NC Congressmen responding as U.S. has officially reached its debt ceiling

GREENVILLE, N.C. (WITN) - At $34.2 trillion the United States officially reached its debt ceiling Thursday and that could affect the finances of many.

North Carolina Republican Congressman Greg Murphy says, “We have to get back on the track of being fiscally responsible with this country.”

The U.S. reaching its debt ceiling could affect the lives of many when it comes to finances. “That means that the majority of your tax dollars go not to programs or not for things to help everybody but go to pay debt,” Murphy says.

The Treasury Department is resorting to extraordinary measures in order to pay bills, and that special financial tool could be extended until early June.

Congress has altered the debt ceiling in the past, but Murphy says at some point it’s time to pay. “That’s going to be a big thing in conversations over the next couple months. That’s going to be where I am, where I live because of taxes. We want to be able to furnish healthcare, Social Security, and all these things that people are paying into, but at some point, we have to pay our debts.”

On the other side of the aisle, Democratic Congressman Jeff Jackson agrees that action needs to be taken immediately. “That is something that cannot be allowed to happen,” and that the impacts of a default could be detrimental to the economy.

“The Federal Reserve, the Treasury Department, they all project that it would result in an immediate recession with immediate jobs lost and the national debt would go up because we would have to spend more money to counteract the effects of the recession.”

Though Congress has the ability to raise the ceiling, some right-wing Republicans are not in favor of that happening.

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