Obama Tells Senate Democrats To Unify In Deficit Fight

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama told Senate Democrats Wednesday that they need to get on the same page as they tangle with Republicans over deficit reduction and raising the debt limit.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) emerged from an hour-and-a-half long meeting with Obama and Senate Democrats signaling that the president's message got through.

"We are singing from the same hymnbook on the same page," Reid told reporters at the White House. He said the meeting with Obama was "excellent" and that it "ended on a very high note without any question we're together."

The Nevada Democrat's assurances of party unity come, however, on the same day that Sens. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) and Mary Landrieu (D-La.) took to the Senate floor to decry their party's attempt to strip tax breaks from top oil companies as a way to bring down the deficit. Both senators hail from oil-producing states. It was unclear if either attended the White House meeting.

The president's huddle with Senate Democrats is the first of several meetings he plans to hold with different factions of Congress in an effort to bridge differences on deficit and debt matters. Obama is meeting with Senate Republicans on Thursday and, in the coming weeks, with House Democrats and Republicans.

Reid said there is "no question" that lawmakers will have to work on a bipartisan basis to make progress. He called on GOP lawmakers to avoid drawing lines in the sand during negotiations, particularly on the issue of cutting tax subsidies for oil companies. Some Republicans, including Speaker John Boehner (Ohio), have signaled support for that tack.

"Why couldn't we start there with a show of good faith," Reid said, and "just acknowledge that the $21 billion that is given to those companies" is not necessary.

Reid said Democrats are going to have to hold their noses and make cuts that are "not easy," but the upside is they can "look back at the wonderful things we've accomplished over the past two and a half years."

"The president was very good at running through each of those," he added.

Comments

[hornedcog]

08:01 PM on 05/15/2011

Stop giving oil companies tax payers money.

[bannorhill]

09:18 PM on 05/14/2011

The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can’t pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government­’s reckless fiscal policies. … Leadership means that ‘the buck stops here.’ Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchild­ren.

America has a debt and a failure of leadership­.

Americans deserve better.

[rickroland]

03:11 AM on 05/13/2011

Yeah, "unify", also known as in working in a bipartisan manner can go hang.

If anyone is shocked by this, they haven't been paying attention.

[ENORCEL]

10:09 PM on 05/12/2011

Obama's politics ...what a crack.... It is not enough for this former Community Organizer that he has indebted the USA by his senseless, wasteful spending for two whole years now......All by himself.....Obama has managed to put us at the 14 trillion dollar deficit level (Obama has in two years time increased the USA deficit by 5 trillion dollars)........which means ......devastating inflation is just a mater of time in the USA......the US dollar will be worth less and less..... our taxes will go higher and higher,,,,so that we will suffer more anger and misery........ if we allow Obama and his boys like ...Harry Reid, Chuck Schumer, and Nancy Pelosi ..... to run our government

[JDZSB]

07:15 PM on 05/12/2011

The subsidies (2 Billion dollars) whether given or not to the oil companies will have little impact on the 1.5 Trillion dollar budget deficit and will have little impact on the cost of gasoline, in fact, taking them away could actually raise the cost of gasoline. The government hearings on this are a joke and for political show and those conducting these hearings should be embarrassed. Why cannot they do something that will actually help the economy instead of wasting their time and our taxes/money with these distractions? The Dems hate the oil companies and want to see them hurt, but only hurt us by their energy policies and political posturing. Put in windfall profits taxes if they think will help, but guess who makes the most money off of a gallon of gas? You are right..if you said the FEDERAL government.

[hornedcog]

08:03 PM on 05/15/2011

Why do you believe tax payers money should be given to private companies?

[NoQuarter472]

03:13 PM on 05/12/2011

How long will Begovich and Landrieu both dems, hold out against the regime against their partys demands on big bad oil....before Chicago tactics are applied on them with a full nelson in the dark.

[NoQuarter472]

03:01 PM on 05/12/2011

Biden,Pelosi, Reid, what a picture of deceit and failure.

[NoQuarter472]

02:59 PM on 05/12/2011

When Reid starts to slither around calling for "bipartisanship" be careful to keep your backside to the wall.

[hornedcog]

08:05 PM on 05/15/2011

Don't get caught on the door knob. Door knob.

[The ORF in Largo]

01:55 PM on 05/12/2011

The Dems have to stand united against the Rep corporate/elitist agenda or will be become
nothing but serf in a Corporacy

[patriot23]

12:35 PM on 05/12/2011

"Reid said Democrats are going to have to hold their noses and make cuts that are "not easy," but the upside is they can 'look back at the wonderful things we've accomplished over the past two and a half years.'"

What wonderful things? Like get us into over $4 trillion of debt with $1.5, $1.3, and $1.7 trillion deficits? This is the problem with Democrats. Oh wait, my bad. Democrats reduced the deficit, Nancy Pelosi said so herself! OR, if you ask Joe Biden he will explain how we had to spend trillions of dollars to avoid bankruptcy. What a regular collection of geniuses we have running this country.

[99er2049er]

01:12 PM on 05/12/2011

Wonderful things like catching Bin Laden, saving the auto industry, especially GM and Chrysler (the republicans wanted those companies to fall by the wayside) and creating thousands of new jobs, while saving hundreds of thousands, getting us $18 billion from BP for their oil spill, when the republicans wanted to make us pay for the costs, preventing the recession from turning into a depression (thanks for that wonderful recession Bush), and actually getting the economy back on track and heading out of the recession, instead of heading into the recession. Fighting to help the poor, middle class, and seniors, including blocking the republicans from cutting Medicare and other valuable programs.

You know wonderful things like this. We can post up a massively larger list if you would like.

[GirlOutWest]

02:54 PM on 05/12/2011

#240

[GirlOutWest]

02:55 PM on 05/12/2011

Oops, 540 :-)

[Jawbey]

11:33 AM on 05/12/2011

Get it together or fall further in 2012

[Novelist56]

11:21 AM on 05/12/2011

Is there a sensible Republican who can explain RyanCare to a person 54 years old and paid into Medicare all of their working life?

[DUSAA-1775]

12:01 PM on 05/12/2011

Let me take a shot at that one.... it will not affect you. It won't pass until 2013.

[99er2049er]

01:14 PM on 05/12/2011

It will not affect the 54 year old, but it will effect the rest of us under 54. And you still never know with Ryan, perhaps after 2012, if they were in charge, they would change the rules and make it right away, who's to say they won't? The republicans said Obama was going to destroy medicare and create death panels for the seniors, yet it turns out the republicans lied and they are the ones creating the death panels.

[GirlOutWest]

02:45 PM on 05/12/2011

Typical GOP answer...if it doesn't affect me, who cares?!

[treadway123]

12:02 PM on 05/12/2011

I am 57 an I know full well what it says! That is why I am on line as often as I can fighting these Republicans. My daughter is just 32 in 4 months she paid out $111.62 to medicare,$294.39 in FICA, $165.90 in state, $403.60 in Federal More when she get overtime for over 38 hrs a week. I can't figure out why states/Federal is going broke? Thats at $10.15 a HR. She paid in all that money all these years. So is the Goverment going to pay her/rest of us back every dime we paid in if they go with the Ryans plan so we can put that thousands into our own H.C. Plan or move to some were like Virginia that has just went Single Payer plan?.

[realanswers]

12:33 PM on 05/12/2011

States are going broke because a lot of those Governors cut taxes for corporations that was not paid for, then dipped into the states employees' pension to balance the budget when the market crashed. They got caught with their hands in the cookie jar (pension plan) and started crying about pensions for state employees.

[realanswers]

12:37 PM on 05/12/2011

Virginia? The Republican Govenor Bob McDonnell and unusual attorney general Cuccinelli?

You may mean Vermont.

[1differentdrummer]

11:12 AM on 05/12/2011

For crying out loud, why must they be told this? It's the old bundle of sticks thing. Alone they can be broken, together they can't be broken. A seven year old knows that.

[Novelist56]

11:10 AM on 05/12/2011

Where oh where have the Republican candidates gone? On where oh where can they be? With Thump running with his tail between his legs, and Daniels destroying women's health...On where oh where can they be?

[99er2049er]

01:17 PM on 05/12/2011

They are huddling up together and with their corporate masters, Koch Brothers, insurance companies, and oil companies, looking for a way to steal more money from our treasury and the poor/middle class/seniors, so they can give their millionaire masters more money to line their greedy pockets.

[CPAwADD]

11:05 AM on 05/12/2011

Unifying Democrats is like herding cats. Democats?

[GirlOutWest]

02:38 PM on 05/12/2011

I'm ready and willing to take on the GOP!

[rickroland]

03:20 AM on 05/13/2011

But herding cats is at least enjoyable, they are cute and fun to have around.

Not so much with the more liberal-bent Dems.