Obama will host Senate women at W.H. dinner Tuesday
President Obama has invited to dinner at the White House on Tuesday the 20 women who serve in the U.S. Senate, according to the president's official schedule.
It's the latest in Mr. Obama's "charm offensive": In the last two months, he's wined and dined Republican senators twice and Senate Democrats once - a broad effort to dilute tensions between lawmakers that's been gumming up sweeping legislative efforts, particularly relating to the budget, immigration and gun control.
- Obama and GOP senators discuss issues over dinner
- Obama dines and talks issues with Senate Democrats
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., wrote on Twitter on Monday evening: "As I suggested to Pres. Obama last year: inviting Senate women to WH is a good step toward bipartisan cooperation."
During a "BuzzFeed Brews" event last month, Gillibrand said the idea for a dinner with Senate women sprouted when she extended to the president an invitation to join one of their quarterly dinners. He suggested that "better yet," he would host the women at the White House - a meeting she said she'd been "calling every month" to ask about.
"I think what the women have going for them is that they often will put aside party politics," Gillibrand said at last month's event. "Even the most conservative women in the Senate I have common ground with."
The dinner will begin at 6:30 p.m. ET.
