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U.S. NEWSWednesday 3 February
Wide gulf as Obama, Republicans look for common ground
JOSH LEDERMAN House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Calif. walks to a meeting with the House GOP lead- his legislative ambitions
Associated Press ership, Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2016, at Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington. from the sweeping pro-
WASHINGTON (AP) — There House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis., and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., are sched- posals he pushed earlier in
were scant signs of consen- uled to meet with President Barack Obama at the White House this morning. his term. But he still needs
sus Tuesday as President Congress to help finish
Barack Obama met at the Associated Press what he’s started in certain
White House with opposi- areas — trade being chief
tion Republican leaders fore the meeting. came speaker in October point of agreement is that among them.
of the House and Senate, Ryan and Obama also had with a mandate to unite Obama’s agenda must be Prospects for approv-
hoping to find common a private lunch, their first an unruly cast of House stopped. Obama and Mc- ing the Trans-Pacific Part-
ground on trade, drug since the congressman be- Republicans whose prime Connell have ridden this nership, the lynchpin of
abuse and criminal jus- merry-go-round before, Obama’s trade agenda,
tice reform in his final year striking big deals occasion- appeared even farther off
in office. While both sides ally, but more often not. as McConnell and Ryan
professed a general inter- Illustrating how hard Re- emerged from the meet-
est in working together, the publicans were still fight- ing. Although Republicans
deep ideological gulf be- ing Obama’s agenda and businessgroups gener-
tween them seemed wider seven years in, the House ally support the free-trade
than ever. planned its umpteenth deal, McConnell hasn’t yet
House Speaker Paul Ryan vote Tuesday evening to backed it, and has sug-
and Senate Majority Lead- repeal Obama’s health gested Congress shouldn’t
er Mitch McConnell ap- care law. vote to ratify it until after
peared content to simply Still, White House spokes- the November elections.
wait this president out, man Josh Earnest said But the Kentucky Repub-
hoping a Republican suc- Obama was pleased to lican seemed even more
cessor will give the party host the leaders, calling it definitive Tuesday that he
the full power it needs to a sign that despite heated won’t support a vote at all
press its priorities unimped- partisanship in an elec- this year. “The Speaker is a
ed. “The days of Barack tion year, Democrats and free trader. I’m a free trad-
Obama’s presidency are Republicans can have a er and obviously the presi-
numbered,” Ryan said be- good-faith conversation dent is as well,” McConnell
about the country’s priori- said. “There are a number
ties. “It’s not treasonous to of flaws here. We’re going
do that,” Earnest said. “In to keep on talking about it
fact, it’s part of the respon- and seeing if there’s a way
sibility that goes along with forward.”
leadership.” Another Obama priority, a
Ryan, speaking after the new war powers resolution,
weekly meeting of Repub- didn’t even come up, Mc-
lican lawmaker, said he Connell said. Though Re-
hoped he and Obama publicans are demanding
could “put those dis- Obama intensify the fight
agreements in check and against the Islamic State
see where the common group, they’re opposed
ground is.” to the limited, no-ground-
Obama has scaled back troops resolution Obama
has proposed. The White
House argues Republi-
cans have failed to offer
any viable alternative to
Obama’s IS strategy.
Where Obama and the
Republicans did seem to
find fertile ground was on a
set of lower-tier issues with
less of a partisan tilt. Ryan’s
office and the White House
said the leaders had con-
ferred about Puerto Rico’s
fiscal crisis, the alarming
heroin epidemic, Vice
President Joe Biden’s can-
cer initiative and a criminal
justice overhaul. All are is-
sues both parties have said
they want to address.q
