President Obama said Tuesday that the government shutdown caused by House Republicans is going to be a drag on the U.S. economy — not Obamacare.
“What is weighing on the economy is not the Affordable Care Act, but the constant crisis and unwillingness to pass a budget by a faction of the Republican Party,” Obama said. “I want to underscore the fact that Congress doesn’t have to just reopen the government. It has to stop governing by crisis and break this habit. It is a drag on the economy. It is not worthy of this country.”
He also reiterated that Congress was obligated to raise the debt ceiling and that he would not negotiate on the issue.
“There is a whole bunch of things I would like to see passed through Congress that the House Republicans haven’t passed yet,” Obama said. “And I am not out there saying, ‘I am going to let America default unless Congress does something they don’t want to do. That’s not how adults operate. Certainly that’s not how the government should operate.”
