President to huddle with Senate Democrats

President Obama will huddle with Senate Democrats next week in Baltimore as his party looks to chart a course after ceding control of the upper chamber for the first time since 2007.

It’s not clear whether the president will give public remarks to the gathering. Last year at Nationals Park, Obama’s two-hour meeting with the retreat was not open to reporters.

{mosads}In that gathering, Obama pushed lawmakers to back his push for greater authority to negotiate trade deals, despite opposition from prominent party leaders — including Democratic Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). Obama also argued that Senate Democrats would be better served if they rallied behind his economic agenda, including a push to raise the minimum wage.

Obama had little success convincing his party to prioritize either point, and Democrats lost nine seats to Republicans in the November midterms.

One person who won’t be in attendance in Baltimore is Reid, who is still recovering from injuries he sustained while exercising over the holidays in Nevada. Reid broke ribs and bones in his face, suffered a concussion and accumulated blood in his eye that has caused temporary vision loss.

Reid told a Nevada public radio station his doctors warned against the bumpy drive north to Baltimore.

“They didn’t want me driving over there because of bumps in the road. I’m basically working from home,” Reid told KNPR. 

It’s not clear if Reid, who spent the first week of the new Congress working from home, will attend a bipartisan meeting of congressional leadership Tuesday at the White House. Obama has invited the top four Republican and Democratic leaders from both chambers to attend.

“This will be an opportunity for them to talk about a range of issues, most importantly, the legislative agenda for 2015 as well as a couple of foreign policy issues as well,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said.

Obama is not planning to attend the House Republicans’ retreat, which will be held next Wednesday, Thursday and Friday in Hershey, Pa.