“Obama lit him up. Cantor sat in stunned silence,” said an official in the meeting. “It was incredible. If the public saw Obama he would win in a landslide.”
(You know how I hate linking GOPolitico – but that line was way too good to resist)
….. Democratic sources dispute Cantor’s version of Obama’s walk out, but all sides agree that the two had a blow up. The sources described Obama as “impassioned” but said he didn’t exactly storm out of the room.
“Cantor’s account of tonight’s meeting is completely overblown. For someone who knows how to walk out of a meeting, you’d think he know it when he saw it,” a Democratic aide said. “Cantor rudely interrupted the president three times to advocate for short-term debt ceiling increases while the president was wrapping the meeting. This is just more juvenile behavior from him and Boehner needs to rein him in, and let the grown-ups get to work. “
On exiting the room, Obama reportedly said that “this confirms the totality of what the American people already believe” about Washington, said a Democratic official familiar with debt negotiations, that officials are “too focused on positioning and political posturing” to make difficult choices.
ABC: Amidst discussions of credit ratings agency Moody’s putting the U.S. on review for downgrade, President Obama told congressional leaders today that by Friday they all have to decide what they’re doing: a compromise package to reduce the deficit, or if there’s no willingness to compromise, some other way to raise the debt ceiling and avoid defaulting.
The president made the declaration at today’s deficit reduction meeting in the Cabinet Room, which began at 4:24 p.m. ET and ended at 6:16 p.m.
A Democrat familiar with the negotiations, said that the group went through discretionary and mandatory spending cuts – more than $1 trillion over 10 years – that had been discussed in the earlier talks led by Vice President Joe Biden.
The group agreed to return to the table tomorrow afternoon to talk about mechanisms for those cuts and possibly to address health care spending (Medicare and Medicaid) and a possible extension of the payroll tax cut…
…Eric Cantor raised yet again the possibility of a short-term fix, which President Obama, seemingly frustrated – according to Republicans – shot down, abruptly ending the meeting.
****
CBS: As negotiations continue over raising the nation’s debt ceiling to avoid any potential default on America’s fiscal obligations, the daily meetings at the White House on the subject have been getting more tense, people familiar with the negotiations tell CBS News.
Wednesday’s meeting was the most tense meeting of the week, a GOP aide told CBS News. In fact, the president ended the meeting by abruptly leaving the room.
…A Democratic aide described the meeting in different terms to CBS News, saying the participants had a constructive conversation on the numbers, and talked specifics.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor reportedly kept pushing for a short-term deal, which President Obama promised to veto if it reached his desk.
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