White House Dismisses New GOP Plan As ‘Ransom’ Demand

In this photo taken Friday, Oct. 4, 2013, President Barack Obama listens to a question during a wide-ranging and exclusive interview with The Associated Press in the White House library in Washington four days into a... In this photo taken Friday, Oct. 4, 2013, President Barack Obama listens to a question during a wide-ranging and exclusive interview with The Associated Press in the White House library in Washington four days into a partial shutdown of the federal government. Obama said the U.S. intelligence community believes Iran continues to be a year or more away from having the capability to make a nuclear weapon, an assessment at odds with Israel, which contends Tehran is on a faster course toward a bomb. He expressed optimism about the blossoming diplomacy between his administration and Iran’s new president but said the U.S. would not accept a “bad deal” on the Islamic republic’s nuclear program. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak) MORE LESS
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The White House declared Tuesday morning that the latest House Republican proposal amounts to a “ransom” demand from leaders aimed at placating “a small group of Tea Party Republicans.”

“The President has said repeatedly that Members of Congress don’t get to demand ransom for fulfilling their basic responsibilities to pass a budget and pay the nation’s bills,” said White House spokeswoman Amy Brundage. “Unfortunately, the latest proposal from House Republicans does just that in a partisan attempt to appease a small group of Tea Party Republicans who forced the government shutdown in the first place. Democrats and Republicans in the Senate have been working in a bipartisan, good-faith effort to end the manufactured crises that have already harmed American families and business owners. With only a couple days remaining until the United States exhausts its borrowing authority, it’s time for the House to do the same.”

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