"I fully support Paul Ryan's budget - including his efforts on Medicare," Boehner said. "But I think all of us understand that not meeting our obligations - our debt obligations - is a very bad idea. And nobody wants to take that risk."

 

"It is time for us to get serious about the big challenges that face our country," he added.

 

When asked if Mr. Obama was open to anything other than a clean vote on raising the debt ceiling, Boehner said "yes."

In a statement on Wednesday, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) decried the Republicans' preemptive condemnation of Mr. Obama's plan.

"It's sad commentary on how dysfunctional Washington is that before the President says a word, Republican leaders race to the microphones to announce they won't even consider asking the wealthiest Americans and the richest corporations to share a penny more in the responsibility to tackle the debt and deficit that threaten our economy," he said.

"This is the same crew that doesn't blink an eye about making radical changes to Medicare and Medicaid that everyone acknowledges would cause pain to seniors, but they won't even let the president introduce his plan before they say new revenue is off limits," Kerry added. "Seniors have to do more with less but the people with the most get more? What happened to the notion that everything had to be on the table, let alone the American conviction that everyone shares responsibility for our country's future?"