White House Press Secretary Jay Carney declined to weigh in on the Dow hitting an all-time high on Tuesday, a development clashing with President Obama’s assertion that across-the-board spending cuts would imperil the economy.

“I don’t comment on markets,” Carney insisted on Tuesday.

Just two months ago, however, Carney cited the stock market as proof that Republicans were harming the economy.

“I would remind you of the damage caused to our economy by the approach that House Republicans took on this matter just in the summer of 2011,” Carney said in January when asked about fiscal negotiations between Obama and House Speaker John Boehner. “As a result of their flirtation with default, the stock market plummeted. The Dow fell 7 percent, or almost 900 points, in late July and early August of 2011. The United States was downgraded and the Dow fell another 10 percent, or 1100 points after the S&P downgraded the United States. Consumer confidence plummeted to its lowest point since the financial crisis in 2008.”

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Carney was defensive Tuesday when asked if the White House could back up its claims about longer lines at airports in the wake of $85 billion in cuts starting on Friday.

“Then I think you should go with the story that the sequestration is having no effect,” Carney said sarcastically.