CHARLESTON, W.Va. — President Barack Obama is warning of “economic chaos” if the continued political stalemate on Capitol Hill starts affecting the ability of the U.S. to pay its bills beginning next week.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen on Oct. 17, but the perception is bad things are going to happen and, when Wall Street and businesses are worried about it, something could happen,” said West Virginia AFL-CIO President Kenny Perdue.
“Is it going to be the end of the world? I doubt it. But is it going to be catastrophic and is it going to go back to what happened in 2008? It could very well be.”
On Wednesday, President Obama continued to put pressure on U.S. House Republicans to pass bills to raise the debt ceiling and to fully reopen the federal government without GOP policy demands attached.
In an opinion piece published late Tuesday in the “Wall Street Journal,” U.S. House Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said, to end the stalemate, Democrats and Republicans should focus on “modest reforms to entitlement programs and the tax code.”
Perdue said he sees only one path out of the mess. “I think we need to sit down and talk and I think we need to, as they say, put their guns at the door, your sabers and knives at the door, let’s sit down and talk and get through this.”
He was a guest on Wednesday’s MetroNews “Talkline” which was Day 9 of the partial federal government shutdown.