White House Aide: We're Not 'Negotiating With People With A Bomb Strapped To Their Chest

[DonViejo]

IGOR BOBIC – SEPTEMBER 26, 2013, 5:39 PM EDT

A senior White House adviser on Thursday compared House Republicans threatening to hold the debt limit hostage to "people with a bomb strapped to their chest."

"What we're not for is negotiating with people with a bomb strapped to their chest," Dan Pfeiffer told CNN's Jake Tapper. "We're not going to do that."

The remark came as House Republicans unveiled a draft proposal to lift the debt ceiling through December 2014 if Democrats accepted numerous conservative priorities, including a one-year delay of Obamacare, a path to tax reform, approval of the Keystone pipeline, expanded offshore drilling and other pro-oil and coal energy reforms and increases in military spending coupled with deeper cuts to domestic programs, among other things.

President Barack Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) have repeatedly vowed they would not negotiate on the debt limit, which will need to be raised by mid-October, and Pfeiffer further characterized Republican demands as ransom.

full article
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/white-house-aide-we-re-not-negotiating-with-people-with-a-bomb-strapped-to-their-chest

[DCBob]

1. well unfortunately we do have to negotiate with these morons..

Because of the damage they can do if they set it off.

[jeff47]

3. Not really.

First, they could just ignore the debt limit. Congress passed two contradictory laws: Spend $$, but don't borrow more than $$. Can't obey the first without violating the second, and vice-versa. When contradictory laws were passed in the past, the president notified Congress which would be enforced and asked them to "clarify" the situation.

Second, the Constitution gives Executive branch unlimited power to mint coins. So the White House could literally mint a $1 Trillion coin and deposit it in the Federal Reserve.

So the White House has options if the House insists on setting off the bomb.

[Turbineguy]

2. Kennedy had

Khrushchev. Obama has the republicans.