Obama, top lawmakers to meet Friday on budget cuts

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama will meet Friday with the top leaders in the House and Senate, several hours past the deadline for averting automatic budget cuts, to discuss how to proceed on divisive tax-and-spend issues.

Because the meeting is set to take place well after Friday’s deadline for the so-called sequester to kick in, it appears both sides are operating under an assumption that a deal to avert the cuts ahead of the deadline is now out of the question.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said the session will focus on ways to reduce government spending, but he also sa...