“Ultimately, it may be that the differences are just too wide.”

— President Obama, quoted by the New York Times, suggesting a “grand bargain” with Republicans to reduce the national debt may not be possible.

President Obama’s meeting “with a restive and resistant House Republican majority on Wednesday underscored their deep divisions over fiscal policy as both sides acknowledged that an overarching budget compromise was in doubt despite a new push by the White House,” the New York Times reports.

“The hourlong discussion at the Capitol, and the release of a new budget by Senate Democrats on Wednesday that adds $100 billion in new stimulus spending and would impose higher taxes on large corporations and wealthy Americans, illustrated anew just how difficult it will be to resolve the issues that have split the Congress for years and created a perpetual cycle of deadline-driven short-term fiscal policy.”

Roll Call notes a key reason: “GOP leaders immediately shut the door on any compromises that would include new taxes.”

The Washington Post notes another: “While Democratic leaders are offering quiet support for Obama’s renewed campaign to strike a grand bargain with Republicans that would include cuts to Social Security and Medicare, a significant number of Democratic lawmakers are digging in their heels and vowing to protest any reduction in promised benefits.”

President Obama told House Republicans “that balancing the budget is not his top priority,” Roll Call reports.

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL) reported that the president “diplomatically said ‘no’ to a balanced budget, explaining that eliminating the deficit is not his priority. Instead, the president said he is worried that the deep spending cuts that would be required to balance the budget would slow the nation’s economic recovery.”

Wonk Wire: The failure of austerity.

David Hawkings reports that “never before in the history of the modern budget process (which dates to 1975)
has the president submitted a budget after the House and Senate have
produced budget resolutions of their own.”

“That’s what’s happening this year. President Obama’s proposal looks
likely for a rollout on April 8, the Monday Congress returns from its
spring break. And he’s not likely to offer any specifics about it
during his meetings with the four congressional caucuses during the next
three days.”

President Obama “pushed Senate Democrats to support a grand budget bargain, even as the prospects for such a deal seemed as distant as ever,” Roll Call reports.

“Seeking to unite his party during the first of three expected sojourns to Capitol Hill this week, the president again vowed not to negotiate over the expiring debt ceiling later this year — even as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) was telling reporters that he hopes the debt ceiling brings the president to the table to cut entitlements without securing new taxes.”

David Drucker: “Republicans remain skeptical of President Obama’s charm offensive — very, very, very skeptical.”

President Obama “faces huge, and probably insurmountable, obstacles to reviving a grand bargain — none higher and more difficult to overcome than his decision to increase taxes by $600 billion in December,” Politico reports.

“Obama thought he would be able to stare down Republicans over the sequester, and get them to double the size of his tax increase to avoid heavy defense cuts. He was wrong. Once Republicans swallowed the $600 billion in hikes, they made plain they were done raising taxes for this Congress. And they really are done, Republicans say.”

“This to us is something that we’re not going to give up on, because we’re not going to give up on destroying the health care system for the American people.”

— Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), quoted by the Maddow Blog, apparently misspeaking.