According to Pulse of Radio,
President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner traded tough talk yesterday (October 8th) on the ongoing government shutdown and the upcoming deadline for raising the debt ceiling, but there were also some hints of possible movement. Speaking at the White House, Obama said that Republicans, quote, “don’t get to demand ransom in exchange for doing their jobs. They don’t also get to say, ‘You know, unless you give me what the voters rejected in the last election, I’m going to cause a recession.'” As he’s said before, Obama said he’d talk to Republicans about the budget or the health care law, but not until they end the government shutdown and raise the debt ceiling. Boehner said later, “What the president said today was if there’s unconditional surrender by Republicans, he’ll sit down and talk.” However, there did appear to be some slight softening, with GOP Rep. Tom Cole, who’s close to Boehner, saying, “I suspect we can work out a mechanism to raise the debt ceiling while a negotiation is underway.” On his side, Obama said he was willing to negotiate with Republicans if Congress passed even short-term legislation to end the crisis.
When will it end?
