WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama pledged Friday that he would not sign another temporary spending measure after the one passed this week, a move to try to raise the pressure on Congress to reach a long-term agreement to finance the government.
Speaking to reporters at the White House after an unexpectedly tepid September jobs report, Obama warned that the economy could be endangered by the continual game of budget chicken in which both sides come crashing up toward a deadline before punting decisions down the road by several weeks.
The short-term spending bill that was passed this week to pay for government operations until Dec. 11, he said, was a "gimmick" that only "sets up another potential manufactured crisis just two weeks before Christmas." He added: "This is not the way the U.S. should be operating."
On Thursday, the Treasury secretary, Jacob J. Lew, told Congress that on Nov. 5, the federal government would exhaust its authority to borrow on international markets to fund its operations. That established the first crisis point for what could be a rough fall and winter in Washington.
To prevent such crises, Obama said he would veto any further budget measures that postponed a full-fledged spending plan.
"I will not sign another shortsighted spending bill like the one Congress sent me this week," Obama said. "We purchased ourselves another 10 weeks. We need to use them."