85 Republican Freshmen Resist Lifting Debt Ceiling

Intense lobbying has failed to sway 85 freshman Republican lawmakers to support raising the $14 trillion United States debt ceiling. "It simply is not an option," the New York Post quotes Rep. Mike Grimm, R-N.Y., as saying.

Raising the ceiling would be just as devastating as defaulting on national credit, Grimm says. "I have to hold my ground because otherwise, I really believe . . . our economy will be destroyed. Everyone — every economist in the world — everyone recognizes that our debt is unsustainable."

And Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle, R-N.Y., told the Post: "Every time we raise that debt ceiling, we're spending money we don't have. The American people get it. Now the Senate and the president have to get it."

Supporters of raising the ceiling warn that failing to do so will further damage the nation’s credit rating and increase the interest rate on current debt. Freshman lawmakers aren’t buying it, and will only relent on raising the ceiling if their counterparts agree to further budget cuts and reforms.