John Hoeven

A Thursday meeting at the White House between President Barack Obama and Senate Republicans was a “frank and useful” opportunity to candidly discuss the nation’s fiscal challenges, Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., said.

“I conveyed to the president my belief that the pending debt ceiling vote represents a real opportunity to address pressing national issues, like a plan for economic growth, entitlement reform and the need to reduce our debt and deficit,” he said in a Friday statement.

Hoeven said he also told Obama that a bipartisan working group led by Vice President Joe Biden is a “good prospect” for Republicans and Democrats to work together to “actually get something accomplished without prompting partisan jockeying and divisive attacks from both sides.”

“I think those thoughts were well received by the president, and I am committed to proceeding on those lines as the U.S. Senate takes up the work of addressing the debt ceiling and the 2012 budget,” Hoeven wrote.