WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama this week continues his outreach to opposition Republicans who say it could help ease the bitter divide that has hurt efforts to solve looming fiscal problems, including a possible government shutdown at the end of the month. The White House said Obama planned to meet with Republicans in the House of Representatives on Wednesday and Senate Republicans and House Democrats on Thursday, after meeting with the Senate Democratic Caucus on Tuesday. Last week, the president dined with a dozen Republican senators, pointedly not including the Republican leaders for either chamber of Congress who have led fiscal negotiations. Obama doesn't have much time. The government shutdown could come when the current short-term budget extension expires March 27, but Congress is scheduled to leave town on March 22. The president's engagement of the opposition also comes as $85 billion in deep spending cuts — roughly half to the military, half to domestic programs — continue to take effect and threaten the country's economic recovery. The cuts were never meant to be put in place and had been designed to force the administration and Congress to come up with a better approach to cutting the massive US debt. Since then, the two main political parties have blamed each other for the series of fiscal crises. Obama's moves to calm tensions included a lunch with a key Republican budget architect in Congress, Rep. Paul Ryan, his party's vice presidential nominee last year. Ryan is famous for his small-government approach. “I hope that this is sincere,” Ryan told Fox News on Sunday. “We had a very good, frank exchange. But the proof will be in the coming weeks as to whether or not it's a real, sincere outreach to find common ground.” Other Republican lawmakers said they would not rush too quickly into Obama's embrace, but they expressed optimism. — AP
