Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), the No. 4 Senate Republican, on Sunday said President Obama has not shown that he’s willing to work with Republicans.
President Obama met with congressional leaders from both parties on Friday, but Barrasso claims that Obama spent too much time discussing executive action on immigration.
“His policies have been rejected by the voters, and not just because they’re unpopular, but because they don’t work. And that’s why we went to the White House to say, ‘Mr. President, we want to work with you on issues of jobs, the economy, affordable energy, and health care,'” Barrasso said on “Fox News Sunday.”
“And I was astonished that during that whole lunch, the president didn’t ask us anything about that at all. He just was so focused on this executive amnesty issue that he ignored the idea of having the dialogue on ways we could actually change the direction of the country and move forward with regards to jobs and the economy,” he continued.
Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-CA), challenged Barrasso’s summary of the meeting on “Fox News Sunday.”
“The president wasn’t so focused on the issue of executive action until Speaker Boehner was the one to raise is, saying, ‘It’s going to be tough to do anything together if you do executive action.’ And that’s when the president tried to respond back,” Becerra said. “So to put the blame on the president for responding to the speaker is unfair.”
Barrasso shot back, arguing that Obama still spent too much time on immigration
“And the president then spent an inordinate amount to time talking about his goals for executive action and pretty much ignored the next two years,” he said.
Barrasso also said that Obama hasn’t fully accepted the Democratic Party’s loss in the midterm elections.
“He is sure not fully grasping the significant defeat for his party and his policies. As the President said, his policies were on the ballot, each and every one of them,” he said.
