After Lunch at the White House, Top House Republicans Say They Share Common Ground with Obama

After meeting with President Obama over lunch at the White House today, House Republican leaders said they think they can work with the president on issues including free trade agreements, education, tax reform and even spending cuts.

"It's clear the president wants to try to find some common ground with us," House Speaker John Boehner said after the meeting.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs in a press briefing today also said the president and Republicans at the meeting "agreed on cutting spending and reducing our deficit."

They agreed "that we should have a broad discussion with the American people about the size and the scope of the problem we face, getting our fiscal house in order," Gibbs said.

Boehner, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and House Republican Whip Kevin McCarthy met with Mr. Obama today at the White House for the first time since taking over the House.

Their stated goal of working together to reduce the deficit will prove easier said than done. Mr. Obama will soon release his 2012 proposed budget, which will likely include some government spending Republicans will object to.

While Gibbs said today that "there's broad agreement we have to change the way Washington works, particularly in terms of spending," he added that lawmakers need to "protect investments... so we can win the future."

House Republicans, meanwhile, released a list today of programs they intend to slash in the Continuing Resolution bill they will introduce tomorrow to fund the government for another seven months. The list revealed that Republicans want to give substantially less money than Mr. Obama would to programs like high speed rail development or the Environmental Protection Agency.

The president must also negotiate with legislators to finalize pending free trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama.

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk told a House committee today that the president hopes Congress will approve the South Korean pact this spring but that "serious issues" are holding up the other two, the Associated Press reports. The issues holding up the Colombia and Panama agreements primarily relate to labor issues.

Boehner said today there is "interest in moving all three. I would just hope the sooner the better."