Dems to WH: Join in Budget Fight
The Hill reports:
Frustrated Senate Democrats gave senior White House advisers an earful Thursday afternoon during a private meeting, telling them that President Obama needs to get more involved in the budget battle, according to Democratic sources.
Obama dispatched his budget director, Jack Lew, and National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling to soothe the restive Democrats.
“I don’t think they’re enjoying coming up here that much during budget season,” said a Senate Democratic source, who said lawmakers delivered the message “loud and clear.”
“The message to the White House is we need to ramp this up, we need to get going,” said the source, who requested anonymity.
Several Democratic senators confirmed that they and their colleagues told Lew and Sperling on Thursday that Obama needed to take a more active public role.
A White House official declined to comment on the criticism.
“We’ve committed not to talk publicly about private conversations with the Democratic Caucus,” said the official.
Democratic officials on Capitol Hill say they are uncertain about what the president’s endgame plan is for the budget standoff.
They added that it’s difficult to vote against short-term resolutions that cut $4 billion here or $2 billion there over the span of a few weeks. The projected federal deficit for this year is $1.6 trillion.
Some congressional Democrats are losing patience with the president, saying they want to move on to other priorities, such as their jobs agenda.
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