Video: President Obama says John Boehner 'only' obstacle to ending government shutdown Questioned on the persistent budget stalemate, President Obama said there were enough members of the House of Representatives willing to vote to reopen the government and to avoid the first ever default on US debt. We know that there are enough members of the House of Representatives who are prepared to vote to reopen the government today. The only thing that is keeping that from happening is Speaker Boehner has made a decision that he's gonna hold out to see if he can get additional concessions from us," Mr Obama said, insisting Democrats won't give in to those tactics. Despite the impasse, Mr Obama voiced confidence that America will avoid falling off the fiscal cliff in mid-October, saying he doesn't believe Mr Boehner would allow that to happen.