President Barack Obama called on the American public to pressure elected officials to work out a compromise to raise the federal debt ceiling and avoid a potentially devastating default.
A deal would allow the government to continue borrowing money to pay its debts after August 2.
The challenge came during the president’s seventh prime-time televised address Monday night.
The president singled out House Republicans for intransigence and said the political showdown is “no way to run the greatest country on Earth.”
Shortly after the president’s address, problems were reported on the web pages of at least two high-profile Republicans — House Speaker John Boehner and Rep. Michele Bachmann.
An error message on Boehner’s site said “The web page cannot be found,” and Bachmann’s website said the “Server is too busy.”
“There were temporary issues with sites hosted by outside vendors — many have been resolved,” a spokeswoman for House Administration Committee said.
Both websites were operating normally by early Tuesday.
The president’s political speech was intended to convince an increasingly frustrated and concerned public that Obama’s approach to dealing with mounting deficits is better for working class Americans and the nation as a whole.
In a televised response, Boehner argued the opposite, saying in televised remarks that excessive government spending caused the problems the nation faces and cutting that spending is the only way to solve the problem.
“The sad truth is that the president wanted a blank check six months ago, and he wants a blank check today,” Boehner said. “That is just not going to happen.”
“The American people may have voted for divided government, but they didn’t vote for a dysfunctional government,” Obama said. “So I’m asking you all to make your voice heard. If you want a balanced approach to reducing the deficit, let your member of Congress know. If you believe we can solve this problem through compromise, send that message.”
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article courtesy of CNN.com
