White House to brief Democrats on economy on Tuesday

5/20/2013
REUTERS

WASHINGTON -- A group of Democratic lawmakers has been invited to the White House on Tuesday for a briefing about economic issues from two top advisers to President Barack Obama on Tuesday.

White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough and Alan Krueger, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, will talk to a small group of Democrats from the Senate and House of Representatives. A list of the invited lawmakers was not immediately available.

A series of political controversies has overshadowed positive news about the housing and job markets and a better-than-expected outlook for the U.S. government's deficit.

During the past week, the White House has taken pains to show Obama is focused on the economy in spite of what he has cast as “distractions.”

On Tuesday, the Senate will hold its first hearing into why the Internal Revenue Service targeted conservative groups for special scrutiny.

Obama also is under fire for Justice Department investigations into leaks to investigative journalists. The White House also is doing damage control on its initial response to last year's attack on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans.