Obama: Congressional Leaders

President Barack Obama Dept: Obama, in his first formal remarks since the night of his re-election, said he would open discussions with congressional leaders next week to seek a compromise, and then, before an applauding crowd of supporters in the White House s East Room, defended the detailed plan that he campaigned on including higher taxes on the wealthy, according to The Chronicle Herald. We have to combine spending cuts with revenue, and that means asking the wealthiest Americans to pay a little more in taxes, he said, calling for Congress to immediately extend existing tax rates for 98 percent of taxpayers and wASHINGTON President Barack Obama and the House speaker, John A. Boehner, circled each other warily on Friday, defending their competing approaches for resolving the budget impasse even as both professed their willingness to reach common ground. I m not wedded to every detail of my plan. I am open to compromise. I am open to new ideas, he said. But I refuse to accept any approach that isn t balanced. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.