Making a direct appeal to Main Street, President Obama said Tuesday that Social Security checks might not be mailed if the debt ceiling is not raised by the Aug. 2 deadline.
In an interview to air on CBS News Tuesday evening, Obama said, “I cannot guarantee that those checks go out on August 3rd if we haven’t resolved this issue.”
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney did not back away from that statement during Tuesday’s media briefing.
“If we don¹t raise the debt ceiling, we lose our authority to borrow money,” he said. “We have obligations that exceed the money we take in; that would entail a ‘Sophie’s Choice’ situation where you have to decide which bills you can pay.”
However, Carney said that such a situation would never materialize, adding that a deal would be reached “by hook or by crook.”
