This afternoon the President spoke with Leader Pelosi over the phone. The President and Leader Pelosi discussed the way forward on the pressing fiscal matters facing Congress today. They reinforced that there must be a clean debt limit increase that allows us to pay the bills we have incurred and avoid default, and that the House needs to pass the clean continuing resolution to open up the government and end the shutdown that is hurting middle class families and businesses across the country. The President and the Leader also discussed their willingness, once the debt limit is raised and the government reopened, to negotiate on a longer term budget solution that will grow our economy and create jobs. The President also thanked Leader Pelosi for her efforts to move forward with a clean CR and a one-year clean debt limit increase that would prevent a first-ever default of our nation’s credit.