President Barack Obama will deliver an address to Congress outlining his new jobs agenda on Sept. 8 instead of the original date the White House requested on Wednesday.
White House Adviser Dan Pfeiffer announced Wednesday morning that the president requested to speak to a joint session of Congress on Sept. 7, which would have conflicted with a Republican presidential debate planned at the same time. House Speaker John Boehner rejected the request and suggested the president deliver his speech a day later. A Boehner spokesman said Boehner's office had never been consulted about the president's plans.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney announced the change, but challenged Boehner's claim that Republicans did not know about the original date.
"Both Houses will be back in session after their August recess on Wednesday, September 7th, so that was the date that was requested. We consulted with the Speaker about that date before the letter was released, but he determined Thursday would work better," Carney said in a statement. "The President is focused on the urgent need to create jobs and grow our economy, so he welcomes the opportunity to address a Joint Session of Congress on Thursday, September 8th and challenge our nation's leaders to start focusing 100 percent of their attention on doing whatever they can to help the American people."