Ahead of a pre-dinner meeting with congressional leaders Thursday, President Obama is preparing a banquet featuring tax cuts, earmark reform and reheated concern over bipartisanship.
“I am very confident that the American people were not issuing a mandate for gridlock,” Obama told reporters on his way back from Asia.
Not coincidentally, all of the president’s top priorities for the meeting appeal to independent voters, signaling that, at the White House, the 2012 campaign has begun.
After staunchly refusing to extend Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest taxpayers, as congressional Republicans want, the administration now says Obama’s top concern is protecting tax cuts for the middle class. Obama proposed extending the cuts, which are scheduled to expire at year’s end, only to individuals earning less than $200,000 and families earning less than $250,000.
While Obama is signaling a willingness to compromise on those tax cuts, he is also challenging congressional Republicans to justify the $700 million hit on revenue that would come from extending tax cuts for the rich.
“I want to hear from them how strongly they feel about it, particularly given that they’re also saying they want to control the deficit and debt,” Obama said. “I want to get a sense of how they intend to pay for it.”
Obama and congressional leaders are also expected to discuss earmarks, the secretive process lawmakers use to channel money to pet projects with little or no public discussion. Obama opposed the use of earmarks as a candidate in 2008 but in 2009 signed a $410 billion spending bill larded with earmarks, calling the process “imperfect.”
Leaders of the new Republican majority now say they plan to outlaw earmarks, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., a onetime supporter of earmarks, saying Monday that he now favors a moratorium on them because earmarks have become a symbol of wasteful federal spending.
“We have a chance to not only shine a light on a bad Washington habit that wastes billions of taxpayer dollars, but take a step towards restoring public trust,” Obama said.
While acknowledging that earmarks “represent a relatively small part of overall federal spending,” Obama said that “when it comes to signaling our commitment to fiscal responsibility, addressing them would have an important impact.”
In an introspective chat with reporters flying back from Japan on Air Force One, Obama continued to take the blame for the midterm election results, saying that in his zeal for legislative success, he neglected a promise to change the tone in Washington and pledged to seek bipartisan cooperation on Capitol Hill.
“I think, moving forward, I’m going to redouble my efforts to go back to some of those first principles,” Obama said. “And the fact that we are out of crisis — although still, obviously, in a difficult time — I think will give me the capacity to do that.”
The president on Thursday will host eight congressional leaders from both parties at the White House for a meeting, followed by dinner, to discuss potential areas of agreement.
