The president urged lawmakers to reach an agreement on the debt ceiling that he can sign by the Aug. 2 deadline.
President Obama discussed the status of debt-ceiling talks Friday morning at the White House and called on congressional lawmakers to reach an agreement and pass a bill that he can sign on Tuesday to avoid default. It was the president’s first public statement on the ongoing stalemate since his address Monday night when he urged Congress to act, but behind the scenes he and his aides have pushed for a comprise between the plans proposed by House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
“There are plenty of ways out of this mess, but we’re almost out of time,” he said.
Obama said that he would accept a two-part plan, the first of which would raise the debt ceiling beyond the 2012 election and a second that would include tax reform and changes to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. The president argued against a short-term extension so that the nation would not have to “relive this crisis in just a few short months, holding our economy captive to Washington politics once again.”
The president has asked for a $2.4 trillion increase over the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling to help cover government obligations into 2013. If that doesn’t happen, the government could run out of its borrowing ability come Tuesday, August 2.
House Republicans want to use the debt ceiling as leverage to make major reductions in the long-term deficit, according to the Associated Press. In a move that shows the GOP is divided on which way to go on the issue, House Republicans postponed a vote Thursday night on Speaker John Boehner’s proposal because they didn’t have enough votes for passage.
In an exclusive interview with BET.com earlier this week, senior advisor Valerie Jarrett explained why the Obama administration is opposed to a six-month extension of the debt limit, something that has been proposed by House Republicans.
“A short-term deal, which would just kick the can down the road for six months, [and] it just adds to the uncertainty. We could still get downgraded” by the credit rating agencies and that could have a dangerous effect on job creation, Jarrett said.
Please respect FT.com’s ts&cs and copyright policy which allow you to: share links; copy content for personal use; & redistribute limited extracts. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights or use this link to reference the article – http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6c97020a-b9fe-11e0-b7a9-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz1TW3psbmk
