House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said he will not give President Obama the power to raise the debt ceiling, indicating further that he plans to use the debt ceiling to demand that Democrats agree to spending cuts.

“Congress is never going to give up our ability to control the purse,” Boehner said. “The fact is that the debt limit ought to be used to bring fiscal sanity to Washington D.C.”

Asked about Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., deciding to support Obama’s call to have unilateral power to raise the debt ceiling, Boehner replied, “Do you think that Senator Reid or then-Senator Obama would have ever given, to president George W. Bush, the unlimited ability to raise the debt limit?”