Local Reps, Residents Weigh In On Debt Crisis

The House has passed Speaker of the House John Boehner’s bill to solve the nation’s det crisis and raise the debt ceiling, but with little support in the Senate politicians in Washington are still scrambling Friday night as the Aug. 2 deadline to prevent the country from default is fast approaching.

We spoke with Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo, who said there are a lot of pieces to the puzzle on which Democrats and Republicans do agree. He believes if the Senate doesn’t vote to pass the House bill Friday night, a solution will be passed before the country defaults.

But even if an agreement is reached, many Idahoans are not very happy with their elected leaders.

“It’s our responsibility to pay those debts; let’s just buck up and do it,” said Idaho Falls resident Kathie Rice.

“I think it can be done if they just get in there and get it done and think of the American people instead of politics and being elected again,” Richard Phillips said.

Crapo said he is listening.

“I believe what Americans really want is to see fiscal restraint and reform in Washington,? Crapo said.

But at this point, whatever is passed is only a temporary fix.

“I believe a short-term extension, although not ideal, will be much better than an extension without very powerful and meaningful reforms,? Crapo said.

But some local people don’t want to see the debate continue.

“If you can’t get it put together, and we just set it off for another six months, all that is going to do is temporarily change things and we will go through this whole thing again,” Phillips said.

But regardless of how the debt ceiling battle is resolved, the nation still owes a lot of money.

“We still have a $14.5 trillion debt and we must change American fiscal policy in major ways in order to resolve that,” Crapo said.