Republican mid-term victories have been labelled a rebuke of President Barack Obama's policies
US
President Barack Obama and leaders in the House and Senate are due to
hold cross-party talks aimed at ending political gridlock in Washington.
Friday's White House luncheon comes after the Republicans won control of the Senate in Tuesday's elections.Mr Obama, a Democrat, and heads of both parties in the House of Representatives and Senate will explore avenues of compromise after years of rancour.
Republicans have called the victory a rebuke of Mr Obama's policies.
On Friday, the US president will be joined by 16 senior legislators including presumptive next Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Republican House Speaker John Boehner.
They are expected to discuss areas deemed ripe for compromise, including immigration reform and an overhaul of the US tax code.
On Tuesday, the Republicans won control of the Senate and solidified their hold on the lower House of Representatives,
McConnell will lead the Senate after Republicans won control of the chamber
With the Republicans in control of both houses of Congress, the
party can complicate, if not block completely, Mr Obama's agenda in the
last two years of his tenure in the White House. Control of the Senate could also enable the Republicans to stymie his ability to name new federal judges, cabinet members and senior government officials.
So on what other issues might we see progress?
Mr Obama has wavered over the Keystone XL pipeline that will run from Canada down to the Gulf of Mexico for fear of offending environmental campaigners, even though business is desperate for the measure and it would create jobs.
The president could trade that for Republican support to back greater spending on infrastructure - roads, bridges and the like.
Corporate tax reform is firmly on the Republican agenda, but the president would not want to concede this without something back. Perhaps it would be movement on increasing the minimum wage, something that was backed in ballot initiatives in a number of Republican states on the night of the mid-term elections.
Obama and Republicans playing nicely for now
As the dust settled following the election, Mr Obama and senior Republicans publicly pledged to work together to end the political gridlock that has virtually paralysed Congress and that reached its culmination with the shutdown of the US government in a budget stalemate last year.
The mid-term election campaign was characterised by widespread frustration expressed by voters about the inability of the two parties to work together.
In the wake of the Republican gains, Mr McConnell vowed to make the Senate function and pass bills, after sessions that were the least productive in the chamber's history.
Mr Obama on Wednesday said he was "eager to work with the new Congress to make the next two years as productive as possible".
To the Americans who voted for the Republicans, the president said: "I hear you."
But on immigration, he warned he would act on his own to reduce deportations.
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