WASHINGTON, D.C. – We are now one week away before the Treasury Department’s June First deadline for the debt ceiling. If congress and the president cannot reach an agreement before then, we could go through a recession and millions of jobs could be lost.
The debt ceiling, which is the amount of money the government can borrow to pay its bills like Medicare, social security, military salaries and other obligations, is the talk of the town in Washington.
“The republican party has put forth a plan that says we will raise the debt ceiling but we will have to cut spending we’ve got to take a look at this,” said Rep. Mike Kelly (R- PA).
Pennsylvania Congressman Kelly said republicans passed a bill addressing the debt ceiling last month and accuses the president of dragging this task up to the last minute. Kelly is urging him to reduce the amount we’re spending.
“We offered an additional cut to the spending over one trillion dollars on top of the trillion as we mentioned in our budget the president’s budget on March 9,” said White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
The Treasury Department said the government has until June First before the US defaults which would be an economic catastrophe. Representative Kelly is questioning that June First deadline.
“I think the deadline can be whatever Ms. Yellen wants it to be,” said Rep. Kelly. “I don’t know if June First is the drop dead deadline but I do know this: we put out a spending plan to him [the President].”
A growing number of republicans are starting to doubt that June First is the actual deadline Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is stating. Kelly said if it’s really that date:
“Work longer, work smarter,” said Rep. Kelly. “Don’t just keep putting it off and just say oh it’s the other side’s fault. We put a spending plan in front of the president of the United States right now and he says there’s nothing in there that I can address and has just wandered all over the world doing other things. If it was really a priority, why wasn’t it his priority? He’s the CEO of the country.”
