In an interview segment to be shown tonight, President Barack Obama has told Scott Pelley of CBS Evening News:
"I cannot guarantee that those checks go out on August 3rd if we haven't resolved this issue, because there may simply not be the money in the coffers to do it ..
These are veterans checks, these are folks on disability and their checks ... There are about 70 million checks that go out."
Whether that extra pressure on the GOP will be needed to get a vote on raising the government's debt ceiling by the Aug. 2 deadline is anybody's guess.
It depends on who can make the Republicans sweat most, Grover Norquist or retirees, veterans and the business community. On that last score, there's this letter expressing concern about the coming deadline from 500 senior executives who are themselves sweating:
“The business community in large numbers is saying to our leaders in Washington, ‘Do your job,’ ” said Business Roundtable President John Engler. “Failure to raise the debt ceiling would strike an immediate and serious blow to any economic recovery, and failure to make significant progress on long-term debt reduction will continue the uncertainty which is hampering our investment climate.”
The letter notably made no mention of taxes, suggesting the groups declined to throw in any anti-tax language to side with Republicans who have repeatedly rejected any deal that includes revenue raises.
Whether the threat of no checks and/or the business community letter was the spur, as Hunter reported, the Republican leadership in the Senate has blinked. RedState chief Erick Erickson furiously calls this an "historic capitulation." Not quite like the historical capitulation he and the rest of the right wing and its enablers were hoping to achieve on Medicare and Social Security. But you can be sure that is a fight they will never give up on.