President Obama welcomed Republican and Democratic congressional leaders to lunch at the White House Friday, saying his party’s drubbing in the midterm elections proved that voters wanted both parties to find more ways to compromise.
“What we’ve seen now for a number of cycles is that the American people just want to see work done here in Washington,” Obama said at the White House, ahead of breaking bread with the congressional leadership teams. “They’re frustrated by the gridlock. They’d like to see more cooperation and I think all of us have a responsibility, me in particular, to try to make that happen.”
Vice President Joe Biden; House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio; House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.; House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.; Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.; and incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., joined Obama for lunch, as did other members of leadership in both parties.
The president is crafting a path forward after Republicans regained control of the Senate on Tuesday, raising the question if Obama can enact any of his agenda legislatively in his final two years in office.
The president is expected to soon announce executive action on immigration reform, a development that Republicans say would undermine the spirit of bipartisan compromise in Washington.
Ahead of the lunch at the White House, Obama predicted the leaders would discuss Ebola, the campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, tax reform, infrastructure spending and college affordability.
The president, at least publicly, pledged to listen to Republicans’ ideas.
“I am not going to judge ideas based on whether they’re Democratic or Republican,” Obama said. “I’m going to be judging them based on whether or not they work. I’m confident they want to produce results as well on behalf of the American people.”
