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President Barack Obama will visit Capitol Hill Wednesday to face the only Republicans in power in Washington: the House GOP conference.
Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) 232-member conference has been Obama’s chief sparring partner since it took the majority in 2010. The last time Obama met with the House GOP was at their retreat in 2010, where cameras captured the president speaking to House Republicans — including Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).
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Wednesday’s visit, which will be held in the Capitol basement, is scheduled to be one hour. Republican Conference Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.) and Boehner will give a brief introduction, before turning the floor over to Obama.
The meeting is part of an aggressive outreach effort by the president to Hill lawmakers to try and find common ground on the deficit. On Tuesday, Obama met with Senate Democrats, and on Thursday, he will meet with Senate Republicans and House Democrats.
GOP leadership aides expect lawmakers to ask Obama somewhere in the neighborhood of three or four questions. GOP leadership originally mulled an open mic session with the president, but that idea was scratched.
Before Obama comes to the Hill, House Republicans will hold an unannounced meeting for their members at 9 a.m. at the Capitol Hill Club, a GOP hangout next to the Republican National Committee headquarters.
The meeting is almost certain to focus on budgetary matters, including Ryan’s 2014 budget — which was introduced on Tuesday — and tax reform. According to GOP sources, when Obama’s aides first requested the meeting with House Republicans, they said he wanted to come to Capitol Hill to focus on something completely different: his upcoming trip to Israel.
