A freshman Republican congressman turned down an invitation to attend a White House conference with the rest of the GOP House caucus, saying he did not want to be “lectured” by the President.
“I have respectfully declined the President’s invitation to the White House today,” Rep. Jeff Landry (R-LA) said in a press release. “I don’t intend to spend my morning being lectured to by a President whose failed policies have put our children and grandchildren in a huge burden of debt.”
Obama had invited the Republican House membership to a meeting at the White House to discuss looming showdowns over the budget and debt limit. Obama will meet with the Democratic caucus Thursday.
Landry said that he would not meet with the president until Obama has his own deficit reduction proposal to bring to the table.
“Until the President produces a responsible deficit reduction plan, I’m not going to the White House to negotiate with myself,” Landry wrote.
“I refuse to partake in his political grandstanding that will ultimately do nothing for debt reduction and job creation,” he added.
Democrats have blasted Republicans in recent weeks for their budget that involves a deeply unpopular plan to privatize Medicare, successfully using it as a focal point to win a special House election in a traditionally Republican district in May. Republicans have fired back that Democrats don’t even have a deficit reduction plan to begin with.
In a press conference following the meeting, Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said the talks were, “frank” and “productive.” However, Republicans also took the opportunity to again knock Democrats for having failed to produce a plan to cut spending.
