White House: Reid plan ‘not an ideal option’ but better than Boehner’s

Frustration flowed at the White House on Tuesday as administration officials continued to push Congress for a compromise even as the clock ticks down to Aug. 2, when the U.S. will exceed its borrowing authority.

White House press secretary Jay Carney was repeatedly forced to defend President Obama’s refusal to produce a plan on paper that would cut the deficit, and he flatly insisted that Speaker John Boehner’s plan will never reach the president’s desk.

{mosads}“The Boehner bill can’t pass the Senate,” Carney said.     

Carney cleared up any confusion about Obama’s decision not to threaten a veto during his primetime address, saying “the position hasn’t changed.”

“It is, however, moot,” Carney said, insisting that the bill will never pass the Senate.

Carney blasted the House Republican proposal, calling it a “backdoor way to get cut, cap and balance [and] the Ryan plan.”

Absent support for Boehner’s bill, Carney pressed again Tuesday for an unspecified compromise. He hinted that the bill produced by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is the closest thing to a compromise available, short of the grand bargain.

Obama was decidedly tepid in his embrace of the Reid plan during Monday night’s address.

Carney clarified Tuesday that the Reid proposal is “not an ideal option, but a better option” than what has been put forward by Republicans.