Check baltimoresun.com and tomorrow's print edition for full details of the president's visit.
By Paul West
Republican Rep. Peter Roskam of Illinois says members of the Democratic caucus have "stiff-armed" their GOP colleagues. Roskam says Obama isn't alone in wanting to hit the reset button on 2009.
Obama says both sides are to blame for a "sour climate on Capitol Hill." Obama says he's willing to help bring Republican and Democratic leaders together with the president. Obama says he's failed to foster those conversations.
The president says there are fissures within his Democratic Party, much like the GOP. He says a tone of civility would be more helpful than the "slash-and-burn" style sometimes practiced by both sides.
From Associated Press
Obama told a GOP retreat that every president would love to have the ability to nix lines of the budget. Obama says the line-item veto is something he's ready to work with Congress to make into law.
Obama says it would be ideal if both parties showed restraint on spending for pet projects, so the line-item veto wouldn't be needed. Obama says he's amused that members of Congress decry "wasteful spending" outside their districts -- but are silent on their own pet projects.
He says those so-called earmarks are not unique to either party.
From Associated Press
Answering a question at a House GOP retreat today, Obama said "nobody has been a bigger advocate of clean-coal technology than I." But he also said he and Republicans "have a serious disagreement" about long-term energy strategy.
Obama told the group, meeting in Baltimore, that "we can't operate the coal industry in the United States as if we're still in the 1920s, the 1930s, 1950s." The president said that in order to better compete in the world, America has to be seen by other countries as a leader in clean-energy strategies.
From Associated Press
Obama told GOP members of the House that their name-calling and blind opposition have led them to become politically vulnerable because their sole message is that they say "no" to the first-term president. Obama says their characterization of his plans as part of some "Bolsheviks revolution" has been unhelpful to both parties.
Obama says Republicans' statements have boxed them in with their conservative base. He says the tone in Washington has become corrosive and is not serving their constituents, something he says must change.
From Associated Press
Obama was responding Friday at a GOP retreat to an assertion by Rep. Mike Pence that he should have embraced an across-the-board tax cut early in his term. The Republican conference chairman said that Obama had chosen to rely on targeted "boutique" tax cuts rather than across-the-board relief.
Obama defended his strategy but conceded officials mistakenly believed unemployment would go no higher than "the 8 percent range." He also said that many of the jobs were lost in December, January and February of 2009, before he took office or before any of his programs took effect. Obama told the Indiana Republican, "I'm assuming you're not faulting my policies for that."
From Associated Press
By Paul West
