Influence Alley

Senior White House advisers will meet this afternoon with members of the Campaign to Fix the Debt, including co-founder Erskine Bowles, White House press secretary Jay Carney said on Tuesday.

Although President Obama isn't scheduled to attend, he’s sending in some of his top lieutenants, including Chief of Staff Jacob Lew, Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett, National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling and acting Office of Management and the Budget Director Jeff Zients.

Obama’s meeting comes ahead of Fix the Debt’s meeting with House Republican leaders on Wednesday—a meeting that Bowles will also attend, CNN has reported. Republicans aim to use that meeting to impress upon the group that reducing entitlement spending has to be part of a deal to avert the so-called fiscal cliff.

The White House hasn’t announced any new meetings between the president and congressional leaders, although Carney indicated that further meetings are always possible. “He will speak with them and meet with them as appropriate,” Carney said of Obama’s plans to meet with congressional leaders moving forward.  

The president is meeting with businesspeople and middle-class tax payers today and tomorrow, and going on the road to bring his message to the public on Friday.