Frank Pallone: “there was a lot of talk on the Republican side of the aisle tonight about scare tactics, but I have to tell my…”

“there was a lot of talk on the Republican side of the aisle tonight about scare tactics, but I have to tell my colleagues I am really scared tonight. Until this evening, I did not really believe that the Republicans would actually default on the debt. Now I believe that they will. Mr. Speaker, I listened to what the gentleman from Ohio said, that in order to avoid default there would have to be a downpayment on the balanced budget. I listened to the gentleman from New York who said that, in order to prevent default, there would have to be certain commitments made by our side of the aisle by March 1. Now I see a resolution coming before us that says that we will extend the debt ceiling with regard to Social Security. What is happening here is the same kind of hostage atmosphere that we saw with the Government shutdown. The Republicans are saying that we are going to go home. We are going to come back at the end of the month when there are a few days before March 1. And if we on the other side do not do certain things and make certain commitments, if we do not vote for certain things that they want, then they are going to default. So I do not believe it when they say that they are not going to default. The bottom line is if they are willing to say tonight that they will only extend the debt ceiling for Social Security, I have no guarantee that they will extend the debt ceiling on anything else. I think that is the height of irresponsibility.”