Obama meets with Republicans in Congress

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama continued his outreach to opposition Republicans even as he acknowledged that they and his fellow Democrats remain far apart on warring plans to reduce the gaping U.S. deficit.

The president has been making a rare series of visits to Congress this week to meet with lawmakers in an effort to thaw the frosty relationship between the parties that has left the country wrestling with a blunt $85 billion in budget cuts from both military and domestic programs. Both parties admit the cuts threaten the U.S. economic recovery.

Obama met with Republicans in the House of Representatives on Wednesday and planned to meet with Senate Republicans on Thursday, along with House Democrats.

The partisan divide has hurt efforts to address a series of fiscal crises, and the latest looms at the end of this month with the possibility of a government shutdown over funding.

Meanwhile, both parties have offered budget proposals in an annual ritual that is mostly political posturing, though they are meant to lay out each party's stance on federal spending.

Obama is expected to release his own budget plan the week of April 8.

The U.S. debt is now at $16.6 trillion. The Treasury Department on Wednesday indicated that the annual deficit, at least, is starring to shrink. Higher taxes and an improving economy are expected to hold the deficit below $1 trillion for the first time since Obama took office.

Many Republicans who long have accused Obama of failing to engage their party on the nation's biggest problems are applauding his newfound outreach.

"It was good. I enjoyed it. It was useful," Obama told reporters as he emerged from Wednesday's roughly 90-minute meeting.

House Speaker John Boehner, the top Republican in Congress, said there was a candid exchange of ideas but differences remain over the budget, the federal debt and other issues.

House Republicans have offered a new budget proposal crafted by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, who ran as the 2012 Republican vice presidential nominee. Senate Democrats unveiled their own budget blueprint Wednesday.

The Ryan plan would balance the federal budget in 10 years with drastic spending cuts alone. The White House said it would harm the middle class. The plan touts longstanding Republican proposals to slash funding for domestic programs, repeal Obama's health care overhaul and privatize the Medicare health care program for the elderly.

"Ultimately, it may be that the differences are just too wide," Obama said before the meeting, in an interview broadcast Wednesday on ABC's "Good Morning America."

If Republicans insist that their only solution is to avoid tax hikes and "gut" programs like Medicare, "then we're probably not going to be able to get a deal," he said.

Obama's outreach started with an unusual dinner Obama hosted last week at a hotel near the White House for a dozen Senate Republicans.

The president has shown a willingness to reduce spending on big entitlement programs such as Medicare, the Social Security pension program and the Medicaid health program for the poor — traditionally a taboo among Democrats — in exchange for closing loopholes in the tax code.

Republicans, however, object to any more tax increases, insisting that Obama got his way with tax hikes on the wealthy in the New Year's Day deal that prevented tax hikes for most federal income tax payers and delayed the $85 billion in spending cuts. Those cuts took effect March 1, even though neither party wanted them, because the two sides couldn't reach a compromise on an alternative.

Senate Democrats proposed repealing the cuts and raising taxes in their budget plan.

The spending cuts are set to continue through the decade. That has left the government with no flexibility in how it implements the sharp cuts, something both parties agree is bad policy.

While Ryan questioned Wednesday on MSNBC whether Obama's overture was sincere, the White House argues that it is genuine. Aides say that Obama, who is in his second and final term as president, feels more flexible to strike deals with Republicans that include ideas that liberals in his own party might oppose.