Senators Tom Coburn, Richard Burr and Saxby Chambliss leave the dinner.
President Barack Obama stepped up his wooing of rank-and-file Republican lawmakers Wednesday, hosting a dozen senators at a dinner at a Washington restaurant and setting a visit to the Capitol in hopes of reigniting talks on a broad budget deal.
The efforts mark his most aggressive outreach to lawmakers in years and show Mr. Obama is trying to build his own coalition in Congress at a time when his past negotiating partners in the GOP leadership are under renewed pressure to accommodate the party's conservative base.
Mr. Obama phoned a number of senators not in leadership positions over the weekend to gauge support for what has come to be known as a grand bargain on deficit reduction and other fiscal issues. One hurdle: Sharply different views on taxes. Mr. Obama has insisted that tax increases be part of any deal to rein in deficits, while many Republicans are open to tax increases only as part of a revenue-neutral broad reform of the tax code, in which tax rates would be reduced.
"The heart of the discussion tonight was, 'How do we get there? How do we get people to come together and really effect the reforms?' " said Sen. John Hoeven (R., N.D.), one of the dinner attendees.
Mr. Hoeven said he saw the opportunity to reach a grand-bargain-style deal as the House and Senate work on their budgets for the next fiscal year and lawmakers face a May deadline for raising the federal borrowing limit. There is "a recognition we really need to do this in the next four- to five-month window. The key is to stay in this intense dialogue," Mr. Hoeven said.
The dinner topics included the mandatory spending cuts known as the sequester, the continuing budget resolution passed Wednesday by the House to extend the government's funding past March 27, energy and an overhaul of the immigration system, Mr. Hoeven said.
"The real focus was the debt and the deficit and how we come up with the kind of bipartisan reforms, tax reform and entitlement reform, that preserves and protects Social Security and Medicare, but that also enables us to deal with the debt and the deficit on a long-term basis," Mr. Hoeven added.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), speaking before he attended the event, said that the president asked him to organize the dinner at the Jefferson Hotel and that he believed Mr. Obama was looking to start a substantive discussion.
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The White House is actively courting Mr. Graham because he has said he would be open to raising tax revenue as part of a larger deal that also would retool entitlement programs.
A senior administration official said that "the president greatly enjoyed the dinner and had a good exchange of ideas with the senators." The White House said Mr. Obama paid for the meal from his own pocket, a move that, along with the neutral venue, seemed designed to show the president was reaching out.
Some Republicans remained doubtful that Mr. Obama can strike a deal that would shore up Medicare, Social Security and other entitlement programs, reduce deficits and potentially overhaul the tax code. Some went so far as to dismiss the dinner as political theater.
In addition to the dinner, the president has asked to address Republican and Democratic caucuses in the House and Senate next week. And in recent weeks he has stepped up contacts with business leaders, who could be important allies in maintaining momentum in the budget talks, should they begin in earnest.
The overtures mark a departure for a president who has been criticized for shunning lawmakers, choosing instead to socialize and play golf with a small circle of friends and aides.
One of the dinner invitees, Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.), said in an interview beforehand that Mr. Obama showed little appetite for direct talks with lawmakers in his first term, but that his stance had shifted lately. "Whether that translates into action, I'm not sure," he said. "I want to work with the guy."
One barrier is the high level of mutual distrust. Rare is the day in Washington when the two parties aren't blaming one another for gridlock.
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