Obama invites top House budget writers to lunch

Rep. Paul Ryan at the State of the Union in February. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

Pursuing his personal outreach to wary lawmakers, President Barack Obama has invited Republican House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan and the panel’s top Democrat, Chris Van Hollen, to lunch at the White House on Thursday.

The three men will sit down in the White House’s private dining room at 12:25 p.m., Obama’s press office announced in an updated schedule.

The president has stepped up a charm offensive as he seeks a deficit-cutting “grand bargain” with reluctant congressional Republicans. On Wednesday, he dined at a swank Washington restaurant with a dozen GOP senators and picked up the tab personally.