely on the middle class," he said.
The White House is still betting that once the public begins to experience the effects of the $85 billion in across-the-board cuts the pain will be unbearable enough to force lawmakers to reconsider and negotiate. But the consequences of the cuts —the so called sequester — will likely be a slow boil. Obama this week said the effect "is not a cliff, but it is a tumble downward."
Odds against him, Obama still betting on big deal
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Odds against him, Obama still betting on big deal
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Odds against him, Obama still betting on big deal
