Boehner: Debt Ceiling Talks With White House 'Like Dealing With Jell-O'

WASHINGTON — House Speaker John Boehner said Wednesday that no one wants to see the nation go into government default as the White House and lawmakers scramble to find a deal to avoid that.

The Obama administration says the government will not be able to pay its obligations if Congress does not raise the nation's $14.3 trillion borrowing limit by Aug. 2. President Barack Obama and Boehner, R-Ohio, have both spoken about the importance of avoiding that scenario.

Yet while the White House insists Congress will ultimately vote to raise the debt limit regardless of whether an accompanying deal comes together to slash the deficit, House Republicans say no such bill can pass unless it includes commensurate spending cuts.

Asked whether House Republicans will ultimately vote to raise the debt ceiling regardless, should it come down to the deadline, Boehner said: "Nobody wants to go there because nobody knows what's going to happen. It's a crapshoot."

His office said that Boehner meant going into default would be a crapshoot and that it should be avoided.

In comments to a small group of reporters in his office, Boehner said he has not been able to get commitments from the president and his White House team about cutting big entitlement programs.

He said that "dealing with them the last couple months has been like dealing with Jell-O."

Comments

[Linda Edmondson]

07:43 PM on 07/22/2011

The climate in this nation is dangerous. People can be uncivil when they get desperate. Hungry, sick, deprived , homeless , jobless, no furture for our children. Sounds like a third world country. HUH !
Think again, it could be.
When corrruption becomes inbeded and money pays for the laws passed ,then the republic is clearly in peril.

[orion0m42]

05:55 PM on 07/22/2011

what if we tied their salaries to the debt ceiling? don't raise it don't get paid. I am an independent­ what bugs me the most is over the years both parties have borrowed money from S. S. time and time again. leaving only an IOU. now all those people from the greatest generation who have paid into S. S. to have something when they retired are now asked to live off of less, pay more for their medical needs with less. because politician­s have borrowed time and time again from S. S. all they hope is the old people die quickly. that way you don't get to use to much money out of S. S. I have watched my Mother and Father try to live off of their S. S. and to see how much they have to pay for Ins.to cover what Medicare wont cover. and the medical B. S., how can you ever get cost under control when all doctors, hospitals, and Insurance Co. want to make money (more money) none of them are ever satisfied. And the top 1% you can pay a little more just like the rest of us, at least you wont have to chose between food and medicine only Starbucks or McDs cafe. We all have to give to make this work.

[Charles Burke]

03:38 PM on 07/22/2011

Let's start an "oather" movement against all Republicans from Boehner on down, who have falsely sworn in as members of Congress--falsely, because almost all of them have previously sworn to
Saint Grover Norquist and his Taxpayers that they would NEVER vote to raise taxes. Ergo, to swear to uphold the Constitution without qualification or purpose of evasion, with this limiting oath already sworn, makes them all not Constitutionally in office. Kick em out. cb

[hccharles3]

09:24 PM on 07/14/2011

...And dealing with House and John Boehner is like negtiatinbg with a giant piece of FUDGE

[Renee150]

08:42 PM on 07/14/2011

Republicans have lost it.

[GTFObama 2012]

05:44 PM on 07/14/2011

The U.S. government brings in roughly 200 billion dollars a month in tax revenue. The interest on the national debt is roughly 29 billion a month. Can someone explain to me how we are going to default on our loans? Silly me, I thought 29 billion was smaller than 200 billion.... GTFO

[cam1002]

05:19 PM on 07/15/2011

OK, who ya gonna pay then once you pay the interest. The military?, Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid? Government offices including the FBI, TSA, CIA or any of the other numerous federal agencies including food inspectors. How about the Nuclear regulatory agencies. We have approximately 40% more expenses going out then coming in. Who would YOU cut? That is the decision that will be on the President's shoulders if we default. Michele Bachmann et al do not know what they are talking about. We DO NOT have enough money to pay everything without borrowing more. And that is NO NEW spending, that is just what Congress has already approved and that we already owe. This does not spend one new penny.

[GTFObama 2012]

01:58 AM on 07/16/2011

I cannot believe you typed that in all honesty thinking you made a good point. "We have approximat­ely 40% more expenses going out then coming in." Yes, that is the reason we are in the terrible situation we are in. WHEN YOU SPEND MORE MONEY THAN YOU HAVE, BAD THINGS ARE GOING TO HAPPEN... and then hard decisions are going to HAVE to be made. We cannot keep spending money we don't have. That is not how the real world works, sorry to inform you of that. Jeez, GTFO

[smburwick]

03:09 PM on 07/14/2011

Telemachus: well if you don't watch all of the stations I can see where you are coming from. I watch all of them.

[WeirdScience]

03:00 PM on 07/14/2011

There you have it. Republicans are so beholden to corporate interests even their talks to the press have product placements.

Repos should wear corporate logos on their clothing like race car drivers. Maybe then they could quit the name dropping.

[VA Jill]

02:58 PM on 07/14/2011

Everything probably looks like Jell-O when you're hung over, John.

[smburwick]

02:21 PM on 07/14/2011

minimus ---how?

[smburwick]

02:13 PM on 07/14/2011

CaptainObvious: It was Obama who put out the denial of checks in his interview, and the left has done their SA rule of isolating and demonizing the repubs for what Obama brought up. The republicans want sounds cuts to match the increase of the debt ceiling. What does 14.4 deficit mean to you? Down the road we kick the can, and which generation is going to pay for it?

[smburwick]

02:07 PM on 07/14/2011

You libs demonize a man who put forth a plan as a base for discussion. You have a president who had no budget approved by senate---voted down. and he has not written down the cuts. What do you think he has to do? Another tantrum, game of golf, basketball? Trip? Burger?

[Telemachus]

02:26 PM on 07/14/2011

"You libs ... "

Stopped reading there, thanks for not wasting my time.

Oh, but here's your nickel. Maybe you can use it to buy some facts.

[smburwick]

02:04 PM on 07/14/2011

Lowell Rice: to whom? All of them! And who was out of town 3-4 days a week for over two months campaigning. I read a liberal story, how the democrats were upset with BO for not being in Washington.

[cam1002]

05:24 PM on 07/15/2011

You have to read more than one article no matter whose side you are reading about. And, if you have read more than one and this is all you could come up with, you might want to think about where your allegiance lies.

[smburwick]

02:02 PM on 07/14/2011

CodycaP: There is no reason, I repeat, for the repubs to trust them. Yes it is about power. Balance of Power, do you know what that is? When the Executive, House and Congress were all democratic was that equitable? If we didn't have Vote in November, we wouldn't be discussing this.

[elarb]

11:43 AM on 07/14/2011

What is it like to try and negotiate with Eric Cantor? Might as well try to negotiate with a block of granite.

[smburwick]

02:05 PM on 07/14/2011

There you go demonizing again. Can you negociate with a man child who stomps out of the room when he doesn't get his way?

[cam1002]

05:25 PM on 07/15/2011

You mean like Cantor and Kyl did?