“We do not go to meetings with proposals and leak them to the press,” Carney says.
Image by Jacquelyn Martin / AP
WASHINGTON — White House Press Secretary Jay Carney criticized Republicans for trying to leverage the press to pressure the Obama administration, boasting about the administrations secrecy.
"We do not schedule meetings through the press, and we do not negotiate through the press," Carney said, in response to a question including a background comment from a Republican aide says there are currently no meetings scheduled on the fiscal cliff talks.
"We do not give the press our proposals before we give them to Republicans," Carney added, clearly suggesting that Republicans do. "We do not go to meetings with proposals and leak them to the press."
The White House has been cagey about Obama's actions to avert the fiscal cliff, deciding against notifying reporters about the president's calls to congressional leaders and the meetings of top aides with lawmakers. Obama and Carney have also dodged questions about whether the president is committed to raising tax rates on the wealthy to the rates under President Bill Clinton, or rather just that they be higher than the rate under the Bush tax cuts.
