WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Joe Manchin says he believes Congress will come together before the October 17th debt ceiling deadline.
“I’ll go on record. There’s not going to be a default,” said Manchin. “I believe the adults will start acting like adults and start speaking to each other about adult situations. I really believe that.”
Manchin may be one of the few in Washington taking a positive outlook on the looming deadline these days. But he said it won’t happen unless cooler heads prevail. That means Congress must start working together.
“It’s unacceptable to even think you can have a default,” stressed Manchin.
The senator said he’s not in agreement with everything President Obama is backing, especially not new EPA regulations overseeing the coal industry. However, he said, he’s put that aside for the time being because it’s important to solve the debt crisis and get the government back up and running again.
“I think we should be back to work. We should be voting today to have a clean CR (continuing resolution). I would ask the House, ‘Please vote! Please vote on the CR!’ Then we’ll sit down and negotiate,” said Manchin.
He compared the situation to a dysfunctional family trying to pay their bills.
“Here’s our annual budget. We have this much savings. Your Mom and I have good jobs. This is how much we can do. This is what we’re going to do. That’s the budget,” explained Manchin. “OK, we can’t get a budget because we can’t get an agreement. The husband and wife won’t sit down.”
Manchin said the solution to the problem is getting enough Republicans to look into the future to see what damage would be done if Congress doesn’t raise the debt ceiling.
“We’ve just got to get out of this craziness. This is absolutely insane,” according to Manchin.
He said getting government back to work and settling, even for a few months, on a spending plan, is the only way forward for America.