Politics & Government

Morning Commuters Speak Out on Debt Ceiling Compromise

East Falls Church Metro station commuters compare politicians to children, ego stricken people.

Margaret Toliver said watching politicians argue back and forth about the debt ceiling reminded her of her two children.

Toliver has two young children who on occasions, bicker amongst each other. She said her 6-year-old might want to watch one thing on television while her 4-year-old may want to see something totally different.

In the end, because of the back and forth, Toliver, of Falls Church, said she just turns the television off.

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“As I watched the two parties go back and forth, one not budging from their stance, all I could see was two kids fighting over the remote to watch television,” Toliver said outside the East Falls Church Metro station Monday morning. “We elected these people to lead us and put America first but at the end this all turned out to be about ego.”

According to a story on CNN, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives are expected to vote today on a deal that would raise the debt ceiling and cut the deficit. According to a statement from President Barack Obama on the White House website, the compromise was reached Sunday night. According to a story on Reuters, the U.S. stock index futures surged more than one percent Monday on relief over a deal in Washington to raise the debt ceiling, avoiding an unprecedented default. According to the president’s remarks on the White House’s website, the first part of this compromise will cut about $1 trillion in spending over the next 10 years. In the second stage, according to the CNN story, a special joint committee of Congress will recommend further deficit reduction steps totaling $1.5 trillion or more by the end of November, with Congress obligated to vote on the panel's proposals by the end of the year.

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Sunday night, President Obama spoke to the nation on television offering his thoughts of the compromise.

“Now, is this the deal I would have preferred?  No,” said President Obama in his remarks to the nation. “I believe that we could have made the tough choices required -- on entitlement reform and tax reform -- right now, rather than through a special congressional committee process.  But this compromise does make a serious down payment on the deficit reduction we need, and gives each party a strong incentive to get a balanced plan done before the end of the year.”

Joseph Winstrom said watching politicians from the Republican and Democratic parties go back and forth really bothered him. Winstrom, from Fairfax County, said the public disagreement might sway his political party affiliation going forward. He declined to say which party he currently supports.

“You never see these outright embarrassing ego trips from the Independent Party,” Winstrom said. “I can’t believe these educated, grown people would rather risk the financial state of our country than take an ego shot. I hope people are watching and remember when it’s time to vote.”


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