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(Reuters) - The White House effectively turned down an invitation by Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell for President Barack Obama to visit his members on Capitol Hill on Thursday to discuss raising the debt limit.

White House press secretary Jay Carney, while not directly saying the invitation had been rejected, said Obama did not need to hear Republicans tell him what they would not support.

That, Carney said, was "not a conversation worth having."


The Senate abandoned plans for a July 4 break as time dwindled for lawmakers to strike a compromise on avoiding a government default and reducing mammoth federal deficits. In a challenge to President Barack Obama, the chamber's top Republican invited him to the Capitol to discuss the impasse with GOP lawmakers.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., announced the scheduling change Thursday, a day after President Barack Obama prodded lawmakers to act swiftly to extend the government's ability to borrow money. The Senate had been scheduled to take a week's break but instead will meet beginning Tuesday.

"We'll do that because we have work to do," Reid said.

The House had already been scheduled to work next week.

Minutes later, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., took to the Senate floor to invite Obama to meet with Senate Republicans "anytime this afternoon" at the Capitol.

By meeting directly with Republicans, "that way he can hear directly from Senate Republicans why what he's proposing will not pass," he said, adding, "And we can finally start talking about what's actually possible."

At a Wednesday news conference, Obama insisted there is no more time to add. And he beseeched and badgered lawmakers to complete a deal to cut long-term deficits and lift the nation's debt ceiling before Aug. 2 to avoid what his administration says would be a calamitous government default.

"There's no point in putting it off," he said Wednesday. "We've got to get this done."

At a news conference, the president sought to upend the Republican argument that deficit-cutting negotiations had come to a standstill over the White House desire to increase taxes.

"The tax cuts I'm proposing we get rid of are tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires, tax breaks for oil companies and hedge fund managers, and corporate jet owners," Obama countered.

Ever since bipartisan debt negotiations led by Vice President Joe Biden broke down last week, the White House has gradually become more aggressive, culminating with Obama's spirited news conference.

He called on lawmakers to work through their July Fourth recess. He argued that his 12- and 10-year-old daughters show more discipline getting their work done. "They're not pulling all-nighters," he said.

At his news conference, Obama took issue with criticism that he has not pushed for an agreement. He argued that he has spent an hour to an hour-and-a-half each with Republican senators, Democratic senators and House members from both parties.

"I've met with the leaders multiple times," he continued. "At a certain point, they need to do their job."

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, replied that an increase in the debt ceiling will pass only if the White House agrees to spending cuts in excess of the debt limit increase, holds down future spending and raises no taxes.


this son of a **** has done nothing but fly around on the taxpayers' dime, raising funds in puerto rico and broadway, in between rounds of golf. then he's content to snipe from where ever he's at at the time. he acts as if he's above the political process, putting the blame on others, and then he tries to swoop in at the last minute to steal whatever credit he can. but he's too busy to actually sit down and meet with the senate? he even turned down an invite from harry reid. ooh, but he spent a whole hour and a half on the phone? what a great leader. ****...

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Perhaps because passing legislation isn't the Presidents **** job.  Nor is it his job to baby sit Congress.  If anything McConnell's invitation was an insult to the President, suggesting that Obama has nothing more important scheduled for his day than to drop what he's doing, cancel any important meetings he may have scheduled months in advance, and accept a last second invitation to go meet with Republican representatives to discuss something Obama is not responsible for nor has any power over.  All do, but you need to pull your head out of whatever hole you've managed to lodge it in.  I get it, you hate our President.  The thing is, I don't think there is anything he could do that wouldn't evoke your passionate scorn.  I hate to be so rude as to say this, but in all honesty the only person coming off as a douche bag in the OP is you.

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Hey Dod, after re-reading my post I realized I came off very harsh.  I apologize for the horrible disrespect conveyed in my post.  I can only hope that it didn't offend you too deeply.  Why I stand by my rebuttal, I should have refrained from the ad hominem attack.

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i don't care man. point is, obama hasn't led on anything. he delegates others to push his agenda for him. this is even what he did with the healthcare issue. yet then he uses his bully pulpit to frame the debates, and has absolutely no respect for anyone. he's absolutely uncompromising, and often harms the process more than helping. he is as involved in the political process as he wants to be, and then he gets a general pass whenever there are problems, while soaking up all the praises when he feels something positive has been done. i particularly like how he said in his snarky little news conference that he's been busy with afghanistan and killing bin laden. news flash, the bin laden bounce has already bounced. and hell, they're still trying to blame bush for all our misfortune. bottom line, aside from killing bin laden, he hasn't had one victory for america. we're neck deep in stagflation, and how anyone can advocate another four years of this abysmal, leaderless sitution we're in, is beyond me.

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Well...it does look bad when the Prez spends most of his time on the golf course, taking vacations and campaigning.  But yeah, it is Congress' job.  Obama scolded Congress a day or so ago about not getting the job done and not being at work.  However, the GOP has offered proposals for a budget, but the Dems have refused to even try in the last 800 days or so.  

So it isnt like the GOP isnt trying.

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a good washington post article:



A feisty President Obama met with reporters Wednesday — a sure sign that the dispute over the debt limit has reached a critical stage.

Let’s parse some of his answers and explain what he means — and how factual he was.

     “The tax cuts I'm proposing we get rid of are tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires, tax breaks for oil companies and hedge fund managers and corporate jet owner. . . . Before we ask our seniors to pay more for health care, before we cut our children's education, before we sacrifice our commitment to the research and innovation that will help create more jobs in the economy, I think it's only fair to ask an oil company or a corporate jet owner that has done so well to give up that tax break that no other business enjoys.”

The White House and Congress have been looking for ways to cut the deficit over 10 years by $2 trillion to $4 trillion. Republicans want to cut spending, while Democrats have sought ways to increase revenues — a nonstarter for most Republicans.

While there have been reports the administration is seeking $400 billion in additional revenue, that’s apparently not a real number. At this point, the White House might accept just about anything that demonstrates what the president calls a “balanced solution.”

In a bit of class jujitsu, the president six times mentioned eliminating a tax loophole for corporate jets, frequently pitting it against student loans or food safety. It’s a potent image, but in the context of a $4 trillion goal, it is essentially meaningless.  The item is so small the White House could not even provide an estimate of the revenue that would be raised, but other estimates suggest it would amount to $3 billion over 10 years.

Meanwhile, student financial assistance, just for 2011, is about $42 billion. So the corporate jet loophole — which involves the fact that such assets can be depreciated over five years, rather than the seven for commercial jets — just is not going to raise a lot of money. It certainly wouldn’t save many student loans.

Going after hedge fund managers might raise about $15 billion over 10 years, but in a different life The Fact Checker covered Wall Street and is pretty certain those financial wizards would figure out a way to avoid this tax shift. John Carney of CNBC actually outlined how that would work.

Eliminating oil and gas preferences would raise $44 billion over 10 years, according to administration figures (table S-8), so that begins to look like real money. But the real dollars are in what the president calls “tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires” — eliminating the ability of people making more than $250,000 to itemize their deductions. That proposal would raise $290 billion over 10 years.

Wait a minute, the president said he would target “millionaires and billionaires” and yet the fine print of his proposal would affect couples making more than $250,000 (and individuals making more than $200,000)? That’s right.

by the way, that tax cut for corporate jet owners was originally a part of obama's stimulus bill.

We realize the symbolic value of things like corporate jets, particularly when Republicans appear to be refusing to accept even a single dollar of additional revenue, but Obama is misleading when he suggests that closing this loophole would make much of a dent in the federal budget. He also should made clear that he would like to raise taxes on people making more than $250,000, rather than just “millionaires and billionaires.”

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149 fundraisers...7 times the number of fundraisers held by GWB at this point in his presidency.

76 rounds of golf, and 48 days on vacation. it's good to be the king.

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Originally Posted by Dødherre Mørktre:


76 rounds of golf, and 48 days on vacation. it's good to be the king.

So now you're giving out because he goes on vacation?

http://ask.yahoo.com/20031001.html - 27%?
http://www.factcheck.org/2010/01/president-obamas-vacation-days

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Originally Posted by Kieran Colfer:

http://ask.yahoo.com/20031001.html - 27%?
http://www.factcheck.org/2010/01/president-obamas-vacation-days

yes, miles, let's do the usual tit for tat, eh? i don't recall the left being all chill about bush's time at crawford either. i don't really care about the time of obama's vacations, personally, but i do care about the insane size of his entourages and the costs they incur. renting out 200 rooms in mumbai? always taking dozens of family members along. a london newspaper wrote an article about obama's stay in england, titled, "an entourage surpassing the queen's." on that trip he brought along 500 staffers, six doctors, four speechwriters, twelve teleprompters, and 35 vehicles. not to mention the 200 secret service agents that had to go along as well. do you have any idea how much the jet fuel costs were alone, just to get everything there? michelle's little trip to africa, costs anywhere between $2 million and $10 million a day. and they've been there for 8 days.

"Mark Knoller, a journalist for CBS News, offered more info on Obama's excessive use of Air Force One. He used the plane 172 times -nearly every other day - in 2010 including six vacations. The Air Force estimates the cost of operating this plane at $181,757 per flight hour."

in his first two years in office (who knows what the numbers are this year?) obama has logged 55 days overseas, surpassing george h.w. bush's record of 54 days during his first two years. in total, obama has visited 26 countries -- some of them more than once -- over the course of 15 trips.

and all the fundraisers he's been attending this year, is just as bad. i mean this guy has been jet setting to campaign stops almost every day. and they're all "official visits," meaning he's making campaign stops, and making us all pick up the tab (just like michelle's africa trip was "official". this is exactly what he did in iowa recently. his trip, which was supposed to be about jobs, was nothing more than a campaign trip. chicago, philadelphia, austin, broadway, LA, he's been everywhere!

this usatoday story from all the way back in may (again, who knows what the numbers are now?) says that, "Since announcing his re-election bid last month, President Obama has crisscrossed the country for more than a dozen fundraisers."

now, i haven't been able to find a number of the total number of fundraisers he's attended, but hearing about them as they occur, he is literally flying all over the country. he'll fly to a fundraiser at night, and be back in washington by the morning. usually, he'll have 2-3 fundraisers in the same night.

now surely, you can agree that this is excessive, particularly when we're drowning in debt, and in the midst of economic hard times. i mean he has to have the largest carbon footprint of any individual on the planet! he has not been governing, he's been campaigning.

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Hey, I complained at the number of vacations PRes Bush went on in wartime.  So I may as well be fair and hit Obama too.  A vacation is one thing.  But geez....this guy takes all these vacations on tax payer's dime, and his wife is always jetting off to India or Africa or someplace and taking a hundred friends or something like that.  I mean...c'mon!  Our economy is killing us over here and we're still at war!  How about vacationing at home at least?  Spend some money in our own economy.