President Obama refuses Republican negotiations

(via whitehouse.gov)

President Barack Obama refused debt ceiling negotiations with Republicans on Monday.

"If the goal is to make sure that we are being responsible about our debt and our deficit - if that's the conversation we're having. I'm happy to have that conversation," Obama said during a news conference. "What I will not do is have that negotiation with a gun at the head of the American people."

Republican leaders are asking for spending cuts to accommodate the increasing debt ceiling.

House of Representative Speaker John Boehner said, "The American people do not support raising the debt ceiling without reducing government spending at the same time."

If Congress does not raise the debt ceiling in time, the United States economy will go into default from inability to pay for government obligations.

Watch Obama's news conference (below):

(Source)