Geithner: House GOP ‘praying for default’ on debt

The Treasury Department on Sunday accused House Republicans of “praying for default,” because they seem unwilling to raise the debt ceiling.

“Some of them are praying for default,” Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told “Fox News Sunday.”

But House and Senate Republicans blamed Democrats for the deficit. House Speaker John A. Boehner, speaking on “Fox News Sunday,” warned the “spending binge has to stop.”

“Everybody’s talking about the symptoms of our problem, rather than the disease,” Sen. Tom Coburn, Oklahoma Republican, added on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “The problem is we’re spending way too much money.”

Neither Republicans or Democrats have been willing to budge on negotiations. If an agreement is not reached by the Aug. 2 deadline, America will begin defaulting on some of its payments and that will lead to a downgrade in the country’s illustrious AAA credit rating.

White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the president is unwilling to settle for a “short-term gimmick” and would veto any plan that doesn’t get the country through 2013. He accused Republicans of “kicking the can,” when instead they should be addressing the threat of default.

“Are they going to be a caucus that just says, ‘No, it’s going to be our way or the highway?’ ” he asked.

But House Republicans say they, and not Senate Democrats, are the only ones to have offered a plan to solve the problem.

“At some point, they’ve got to lay their cards on the table,” Mr. Boehner said.

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