White House: We’re Not Negotiating over the Debt Limit and Have ‘to Get Default Taken off the Table’

On Tuesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Alex Wagner Tonight,” White House Communications Director Ben LaBolt stated that President Joe Biden is still not negotiating over the debt limit and “What the President has been open to throughout this process is a budget negotiation, is an appropriations negotiation through the typical process.”

Host Alex Wagner asked, “Let me just get right to I think the question that a lot of folks are wondering, is the White House now negotiating over the debt limit?”

LaBolt answered, “No. Look, Alex, default is not an option. It would tip the country into a recession and cost us millions of jobs. The President simply won’t allow that to happen. What the President has been open to throughout this process is a budget negotiation, is an appropriations negotiation through the typical process. And so, he’s deployed his team to Capitol Hill to negotiate and find a reasonable bipartisan agreement that both parties and both chambers can support. That’s the way out of this crisis. We’re not going to give up the economic gains of the past two years, 12.7 million jobs created. 800,000 manufacturing jobs, a clean energy industry getting off the ground in this country. The President and his negotiators are going to protect those gains throughout this process.”

He added, “[W]hat we’re looking for, at this stage, we’ve got to get default taken off the table, and then, look, the President recognizes it’s a Republican House, there’s going to have to be some compromise to get to a budget agreement.”

LaBolt further stated, “We need to take default off the table at the same time as we can get — as the President’s always been willing to — a framework for a budget through the typical process off the ground. … And ultimately, the outcome we need, over the next couple of weeks, is to remove default from the table and ensure that we don’t tip into a recession.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett