White House Meeting Ends in Kind Words but No Deals

This article discusses the meeting that Obama had with the Republican Congressional leaders earlier today. The meeting was said to have "pledges of cooperation" but thus far, there have been no agreements on the two major issues that currently divide Democrats and Republicans: national security, and more importantly, fiscal policy. At the moment, the most relevant issue up for discussion is whether or not to continue Bush-era tax cuts that will soon expire. The large debate on these tax cuts is not for how long they should be extended, but rather who should receive the tax relief. The Republicans believe that everybody should get the cuts, while the Democrats think that they should only go to citizens with income under $250,000. In order to settle this debate in a timely manner, two Republicans and two Democrats (one from each party in each hous eof Congress) will discuss the matter with Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner. Furthermore, Obama personally apologized to the new Speaker of the House, Boehner, and the minority leader in the Senate, McConnell, for not reaching out to them at all to find some common ground in the past two years. Obama is promising them that this time around, he will do much to promote bipartisanship in Congress. However, both Boehner and McConnel feel that the outcome of recent midterm elections were not only a cry for bipartisanship, but also a "rejection of Obama's agenda." Despite their beliefs, Obama's announcement yesterday of a two-year pay freeze for civilian federal workers was meant to show the Republicans in Congress that he is indeed serious about eliminating as much deificit spending as possible from now on.