Obama says he'll pursue 'grand bargain' after election

In an interview with the Des Moines Register, President Barack Obama said he'll begin sequester talks right after the election, offering a package of spending cuts and tax increases as well as plans to reduce the costs of health care programs. Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reports that leaders of some of the nation's largest companies plan to pressure Congress to make a deal that would include tax increases as well as spending cuts.

The Washington Post: Obama Says He'll Renew Pursuit Of 'Grand Bargain,' Offering Specifics On Agenda
President Obama, criticized as failing to offer a vision for a potential second term, has begun sketching out his agenda with greater specificity in recent days, including a pledge to solve the nation's intractable budget problems within "the first six months." In an interview made public Wednesday, Obama said he would pursue a "grand bargain" with Republicans to tame the national debt and would quickly follow that with a push to overhaul the nation's immigration laws (Montgomery and Wallsten, 10/24).

Politico: W.H. Obama Would Begin Sequester Talks Right After Election
President Barack Obama wants to get into negotiations to resolve sequestration and the fiscal cliff "right after the election," a senior White House adviser told reporters on Wednesday, following up on the president's assertion that Washington could reach a "grand bargain" in "six months." ... Obama made clear in the interview that after more than a year of partisan gridlock over the automatic defense budget cuts and the other top agenda items for a returning Congress, he believes an accord is possible. "I am absolutely confident that we can get what is the equivalent of the grand bargain that essentially I've been offering to the Republicans for a very long time, which is $2.50 worth of cuts for every dollar in spending, and work to reduce the costs of our health care programs," the president said (Mak, 10/24).

The Wall Street Journal: CEOs Call For Deficit Attention
Chief executives of more than 80 big-name U.S. corporations, from Aetna Inc. to Weyerhaeuser Co., are banding together to pressure Congress to reduce the federal deficit with tax-revenue increases as well as spending cuts. The CEOs, in a statement to be released on Thursday, say any fiscal plan "that can succeed both financially and politically" has to limit the growth of health-care spending, make Social Security solvent and "include comprehensive and pro-growth tax reform, which broadens the base, lowers rates, raises revenues and reduces the deficit" (Wessel, 10/25).