Obama states: No Guarantee of Social Security Checks if Talks Fail

by Larry Geller

For Hawaii seniors, the debt ceiling squabble over in Washington, DC may seem far away and unrelated.

It’s possible it will come home to us, and hard. This is from today’s Democracy Now headlines:

Obama: No Guarantee of Social Security Checks if Talks Fail

Speaking to CBS News, President Obama said he cannot guarantee Social Security checks will be mailed out if an agreement fails.

Scott Pelley: Can you tell the folks at home that no matter what happens, the Social Security checks are gonna go out on August the third? There are about $20 billion worth of Social Security checks that have to go out the day after the government is supposedly gonna go into default?

President Obama: "Well, this is not just a matter of Social Security checks. These are veterans’ checks, these are folks on disability, and their checks. There are about 70 million checks that go out each month."

Pelley: "Can you guarantee, as president, those checks will go out on August the third?"

Obama: "I cannot guarantee that those checks go out on August third if we haven’t resolved this issue. Because there may simply not be the money in the coffers to do it."

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