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Tea Party Issues Misguided Debt Ceiling Statement

Tea Party Issues Misguided 'Baloney' Claim
Lisa_Miller
By 

Associate Editor, HuffPost Travel

FILE - In this July 19, 2011 file photo, President Barack Obama discusses the continuing budget talks in the briefing room of the White House in Washington. Back in the summer of 2011, as a debt crisis loomed much like one does again today, Obama issued a clear threat to Republicans: Without an agreement to raise the nations borrowing limit, older Americans might not get their Social Security checks. He wasnt the first to issue such a warning in the face of a debt fight between an administration and Congress. The federal government could run out of cash to pay all its bills in full as early as Feb. 15, according to one authoritative estimate, and congressional Republicans want significant spending cuts in exchange for raising the debt ceiling. Obama, forced to negotiate an increase in 2011, has vowed not to negotiate again. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)
FILE - In this July 19, 2011 file photo, President Barack Obama discusses the continuing budget talks in the briefing room of the White House in Washington. Back in the summer of 2011, as a debt crisis loomed much like one does again today, Obama issued a clear threat to Republicans: Without an agreement to raise the nations borrowing limit, older Americans might not get their Social Security checks. He wasnt the first to issue such a warning in the face of a debt fight between an administration and Congress. The federal government could run out of cash to pay all its bills in full as early as Feb. 15, according to one authoritative estimate, and congressional Republicans want significant spending cuts in exchange for raising the debt ceiling. Obama, forced to negotiate an increase in 2011, has vowed not to negotiate again. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

“It is pure baloney to say we have to pay the bills for things Congress has already approved. We are drawing the line on future spending, not the debt or obligations to Social Security, Medicare and the military, which can all be met without an immediate rise in the debt ceiling.”— Amy Kremer, chairman of the Tea Party Express, in a statement, Jan. 14

Kremer issued that statement after President Obama, in a news conference on Monday, argued that if Congress did not raise the debt limit, the United States would not be able to pay for services rendered in the past: “If congressional Republicans refuse to pay America’s bills on time, Social Security checks and veterans’ benefits will be delayed,” Obama said. “We might not be able to pay our troops, or honor our contracts with small business owners.”

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