Colorado congressional members weigh in as debt ceiling deadline looms
A deal on the nation's borrowing limit could be close, with just six days to go before the first default in U.S. history.
CBS News Colorado reports that the deal under discussion would cap overall federal spending levels for the next two years. Military and veterans funding would slightly increase, while domestic spending would dip slightly or remain flat.
U.S. Department of Treasury says it could run out of cash as early as next Thursday, right before $25 billion in Social Security checks are set to go out.
A deal is just step one. The House gets 72 hours to read a bill before any vote and then it needs to go to the Senate.
"As a country, we've got to suck it up and we've got to make sure we do the right thing and reduce our federal spending," said Congressman Ken Buck, who has never voted to raise the debt ceiling.
He says both Democrats' and Republicans' plans amount to bipartisan bankruptcy.
Buck says the country needs to stop the out-of-control spending before it's too late.
"If we pass an irresponsible bill in the next week, we will be putting off the default for a period of time - maybe five years, maybe 10 years - but the United States will default on its debt. We've got to address the spending issue at some point. Might as well do it now," Buck said.
Congressman Jason Crow agrees that Congress needs to rein in spending but he says it also needs to pay the bills.
"You don't get your house in order by burning down the house because then there's no house left. If you're going to destroy and blow up the economy and hundreds of thousands of people are going to lose their jobs, businesses are going to close, drastic cuts to veterans health care, that's no way to do this," Crow expressed.
While the brinksmanship highlights Congress' disfunction, first-year Congresswoman Brittany Pettersen is part of a bi-partisan group called the Problem Solvers Caucus that's come up with it's own debt ceiling proposal.
"The process that we have laid out is really just trying to give us the time and the space and the third-party evaluation recommendations to look at this thoughtfully and come back with a plan after the next election," Pettersen said.
Buck says the only way he'll vote to increase the debt ceiling is if spending is cut to pre-COVID levels.
He says Congress should also claw back billions of dollars in unspent COVID relief money and start scaling-back funding for state functions like education.
"The federal government can't keep throwing money at every problem that's out there," Buck said.
In a sign of how much pressure Congress is under, the credit agency Fitch has already put the U.S. credit rating on a downgrade watchlist.
