Republican Pa. Sen. Pat Toomey says there's a real possibility that Congress will fail to agree on how to raise the federal debt ceiling before the nation's borrowing powers expire next week.
Toomey says “it's increasingly possible we will not have raised the debt ceiling by Aug. 2.”
Sen. Toomey is pushing a bill to require the government to first pay interest on its debts, Social Security benefits and military payrolls if that happens. Toomey and other conservatives say there is no need for the nation to default on its debts if the deadline is missed.
Senate Democrats seem unlikely to pass his bill.
Democratic Pa. Sen. Bob Casey said in a statement today "it's way past time" for an agreement.
"At this point, a plan is needed that can beat the deadline and that will make significant spending cuts to put the country on a path to fiscal responsibility and avoid a credit rating downgrade that will further hurt the economy and increase costs to taxpayers, said Casey."
