Pawlenty Firm on Not Raising Debt Ceiling

Presidential candidate and former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty reiterated his position Sunday Congress should not raise the debt ceiling, and if it decides to do so, it should only be in exchange for concessions like a balanced budget amendment or permanent spending caps, Politico reports.

Pawlenty also said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” suggestions that total financial disaster would result if the debt ceiling is not raised are exaggerations.

“Well, there are some serious voices challenging that very premise,” Pawlenty said. “And the answer is nobody really knows because we’ve not been at this point before.

“President Obama was setting up this false choice between default and raise the debt ceiling,” he said. “And at least for a while, you can take away that false choice by ordering the Treasury to pay the obligations to outside creditors first.”