As Boehner Speaks on a No Default Path, the Split Continues

Boehner said “This is not some damn game!” and that he is asking for fairness in a discussion about Obamacare. After allowing others to speak, Boehner said that he does not believe in defaulting on the debt, but he brought up a $700 billion deficit even with record revenues.

Eric Cantor then also jumped in, asking for no special treatment and talking about which agencies will be reopened. He is calling to reopen FEMA and the National Weather Service, as well as nutrition programs and Head Start. Cantor also pledged to ensure that all furloughed federal employees will receive their pay once this shutdown is over.

If this was meant to cool the public into thinking that an agreement to get things back to normal was imminent, that was not the tone offered up today.

24/7 Wall St. placed a call into Congressman Boehner’s office regarding this matter ahead of his media appearance on Friday morning, and unfortunately we were unable to get through “due to high call traffic.”

Stocks were higher before the brief press conference, and shares are up a bit less at 11:20: S&P 500 up 3.53 points at 1,682.19 and the DJIA is up almost 15 points at 15,011.