Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska came down against House Republicans’ effort to use the debt limit as leverage, saying last week that the United States must pay its bills.
“If you incur an obligation, you have a responsibility to pay for that,” Murkowski said in an interview with Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.
Murkowski, at a News-Miner editorial board meeting on Jan. 9, said she doesn’t think the debt limit should be used for political leverage. Since borrowing will be required to pay off debts the country has already incurred, she said it would reflect badly on the U.S. to leave its willingness to pay those bills in doubt…
Murkowski said not all of her colleagues in the Senate will say it out loud, but she believes most agree that failing to raise the debt limit would harm perception of the country.
