Sen. Sessions challenges Obama to make debt talks public

By Daniel Strauss - 06/24/11 04:53 PM ET

The ranking member on the Senate Budget Committee says President Obama needs to bring the negotiations over increasing the debt ceiling out into the open.  

"We might as well stake it out publicly to see what the disagreements are," Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) said Friday in an interview with The Hill. "I believe Majority Leader [Harry] Reid and the president desperately are working not to have to reveal their vision for the future, financially. Their vision will include, from what glimpses we've seen, an advocacy for more taxes and less spending cuts."

Sessions said Democrats have been avoiding making public the negotiations and laying out precisely what they want in a debt-limit package because "what they're advocating for, I don't think would be popular."

Earlier Friday, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said President Obama had already laid out a blueprint of what he wanted to see in a final compromise on raising the debt ceiling.

"You don’t need each detail. It is just an excuse," Schumer said. "I think Speaker [John] Boehner ought to sit in a room and negotiate."

Speaking during a call with reporters, Schumer and the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee, Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), said some of the provisions Democrats wanted to see in the debt package included an end to oil-and-gas tax breaks as well as changing the depreciation schedule for corporate jets. 

The White House announced Friday that Obama and Vice President Biden would be meeting with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) Monday to discuss deficit reduction plans.

The White House's announcement came shortly after House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) called on Obama to "lead" in the negotiations.