Politico: Senate GOPers: Where's Obama for negotiations?
By Reid J. Epstein
While President Barack Obama was in Virginia delivering a speech about job training, two Republican senators said he, not Vice President Joe Biden, should be the one leading talks about raising the nation’s debt ceiling.
“The president has said he’s not going to get involved,” Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said during a GOP press conference about the economy. “He’s our leader. He should get involved and not shovel it off to someone else.”
The Biden group, which now includes five members of the House and Senate, has itself met just four times since May 5 to address the debt ceiling.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said Obama should be focused on the nation’s economy at the exclusion of all other issues.
“This is important,” Johnson said. “This requires his full attention, 24 hours a day. My problem is that I haven’t seen this president engaged.”
