WASHINGTON, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday reached out to leading Republican lawmakers on discussions of the looming government spending cuts slated to take effect on March 1, White House spokesman Jay Carney said.
Obama made phone calls to GOP leaders including House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and they had "good conversations," Carney told reporters without giving more details.
Roughly 85 billion U.S. dollars of spending cuts were set to hit various governmental departments this year starting on March 1, as agreed by Democrats and Republicans in January to avoid the so- called "fiscal cliff."
With little momentum from GOP lawmakers to avert the massive spending cuts, Obama has waged a public campaign including a Tuesday White House press conference to set up Republicans for blame if the government outlays cuts are to kick in.
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