GOP ‘playing with fire’ as default looming

An American investigative journalist says congressional Republicans are “playing with fire” as they are trying to block a bill that would allow authorities to borrow more.

“The Tea Party Republicans are playing a game of Russian roulette with the entire US economy, with US government,” Wayne Madsen, investigative journalist, author, and syndicated columnist to Press TV on Monday.

“These people are really anarchists from the Right wing, extreme right wing. So, as long as they’re being listened to and they are holding hostage Speaker of the House John Boehner … we may see the US come close to a default on its credits,” he said.

Madsen said the two-week long government shutdown “has (even) resulted in China and other countries warning the US not to play with this kind of fire.”

Leaders at World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings on Sunday warned that the United States must raise its debt ceiling and reopen its government or risk “massive disruption the world over,” as Christine Lagarde, the IMF’s managing director, put it.

The federal government shutdown has forced the Obama administration to close down many operations since the start of October.

Madsen warned that a possible default would make the situation worse.

“President Obama may have to declare a national economic emergency,” he said. “These (Republicans) are people you can’t negotiate with.”

On September 30, the two houses in Congress failed to agree to keep funding the government in the new fiscal year, which began on October 1. The ongoing dispute between the two major parties in Capitol Hill is now pushing the country toward another financial crisis, with default looming as soon as Thursday if lawmakers fail to raise the current $16.7 trillion debt limit.