At a brief press conference Thursday morning, Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) stressed to reporters the need for back up plans in case a major agreement that the president is seeking in order to raise the debt ceiling doesn’t transpire.
“I always believe that keeping the lines of communication open were important, and frankly I believe it would be irresponsible on behalf of the congress and the president not to be looking at backup strategies for how to solve this problem,” Boehner said.
Boehner noted that the House has passed their Cut, Cap, and Balance bill, and it is now time for the Senate to act.
He acknowledged that he has told members of his party that compromise and raising the debt ceiling are necessary, but said that allowing the existing Bush era tax cuts to expire would amount to a tax increase.
“I’ve never voted to raise taxes and I don’t intend to. That would not be my goal in any way, shape or form.” said Boehner .