WASHINGTON--President Barack Obama may have declared that he is unwilling to negotiate with Republicans on the need to raise the country's debt ceiling, but congressional Democrats stand ready to talk when it comes to two other imminent fiscal deadlines.
The number two-ranking House Democrat said Tuesday that he expects negotiations to continue on how to avert scheduled spending cuts to the federal budget that are set to begin on March 1, and how to reach an agreement to fund the federal government to avoid a partial shutdown of many departments and agencies at the end of that month.
Rep. Steny Hoyer (D., Md.), the minority whip, said that while some Republicans viewed the need to raise the statutory borrowing limit as an occasion to try and force Democrats to agree to spending cuts, he said that the U.S. defaulting on its debt "is not a viable option."
"Certainly we're prepared to, the president is prepared to, continue to discuss alternatives to either shutting the government or having the sequester go into effect," Mr. Hoyer told reporters, referring to the expiration of the government funding mechanism and the automatic spending cuts set to go into place from the beginning of March.
The spending cuts had been set to be implemented from January, but were postponed for two months as part of the agreement reached to avert the so-called fiscal cliff. Initially, $110 billion in cuts to defense and other spending was set to be implemented in 2013 as a down payment of $1.2 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade. The two-month delay reduced the 2013 total by around $24 billion.
Mr. Hoyer was also critical of recent comments reportedly made by Rep. Cathy McMorris Rogers (R., Wash.), a member of the House Republican leadership team, that one option Republicans are considering is to force a partial shutdown of nonessential federal government services.
"That is not a serious way to legislate, that is not a serious way to treat the operations of government or the credit worthiness of government," said Mr. Hoyer. "It is neither serious nor responsible in my view."
A spokesman for Ms. McMorris Rogers wasn't immediately available to comment.
Mr. Hoyer didn't provide any clear path as to how he thought the debt ceiling would be increased, other than to say it needed to be accomplished before late February or early March when the Treasury has said the current borrowing authority will be reached.