White House dismisses Boehner’s firm line on taxes

White House press secretary Jay Carney on Friday dismissed a statement from Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) that warned House Republicans will not pass a tax increase as part of a deal to raise the debt ceiling.

“There are a lot of statements that are put out,” Carney said.

“The American people want us to take a balanced approach,” he added.

Carney said Obama continues to believe a deal will be reached to raise the debt limit despite the breakdown this week of the bipartisan talks led by Vice President Biden. 

{mosads}The chief sticking point between the White House and House Republicans continues to be raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans. Boehner put out a statement Friday that said any debt-ceiling deal with tax increases “cannot pass the House.”

Carney said Obama has not spoken with Boehner since the Speaker visited the White House Wednesday night. He said Biden has been in contact with both Democratic and Republican lawmakers over the last 24 hours.

“We believe that we can move forward as long as no one in the talks takes a my-way-or-the-highway approach,” Carney said.

Obama will hold separate meetings at the White House Monday with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in an attempt to break the gridlock.

Despite the appearance of an impasse, Carney said the White House remains “confident that we can continue the progress that we’ve made and that there’s reason to believe that we’ll be able to find common ground to achieve significant deficit reduction.”

“Because the American people insist that we get it done,” Carney said.