Dan Coats: “I come down here frustrated and hopeful. I want to see the glass half full even though we have been through a…”

“I come down here frustrated and hopeful. I want to see the glass half full even though we have been through a frustrating number of days and months dealing with our debt crisis, and here we are careening toward another crisis. Congress went through this earlier in the year. It seems as though the only way we ultimately get things done is to take it right up to the edge and then come through with an agreement. I don't think it is fair to the American people. It clearly isn't a formula for providing certainty in our economy for those who are running businesses and for households that are making tough decisions. If there is one word that characterizes where we have been this entire year, it is ``uncertainty''--uncertainty about what the future is going to look like. Are we going to default or not? Do we have enough money to pay the bills or not? What are the consequences of a potential default? When we had the continuing resolutions to provide funding for the rest of the year, we went from one extension to another extension to another. Everything is in limbo. How can you run an economy, how can a business man or woman make a decision if they don't know what is coming down the line in terms of taxes, in terms of regulations, in terms of the economic climate, in terms of whether people will be buying, selling, or just sitting on their money?…”