Apparently Boehner didn't want to let these guys near the White House
So here's the story: President Obama is inviting members of the House and Senate from both parties to meetings at the White House this week. His goal: To encourage Congress to end the government shutdown and avoid a debt limit default.
The president is starting his meetings today, meeting with the full House Democratic caucus. But when he invited House Republicans they couldn't bring themselves to accept his offer without twisting themselves into a knot:
Boehner's office said Wednesday that the GOP leader would send a small group to Obama's meeting Thursday, but not the full invited caucus.
Boehner spokesman Brendan Buck said the meeting was only worthwhile if it was focused on finding a solution. So Buck said only the elected leadership and select committee chairmen will attend - 18 lawmakers out of the 232 invited
If you're like most people, you're probably shaking your head at the fact that Boehner rejected a full conference meeting just one day after claiming that the GOP had only shut the government down because Obama won't even talk to them.
But you should really try tearing a page from the "Both sides do it" playbook and hail Boehner for agreeing to give Obama a substantial portion of what Obama requested: 18 of the 232 invited member of Congress. That's almost 8 percent of what Obama had asked—7.7 percent, to be precise. In non-numerical terms, that's an unprecedented concession. Surely, the president should reciprocate by accepting House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan's plan to end Medicare as we know it, right?
12:37 PM PT:
WH says Pres Obama is "disappointed" that only a small group of House Republicans will attend shutdown/default meeting tomorrow at WH.
— @markknoller
12:39 PM PT: Here's a list of who will attend the meeting. Lankford is the biggest tea partier among them.
