Camp David summit ruled out as parties seek to revive debt talks
House Speaker John Boehner has rejected as unnecessary the possibility of sequestering congressional leaders at Camp David this weekend to resolve the impasse on raising the debt ceiling.
“The speaker has told the White House he sees no need to go to Camp David this weekend,” said Boehner spokesman Michael Steel.
The idea that had been floated in Washington amid increasingly toxic negotiations was also dismissed by the top Democrat in the House, Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, who said she does not find it appropriate for the debt talks to overtake the president’s private space.
“The only thing I hope he doesn’t ask us to do is go to Camp David — that goes beyond the pale,” Pelosi said. “I want that to be his preserve, a place where a president can go to renew, to study, to prepare for the next week. I want it to be a place where a president takes heads of state to close out all other concerns and stay focus on resolving a global problem. I don’t want it to be a place where the president has to continue to listen to some of this stuff.”
A White House aide said that “the talks have been and for next couple days will be here at the White House.”