President Obama will host numerous lawmakers at the White House for dinner Wednesday to brief them on the eve of announcing executive action on immigration reform.
However, he didn’t invite any Republicans.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Obama would have dinner later Wednesday with 18 Democratic lawmakers to discuss immigration.
When asked why Obama wouldn’t break bread with GOP leaders, Earnest replied, “We’ve had any number of countless conversations with Republicans.”
“If it were only dinner that was required,” he added when pressed on whether Obama was preventing compromise with Republicans.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Robert Menendez, D-N.J., are among those who will dine at the White House.
Republicans were not happy about their exclusion from the dinner.
“Yet another shining example of bipartisanship from this president,” quipped a senior House GOP aide.
The White House has not released the full roster of those who will attend the dinner.
In a prime-time address to the nation Thursday, Obama will announce executive action that spares up to 5 million undocumented immigrants from deportation. The overwhelming majority of those people are parents of children who are American citizens or legal residents, not so-called Dreamers.
