The Republican-controlled House has rejected a measure to raise the debt ceiling. Republicans staged the vote as a symbolic gesture in their push for deep spending cuts in return for increasing the debt limit. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said President Obama continues to seek an agreement with Republicans.

Jay Carney: “We remain confident that there will be an agreement that will significantly reduce the deficit and answer the mail, if you will, with regard to those concerns that the President and members of both parties share. We also believe quite strongly that we have to raise the debt ceiling, there is no option to doing that, and that that will happen, because the economic impacts of not voting to raise the debt ceiling would be calamitous.”