'He won’t negotiate with any factions who are using the threat of default.' | Rod Lamkey Jr. for POLITICO / Politico Playbook Live Sperling: W.H. keeping options open

The Obama administration would be open to a bill that boosts the debt ceiling for a few weeks, a top White House official said on Monday, a move that could buy time for congressional Republicans and the White House to find a way to end the current series of fiscal fights.

National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling said that how much to raise the debt ceiling is up to Congress and that the administration would prefer a longer term solution.


“It is the responsibility of Congress to decide how long and how often they want to vote on doing that, the important thing is that they not threaten default and that they not put our country on the brink of that,” he said at POLITICO’s Playbook Breakfast in Washington. He added: “Longer is better for economic certainty and jobs, but it is ultimately up to them.”

( PHOTOS: Playbook Breakfast with Sperling, Furman)

The Treasury Department says the debt ceiling will need to be raised by Oct. 17 in order to avoid the risk that the government will default on its obligations.

Sperling’s remarks, however, signaled there may be a way to buy some time beyond that date while Republicans and the White House wrangle over re-opening the government and avoiding a government default.

Later in the day, White House press secretary Jay Carney echoed Sperling’s comments telling reporters that “our position has never been to say that the debt ceiling ought to be raised for a certain amount of time.”

Sperling emphasized that the White House will not accept a debt limit bill that includes Republican priorities such as delaying or changing the president’s signature health care law.

“The president has made clear that the era of threatening default has to be over,” Sperling said. “If we can get by the threatening of default… of course, the president has shown time and time again he is willing to negotiate.”

( Also on POLITICO: Coburn: No default if ceiling stays)

Republicans have chided the president for saying he will not negotiate over the debt ceiling, arguing that in the past it has served as the forum for hammering out budget deals.

“It’s stunning that President Obama would rather default on our debt than sit down with the other party to negotiate,” Brendan Buck, a spokesman for Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), said in a statement. “This reckless, arrogant approach threatens our economy and ignores decades of precedent under divided government.”

The debt ceiling fight is now being coupled with the debate over how to re-open the government, which partially shutdown on Oct. 1.

House Republicans have insisted on changes or delays to the president’s landmark health care law in exchange for funding the government. Democrats have balked, noting that there is no dispute over funding levels so Republicans are in no position to make additional demands for what has to be included in a spending bill.

Over the weekend, Boehner said a “clean” funding bill would not pass the House, an argument that President Barack Obama took aim at on Monday.

If Boehner and his colleagues are saying there aren’t enough votes, “then they should prove it,” Obama said while visiting the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s headquarters in Washington.

“The reason that Speaker Boehner hasn’t called a vote on it is that he doesn’t apparently want to see the government shutdown end at the moment unless he’s able to extract concessions,” Obama said.

At the POLITICO Playbook Breakfast, Council of Economic Advisors Chairman Jason Furman downplayed the idea that the administration can do anything to mitigate the impact of not raising the debt limit.

“You’ll have days, not weeks, until you deplete that money and you default,” Furman said of the Oct. 17 deadline. “It’s irresponsible to get to the 17th – but no, you don’t fall off a cliff instantly.”

Both Sperling and Furman said that only Congress can increase the debt limit and that Obama does not have theauthority to increase it himself.

While financial markets are worried about the threat of a default, some on Wall Street said they believe the Treasury Department will find a way to pay bondholders first — instead of taxpayers or government contractors — to avoid a technical default.

Sperling reiterated the administration’s position that this idea of prioritization is a bad and unrealistic option.

“Prioritization is not about avoiding default but managing default,” he said. “Prioritization is default by another name.”

“The fear is that once the United States fails to pay its bills, not only can it have a negative effect on the economy… but most people believe that for years and years to come we will all pay higher interest rates,” he said.

Sperling is a veteran of Washington budget battles having also served in President Bill Clinton’s administration. Relationships between the Clinton White House and congressional Republicans were often tense — particularly with then Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) — but Sperling said Monday that in some ways that situation was better than the current fiscal standoffs in Washington.

“It’s hard for us to be nostalgic about the Gingrich era. Obviously we had a shutdown, impeachment,” Sperling said. “But I do feel that in the ‘90s, there was an ability when one side clearly was in the wrong place to figure out a way to have a correction.”

Jennifer Epstein contributed to this story