WASHINGTON -- White House officials have been holding private meetings this week aimed at soothing lawmakers' concerns over U.S. posture toward Syria, the future of the American military presence in Afghanistan and defense spending. The meetings come as a frustrated White House seeks to push back at criticism of President Barack Obama's foreign policy.
But the White House outreach appeared to be having little effect on some lawmakers' concerns.
Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, described Tuesday night's White House meeting with Chief of Staff Denis McDonough and national security adviser Susan Rice as "one of the most bizarre I've attended."
Another senator who attended the meeting said Obama's advisers refused to provide lawmakers with answers about whether the president plans to keep U.S. troops in Afghanistan after the war formally concludes at the end of the year or about the Pentagon's efforts to find nearly 300 kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls.
Unsatisfied, some of the lawmakers started to leave before the meeting had finished. The senator and three congressional aides briefed on the meeting insisted on anonymity to discuss the private talks.
Asked about Corker's assertion that Tuesday's meeting was "bizarre," White House spokesman Jay Carney said Friday, "I don't know what he's referring to."
McDonough and Rice met at the White House on Monday night with about a dozen House Democrats. On Tuesday, officials invited 14 senators -- three of them were Republicans -- to the White House for a discussion on foreign policy over wine, beer, and a cheese and cracker platter on the patio outside McDonough's office.
The chief of staff was also on Capitol Hill on Tuesday for a foreign-policy-focused meeting with the full House. He met with the full Senate on Thursday, although in that discussion, national security took a back seat to economic issues.
Among the Democrats who attended the Tuesday meeting were Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan; and Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island. The three Republicans who attended were Corker, Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake and Maine Sen. Susan Collins.
A White House official said six Republicans were invited to the meeting but half did not attend.
The president did not drop by the White House meeting. White House officials cast the meetings as part of their effort to step up engagement with lawmakers who long have complained about feeling out of the loop regarding the president's decision-making.
In another sign of the White House's uphill climb to sway lawmakers, the House voted overwhelmingly Thursday in favor of a $601 billion defense authorization bill that Obama has threatened to veto.
McDonough had used his discussions with Democrats to try to persuade them to reject the measure, which authorizes spending on weapons and personnel for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1. It also limits Obama's handling of terror suspects at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, barring him from transferring detainees to maximum-security prisons in the United States.
The Democratic-led Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday completed its version of the defense bill, which gives the president conditional authority to close Guantanamo, contingent on congressional approval.
The panel, however, also would authorize the Defense Department to train and equip vetted Syrian rebels battling forces loyal to President Bashar Assad, which is certain to cause consternation in the White House.
Midway through his sixth year in office, Obama has been showing signs of frustration with the way his foreign policy has been viewed by critics on Capitol Hill and elsewhere. During a news conference in the Philippines last month, he pushed back at those who said his cautious response to the Syrian civil war and Russia's threatening moves in Ukraine has weakened the U.S.
"You hit singles; you hit doubles. Every once in a while, we may be able to hit a home run," Obama said. "But we steadily advance the interests of the American people and our partnership with folks around the world."
Information for this article was contributed by Bradley Klapper of The Associated Press.
A Section on 05/24/2014