Putting Partisanship Aside for the Economy

This afternoon, President Obama held a meeting with Congressional Republicans to discuss his stimulus plan, which is scheduled to be considered on Wednesday in the House. The meeting was behind closed doors and lasted two hours. In the meeting, Obama addressed any major questions Republicans had, as well as tried to attract some more Republican votes for his plan. He also gave more detail about how his stimulus plan was put together, and listened to and welcomed the thoughts and ideas the Republicans had. Obama is willing to consider the ideas from the Republicans and is willing to change his plan if he feels those ideas are better. On Monday, Obama urged the Democrats to strike a part of the bill that will provide $200 million for family planning for low-income people. Overall, the fact that our Democratic President sat down with our all of our Congressional Republicans was a big step for the future relationship between the White House and Congress. According to officials from both sides, the meeting was "the beginning of a dialogue between Congressional Republicans and the White House that did not exist even when George W. Bush was in the Oval Office". Such a meeting fosters hope for a good relationship between the White House and Congress, which hopefully will help our nation through these hard times.