During a roundtable discussion with business leaders, President Obama pushed back against the notion that somehow America was losing to China and Russia. The GOP-led Congress should overcome opposition from some conservatives who need to block federal funding for Planned Parenthood and take different steps, to attain a deal. The one being pushed by the president is the controversial carried interest tax loophole, which allows hedge fund managers to be taxed at a rate lower than ordinary income earners’ rate.

He went on to criticize some Republicans for opposing the extension of the Export-Import Bank, infrastructure projects and other initiatives he said should be bipartisan. That’s not our problem.

“You’ve got two leading candidates on the Republican side who have said that we should eliminate the carried-interest loophole”.

“We have all kinds of things that are gonna come due about the same time”, Reid said.

Obama’s support from the financial services industry, gauged by comparing campaign donations given his first presidential run versus those given to his second, has dropped significantly since he took office.

“Democrats are willing to work with Republicans right now as we speak, but it should be over legitimate questions of spending and revenue not on unrelated ideological issues”, Obama said.

Those conservatives are getting a boost from some top-tier GOP presidential contenders backing them on their willingness to shut down the government over the Planned Parenthood issue, including Donald Trump, Sen. There was little sign in either chamber that a budget deadline loomed. Some Republicans are open to increasing the ceilings for defense, but most want to avoid any hike to non-defense spending. Right now that rate is only 15 percent, compared to the 25 percent the average American pays and the 39 percent that highest incomes are supposed to be taxed at. He said, “America is great right now” as well.

He argued the U.S.is doing better than those countries who have embraced spending cuts to climb their way out of tough economic times and that “perennial gloom and doom” descriptions are perpetuated by the presidential campaign that will determine his successor.

While the recovery has seen the US economy return to growth and unemployment rates have fallen to near pre-crisis levels, the economic outlook is not all rosy for Obama. He also said he was concerned by General Electric’s recent announcement that it plans to shift up to 500 manufacturing jobs to Europe and China because it can no longer access Ex-Im financing.

“If we and the Chinese are able to coalesce around a process for negotiations, then I think we can bring a lot of other countries along”, Obama said.