Obama Job Package Won't Break Debt Ceiling

A package of job-creation and economic growth proposals that President Barack Obama will put before Congress will be paid for and will not breach the legal U.S. borrowing limit, the White House said Wednesday.

"We're not going to bust the debt ceiling," White House press secretary Jay Carney told a news briefing.

The president will deliver a major jobs speech to a joint session of Congress on Thursday.

Carney declined to confirm reports Obama would lay out a $300 billion package before lawmakers, who last month backed a $2.1 trillion increase in the U.S. debt ceiling in three steps, after agreeing to seek spending cuts of at least that amount.

Obama "will put forward, both in his speech and supporting material, a very detailed set of proposals to grow the economy and create jobs," Carney said. "They will be specific, they will be measurable, they will be paid for," he said.

Job creating proposals that lead to an increase in government spending could potentially lift U.S. borrowing toward the legal limit if they are large enough and not paid for fast enough by other measures to boost revenue or curb spending elsewhere.

(Reporting by Alister Bull, Matt Spetalnick and Laura MacInnis; editing by Mohammad Zargham and Eric Beech)