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Added on the 09/05/2016 20:36:19 - Copyright : Reuters EN
The White House calls the latest negotiations with Republicans on avoiding a US debt default "productive." "The team has had productive discussions," Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre says. The upbeat assessment comes a week before the estimated "X date" when the government will run out of money if Republicans controlling the House of Representatives do not agree to authorizing more borrowing. SOUNDBITE
President Biden is not currently planning to invoke the 14th Amendment to prevent a US debt default, the White House says, ruling out a constitutional solution to the current debt impasse. Invoking the 14th Amendment to the constitution, which some legal scholars argue would let the US Treasury ignore the debt limit, "is not going to fix the current problem we have right now," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters. SOUNDBITE
President Joe Biden will still leave Wednesday for the G7 summit in Japan but is reevaluating the rest of his planned tour of Asia, spokesperson for the White House National Security Council John Kirby tells reporters, as the White House negotiates with Republican leaders to avoid a US debt default. Until now the president had planned to also visit Papua New Guinea and Australia after the G7 meeting in Hiroshima. SOUNDBITE
The White House will not engage in "any negotiation over the debt ceiling" with Congress where Republicans now control the House of Representatives, says press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. SOUNDBITE