Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Obama says NO to negotiating on Debt Ceiling increase

Obama today again said he would not negotiate with Republicans over the issue of raising the debt ceiling.  However, he is willing to work with both parties in Congress over ways to reduce the deficit. 

Speaking to members of the Business Roundtable, Obama said this in regard to the debt ceiling increase that Republicans are trying to tie to repealing or delaying Obamacare and other policy changes they seek.

What I will not do is to create a habit, a pattern, whereby the full faith and credit of the United States ends up being a bargaining chip to set policy. It’s irresponsible. The last time we did this in 2011, we had negative growth at a time when the recovery was just trying to take off. And it would fundamentally change how American government functions….I have responsibilities at this point not just to the current generation but to future generations, and we’re not going to set up a situation where the full faith and credit of the United States is put on the table every year or every year and a half, and we go through some sort of terrifying financial brinksmanship because of some ideological arguments that people are having about some particular issue of the day. We’re not going to do that.

See Obama’s full remarks here and at the link:



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