Obama and Congress look for common goals

President Obama hosted congressional leaders at the White House Tuesday, a first step in his process of learning to navigate his relationship with a Congress entirely controlled by Republicans.

"We're in a position to make sure that 2015 is an even stronger year, and relative to our competitors, we are holding much better cards," the president said. "The key now is for us to work as a team to make sure that we build on this progress. Obviously there are disagreements around the table on a whole range of issues, but there are also areas where we can agree, and that's where we're going to be focused."

One area is cyber security. Mr. Obama is spending the week highlighting various proposals he will lay out in his Jan. 20 State of the Union address, and he spoke Monday about ways to improve consumer cyber security and Tuesday, he pitched legislation that would improve information sharing between private companies and the government.

"With the Sony attacks that took place, with the Twitter account that was hacked by Islamist jihadist sympathizers yesterday, it just goes to show how much more work we need to do, both public and private sector, to strengthen our cyber security to make sure that families' bank accounts are safe, to make sure that our public infrastructure is safe," Mr. Obama said. He has discussed the issue with House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky and was hopeful that they could work together.

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In a statement released after the meeting, the White House said crafting legislation to combat cyber attacks was one priority that should rise above politics. The other is funding the Department of Homeland Security without delay.

According to a statement about the meeting provided by Boehner's office, the speaker said the House had passed a number of measures to stop cyber attacks against private sector companies but that some of the measures died in the Democratically-controlled Senate.

Mr. Obama also feels that he can work with Congress on trade issues, "simplifying the tax system and making sure everybody is paying their fair share," and streamlining government.

"I'm hopeful that in the spirit of cooperation and putting America first, we can be in position where, at the end of this year, we'll be able to look back and say we're that much better off than we were when we started the year," the president said.

After the meeting, McConnell said, "There are several areas where I think that we can make some bipartisan progress," citing trade promotion authority, cyber legislation and and authorization for the the Use of Military Force to fight the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which was also a priority mentioned by Boehner in his statement after the meeting. White House said in its statement that Mr. Obama said he is committed to working with members of both parties on the text of a resolution.

Boehner also urged the president to sign the House-passed bill to approve the Keystone pipeline that is working its way through the Senate, although the White House has said that Mr. Obama would veto such a bill.

Despite the president's optimistic tone, the year is off to a contentious start for the White House and Congress. Mr. Obama has already issued five veto threats for Republican legislation working its way through Congress, and the House is preparing to vote on Homeland Security authorization bill that would block funding for the president's move to shield millions of illegal immigrants from deportation.

"We're voting to block the president's overreach, his executive overreach which I believe is beyond his constitutional duty, and frankly violates the constitution itself," Boehner said at a House GOP leadership press conference Tuesday. "This is not about actually the issue of immigration. What it is, it's about the president acting lawlessly."