Via Bloomberg:
U.S. Speaker John Boehner said the House can’t pass an increase to the U.S. debt ceiling without packaging it with other provisions — a nonstarter for President Barack Obama.
“We are not going to pass a clean debt limit,” Boehner said in an interview on ABC’s “This Week” program. “The votes are not in the House to pass a clean debt limit.”
Boehner said he believed the country could end up in default if Obama doesn’t negotiate. “That’s the path we’re on,” Boehner said.
Boehner’s comments came as the stalemate between the White House and House Republicans showed little sign of thawing just 11 days from when Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew told lawmakers the U.S. will exhaust measures to avoid breaching the debt ceiling.
The House and Senate aren’t scheduled to be in session today and there are no meetings planned between the two sides.
The Obama administration has said it won’t negotiate with Republicans over funding the government or raising the debt ceiling, arguing that it is part of the basic functions of Congress and shouldn’t be used as point of leverage.