An Oregon senator says some right-wing conservatives are misrepresenting the pending debt ceiling vote.
With the U.S. Treasury Secretary’s office warning Congress that the nation will reach its debt limit this Thursday, Democrat Ron Wyden says it’s time for bipartisan negotiations, free of rhetoric.
“There’s been a real effort to distort this whole debate,” Wyden told KLCC while visiting Eugene this weekend. “There’s been some on the far right who keep saying, “We’ve got to stop new spending, stop new spending!” That’s not what the debt ceiling vote is all about, it’s about paying bills that have already been incurred.
“Kinda like somebody would come to Lane County and go out to dinner and have a great salmon and a bottle of wine, and fabulous dessert, and then they walk out without paying the bill.”
Congress can pass legislation to either raise the country’s $31.4 trillion borrowing authority, or suspend it for awhile.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says she can use “extraordinary measures” to avoid default, but urges action soon.
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