White House spokesman Jay Carney said Monday that lifting the debt ceiling will be non-negotiable for as long as Barack Obama is president.
“Whether it’s today, or a number of weeks from now, or a number of months from now, or a number of years from now, it will always be Congress’s responsibility to raise our debt ceiling so that the United States can pay the bills that Congress has incurred,” he told reporters during his daily briefing.
“It will always be, as long as he’s president, President Obama’s position that that responsibility is not negotiable. That there’s not a game of trading for political priorities or agenda items that Republicans have not been able to achieve through legislation or the ballot box.”
Carney said the White House supports efforts in the Senate to pass a “clean” debt limit hike.
Speaker John Boehner’s deputy chief of staff, David Schnittger, quickly retorted that Obama negotiated on the borrowing limit in 2011.
He negotiated on it in 2011. RT @sahilkapur: WH @presssec says the debt limit will be non-negotiable for as long as Obama is president.
— David Schnittger (@OhSchnitt) October 7, 2013
