White House Press Secretary Jay Carney could not provide a direct answer when asked if President Obama was "negotiating" with Congress on the debt ceiling Tuesday in the White House press conference.
Carney conceded the president is having "conversations" with members of Congress, but stopped short of saying whether or not negotiations are occurring.
When pressed on the matter, Carney offered the Clinton-esque dodge "it depends on what you mean by negotiate":
Q: I wanted to follow on Brianna's question, just to clarify. Is the president negotiating on whether or not to open -- reopen the government and raise the debt limit?
MR. CARNEY: Our position has been no ransom for reopening the government, no ransom for Congress fulfilling its responsibility to pay the U.S. bills.
Q: (Off mic) -- is he not negotiate -- I mean, it seems it's a yes-or-no question.
MR. CARNEY: The president has had -- I mean, well, it depends on what you mean by negotiate. He's been having conversations with lawmakers. What he will not do, what he has firmly made clear again and again is, you know -- you know, give the tea party its, you know, ideological agenda wish list in exchange for Congress opening the government or Congress raising the debt ceiling so that the United States doesn't default. That's been his position all along. It's I think helpfully clear in its simplicity: Open the government, pay our bills, stop threatening default, stop doing harm to our economy, stop doing harm to the American people. And, you know, that's been our position all along.
And, you know, my goal coming out here wasn't to reiterate those points that we've been saying for so long; it was to make clear that we see progress in the Senate, we see in the Senate process the kind of bipartisan effort that is the path to resolving these kinds of issues when it comes to the simple responsibilities that Congress maintains: opening the government, funding it, making sure Congress pays its bills. And we hope that all of Congress takes the appropriate action to ensure that they do not continue to inflict harm on the American economy.