Politics & Government

Obama calls recent shutdown talks a "positive development"

Lesley Clark - McClatchy Washington Bureau

October 12, 2013 09:18 AM

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is pursued by reporters after a meeting between President Barack Obama and Senate Republicans at the White House.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is pursued by reporters after a meeting between President Barack Obama and Senate Republicans at the White House. AP
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is pursued by reporters after a meeting between President Barack Obama and Senate Republicans at the White House. AP

President Obama used his weekly radio address to push for an end to the government shutdown -- and to call for a longer term lifting of the debt ceiling.

Congressional Republicans have proposed raising the debt ceiling by six weeks -- to give the parties time for further budget negotiations, but Obama in his address says it "wouldn't be wise...to just kick the debt ceiling can down the road for a couple months and flirt with a first-ever intentional default right in the middle of the holiday shopping season."

Still. Obama struck a note of optimism, saying he's met with lawmakers from both parties and called it a "positive development" that more House Republicans are talking about ending the shutdown and raising the debt ceiling.

"There’s a lot we can agree on," he said. "But one thing we have to agree on is that there is no good reason anyone should keep suffering through this shutdown."

And he suggested a short term raising of the debt ceiling could prompt another battle that would threaten the U.S. credit rating.

"It would amount to a new tax – a Republican default tax – on every family and business in America," he charged.

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