otiations, and we came fairly close, and whenever i see john boehner to this day i still say, should have taken the deal i offered you back then. which would have dealt with our long-term deficit problems, would not have impeded growth as much, would have really boosted confidence. but at that time i think house republicans had just taken over, they were feeling their oats and thinking, we don't have to compromise. and we came pretty close to default. and we saw the impact of that. i would have thought that they would have learned the lesson from that, as i did, which is we can't put the american people and our economy through that ringer again. -- through that wringer again. that's the reason why i have been clear, we're not going to negotiate around the debt ceiling. that has to be dealt with in a reasonable fashion. by the way, i often hear people