WASHINGTON — The Senate’s top Republican leader told President Barack Obama that that the debt problem belonged squarely in Obama’s lap.
The Kentucky Republican took the rare step of directly addressing the president from the Senate floor.
He said, “Republicans will not be reduced to being the tax collectors for the Obama economy. Don’t expect any more cover from Republicans on it than you got on health care. None.”
Earlier in the day, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Social Security payments would stop if there is no deal to raise the government’s borrowing limit by Aug. 2.
Speaking on the Senate floor, the Nevada Democrat said flatly that payments for veterans benefits and the military, as well as Social Security, would cease if the government defaults on its obligations. His statement goes beyond Obama, who said earlier this week that he could not guarantee Social Security checks will be issued on Aug. 3.
Later, a Reid spokesman said the senator meant to say the payments “could” stop, which would be consistent with the president’s comments.
The talks are growing more tense in the shadow of an Aug. 2 deadline, when the White House says the government would begin defaulting on some of its debt.
Read tomorrow's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.
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