Obama, GOP senators plan a second dinner
WASHINGTON President Obama is keeping up his congressional charm offensive, with a second dinner with Senate Republicans planned for next month, CBS News has confirmed.
Mr. Obama wined-and-dined with a dozen GOP senators earlier this month at the Jefferson Hotel near the White House. The dinner was aimed in part at seeing whether the parties could restart talks on a grand budget bargain that has eluded them since the beginning of the president's 2009 administration.
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An aide to Sen. Johnny Isakson confirmed that Mr. Obama recently called the Georgia Republican and asked him to put together a guest list of 12 GOP members to join him at a yet-to-be determined location April 10. Though Isakson's office would not specify whom he is considering inviting, it did say none of the senators who attended the last dinner will be included.
The president told Isakson he thought the March 6 outing was productive, and he would like to build on it, according to the aide. Mr. Obama followed up the first dinner with three straight days of visits to Capitol Hill for separate meetings with Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate.
CBS News' Jill Jackson and Major Garrett contributed