The Republicans’ approach, three days after they resoundingly won control of the Senate in midterm elections, “seemed to fall on deaf ears,” Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said in an interview. “The president instead of being contrite or saying in effect to America, ‘I hear you’ as a result of the referendum on his policies that drove this last election, he seems unmoved and even defiant.”
“I don’t know why he would want to sabotage his last two years as president by doing something this provocative,” said Cornyn.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell earlier this week said the president’s stance was “like waving a red flag in front of a bull.”
Obama press secretary Josh Earnest said there was no reason executive action on immigration should kill opportunities for the president and Republicans to find common ground — and suggested that some Republican plans could likewise be considered provocative.
“I could stand up here and say Republicans to vote once again for the 50th time to repeal the Affordable Care Act, that that’s playing with fire or waving a red flag in front of a bull. I’m not really sure what that means,” Earnest said.
The White House said Obama in Friday’s gathering laid out three areas where he and Congress could work together before the end of the year: emergency funding to combat the Ebola outbreak, approval of a federal budget and quick action on a request for $5 billion in spending to fight the Islamic State group.
House Speaker John Boehner’s office said Boehner told Obama he was ready to work with the president on a new authorization for military force against the militants if the president works to build bipartisan support.
Friday’s two-hour meeting was tense at times, according to a senior House Republican aide. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, about to lose his grip on the upper chamber, barely spoke, the aide said. The aide was not authorized to describe the discussion publicly and spoke only on condition of anonymity.
Obama’s tone was upbeat as he opened the gathering. He pledged to work on ending long-running partisan gridlock and to be open to Republican ideas. The president said the lunch was a chance to “explore where we can make progress” after Americans showed in the midterm elections that they wanted to see more accomplished in Washington.
“They’d like to see more cooperation,” Obama said, sitting at the middle of 13 lawmakers in the Old Family Dining Room. “And I think all of us have the responsibility, me in particular, to try to make that happen.”
Reporters were ushered out before any lawmaker spoke.
Boehner’s office said he suggested that the president should back a Republican jobs bill as a starting place for bipartisan action.
Briefings on Ebola and the Islamic State from Pentagon officials dominated much of the meeting, and the immigration debate was said to have lasted about half an hour. Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said Republicans told Obama that any executive order, not just on immigration, would be a “toxic decision.”
“He still hasn’t come to grips with the reality of the election and the consequences of the election,” Barrasso said. “His tone and tenor didn’t seem to reflect that of somebody whose policies were just significantly rejected all across the country just three days ago.”
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