1/9/13: White House Press Briefing

Mr. Carney: -- got a lot going on over there.
(laughter)
She does. Very important.
Welcome. Good afternoon.
Thanks for being here.
Sorry we had to postpone the briefing.
Very busy day.
I have a very important personnel announcement to make.
Actually, I'm just kidding.
I'll go right to the AP.
(laughter)
The Press: Jay, on that topic -- (laughter)
-- it's been widely reported that Jack Lew is the President's
choice to be the next Treasury Secretary.
I'm wondering if you could comment on those reports.
And also, if that's the case, what does Jack's selection as
Treasury Secretary say about his economic priorities for the
second term?
Mr. Carney: Let me say two things.
First, I don't make Cabinet-level personnel
announcements; the President does.
And I will not get ahead of the President.
When he is ready to make an announcement about his next
Treasury Secretary, he will make that announcement.
Secondly, I would say that Jack Lew, who is the President's
Chief of Staff, has been and continues to be an extremely
valuable advisor to the President.
Over the past more than quarter of a century, Jack Lew has been
an integral part of some of the most important budgetary,
financial, and fiscal agreements, bipartisan
agreements in Washington.
He was there when Social Security was reformed under
President Reagan, working for the Speaker of the House.
He was there when tax reform passed at the table
in the 1980s.
He was there -- he was the Cabinet-level Director of OMB
for President Clinton when our budget was balanced for the
first time in a generation.
And he served also, as you know, as Deputy Secretary of State,
and has again served as OMB Director, overseeing some very
important agreements and playing a major role in achieving them
for President Obama; and now has for the last more than a year,
has been a remarkably capable Chief of Staff.
I just thought I'd say that about Jack.
(laughter)
The Press: For no apparent reason at all?
Mr. Carney: Well, I work with him every day, and he is an exceptional,
exceptional public servant.
The Press: Has he been working on his signature then?
Mr. Carney: Not that I'm aware of.
The Press: Just stepping aside from the pick, though, I mean, how does
the President view the role of the Treasury Secretary in
the second term?
I mean, the person will obviously have a different set
of obstacles and challenges that Secretary Geithner had in 2009.
Is it more about an emphasis on fiscal policies, economic issues
as opposed to the health of the financial market?
Mr. Carney: Well, I would say, again, without speaking to any
announcements, the President sets policy, and his advisors
and Cabinet secretaries carry it out.
The fact of the matter is Secretary Geithner has over his
four years in office been at the helm of the Treasury Department
through a remarkable period of challenge and change that
included the financial and economic crisis, but also
included negotiating a series of agreements with Congress that
strengthened the middle class, aided economic growth and helped
job creation.
And certainly, as you know, because the President spoke
about it all the time on the campaign trail and since,
economic growth and job creation continue to be the President's
top domestic priorities.
So all the members of his economic team will be focused
on those priorities in the second term.
The Press: Just one on the debt ceiling.
A group of House Democrats said the President should consider
using the 14th Amendment to raise the debt ceiling.
This obviously came up last year, and when it did you said
from the podium that the 14th Amendment would not give the
President the power to ignore the debt ceiling.
But I'm wondering, given the President's insistence that he's
not going to negotiate over the debt ceiling this time around,
is the White House considering revisiting that issue,
reconsidering its position on the 14th Amendment?
Mr. Carney: Our position on the 14th Amendment has not changed.
And let's be very clear -- Congress has the responsibility
and the sole authority to raise the debt ceiling.
And Congress must do its job.
And I think it's very important, as we approach the deadline of
the debt ceiling, that people understand what
we're talking about.
Because sometimes the language we use and the phrases we use
here in Washington I think make this a lot more mysterious for
average folks out there than it needs to be.
Raising the debt ceiling is simply authorizing Congress
to pay the bills that it's already racked up.
This is not about future spending.
This is about you going to the store, the department store,
and charging some goods on your credit card; you've made
those purchases, the bill comes, you pay the bill.
You don't tear it up and decide you're not going to pay it
unless you get what you want from store management.
You pay your bills.
And the United States has always paid its bills.
Congress has the responsibility and the authority to do that,
and the President will not negotiate over it.
Let me go to Reuters.
Yes.
The Press: Jay, talking about Treasury secretaries, when Jack Lew
was head of OMB, the Department of Energy restructured its loan
to Solyndra.
When he was in the private sector, he worked for a group
that profited from investments that conceivably were based on
the declines in the housing sector.
Why wouldn't those raise red flags for any Treasury Secretary
that the --
Mr. Carney: You're trying to, in a back-end way, get me to
talk about an announcement the President has not made.
And I will leave it to the President to announce who his
next Treasury Secretary will be.
I will certainly say -- and would have said this at any time
in my tenure as Press Secretary -- that Jack Lew's record has
and continues to be stellar.
And he is that rare person in Washington who has been here
for years who has done some very hard things and brokered some
serious bipartisan agreements and done it in a way that has
earned the admiration of almost everybody he's worked with;
so certainly, the Presidents that he has served.
But I'll leave it at that.
The Press: Let me shift to gun control for a second.
The Vice President is due to meet with representatives of the
National Rifle Association later this week.
That group has been very influential in politics,
has been effective at preventing previous efforts to control the
spread of guns in this country.
What is his message going to be to them?
And what is the White House strategy in dealing
with that influence?
Mr. Carney: The President believes that in the wake of the incident at
Newtown, the tragic incident at Newtown, at Sandy Hook
Elementary, that we must as a nation examine every possible
action that we could plausibly take to reduce this terrible
scourge of gun violence.
As you heard him say, it is in many ways our first
responsibility to ensure that our children are safe.
And what Newtown brought home to us is it that we need to do
a lot more to ensure that they are safe.
And he wants to hear through the effort that he assigned to the
Vice President from stakeholders of all kinds, and that certainly
includes gun owners and organizations that represent
gun owners.
And he hopes and the Vice President hopes that these
organizations will bring constructive ideas to the table.
That is the purpose of the effort the Vice President
is leading.
As you know, he had some important meetings today.
He has more meeting coming up, including the one you mentioned,
and he is in the process of putting together a series of
recommendations that the President will consider.
And once the President has decided on the path forward
that he will promote, he will I'm sure make that known to you.
The Press: Is there any deadline for coming up with those
recommendations and rolling that out?
Mr. Carney: The President himself I believe from this podium mentioned that
he had hoped to act -- or hear from the effort led by the Vice
President this month.
The Press: Is there any particular low-hanging fruit?
The Vice President mentioned executive actions that you
could take unilaterally.
Mr. Carney: Well, I'm not going to get into specifics because I won't
get ahead of the President or the Vice President, but also
because the process is ongoing.
Decisions have not been made.
You heard what the Vice President said earlier today
and I think that represents an area where action is possible.
Legislative action is certainly part of this.
The President has already called on Congress to act on an assault
weapons ban, to act on a ban of high-capacity ammunition clips,
and to confirm an ATF Director, and to close the loopholes in
our background checks system.
These are things that Congress can do and should do, and the
President has called on Congress to do those things.
But there are other things that need to be done.
I won't get ahead of the process here, but as the President has
said, he's looking at this broadly -- not just in terms
of the things that can be done legislatively and not just in
terms of the things that can be done through executive action.
Brianna.
The Press: Jay, thank you.
What are the -- on gun control, what is the area of action on
executive action that the White House would consider?
Mr. Carney: Well, as I just said to Mark, I won't get into specifics because
I won't get ahead of the President and the
Vice President.
And I also can tell you that those decisions
haven't been made.
The Press: It seems like there may be some -- I mean, there's some
limitation as to what the President can do on his own.
I'm assuming -- is it background checks?
Mr. Carney: Again, I'm not going to get ahead of the President and
the Vice President, the process being led by the Vice President.
Background checks I think are something that we have discussed
in terms of legislative action.
The Press: The database action for background checks?
Mr. Carney: Again, I think there's a variety of -- there are
a variety of ideas that have been put forward publicly.
And obviously, the Vice President's group is listening
to a lot of these groups and hearing their ideas, but it's
up to the Vice President and the President to decide what
combination of things he wants to proceed with, and I'll let
him make that announcement.
The Press: Mayor Bloomberg has said with the stroke of a pen
the President could do certain things, but others have raised
concerns that there may be lawsuits that would gum up
the works.
Is that a concern for the administration?
Mr. Carney: Again, without getting into specifics, we look at all
consequences of actions that could be taken, including
consequences of promoting legislation in Congress and
other kinds of things.
But that's a broad assessment that I'm making and I don't know
the specifics that you're -- or Mayor Bloomberg might be
referring to or the critics who suggest, or people who
have concerns about what the response might be to
some kinds of actions.
I think that's all speculative until we know what the President
will put forward.
The Press: And anything on the Walmart reversal and their decision
to send a representative in person tomorrow?
Mr. Carney: Well, I've seen reports, and I can simply say that we, as part
of this effort led by Vice President Biden, we invited
a broad array of groups and individuals to participate
in these meetings and conversations, and welcome
the participation of everyone who accepts those invitations.
So it's important that we hear from these stakeholders.
And I know the Vice President and his team look forward to
all the meetings that they're going to have.
The Press: Jay, the Speaker of the House has made it perfectly clear that
he is willing to increase the debt ceiling, but that the
principle is for every dollar the debt ceiling has increased,
a dollar of spending must be cut.
Given that you're saying that the White House will
not negotiate on raising the debt ceiling, are you willing
to accept that principle from the Speaker -- a dollar in cuts
for every dollar increase?
Mr. Carney: I think the President has been very clear that his absolute
principle is that we need to reduce our deficit in a balanced
way that does not shift all the burden through cuts exclusively
on senior citizens, on families who have disabled children,
on families who are trying to send their kids to school.
That's just unacceptable.
One of the things we learn in the process that we just went
through late last year is that when it comes to specificity,
we never saw any specificity from Republicans in terms of how
exactly they would achieve the kind of sweeping cuts that they
say they want, and out of whose -- from whom would they demand
that payment.
And what the President has been very clear about is he will not
negotiate on Congress's responsibility to pay its bills.
He will negotiate and is willing to compromise, as he
has demonstrated repeatedly, when it comes to moving forward
in a balanced way to reduce our deficit -- we have to deal with
the sequester, we have to deal with a variety of budgetary and
economic and fiscal challenges.
But he will not negotiate over the debt ceiling.
And the threat itself is a problem as we saw in the
summer of 2011.
The binary choice that Republicans seem to want
to present to the American public is either we got Medicare
and Social Security, or we tank the global economy.
I'm not a communications director for the Speaker
of the House or the Senate Minority Leader, but I would
think selling that would be very hard.
The Press: But help me understand how this works.
You say you will not negotiate on this issue.
They put out a principle, so they produce something --
and they say they will -- that cuts a dollar for every
dollar increase.
And you're saying you won't negotiate on that?
Mr. Carney: Have you seen that?
The Press: This is what they say they are going to go forward with.
So either --
Mr. Carney: Well, I mean, words are not actions, and there has been
up to this date very little specificity since the Ryan plan,
which itself was lacking in specifics.
And if their position is we're going to voucherize Medicare or
tank the global economy, they should say so.
That is unacceptable to the American people.
It's certainly unacceptable to the President.
Look, here's the thing.
Congress has the authority to authorize money, right?
Not the President.
Congress racked up these bills.
Congress has to pay these bills.
We are very interested in a discussion and negotiation about
getting our fiscal house in order.
This President has already signed into law over $2 trillion
in deficit reduction.
He is eager to do more in a balanced way.
But it is not appropriate to, in this President's view,
say that if I don't get what I want, I'm not going to raise
the debt limit.
That is basically saying, I will abandon the history of the
United States, maintaining the full faith and credit of its
currency and its Treasury by refusing to pay bills because
I didn't get what I want, politically.
And that's just not acceptable to the President.
The Press: I'm just trying to understand how saying you're not going to
negotiate resolves this.
Mr. Carney: We're not going to negotiate.
Congress has a -- if Congress wants to give the President the
responsibility to raise the debt ceiling, he would take it, as we
saw when in 2010 or -- I forget -- there have been so many of
these confrontations -- in 2011, when the so-called McConnell
plan was adopted.
But they assigned themselves this responsibility.
They need to be -- the fact that they assigned it to
them is something that they have to deal with.
They assigned it to themselves.
They need to act, and they need to, without drama or delay,
raise the debt ceiling.
We still have -- there's plenty of opportunity, outside of
threatening the full faith and credit of the United States,
to debate fundamental differences over our economic
and fiscal policy proposals.
But it is not wise to do that around raising the debt ceiling;
it would have been not wise to do it around the simple
principle that we, the United States of America,
pay our debts.
The Press: And if I could just ask you about Chuck Hagel, who was
criticized pretty strongly today by Ben Cardin, who's not exactly
an arch-conservative here, somebody right in the mainstream
of the Democratic Party in the Senate.
One of the things he raised was the comments that Hagel
made about James Hormel, which had come under fire
by anti-gay (sic) groups.
And I'm wondering if you can help me understand.
He made those comments 15 years ago, calling James Hormel
"aggressively gay," and didn't apologize for them until a month
ago when it was clear that he was in the running to be named
Secretary of Defense.
Why that kind of a delay?
And does he have to explain why for 15 years those comments --
Mr. Carney: I think Senator Hagel was very clear about the fact that he
thought those comments were not appropriate, he regretted them,
and that they don't represent the totality of his views.
I would point you to the statement he made.
And he will have -- senators will have an opportunity through
the confirmation process, as they do traditionally and
routinely, to ask him questions about his views on issues.
The Secretary of Defense -- Senator Hagel, when he is
confirmed, as we hope he will be -- carries
out the President's policies.
And I think the President's policies on LGBT issues are
both commendable, supported by the LGBT community, and will
continue to be the policies of this administration as long as
President Obama is in office.
So, again, I think you've seen what Senator Hagel said about
this, and the President is very confident that Senator Hagel
will be confirmed and that he will be an excellent Secretary
of Defense and will implement all of the President's policies
with regards to the Defense Department.
Let me move around here.
Chuck.
The Press: Following up on debt ceiling, I know your position hasn't
changed on the 14th Amendment.
Do you guys have a position on this
trillion-dollar coin business?
(laughter)
Mr. Carney: I would simply go back to what I said.
The option here is for Congress to do its job and pay its bills
-- bills that have already been racked up.
We saw what happened last summer, the summer of 2011,
when Congress flirted with the idea of default, didn't even go
all the way to default and yet the impact on our economy was
severe, the impact on average Americans was severe.
We had the lowest job creation in the month of August of 2011
of any month during the recovery, and the reason
is because of what House Republicans did that summer.
Now, we can't do that again.
So let's not even pretend that that's an okay scenario.
Let's just ask Congress --
The Press: But you have gladly ruled out -- on the 14th Amendment,
you finally said you do not believe you have that power
via the 14th Amendment.
Do you believe you have this power to mint a
trillion-dollar coin?
Mr. Carney: Look, there is no plan B.
There is no backup plan.
There is Congress's responsibility to pay
the bills of the United States.
This is not about future spending.
We will have that debate.
We will continue to have the debate about how we --
the budgets that we design and the path
forward in deficit reduction.
And the President's principles in this matter are very clear.
There is no alternative to Congress raising the
debt ceiling.
It's its responsibility.
Congress has to pay the bills of the United States.
That is an obligation they assigned to themselves.
The Press: It's a little evasive in your answer.
I understand.
But I mean, are you trying to leave room?
Mr. Carney: -- never be true.
The Press: Are you trying to leave room or not leave room?
Mr. Carney: Look, there is no substitute for Congress extending the borrowing
authority of the United States.
The Press: But you believe this is an option?
Viable, unviable?
Mr. Carney: I think the only option here that there is no backup plan.
The only option is for Congress to do its job.
The Press: Will you totally rule it out?
(laughter)
Mr. Carney: You could speculate about a lot of things, but there is --
nothing needs to come to these kinds of speculative notions
about how to deal with a problem that is easily resolved by
Congress doing its job, very simply.
And then coming back and having the discussion and conversation
and negotiation and debate about how we continue to bring down
our debt in a way that's responsible, in a way that
allows our economy to grow, in a way that protects the middle
class, in a way that continues the 54 months of job creation
that we've had during this recovery -- that's the
conversation and the debate and the negotiation that is
correct to have.
That's the conversation and negotiation and debate that
the American people expect us to have.
They don't expect Washington -- and in this case, Congress,
and really in this case, one house of Congress --
to do enormous harm to the economy for partisan reasons.
The Press: I wonder if today on the front page of The New York Times, on
the photo of the senior staff with the President, when The New
York Times caption says, "Try to find Valerie Jarrett," whether
the President was embarrassed that here was a picture of his
supposed senior staff and you could not see a visible woman.
Mr. Carney: Well, first of all, as you know, and I would point you
the content of the story as opposed to the headline or the
photograph, the President's senior staff here is well --
women are well represented in the President's senior
staff here.
Two of the three deputies -- Deputy Chiefs of Staff
are women.
The White House Counsel is a woman.
A woman runs homeland security for this country,
Secretary Napolitano.
There are -- the Cabinet Secretary in charge of
the most important piece of domestic policy legislation
in a generation is a woman, Kathleen Sebelius.
And, again, I would point you to the New York Times story itself
that makes the point that the White House staff here is 50/50
in its analysis.
And as I said, including Valerie Jarrett, women serve in key
policy roles here within the White House as they do
throughout the administration and that includes, I forgot to
mention, Director of Domestic Policy, Cecilia Muñoz and Chief
of Staff for the First Lady, Tina Tchen; White House
Personnel Director, Nancy Hogan.
And I think it's -- again, this President is committed
to diversity.
And look at the record; it is a vast improvement --
The Press: Well, let's talk about diversity, though.
Let's look at the "big four."
He's about to do --
Mr. Carney: These stories are in reaction to --
The Press: State Department, Defense Department, Treasury, although
I know you're not --
Mr. Carney: Right, but these stories are in reaction to a couple
of appointments.
I think it would be useful to wait and make judgments about
this issue after the President has made the totality of
appointments that he will make in the transition to
a second term.
The Press: When you look at a Cabinet, there is the "big four" that
it's always been accepted -- I'm just asking you --
Mr. Carney: The Secretary of State was a woman and the one -- the person
we've nominated is a man.
That's the issue here.
The Press: Is there any sort of --
Mr. Carney: Janet Napolitano is the Secretary of Homeland Security,
a Cabinet-level position.
The U.N. Ambassador -- the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations
is Susan Rice.
And, again, I could go through the list.
This President has appointed -- has made two appointments to the
Supreme Court, both of them women.
And I think that his commitment to --
The Press: You think it's an unfair charge?
Mr. Carney: Well, I think that the record speaks for itself,
and certainly, that photograph is not reflective of the
diversity within the White House staff or within the
broader administration.
And I think, again, I would urge everyone who only got to the
headline of the photograph to read the story, because
the story documents that the comparative here with not just
President Bush and the increase in the representation of women
in senior positions is dramatic; it's consistent with or greater
than President Clinton's staff as well.
And when it comes to judges, 47% of President Obama's confirmed
judges -- and we have an issue with confirmation here with
Senate as you know -- but the 47% of those who have been
confirmed have been women compared to 22% for President
George W. Bush and 29% for President Clinton.
So I think the record here speaks for itself.
The Press: So when you say that totality that there is going to be some
other Cabinet appointments it sounds like in the next, say,
couple of months.
Mr. Carney: Well, I have no personnel announcements.
The Press: I understand that, but is it fair to say that after
all that's done that there is -- that diversity is
taken into account?
Mr. Carney: Well, I've answered this question a couple of times
this week, and the President believes that diversity is
important because it -- having diversity increases
the excellence of the pool of advisors around you, the pool
of the staff that you have here.
And I think that's been demonstrated by the kinds of --
the degree of talent that he has around him now and has had
around him in the first term, and I think it will be true in
the second term.
Yes, Major.
The Press: Can you tell the House Democrats who believe the President ought
to use the 14th Amendment and should use it why they
are wrong?
Mr. Carney: We answered this question at the time.
I just said, again, we just don't believe that it provides
the authority that some believe it does.
But the point here is, because of a resistance to the reality
that Congress has a responsibility to pay
the bills that it has racked up, we should not be pursuing these
kinds of options.
Congress should simply do its job.
The American people are tired of this sort
of approach to governance.
I mean, I think we've seen some polls recently that
demonstrate that.
It is time for Congress to get back to doing the business that
the people elected them to do.
The Press: On that point, some in the House Republican conference suggested
an incremental approach -- two months, three months,
short durations to extend the debt limit.
Is that something the White House, since it is not going
to negotiate, comfortable with?
Mr. Carney: Again, I'm not going to get into specifics, but the idea that we
should play this game every month?
You think that's -- this is the United States of America, right?
The idea that we would send the message around the world and
around the country that we're going to have a debate about
whether we should default every month or every two months, I
think that would be extremely harmful to the economy,
extremely harmful to the middle class in this country.
So as we said in the past, that's -- you're trying to
negotiate with me and I won't do that.
That sounds like a terrible idea to me.
The Press: And the President would reject it.
Mr. Carney: Well, again, it's a hypothetical, speculative thing.
The whole principle here, Major, is that he will not negotiate.
So you're -- and I won't either over the debt ceiling.
Congress --
The Press: I'm just asking about ideas that are being discussed.
Mr. Carney: Well, right, but that's a negotiating position over
something that we're not going to negotiate over.
Congress needs to do its job.
The Press: Okay. On gun control -- those who support what the President
has already asked Congress to do consider that a rather
aggressive agenda and they're not even sure that that could
get through Congress -- the four things you've mentioned, okay?
That's their sort of premise.
Is the Biden group looking at things that would be beyond
those already identified gun control initiatives and goals
of this administration on gun control specifically, meaning
an agenda that would even be broader than one those who are
experienced in the trenches of this kind of battle perceive as
difficult enough as it is?
Mr. Carney: The President has made clear that he would like to see
congressional action on the four items that I mentioned.
I do not have a preview for you of other actions that the
President may or may not push -- either congressional action
or other kinds.
I will let him -- the Vice President first, and then
the President make those decisions and announce them.
The Press: And because these things can be subject to all sorts of
interpretation -- they already are on the Web -- when the Vice
President talked about executive orders, is that in a context
specifically related to gun control, or other issues that
he is looking at in this context?
Mr. Carney: I don't have an elaboration for you.
I would just point to what the Vice President said.
And I think it reflects the general approach the President
is taking, which is to look at every way we can, both here in
Washington and beyond, to address the problem that I think
we all acknowledge we have.
When six- and seven-year-olds are gunned down in their own
school, there's a problem here that we need to address.
And it's not just a gun control problem.
It goes beyond that, as the President has said.
And that's why the effort the Vice President is leading is
looking at the totality of the problem and a broad array of
actions that could be taken to help address the problem.
And it is a difficult problem.
And it is difficult to -- on this issue and has been
traditionally -- difficult to get things done.
And I acknowledge that part of your question.
But as the President said, we can't simply not try because
it's hard.
The problem is too important.
And so you'll hear more from him when he's ready to make
some decisions.
Mike, then John.
The Press: Jay, on the gun issue, are there plans for the President to drop
by any of these meetings with stakeholders to perhaps go
face-to-face with some of these different groups that are coming
in to meet with the Vice President?
Mr. Carney: Well, he's asked the Vice President to lead this effort.
So I can't preclude that possibility, but I wouldn't
necessarily expect it.
Nothing like that is planned.
The President, obviously in the array of conversations he has
with elected officials from around the country and other
people, discusses this issue and has in recent weeks.
But in terms of these specific meetings I don't necessarily
anticipate that he would drop by.
I wouldn't rule it out.
The Press: I was just wondering if he might personally convey a message to
the movie industry or the video game folks to say, hey --
Mr. Carney: Again, I don't have any -- I don't anticipate that he will
be dropping by any meetings.
Of course, that could change if he so decides.
He obviously has conversations separate from the meetings that
the Vice President is leading, and talks about these issues
and many others when he has those conversations.
The Press: Briefly on the debt ceiling, you guys say you're not going
to negotiate; the Republicans are saying got to cut.
How are we not heading for another Washington-created
cliff of some sort?
Mr. Carney: Well, here are the facts: We have to raise the debt ceiling.
Leader McConnell and Speaker Boehner have said that in the
past, that it's inconceivable that we would default.
And that's one issue, and that is an issue that is Congress's
responsibility, and they need to fulfill their responsibility and
make sure that the United States of America, as it has throughout
its existence, pays its bills.
Separately, we continue to have challenges embodied in one
instance by the sequester that we need to resolve in concert
with Congress.
And the need to do that presents an opportunity to in a balanced
way achieve further significant deficit reduction.
The President, as you know, twice now has pursued a big deal
with Speaker Boehner that in its totality would have achieved
over $4 trillion in deficit reduction over a decade.
Because of the nature of those negotiations and the inability
of the Speaker to, in the end, reach a compromise with the
President, we have found ourselves needing to take sort
of smaller steps in pursuit of that overall goal.
But the goal remains one that the President believes
is the right one.
And he hopes that in dealing with our further budgetary and
fiscal challenges that he will be able to reach an agreement
with Congress to further reduce our deficit in a balanced way,
and to most importantly -- because deficit reduction is
not a goal -- a worthy goal unto itself; this is all about making
our economy stronger and making it more productive and allowing
it to create even more jobs.
I mean, that is the most important thing when it
comes to economic policy as far as the President is concerned.
The Press: If we're down to the last moment, have you guys researched
a way of bypassing this process?
Mr. Carney: Well, that's another way of asking questions about
amendments and coins and articles.
And, again, there are no plan Bs here -- and I know that plan B
is kind of a bad phrase these days.
But the fact of the matter is this is a simple process.
Congress assigned itself the responsibility of raising the
debt ceiling, and this is about past spending,
not future spending.
It is about paying our bills.
And Congress has that responsibility, Congress
needs to fulfill it.
I did say John.
Yes. Yes, sir.
The Press: Thank you, Jay. Happy New Year.
Mr. Carney: And to you.
The Press: You talked about plans without specificity.
A number of the freshman Republicans that I talked
to actually talked about dusting off the Simpson-Bowles plan and
introducing it as legislation.
I believe that the freshman Congressman, Steve Stockman
of Texas, said he was actually going to proceed in that course.
What's the administration's reaction --
Mr. Carney: The position the President continues to have on the
commission that he created was that it provided a very
important framework to move forward on deficit reduction.
I don't know -- I trust your reporting about the interest
of some House Republicans in putting that forward.
I'd be interested to hear what Chairman Ryan has to say about
it since he sat on the Simpson-Bowles Commission,
as did I believe other House Republicans,
and they all voted no.
So it is important to remember -- and I think a lot of people
when they talk about the commission that the President
set up, that that commission called for significantly higher
revenues than the President has called for and significantly
deeper defense cuts than the President called for; and,
actually, in the first 10 years, fewer savings from entitlement
programs than the President has called for.
So when you get into the details of it, you have to wonder
whether or not support from Republicans would really be
there; it certainly wasn't there when the commission
was taking its votes.
The Press: Thanks, Jay.
Forgive me if it's already been asked, but it was on my
mind since I saw it last night.
Has the President seen "Zero Dark Thirty" yet?
I know he's seen "Lincoln" and he's meeting with the
"1600 Penn" folks.
Has he actually seen "Zero Dark Thirty" yet and with whom?
What's his reaction?
Mr. Carney: I don't know.
I haven't asked him if he's seen it or not.
So I don't know his reaction.
The Press: So can I revisit then the not-negotiating question
just to beat a dead horse?
(laughter)
To further beat the already dead horse.
Are you saying that -- or would you say that Rob Nabors, Gene
Sperling, Jack Lew, whoever replaces Jack Lew -- none of
these people will now go to the Hill to talk debt ceiling?
Are you saying that Biden will not meet with McConnell to talk
debt ceiling?
Are you saying that the President will not invite
leaders from both chambers of Congress to the White House to
talk debt ceiling?
Mr. Carney: Yes. We will not negotiate over raising the debt ceiling.
As the President said, he has demonstrated repeatedly that
he is willing to compromise when it comes to moving forward with
deficit reduction.
We obviously because of the sequester and the CR and other
issues have economic, budgetary, and fiscal challenges that we
need to confront, and that requires discussion and
negotiation with Congress.
But he will not negotiate over the fundamental responsibility
that only Congress has to raise the debt ceiling.
And if that is a responsibility that is just too onerous for
them to bear, they should pass it off to the President as they
did previously.
He will not negotiate over raising the debt ceiling.
This is not -- we're not going to play a hostage-situation game
where the economy of the United States and the world suffers
because of an insistence on a political agenda by one party
and one House of Congress -- or one party in both
Houses of Congress.
The Press: So if none of those things happens, and then -- so it's
kind of a game of chicken -- and then if Congress doesn't blink
and you're not going to do the 14th Amendment and you're
probably not going to do a trillion-dollar coin --
Mr. Carney: There are so many ifs here that I'm having
trouble following you.
I'm probably not going to answer.
(laughter)
The Press: Just summarizing -- so doesn't that mean that he's betting that
Congress will raise the debt ceiling?
I mean, otherwise, what are your options?
Go over the cliff --
Mr. Carney: The President believes it's Congress's responsibility to
raise the debt ceiling.
He hopes that Congress will exercise that responsibility
without drama or delay.
He understands that there are further issues that we need to
work with Congress on when it comes to getting our fiscal
house in order, but they have to be separate from their
responsibility to pay bills that Congress has already racked up.
I like to do this because I was around when it happened, but it
is instructive to remember, when we're talking about who's
responsible when it comes to getting our fiscal house in
order and reducing our deficits -- and you can look at the
graphs here about when deficits went up and when they went down,
and they went up in the 80s and they went down after President
Clinton took office.
They went up again from surpluses to massive deficits
under President Bush.
We had an economic financial crisis the likes of which none
of us in this room have ever experienced.
That obviously exacerbated our deficits.
And then, since then they've been coming down
under President Obama.
He is very serious about responsible deficit reduction.
He has signed into law significant deficit
reduction already.
But he insists that we do it in a balanced way because he
does not believe it is fair to ask only some sectors of
the population -- seniors, children who have disabled
parents, kids who are just trying to go to college --
to bear the burden alone of the kinds of choices that we
need to make.
And so that's why he hopes to engage Congress -- Republicans
and Democrats alike -- in a process that leads to more
deficit reduction that includes the kind of balance that was
enshrined in the agreement recently reached over the
fiscal cliff.
The Press: In the past, when you've been asked what leverage he would
have since he's not going to negotiate with them, you've
pointed to the business community in the hopes that
they would bring some pressure to bear on Republicans.
Do you see that happening?
Are you satisfied --
Mr. Carney: Well, I won't speak for the business community, but I would
be surprised if they -- if anybody in the world of finance
or business, in this country or anywhere, would welcome
the prospect of default.
The Press: Well, that's not what I'm asking.
Of course, they won't want --
Mr. Carney: So I would certainly expect that they would -- I would hope that
they would make that opinion known.
The Press: Well, I guess what I'm asking is, other than you just standing
here day after day saying the President won't negotiate and
all the reasons you're giving, other than that rhetorical
effort, what else are you doing, can you do to make sure that
Congress lives up to the responsibility that
you've outlined?
Mr. Carney: Well, we can't --
The Press: Since you're not negotiating.
Mr. Carney: Because Congress has retained for itself this responsibility
and obligation, they have to act.
If they want to pass it to a more willing actor, the
President of the United States, he will gladly ensure that we
do not default.
But the fact of the matter is Congress has that responsibility
and Congress has to act.
We can't do it for them.
The Press: Right, you've said that.
I mean --
Mr. Carney: Right, but I'm not sure what you're saying.
The Press: Well, I'm asking since -- what else can you do, since you've
ruled out negotiating, to bring pressure to bear on them?
You do this all the time when you want something to happen.
You call on outside actors.
You try to get public opinion.
Other than just standing here over and over again saying
you're not going to negotiate, what else is the White House
doing to try to get them to pass the debt ceiling?
Mr. Carney: I cannot see into the future up to the point where the debt
ceiling might be reached, so I can't predict everything that
we will do.
But it is simple common sense that -- we hope -- that leaders
in Congress will not default and, in the end, they will do
what is right, which is ensure that we do not default.
In the meantime, we have other important issues to resolve with
Congress, other important fiscal and economic and budgetary
issues to resolve with Congress, and we can address those.
But negotiating over raising the debt ceiling is not in
the cards.
Mr. Nakamura.
The Press: Getting back to the talks -- talking about a man everybody
in Washington is thinking about right now, did the President see
the highlights, by any chance, of the game that ended Robert
Griffin III's season?
Did he express an opinion that you've heard about whether he
should have been in the game?
And what's your personal opinion as a Redskins fan?
Mr. Carney: You're trying to get me in trouble.
I have not -- I know that the President, like so many
sports fans, followed with interest the remarkable season
that RGIII had.
I have not had a discussion with him since that game about
its terrible outcome.
I did see in a -- yesterday somebody forwarded me a tweet
from the Onion, so I can't -- I'm not sure it's true,
but it did say that --
(laughter)
-- that Mike Shanahan had cleared RGIII to
carry furniture down some wet steps.
The Press: Were you watching the game, personally --
Mr. Carney: I did.
The Press: -- or did you see the highlights?
And when you did, what were your thoughts?
I know you're a Redskins fan.
Mr. Carney: It was painful to watch and --
The Press: Yes, very painful.
Mr. Carney: -- I'm not a football coach, but it sure seemed like,
as remarkable a player as he is, he wasn't in a position
to continue playing.
Just got myself in trouble with --
(laughter)
The Press: More serious -- debt ceiling again.
So last time, the White House was looking for a
$1.2 trillion increase.
How much of an increase would you like to see this time?
Not negotiating, but just how much would you like Congress
to increase that?
Mr. Carney: As you know, in the process that we just went through over
the so-called fiscal cliff, the President in good faith
negotiated with -- or tried to -- with the Speaker of the
House, and in that process, lowered his target for revenue
significantly, came, as they say, halfway towards the
Republicans between the $800 billion that Speaker Boehner
was offering and the $1.6 trillion that the
President had initially requested.
And that figure was $1.2 trillion.
Something very important occurred, which is the fiscal
cliff deal, which ensured that higher-income Americans would
see their income tax top rate return to the levels of the
Clinton era and, through that, a significant amount of revenue
has been achieved.
But it is not enough now, any more than it was when we talked
about the reason for achieving enough revenue -- $1.2 trillion
-- in order to allow for the essential balance that would
combine with spending cuts and savings from interest and the
like -- would allow for that $4 trillion deficit reduction
over 10 years.
So it remains our position, and the President spoke about this,
that we need to, going forward in deficit reduction, achieve it
through a balance of both revenues and spending cuts.
And I don't have specific figures for you, but our
position is what it was.
The Press: Syria?
Mr. Carney: Yes, Syria.
The Press: Thanks, Jay.
After they've all seen President Assad delusional speech on
Sunday, and today U.N. envoy Brahimi actually for the first
time he said that it's a lost opportunity and "there is no
political process after this speech."
So it seems that after two months, things look even worse
than ever before.
What's your step forward from this point?
Mr. Carney: Well, I'll say a few things.
The speech by Bashar al-Assad was, indeed, evidence of how
delusional he is.
The proposal he made was nothing more than a desperate attempt to
cling to power, and it would only allow the regime to
continue its oppression and killing of the Syrian people.
The momentum in Syria is with opposition forces and with the
Syrian people.
It is clear that as defections continue -- and we've seen a
number of them -- and the regime continues to lose control of
territory, that Assad cannot restore his control of Syria.
The future in Syria does not and will not
include Bashar al-Assad.
He has lost all legitimacy, as we have said, and he must
step aside to enable a political solution that ends the bloodshed
and suffering, and meets the aspirations
of the Syrian people.
The United States will continue its support for the Geneva
Action Group's framework, which was endorsed by the
five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council,
the Arab League, and the U.N. General Assembly.
And we will continue our efforts in support of Joint Special
Representative Brahimi to build international support for the
Geneva Framework, and urge all parties in Syria to take steps
toward its implementation, to help expedite an end to the
suffering of the Syrian people and to bring about the day when
Syria and the Syrian people can decide -- or the Syrian people,
rather, can decide their future for themselves.
The Press: Basically, you summarized what you have been doing for the last
two years, actually.
Many argue that something else needs to be done, such as arming
the rebels.
And the fact that you talk about the rebels continuing to gain
power on the ground is being done mostly led by Abushar Front
or other groups that your government has been
saying -- labeled as terrorist organizations.
Mr. Carney: Well, I think it's a good point to make our point, which is that
our position regarding lethal support has not changed.
We are not providing it.
As we have said, we continue to take a hard look at every
feasible policy option to evaluate whether or not doing
so would advance our goal of hastening an end to the violence
and supporting political transition in Syria.
In other words, we look at all feasible options and evaluate
them based on whether or not we believe that goal
would be achieved.
We firmly believe that a political solution led by the
Syrian people and supported by the international community is
the best chance for a stable and democratic Syria.
We do not believe at this point that providing arms will promote
a political solution.
And I would argue to you, on your first point,
about our policy.
We have, over time, ramped up our assistance to the Syrian
people through humanitarian aid.
We have ramped up our non-lethal assistance
to the Syrian opposition.
We have, as you know, recognized the Syrian Transitional Group as
the legitimate representative of the Syrian people.
These are steps that demonstrate movement in our policy towards
further isolating Assad, further isolating the regime,
assisting the opposition.
But we do not believe at this point that providing lethal
assistance is the right policy.
Yes, and then Donovan.
The Press: There are supporters of immigration reform that
are worried that the administration's efforts
on gun violence are now going to push off immigration reform.
You had talked -- or the administration had talked
about something post-inauguration.
I'm wondering if that timetable still stands,
or what the commitment is.
Mr. Carney: Well, I don't believe I've given a specific time frame.
I would point you to the President's commitment to
do it early in his -- to take action on immigration reform
early in his second term.
But beyond that, I won't be specific.
But I can assure you that it is a top priority of this
President, and it is something he will act on,
as he has promised.
The Press: Can we expect to hear about that in the State of the Union or the
inaugural address?
Mr. Carney: Well, I would say, broadly speaking, that State of the
Union addresses tend to include at least a sample
of a President's agenda, and immigration reform,
comprehensive immigration reform, is a very high priority
of the President's.
But I don't want to get ahead of the speech.
The Press: There have been reports in recent days about cyber attacks
by Iran, one report quoting a security expert as saying
there's no doubt within the U.S.
government that these attacks on the banking sector, including
what they call denial-of-service attacks, come from Iran.
Has that come to the President's attention,
or can you talk generally --
Mr. Carney: I don't know whether that report has.
I don't have anything on it for you.
You might direct that question to the Treasury Department.
Donovan.
The Press: I want to follow up on the NRA.
Is there a belief the NRA will still be a hurdle to
new gun legislation?
And if so, how does the President plan to go about
getting around that in Congress?
Mr. Carney: I don't want to and the President doesn't want to
prejudge the actions of organizations or groups
who are stakeholders in this discussion.
He hopes that in the aftermath of Newtown that we are in a
place that appropriate action, both legislatively and through
other means, can be taken and will be supported broadly.
You certainly have seen, when it comes to a number of the
measures that the proposed legislation represent, that
there is broad support publicly for those kinds of actions, and
broad support among gun owners, broad support among members of
the very organization that you mention.
So we'll have to see what happens as the
process moves forward.
The President will certainly push for passage of the
legislation that he supports.
But obviously Congress has to act when it comes to
legislation, and we all as a nation need to make sure our
voices are heard when it comes to our position on the kinds
of measures, sensible measures, we can take
to address this problem.
The Press: So should we expect an outreach to the American people,
a new hashtag, maybe?
Mr. Carney: I won't get ahead of the process here, but the President
is committed, as he has said, to taking action and he looks
forward to the recommendations from the Vice President.
Yes, Laura, and then Chris.
The Press: Just to follow up on Syria.
Each day all over the world there are a lot of reports about
Syrians killed -- between 40,000 to 60,000 Syrians are killed.
You don't feel you have a moral obligation to stop
what's happening in Syria?
Mr. Carney: Laura, as we've discussed repeatedly, we find Bashar
al-Assad's attacks on his own people, the mass killing of his
own people to be abhorrent.
The actions he has taken ensure his place in history as a tyrant
with an enormous amount of blood on his hands, Syrian blood.
And we have, with our international partners,
taken significant action to isolate Assad, to put pressure
on Assad, to help the opposition against Assad unify, to provide
humanitarian relief to the Syrian people, and we are
working every day with our international partners, and
unilaterally, to help bring about the day when Assad and
his tyranny are no longer.
And I take your point that the situation in Syria is terrible,
and responsibility for that situation belongs to the man
who claims that he represents the people he's killing.
Chris.
The Press: The website "ThinkProgress" is reporting that Pastor Louie
Giglio, who President Obama asked to deliver his inaugural
benediction, held vehemently anti-gay views in the 1990s.
In a recording attributed to him from that time, Giglio advocated
for a wildly discredited ex-gay therapy, references a biblical
passage often attributed to require gay people to be
executed, and impels Christians to firmly respond to the
aggressive agenda and prevent the homosexual lifestyle from
becoming adapted in society.
Does the White House have a problem with Obama's inaugural
pastor holding those views?
Mr. Carney: I haven't seen that report.
I would refer you to the Inaugural Committee.
I haven't seen the report.
The Press: So it's fair to say that the administration was not aware
of these --
Mr. Carney: I'm just saying that I haven't seen the report.
The Press: This is breaking days after the President nominated Chuck Hagel
and, as you acknowledged, he had made those 1998 anti-gay
comments against Jim Hormel.
Is there some kind of statute of limitations on when someone can
make anti-gay remarks and still be deemed acceptable
by the administration?
And if so --
Mr. Carney: I think I've addressed the question about Senator Hagel.
And I would simply point you to President Obama's record on LGBT
issues as representative of his beliefs and convictions,
his policies and where he believes this country
is moving and where he hopes to lead it.
The Press: Jay, can I clarify one question?
Mr. Carney: I'll try.
The Press: I heard you unequivocally rule out using the 14th Amendment on
the debt ceiling.
I heard you unequivocally rule out negotiating with Congress.
But you did not rule out this trillion-dollar coin idea.
So can I ask you just a yes or no question -- does the White
House rule out the idea of minting trillion-dollar
coins as a way of dealing with the debt ceiling?
Mr. Carney: I would refer you to Treasury for the specifics
of this question.
I can tell you that the President does not believe
that there is a backup plan or a plan B or an off ramp.
The only viable option here is Congress to fulfill its --
is that Congress fulfills its responsibility and ensures that
the United States of America pay its bills, as it has always paid
its bills throughout its history.
The Press: But why will you rule out the 14th Amendment and not rule out
the trillion-dollar coin idea?
Mr. Carney: Again, I can tell you that there are no backup plans,
there are no plan Bs.
I refer you to the Treasury for --
The Press: But, Jay, that's the thing -- you are leaving this -- it may
be the tiniest of openings, but why would you do that --
Mr. Carney: I'm just saying I don't have analysis here of every idea
that's thrown out.
I can tell you that the President --
The Press: Is somebody back there trying to figure this out?
Mr. Carney: Again -- not that I know of.
But since Treasury, I believe, oversees printing and minting,
you might ask Treasury.
The President's belief is that Congress needs to do its job.
Congress needs to pay the bills that Congress racked up.
And we can continue to negotiate and debate over the important
economic budgetary and fiscal challenges that we face within
the context of our budgets and our sequester and all the issues
that confront us.
But it is not acceptable to this President, and therefore he will
not negotiate over the prospect of default.
Congress needs to do its job.
The Press: That's a long answer to a yes or no question.
Mr. Carney: Again, I think I answered it thoroughly, at length,
with great detail.
I have no coins in my pocket.
(laughter)