| 00:00:1120 sec. |
Obama, Barack - President
Hello, everybody. Good afternoon. As many of you know, this morning I had a meeting with Speaker Boehner, Leader Reid, as well as the two appropriations... |
| 00:00:3120 sec. |
Obama, Barack - President
From the outset, my goal has been to significantly cut our domestic spending but, at the same time, make sure we’re making key investments in things... |
| 00:00:5128 sec. |
Obama, Barack - President
And over the course of the last several months, we have identified areas where we can make substantial cuts. In fact, what we’ve been able to do is... |
| 00:01:1935 sec. |
Obama, Barack - President
And several weeks ago, there were discussions between the White House and Speaker Boehner’s office in which we said, let’s start negotiating off... |
| 00:01:5451 sec. |
Obama, Barack - President
The only question is whether politics or ideology are going to get in the way of preventing a government shutdown. Now, what does this potentially mean... |
| 00:02:4518 sec. |
Obama, Barack - President
So what I said to the Speaker today, and what I said to Leader Reid, and what I’ve said to the two appropriations chairs, is that myself, Joe Biden,... |
| 00:03:0346 sec. |
Obama, Barack - President
My understanding is that there’s going to be a meeting between Speaker Boehner and Harry Reid this afternoon at 4:00 p.m. The Speaker apparently didn’t... |
| 00:03:4936 sec. |
Obama, Barack - President
And we are prepared to put whatever resources are required in terms of time and energy to get this done. But that’s what the American people expect.... |
| 00:04:2530 sec. |
Obama, Barack - President
So, again, I want to reiterate, my understanding is the Speaker and Leader Reid are going to have a meeting at 4:00 p.m. If that issue does not get... |
| 00:04:5517 sec. |
Obama, Barack - President
But right now there’s no reason why we should not get this done. And we’ve got more than enough to do than to be spending our time going back and... |
| 00:05:122 sec. |
Obama, Barack - President
With that, I’m going to take a couple questions. |
| 00:05:142 sec. |
Obama, Barack - President
Ben. |
| 00:05:1619 sec. |
Q, -
Thank you, Mr. President. If it came down to it, would you approve of a short-term spending bill to avoid a government shutdown? And more broadly, as... |
| 00:05:353 min. |
Obama, Barack - President
Let me take each question separately. On the issue of a short-term extension, we’ve already done that twice. We did it once for two weeks, then... |
| 00:09:1510 sec. |
Q, -
Thank you, Mr. President. Who should the American people blame if there is a government shutdown? And also, I was wondering if you could respond to... |
| 00:09:251 min. |
Obama, Barack - President
I don’t think the American people are interested in blaming somebody. They want people to fix problems and offer solutions. They’re not interested... |
| 00:10:539 sec. |
Q, -
Mr. President, thank you. What else does the White House have to offer to make sure that a deal happens by Friday? And separately, could you tell us... |
| 00:11:023 min. |
Obama, Barack - President
Well, look, we’ve got -- we are happy to listen to any additional reasonable proposals. But I want to repeat what I just said: We are now at the figure... |
| 00:15:005 sec. |
Q, -
I asked about Peres as well, if you had anything about your meeting today. |
| 00:15:051 min. |
Obama, Barack - President
President Peres is I think an extraordinary statesman. We had a extensive discussion about what’s happened in the Middle East. I think he and I both... |
| 00:16:0810 sec. |
Q, -
Mr. President, Speaker Boehner says it’s not just the specifics of what you guys want to cut and not cut, but that your cuts, the ones you have put... |
| 00:16:183 min. |
Obama, Barack - President
Well, here’s -- I’ll let Jay or Jack Lew or others get into all the details, but here’s sort of a thumbnail of what’s happened. The vast... |