Overheard in Washington: “I’m trying to be incredibly opaque.”
It’s not every day that you hear a DC power player actually admit he or she is avoiding a straight forward answer. Yesterday, it came from none other than White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, speaking to reporters on the subject of fiscal cliff negotiations between The White House and Republicans. The talks between the two parties have so far largely been out of the spotlight, an intentional strategy aimed at reaching an agreement. Tuesday, however, we got some new details: Namely that the White House sent the Speaker a new proposal on Monday, which was countered the following day. It was characterized as progress, but hardly a final deal. Both President Obama and the Speaker spoke by phone yesterday, the same day that more than 100 CEOs from many of the country’s largest companies petitioned the President for a solution to the fiscal cliff that, notably, included revenue increases.
Today, the President will speak on a conference call with a bipartisan group of mayors and local leaders to promote his position. Meanwhile, House Democrats will meet for a caucus meeting concerning the cliff. We’ll speak with House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer about that meeting and where things stand on a deal. All that and more when we join you from DC once again today at noon ET on msnbc.
PANEL
Sam Stein, Political Editor & WH Correspondent, The Huffington Post/msnbc Contributor (@samsteinhp)
Jane Mayer, The New Yorker
Katty Kay, Anchor, BBC World News America (@kattykaybbc)
Jen Psaki, Fmr. Obama 2012 Travelling Press Secretary (@jrpsaki) GUESTS Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), House Democratic Whip (@whiphoyer) Ezra Klein, The Washington Post/msnbc Policy Analyst (@ezraklein)
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