Obama to Meet with Boehner
USA Today reports:
President Obama plans to sit down with congressional leaders -- including Republican House Speaker-to-be John Boehner -- two weeks from today, Nov. 18, the president said.
"This is going to be a meeting in which I want us to talk substantively about how we can move the American people's agenda forward," Obama said after meeting with his Cabinet. "It's not just going to be a photo-op. Hopefully it may spill over into dinner."
The "immediate focus" is the upcoming lame duck congressional session, Obama said, as well as the agenda when the new Congress elected this week takes office in January. When that happens, Boehner and the Republicans will run the U.S. House, while Democrats control the U.S. Senate, though with a smaller majority.
The meeting is set for Nov. 18 because Obama will be traveling in Asia next week.
One top item on the Nov. 18 agenda: George W. Bush-era tax cuts due to expire at the end of the year. Republicans want to extend all of them, while Obama wants to let them lapse for individuals making more than $200,000 annually, and for couples making more than $250,000.
"We have to act in order to assure that middle-class families don't see a big tax spike because of how the Bush tax cuts have been structured," Obama said, not commenting on what should be done with tax cuts for the wealthy.
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