WASHINGTON – This is Washington sausage making at its wurst!
President Obama today plied Congress leaders with hoagies at a White House lunch meeting, but he still got an earful from Republicans about inaction on pending debt, deficit and tax-hike catastrophes.
Obama did some chewing out of his own, urging Republicans to take up his legislative “to-do list” and prodded them to “avoid fighting old political fights,” said the White House.
The president’s agenda suffered another blow today when the Senate defeated Obama’s 2012 budget in a humiliating 99-0 vote. It was the second straight year that Senate Democrats unanimously rejected his budget.
At the White House, it didn’t matter that Obama personally made a run to nearby Taylor Gourmet deli and plunked down $62.79 for hoagies for the bipartisan sit-down with four House and Senate leaders.
Obama – who had a hoagie with roast turkey, prosciutto, roasted red peppers and provolone — and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) – whose office would not disclose his choice of sandwich – were bound to give each other indigestion.
The speaker, who was “very pleased with the sandwiches,” nevertheless warned Obama that crushing US debt was hurting job creation and he balked at Obama’s plan to up the $16.3 trillion US debt limit without deep spending cuts, according to a Boehner aide.
“As long as I’m around here, I’m not going to allow a debt ceiling increase without doing something serious about the debt.” Boehner said.
Obama declared that he would not stand for another debt-limit standoff like the one that gripped Washington last summer and threatened the US credit rating.
“The president made clear … that we are not going to recreate the debt ceiling debacle of last August,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters, describing the president’s remarks.
Carney called the lunch meeting “cordial” and Boehner’s aide called it “friendly.”
smiller@nypost.com