Washington: US Republican House Speaker John Boehner said on Sunday that the lower chamber would not pass bills to end government shutdown or raise debt limit until President Barack Obama chooses to negotiate.
“There are not the votes in the house to pass a clean continuing resolution,” Xinhua reported Boehner as saying on ABC’s “This Week” programme.
His comments came despite the fact that some centrist Republicans have indicated willingness to join the Democrats in passing a stopgap measure to end the shutdown.
Holding firm the GOP demand for concessions from Obama and the Democrats, Boehner also said the house is not going to pass a bill without conditions on debt limit increase.
Boehner said the nation’s credit is at risk because of the Obama administration’s refusal to sit down and have a conversation. “We’re interested in having a conversation about how we open the government and how we begin to pay our bills. But it begins with a simple conversation.” (IANS)