Billy Long Playing Chicken With the U.S. Economy

Representative Billy Long is playing a dangerous game with talk of not raising the debt ceiling. He told the Springfield News-Leader that there is no way he will vote to raise the debt limit:  

"We are not going to raise the debt limit and they need to know that now instead of August 2nd," Long said, accusing Geithner of picking that date "out of the clouds.”

As a lawmaker, Long certainly has the right to take a stance against a proposal that he views as wrong or unnecessary. However, it is clear that not raising the debt limit would have a serious negative impact on our economy – according to credit rating agencies like Moody’s and S&P:

Two major ratings agencies -- Moody’s and Standard & Poors -- publicly announced that they were reassessing whether U.S. Treasury Bonds merited the top possible credit rating. These ratings, issued by agencies that are independent of the government, provide guidance to investors about how secure bond investments are.

Political gamesmanship is standard practice in Washington, but here’s hoping that cooler heads prevail in this situation. This is an issue that needs to be resolved, and the American people will remember who refuses to come to the negotiating table.