I’m impressed.
Barack Obama sat in a room with Majority Leader Eric Cantor for a whole hour tonight without storming out of the room in a hissy fit.
(To be fair, though, Eric Cantor did not speak at the meeting today.)
(Free Republic)
The President is sooo worried about the possibility of default that he told Congressional leaders they won’t meet tomorrow.
(Does Obama has a golf outing?)
The LA Times reported:
President Obama directed congressional leaders to meet with their respective caucuses Friday to gauge what kind of budget deal is attainable, with more talks possible this weekend in the effort to raise the nation’s debt ceiling and avoid a potentially catastrophic default.
Thursday’s negotiating session was decidedly more even-tempered than the contentious gathering on Wednesday.
White House Budget Director Jack Lew, economic advisor Gene Sperling and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner walked through proposals for getting savings out of healthcare entitlement programs, tax expenditures and budget process changes.
After five straight days of talks, the parties agreed to take a break Friday. Obama plans to hold a morning news conference to update the American people on the progress.
According to a Democratic official familiar with the discussion, the president told the leaders that they had now walked through all the components of a potential big deal, in detail, and that it was now a good time for the leaders to go back to their caucuses, to consult with each other over the next 24-36 hours and figure out what can be done.
