Credit: Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
After his re-election, President Obama's first order of business is to find a compromise with the Republican majority in the House of Representatives to avoid the automatic tax hikes and spending cuts that could go into effect on January 1st. In order to prepare for the fiscal cliff negotiations, President Obama will meet with key players in the coming week, including labor unions, and business and civic leaders.
On Tuesday, the administration will welcome labor union leaders, and other prominent members of the progressive political movement, to the White House. President Obama will also be meeting with corporate executives on Wednesday. This will be an occasion for the president to rebuild a relationship with the business community, which vastly favored Mitt Romney in the election. The uncertainty surrounding the outcome of the fiscal cliff negotiations has been influencing investor confidence for the past week.
Some of the executives that will be at the White House on Wednesday are part of Fix-the-Debt, "a non-partisan movement to put America on a better fiscal and economic path," and support efforts to reach a compromise. Fix-the-Debt raised $40 million to urge lawmakers to arrive at a compromise involving spending cuts and revenue increases without endangering America's growth -- an outlook that is similar to the president's plan. Obama will need to convince the executives to persuade Republicans in Congress to concede to some tax increases in return for a reduction of spending on programs such as Medicare and Medicaid.
Both these meetings confirm that the Obama administration plans to remain firm on its commitment to reduce the national debt, and on its outlook that the wealthiest should participate more in the nation's effort to reduce its debt.
The president is set to meet with the Democratic and Republican leaders of the House and of the Senate this coming Friday to commence the negotiations. Both sides agree that the current debt reduction plan, which would cut the deficit by $600 billion, could likely take the country into another recession. Both sides have shown a desire to cooperate, but increasing taxes for the wealthiest remains a highly controversial point of the Obama administration's plan.
The president hopes input from key economic players and groups will lead to fiscal cliff negotiations that result in an agreeable solution for all parties and, most of all, for the American public.