President Obama will meet with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., at the White House Wednesday afternoon, a gathering that comes as lawmakers try to finalize a government funding plan before the end of the year.
Obama’s chat with McConnell, soon to be majority leader of the upper chamber, is devoted to discussing legislative priorities. However, the meeting is closed to the press, and the White House would not provide further details about the purpose of the McConnell visit.
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House Republicans are trying to simultaneously pass a funding bill to keep the government running and limit Obama’s executive action to defer deportations for up to 5 million undocumented immigrants. Republicans could pass a separate, short-term bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security in an attempt to confront the president on immigration without shutting down the government.
That funding plan is likely to be a major topic of conversation between Obama and McConnell, as the White House has said the president would veto legislation that attempts to counteract his immigration move.
Obama has been criticized in the past for not reaching out to congressional Republicans, and the meeting could serve as at least an initial olive branch to conservatives ahead of the GOP taking over both chambers of Congress in 2015.
The Obama-McConnell confab will take places after the president has lunch with Vice President Joe Biden at the White House.
